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Monday, June 25, 2012

Behind The Scenes: RideSims.com








Hey Everybody!

We hope you are having a great summer vacation as school is now out of session in most parts of the United States here.

What have been your favorite summer relaxation to visit or do with your family? Have you been having great warm or even hot weather where you enjoyed a splash in a pool or water park?

Well, we've got a nice 'summer treat' for you! Since its been slow over here at Themagical Team since we are enjoying our 'annual development breaks' in between simulation releases and developments.

I was happy to share with you guys the news with a close friend of Themagical Team to give us some insight on his latest projects and as well get to know who makes them.

We got John Burton (aka ImagineerJohn as most of you know of him as) who is the founder of 'Ride Sims' website and as well a user of our community at Themagical.

We are happy to give you this nice special interview with John for our readers and community to enjoy!

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(* Bold is our question, and not bold is John's answer.)







     1.)    Tell us a little about yourself.
 
     Well hello everyone I’m John and I am the creator behind the newly created website www.ridesims.com that recently opened on the 1st January 2012. I work alongside my fellow team members at Theme Park Nerd Ltd. where I am often utilized as part of the graphics design team for a large number of projects. Originally I developed simulations for Theme Park Nerd’s initial site www.towersnerd.com, which were all Alton Towers related. From here I offered up my skills at producing a portfolio of simulations based on theme park attractions from all around the globe, which we decided to input all our resources into developing our main base site for simulation games www.ridesims.com!


2.) Have you seen our site and what brought you to our site?
 
Themagical has been around a lot longer than www.ridesims.com and to me, this was the main site to go to, to get that ride simulation fix! It was inspiring to see the rides and attractions in a new way and get a feel for daily operations of such classic Disney attractions. In some ways Themagical.nl led the way to a new generation of inspired coders and simulation designers who often questioned the Themagical team HOW? 

3.) What type of interests that you would like to do in the future and what are you doing currently in the present?
 
 As an enthusiast for the tourism industry, I hope to pursue a career along those lines, with a design aspect in mind. Currently I am studying Architecture which I hope will allow me to develop my design skills further and move into conceptual and real life blue sky thinking. Whilst studying I am constantly adding to my portfolio conceptualizing rides and attractions through modern techniques some of which can be seen here: www.facebook.com/johnburtoncreative.
I am also employed at present by the Merlin Entertainments company where I am gaining a daily hands on experience with guests that I hope will only enforce my future potential to developing rides, attractions, events and spaces for the general public’s future entertainment.

4.) Tell me about your liking to simulations and why make them to share online?
 
Simulations are not only about hitting a few buttons or keys to make a picture move, to me a simulation is all about bringing the magic home and feeling even more a part of the experience that you have witnessed. Taking control of a multi-million pound attraction can take weeks of training and a rigorous interview process which very few get the chance to do however with developing a free online simulation utilized as many true to life features the attraction holds gives anyone of any age the freedom to give it a try and experience it all from the comfort of their own home!


5.) What is "Ride Sims" website and what made you to consider launching online?
 
 Ride Sims is pretty much all in the name! It is an online gaming web site with a portfolio of Ride and attraction simulations ranging from roller coasters, to flat rides and water rides that a user can login and become ride operator in their spare time! We launched online so that we could ensure we enhance our web site with new features including achievements and competition between users playing our simulations.

6.) What is there to expect when it comes to create ride simulations? What gives you the inspiration of making these simulations?
 
 We are always open to suggestions at Ride Sims Facebook page or email, and we always listen to what our users like or want in future simulations. Personally I choose which I complete as my “next simulation(s)” from the choices I have in front of me. I choose a simulation often down to the complexity of developing it. The more complex the more of a challenge it is for me to complete… Which I love! Secondly I decide on how much enjoyment a user will get from an attraction. A simulation with more controls, options and interactive elements will be far more enjoyable than a carousel with a stop and start button.

7.) Since there's an only limited site out there that creates these types of simulations, what are the purpose of the site and the vision of "Ride Sims"?
 
 Ride Sims began purely as a portfolio of my work. I wanted others to try out what I had developed as well as experience the magic from the parks right at home! As a team we have lots of plans for the future of Ride Sims and since the 1st of January we already have a growing simulation collection of 22! A few elements we hope to move forward with are the achievements and user interaction with our simulations which we hope will bring enjoyment to all our users.

8.) Is there you want to share our community about your projects and any advice for them?

We get asked quite regularly how to make simulations. There is no simple answer to this question. You will need time to learn software’s in which you can code a simulation such as flash. However it is not only about the coding but the graphics. You must ensure you grab your users with something that is iconic to them and they can relate to easily. For me it has taken years of practice from a very young age for 3D visual modeling and graphic design yet I never studied art at school. So never give up on trying. If you want to pursue something, never stop trying and push yourself with self determination. 

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We want to say "Thank You" to John Burton for taking his time getting back to us with this small interview for our readers to enjoy.

We'll be sharing more details soon about our upcoming 'Beta Testing' for our new FIRST- Of It's Kinda HMTL 5 simulation "Soarin". 

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter & Facebook Group Page. Don't forget to "Like" us on our OFFICIAL Facebook page as well!

Twitter:

Webmaster/Founder of Themagical : twitter.com/themagical 

Simulation Development Team/Co-Admin of Themagical: twitter.com/randydorney

Facebook:

- Themagical's Group page (Join in our discussion on parks, ride sims, beta questions and more!)  

Monday, June 4, 2012

Summer Vacation Begins



Hey All,

It's been awhile since there's been new postings, thank you for your patience for waiting for new content.

So since schools are now out of sessions and most of you guys and gals are now enjoying your summer break before going back to school in August/September months.

I'm just as excited and anxious to start the summer time to enjoy the beaches, camping, amusement parks, plus so much more! What are you excited about the summer time? Do you like the summer or prefer another season?

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Here's the "LATE" post on 'May Monthly Links'!






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What's Next??

I bet you'll are wondering why no updates or even postings since last month. Well, its a busy time for us at Themagical Team since the summer has already begun in order to relax after a long development schedule with the "Steel Force Simulation".

Don't worry folks! We are still working on some projects but on the slow development phases.  Below we'll be showing the 'current simulation status' of all upcoming simulations that will be in our current 'development cycle'.

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Themagical Behind the Scenes: Themagical Projects to date!
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Soarin: (Internal Build: 2012.05.29/008) This build has been shown a Live Preview
on a recent blog post. New features are being coded and a possible beta release is approaching soon! 

**Update: (06/04/2012) New recoding has been performed to better situated with rendering and more stability in the HTML5 coding and java-scripting.  Improved performance in browser rendering in Firefox and Safari. IE9 still not rendering properly quite yet with new format. 
**Note: Due to high request, this build may or may not be release due to the progress of how the simulation has been so far.

Millionaire Play It: Trivia Version 2 (Beta Version: 041411/001.v2_triv) This simulation hasn't been updated since its public release due to the popular request of the "Steel Force Simulation" due date release and bug fixes. This will be updated and tied in with the current simulation of 'Millionaire Play It' as bug fixes with that simulation will bring the string code from version 1.0.8 to 2.0.



 Disney's Epcot TEST TRACK: (No Confirmed Internal Build) Even though the 'Steel Force Simulation' has been released in April 29th, 2012 , there hasn't been any work on the upcoming simulation due to busy work schedules and development rest breaks. More news about this simulation and when the production begins will be coming soon later this year. Stay Tuned!