Thrillville - Developer Diaries Week Seven

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The vision thing...

David Braben, Chairman of Frontier Developments and Executive Producer on Thrillville

My role as executive producer means that I have an overview of the game as it's being developed. It's up to me to ensure that it stays true to the original vision - to make sure it works well overall.

The idea for Thrillville came from a general feeling we had something more to offer over and above the strategy/simulation games of the past. Why should the "computer people" get all the fun? Playing mini-golf, flirting, going on great rollercoasters that we'd built - that sort of thing. We wanted to take part in the action, not watch. Our PC game RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 very much concentrates on the simulation and "tycoon" side - the managing and running a park, as opposed to visiting one, as you get in Thrillville.

As game creators, theme parks offer us a great environment to do a lot of varied, fun experiences in a way that feels natural rather than forced - it is a great opportunity to create those beautifully simple "in-the-zone" types of gameplay we rarely get these days - most often now associated with "retro" gaming.