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So, You Want to be an Imagineer Season 19 - Madcap Circus [CONCLUDED]
- Thread starter JokersWild
- Start date
ThemeParkPriest
Well-Known Member
Hey...I was tuned-in to most of the podcast last night. Since things have changed a lot in the game, I wanted to say a few things.
First, @PerGron you have good reason to be upset with everything you have poured (namely your heart) into the game. Your detail and quality of your work is something that I should learn from.
I like the judges’ new rule for Project Leaders. Although it was not in place for last round, I would like to publicly state my elimination nominations after-the-fact. I nominate Tegan and PerGron. Both of them have played really well—both this game and this prompt. Tegan, although the team agreed to add the non-essential ride overlays for our project, by making it your main task, you made the show creator (in this case, PerGron) work basically solo on an essential task. This is a game of strategy like Survivor, so the biggest competitors are going to have targets on their backs. So I put you forward to the judges to see who they will give the green light to to continue in the game.
First, @PerGron you have good reason to be upset with everything you have poured (namely your heart) into the game. Your detail and quality of your work is something that I should learn from.
I like the judges’ new rule for Project Leaders. Although it was not in place for last round, I would like to publicly state my elimination nominations after-the-fact. I nominate Tegan and PerGron. Both of them have played really well—both this game and this prompt. Tegan, although the team agreed to add the non-essential ride overlays for our project, by making it your main task, you made the show creator (in this case, PerGron) work basically solo on an essential task. This is a game of strategy like Survivor, so the biggest competitors are going to have targets on their backs. So I put you forward to the judges to see who they will give the green light to to continue in the game.
PerGron
Well-Known Member
No hard feelings at all, you played a good strategy game!
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
@DisneyFan18 please remember to publicly announce one name for elimination alongside @goofyyukyuk and one name for PoMVP when you turn in the finished project.
goofyyukyuk
Well-Known Member
Welp everyone, I wasn't expecting that I'd have to do this, but I'm officially announcing that I'm dropping out of the competition. This has been an awesome return to imagineering for me, and I'm just as proud of the work I've done here as I was of my work last season, but my schedule's really made it difficult to continue. I wasn't able to contribute anything this project because of family stuff, and some other family stuff that's come up is going to keep me very busy up until a vacation in a couple weeks that's gonna keep me away from the game more than I'd like. I don't want to take up a spot on the team when other people deserve it more and have time to contribute than me. I've really loved the game that @JokersWild and @TheOriginalTiki have put together, and it's been awesome seeing the entire cast doing so great with the projects. I'm looking forward to continuing to observe as a member of the jury, and good luck everyone!
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Trying to get in contact with @JokersWild about how to proceed from here. Also want to personally apologize for being slow on feedback throughout the season. I have literally no excuse this time around except for very low energy which was the result of a super busy weekend at work. I've been doing practically nothing but lounging and napping these past couple days and that really isn't fair to the cast who's been doing amazing work getting their stuff in at the deadline. As it stands now, @goofyyukyuk is officially the 8th place finisher of the season. TWO more rounds remain for secret powers to be used. Stay tuned until midnight for your next prompt. I'm going to very much try to get some written feedback up for Scary Farm soon. It's literally an energy-levels issue of putting fingers to keyboard when it comes to that. I've just been feeling super sluggish the past couple days.
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
@DisneyFan18 I no longer need a name to be nominated, but I'll still be needing a name for PoMVP 
DisneyFan18
Well-Known Member
presents…
MR. TOAD’S WILD GAME
—————————-
Choosing someone for the PoMVP was very hard, everyone made an excellent work. However, ultimately I’ve decided to nominate @Sharon&Susan, it was her idea that got us to make this fantastic project and her amazing work on the presentation helped bring everything together!
It’s been really fun working with you!! I hope that you’ll stick around the forums even if your schedule is super busy!
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Season 19, Act Eleven: Rick and Morty's Universal Adventure
This is the IP I've been wanting to work with all season, and since we have an extra round to work with and @JokerWild doesn't seem to be getting back to me about his pet project, were going to go ahead and do it! If you haven't seen Rick and Morty before, it's a pretty easy show to research. The general set-up here is simple: Universal is loosing the theme park rights to The Simpsons at the end of the decade.
To keep up with the trend of adult animated IPs with distinct settings and unique food/drink opportunities, Universal Creative has hired the remaining members of Team Danny DeVito From Dumbo to give the area a Rick and Morty overlay. Since more people are familiar with the Florida park, let's start there for now. Be sure to make the attraction itself a focal point. I'd encourage you to do a simulator to keep with the Back to the Future/Simpsons tradition, but I don't want you boxed in so if you think you could make a cool dark ride, coaster or whatever out of that area go for it. Other than that all the Springfield shopping and dining must be completely rethemed to Rick and Morty, along with the Kang and Kodos flat ride.
The Walt's Vault event this round is called Leaders and Followers. It goes a bit like this. If the person who opens the Vault has previously been a Project Leader post-merge, they gain the ability to do it again and also block someone who hasn't done it from doing it for the rest of the season. If the person who opens the Vault has never been Project Leader post merge then it is they that loose the power and must choose one of @Mickeynerd17, @ThemeParkPriest, or @DisneyFan18 to be allowed to become Project Leader again. @Tegan pilots a chicken has gotten the key to to the Vault...but for the first time this season has decided NOT to open it! This means Project Leader positions will stay in tact and only the three previously mentioned are banned from doing it again.
One last thing...were in the end-game now. We have ONE more pre-semi finals round left after this, and then things get really crazy. Because of how close we are to the end, this round will be the LAST to use either the Nomination Swapper or the Golden PoMVP. Use it wisely. Good luck, Team Danny DeVito From Dumbo. This project is due Sunday, August 1st at 11:59PM Eastern/8:59PM Pacific. I'll be trying to get written feedback up to you guys still, but at the VERY least @JokersWild and I will be doing a proper podcast feedback show on the Scary Farm project plus this week's two lightning rounds some time next week.
This is the IP I've been wanting to work with all season, and since we have an extra round to work with and @JokerWild doesn't seem to be getting back to me about his pet project, were going to go ahead and do it! If you haven't seen Rick and Morty before, it's a pretty easy show to research. The general set-up here is simple: Universal is loosing the theme park rights to The Simpsons at the end of the decade.
To keep up with the trend of adult animated IPs with distinct settings and unique food/drink opportunities, Universal Creative has hired the remaining members of Team Danny DeVito From Dumbo to give the area a Rick and Morty overlay. Since more people are familiar with the Florida park, let's start there for now. Be sure to make the attraction itself a focal point. I'd encourage you to do a simulator to keep with the Back to the Future/Simpsons tradition, but I don't want you boxed in so if you think you could make a cool dark ride, coaster or whatever out of that area go for it. Other than that all the Springfield shopping and dining must be completely rethemed to Rick and Morty, along with the Kang and Kodos flat ride.
The Walt's Vault event this round is called Leaders and Followers. It goes a bit like this. If the person who opens the Vault has previously been a Project Leader post-merge, they gain the ability to do it again and also block someone who hasn't done it from doing it for the rest of the season. If the person who opens the Vault has never been Project Leader post merge then it is they that loose the power and must choose one of @Mickeynerd17, @ThemeParkPriest, or @DisneyFan18 to be allowed to become Project Leader again. @Tegan pilots a chicken has gotten the key to to the Vault...but for the first time this season has decided NOT to open it! This means Project Leader positions will stay in tact and only the three previously mentioned are banned from doing it again.
One last thing...were in the end-game now. We have ONE more pre-semi finals round left after this, and then things get really crazy. Because of how close we are to the end, this round will be the LAST to use either the Nomination Swapper or the Golden PoMVP. Use it wisely. Good luck, Team Danny DeVito From Dumbo. This project is due Sunday, August 1st at 11:59PM Eastern/8:59PM Pacific. I'll be trying to get written feedback up to you guys still, but at the VERY least @JokersWild and I will be doing a proper podcast feedback show on the Scary Farm project plus this week's two lightning rounds some time next week.
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TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Avatar teaser for Act 12 now up!
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Sharon&Susan
Well-Known Member
Super duper.
Roster updated. Sorry to see you go, @goofyyukyuk
ThemeParkPriest
Well-Known Member
Well deserved, Sharon&Susan, like other times in the competition! Your creative ideas and solid teamwork really help to elevate the quality of the projects!
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Acts Nine and Ten Feedback
Knott's Scary Farm
As I said during the elimination show, I honestly think Knott's is about THE most perfect park selection we could have possibly gone with. Early on in the planning process I was vouching to make the project Knott's-centric from the get-go, so it was really cool to see everyone land on that park on their own. As far as backstories go, this might be one of the very best ones that @Outbound has ever done. Scary Farm 2019 had a great running theme of the Sarah Marshall witch hunt that felt like it ran throughout the entire park. With this set-up, it gives me really similar vibes and pushes the storytelling even further. The clowns being entertainers in the original Berry Farm days of the park was a stroke of genius. Absolutely something that ties everything back to the real life historical significance of the location. The fact that they're filling out the remaining days left on their contract is just an absolute chef's kiss of a detail.
The mazes I'll be honest blend together just a little bit, but they're all super creative and with the circus theme I totally get that it's hard to not repeat some themes. The freak show definitely gave me vibes of Wax Works from 2019 even down to the news reports in the queue, so great job there. Love the freaky imagery in there and you used some really creative jump scares. Hypno was probably my favorite of the three characters but his maze seemed to take elements from the other two and mesh them together. With that being said, I did think having the whole maze lead up to an encounter with him was really well done and built tension very nicely. Dr. Quack was probably the most creative of the three, though I question it being a bit too similar to Infected as far as a shooting maze goes. Once again, another GREAT job with having an interactive game that pretty much summed up the entire experience. All in all these three mazes like the characters themselves go together really well and add a great layer of mythology to the already deeply historical park. Wonderful work!
The scare zones honestly might be the highlight of the project for me. Camp Snoopy is low-key one of the most effective areas of Scary Farm when it's in full swing just thanks to the woods environment, so really going all out with that was a wonderful choice. The carnival was a homerun, VERY Something Wicked This Way Comes. There's always something that's creeped me out about that ferris wheel anyways, especially how you can just see it randomly poking out from the fence on the corner of Beach Blvd haha. It would blend into a creepy carnival atmosphere perfectly, and I love the idea of scare actors heckling you from below. The boardwalk has always felt like the weakest Scary Farm area so having the projection effects on the dark rides was a great touch.
With that being said I really didn't think the Iron Reef makeover worked all that great. While I think the idea of shooting underwater mechanical clowns does feel distinctly Knott's, it just didn't really add much to the overall story and felt kind of muddied in an attraction that already has an infamously confusing plot (I'm genuinely STOKED it's gone haha. Easily the worst shooter dark ride I've ever been on.) The log ride makeover felt a lot more on point. Much like the ferris wheel, I've always felt a disquieting creepiness in the room right after you drop into the show-building just because of how much water there is. @MANEATINGWREATH shares the same phobia haha. Having you drop into that room in pitch blackness with creepy sound effects is PURE nightmare fuel.
The circus stage show was another homerun. You really kept the spirit of anarchy that these sorts of shows are known for while keeping the theme totally in tact. I love how the show is an accessible reprise from the all out scares while still having a fair share of hair-raising moments of its own. Definitely a well thought out addition that really added to the overall product. All in all this project really was a brilliant homage to both the chosen park and the circus theme that runs throughout the season. It was a great display of teamwork and everyone involved should be super proud.
Mr. Toad's Wild Game
Not even gonna beat around the bush with this one. Best project of the season. Bar none. This was just absolutely wonderful. Probably one of the all time great presentations ever from a visual point of view. While I was sort of hoping one of you would be crazy enough to actually program a playable version of this thing ala the maze from last project, I totally get not being able to do it in the time constraints. But I mean, speaking of the time constraints...holy hell, this is legitimately a "how did you do it??" scenario. What was meant to be a filler-ish project in between bigger prompts really did develop into something special.
The Toad IP choice was just a bit unconventional because it's not really a true Disney Parks IP, but since Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is way more iconic than the Wind of the Willows sequence of Ichabod and Mr. Toad I'll totally accept it. It's absolutely a dark ride staple even outside of Disney. Outside of the visuals, truly the best part of this project was just how fun the game itself sounded. I love the idea of trying to be the last one on the board, I love hell as the end-point you don't want to go to, I especially love the police officer figure who I feel would really add a great level of tension to what is otherwise a mostly luck based game.
Did I mention just how much I love the presentation style in itself? Not only did it feel super authentic to flipping through an instruction booklet, just how on brand to a CLASSCIC feeling, non-modernized board game really gave me genuine chills. This takes elements of Candyland, Monopoly, and hell I'll even throw in a Mr. Wigly as a personal favorite of mine, and blends them together into something really unique and special. Truly one of those moments where I just take a step back and proudly reflect on just how awesome the stuff produced through this game can truly be. After the intense PerGron elimination I think this was a great omen to let creativity and artistry take center stage.
Knott's Scary Farm
As I said during the elimination show, I honestly think Knott's is about THE most perfect park selection we could have possibly gone with. Early on in the planning process I was vouching to make the project Knott's-centric from the get-go, so it was really cool to see everyone land on that park on their own. As far as backstories go, this might be one of the very best ones that @Outbound has ever done. Scary Farm 2019 had a great running theme of the Sarah Marshall witch hunt that felt like it ran throughout the entire park. With this set-up, it gives me really similar vibes and pushes the storytelling even further. The clowns being entertainers in the original Berry Farm days of the park was a stroke of genius. Absolutely something that ties everything back to the real life historical significance of the location. The fact that they're filling out the remaining days left on their contract is just an absolute chef's kiss of a detail.
The mazes I'll be honest blend together just a little bit, but they're all super creative and with the circus theme I totally get that it's hard to not repeat some themes. The freak show definitely gave me vibes of Wax Works from 2019 even down to the news reports in the queue, so great job there. Love the freaky imagery in there and you used some really creative jump scares. Hypno was probably my favorite of the three characters but his maze seemed to take elements from the other two and mesh them together. With that being said, I did think having the whole maze lead up to an encounter with him was really well done and built tension very nicely. Dr. Quack was probably the most creative of the three, though I question it being a bit too similar to Infected as far as a shooting maze goes. Once again, another GREAT job with having an interactive game that pretty much summed up the entire experience. All in all these three mazes like the characters themselves go together really well and add a great layer of mythology to the already deeply historical park. Wonderful work!
The scare zones honestly might be the highlight of the project for me. Camp Snoopy is low-key one of the most effective areas of Scary Farm when it's in full swing just thanks to the woods environment, so really going all out with that was a wonderful choice. The carnival was a homerun, VERY Something Wicked This Way Comes. There's always something that's creeped me out about that ferris wheel anyways, especially how you can just see it randomly poking out from the fence on the corner of Beach Blvd haha. It would blend into a creepy carnival atmosphere perfectly, and I love the idea of scare actors heckling you from below. The boardwalk has always felt like the weakest Scary Farm area so having the projection effects on the dark rides was a great touch.
With that being said I really didn't think the Iron Reef makeover worked all that great. While I think the idea of shooting underwater mechanical clowns does feel distinctly Knott's, it just didn't really add much to the overall story and felt kind of muddied in an attraction that already has an infamously confusing plot (I'm genuinely STOKED it's gone haha. Easily the worst shooter dark ride I've ever been on.) The log ride makeover felt a lot more on point. Much like the ferris wheel, I've always felt a disquieting creepiness in the room right after you drop into the show-building just because of how much water there is. @MANEATINGWREATH shares the same phobia haha. Having you drop into that room in pitch blackness with creepy sound effects is PURE nightmare fuel.
The circus stage show was another homerun. You really kept the spirit of anarchy that these sorts of shows are known for while keeping the theme totally in tact. I love how the show is an accessible reprise from the all out scares while still having a fair share of hair-raising moments of its own. Definitely a well thought out addition that really added to the overall product. All in all this project really was a brilliant homage to both the chosen park and the circus theme that runs throughout the season. It was a great display of teamwork and everyone involved should be super proud.
Mr. Toad's Wild Game
Not even gonna beat around the bush with this one. Best project of the season. Bar none. This was just absolutely wonderful. Probably one of the all time great presentations ever from a visual point of view. While I was sort of hoping one of you would be crazy enough to actually program a playable version of this thing ala the maze from last project, I totally get not being able to do it in the time constraints. But I mean, speaking of the time constraints...holy hell, this is legitimately a "how did you do it??" scenario. What was meant to be a filler-ish project in between bigger prompts really did develop into something special.
The Toad IP choice was just a bit unconventional because it's not really a true Disney Parks IP, but since Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is way more iconic than the Wind of the Willows sequence of Ichabod and Mr. Toad I'll totally accept it. It's absolutely a dark ride staple even outside of Disney. Outside of the visuals, truly the best part of this project was just how fun the game itself sounded. I love the idea of trying to be the last one on the board, I love hell as the end-point you don't want to go to, I especially love the police officer figure who I feel would really add a great level of tension to what is otherwise a mostly luck based game.
Did I mention just how much I love the presentation style in itself? Not only did it feel super authentic to flipping through an instruction booklet, just how on brand to a CLASSCIC feeling, non-modernized board game really gave me genuine chills. This takes elements of Candyland, Monopoly, and hell I'll even throw in a Mr. Wigly as a personal favorite of mine, and blends them together into something really unique and special. Truly one of those moments where I just take a step back and proudly reflect on just how awesome the stuff produced through this game can truly be. After the intense PerGron elimination I think this was a great omen to let creativity and artistry take center stage.
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My reviews will be coming tomorrow. I was out all day today so I just haven't gotten the chance to read the project. From what I saw during brainstorming, everything looked great!
JokersWilds' Reviews: The Reviews Will Go On
Hey, kids. Again, sorry for the delay. I don't know what's going on with me, but I'm trying to fix it. I blame summer vacation absolutely decimating my daily routine and all sense of time that comes with it. I'll definitely be more timely with my reviews going forward. Anyway, without further ado:Clown Terrors at Knotts' Scary Farm
First off, I really like your backstory. I'm not sure what, if anything, Knott's has done in the past in terms of backstory, but this was a really great way to fold in a story that sort of played into the history of the park. It reminded me a bit of was Universal used to do during the icon years. The only real critique (even though it's not really a critique) that I have is that I really would have loved to see that 1800s circus theme you guys were talking about earlier in your brainstorming.
Moving on to the mazes, I really enjoyed them. The Great American Sideshow and Freak Cavalcade, while a mouthful, is a great tone-setter. I really loved a lot of the visuals here - you guys did a great job making the maze pretty unsettling while not deviating from the structure and tone, I guess you could say, of a circus. Hypnos The Clown was a bit too similar to the other two mazes, and was a bit too story-heavy for what I'd like to see in a haunted house, but it was still a lot of fun. I think this would have been more effective as a show. Or perhaps you could have separated it from the circus theme a bit. Some of the scenes just were a bit too close the the proper circus and funhouse mazes. Dr. Quack and his Quintessential Evil Experiments is probably the most strongest of the three. I love the setup and the sets - though this maze is marketed as a funhouse, setting it in an old 19th century house is a super unique direction to take. I'm not entirely convinced that the shooting element was necessary (this could have been a really cool Saw-type house without it,) but I still really enjoyed it. The scratch presentation was really great as well.
The scarezones were a lot of fun as well. Camp Snoopy was a pretty interesting choice of location, but I don't think it's too far out of the realm of possibilities. I think the circus tent justified it as well - you'd just have to be really careful about keeping the set dressing neutral enough for daytime guests. Your show was also really great. I'm not sure it needed to be in the theater though - it's been a while, but I thought that the outdoor theater next to Calico Mine Ride was large enough for a show like this. I remember Knott's doing their nighttime stage show there when I went last at least. Nonetheless, this was a really great show that tied your theme together really well.
Your ride overlays were nice. I like the idea of Iron Reef getting a Ghost Galaxy-type overlay with it only operating at night. I also like that I guess guests are just rapturing clowns and granting them eternal salvation? That's a pretty interesting direction for Knotts to take. And the log ride was fun as well. I appreciated how fun it was compared to the scares present in the rest of the park. Obviously, there were still some scares, but I liked how "bright" it felt comparatively. I don't have a whole ton to say about them unfortunately, but they were nice bonuses to an already solid project.
Just to touch briefly on it briefly, the food was a ton of fun. Ooh boy did you lean way into the clown *aesthetic*, but all of the options sounded great, with the exception of maybe the hot dog. All in all, really great job. I'm not as enthusiastic about it as Tiki seems to be, but this was a super solid project that I had a lot of fun reading.
Mr. Toad's Wild Game
Mr. Toad is definitely an odd pick. It makes sense, but I'm genuinely surprised that you guys didn't go with something more widely iconic like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. While I personally would have liked to have seen a deeper game, Mr. Toad is a really great, and very natural, fit for a simple family board game. Right off the bat, I love the presentation in emulating an instruction manual. I always appreciate details like this to make the project feel just that much more real.
The actual game is perfectly in line with the attraction. I love the speed and general chaos of your game. The only nitpick I have with the gameplay is the card mechanic. I like the idea of the chance cards. They could add a lot of randomness to the game, but I don't think that you needed to add a dice roll to it. It could have very easily been like Monopoly where whether players are helped or hindered is left purely to chance. And while the challenge card is an interesting idea, i guarantee you most families aren't going to know Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, let alone Wind and the Willows, trivia. I picture a lot of people passing when they land on these spaces. Really, both of these decks could be consolidated into one chance deck without the required dice rolling. I really like the ideas, but I worry that they'd either be skipped by most players or would slow the game to a screeching halt if landed on.
Other than that nitpick with the gameplay, I really adored this project. The art here is fantastic, the presentation is great. Everything is great. Really great job all around, guys. For only having two days, you were still able to come out with probably one of the best projects of the season.
TheOriginalTiki
Well-Known Member
Midnight. You know what to do.