7 ms·

Interview with RollerCoaster Tycoon's Creator, Chris Sawyer (2024)

292 points by areoform 11mo ago

deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
HippoBaro 11mo ago
> It actually took a lot longer to re-write the game in C++ than it took me to write the original machine code version 20 years earlier. Is the most interesting quote IMO. I often feel like productivity has gone down significantly in recent years, despite tooling and computers being more numerous/sophisticated/fast.
- cadamsdotcom 11mo ago
  Expectations have gone up accordingly. I think the real constraint must be market timing - as much work as people can do to meet the market (eg. Have the thing done by Christmas), that much will end up being done.
- scandox 11mo ago
  > it took several years and a small team of programmers to re-write the entire game in C++. It actually took a lot longer to re-write the game in C++ than it took me to write the original machine code version 20 years earlier. Expanding the quote because the word "team" is probably relevant to why it took longer to rewrite. At a certain scale there just is a huge advantage in everything being inside one head...
  - jillesvangurp 11mo ago
    Communication overhead is a big thing in teams. If you have a struggling team, halve the size. It's crazy how well that works. It's not the people but the number of them. Once your people are consumed by the day to day frustrations of having to communicate with everyone else and with all the infighting, posturing, etc. that comes with that, they'll get nothing done. Splitting teams is an easy to implement fix. Minimize the communication paths between the two (or more) teams and carve up what they work on and suddenly shit gets done. In this case, they probably were trying to not just rewrite but improve the engine at the same time. That's a much more complicated thing to achieve. Especially when the original is a heavily optimized and probably somewhat hard to reason about blob of assembly. I'm guessing that even wrapping your head around that would be a significant job. Amazingly enjoyable game btw. Killed quite a few hours with that one around 2000.
    - jack_tripper 11mo ago
      >Communication overhead is a big thing in teams. If you have a struggling team, halve the size. It's crazy how well that works. I wish my managers would get this. Currently our product shit the fan due to us being understaffed and badly managed due to clueless managers, and what they did was add two more managers to the team to create more meetings and micromanage everrying.
      - EvanAnderson 11mo ago
        I'm sorry you have to deal with that. "The Mythical Man Month" should have been required reading for your managers.
        DerArzt 11mo ago
        For all managers and all staff beyond entry level!
      - sfn42 11mo ago
        I would be so extremely out of there.
  - ekropotin 11mo ago
    I think it’s just unique for Christ, who obviously a genius who can think in assembly code.
  - olelele 11mo ago
    The Adams bros / Dwarf Fortress anyone?
- dwroberts 11mo ago
  Found this part strange because in other interviews he seemed to imply (for RCT classic) that there was almost some kind of VM-like structure that was running the original code underneath as-is
- kragen 11mo ago
  It's possible that "it took several years and a small team of programmers to re-write the entire game in C++" because ⓐ those programmers were not as good as he was, and/or ⓑ they had to duplicate the behavior of an existing program exactly, rather than enjoying Bob Ross's happy little accidents, as long as the game was fun. I'm pretty sure most programmers who are comfortable in both C++ and assembly language can add working functionality to a program faster in C++ than in assembly. Of course, certain C++ libraries will eliminate that advantage, but choosing to use those libraries isn't essentially different from many other bad decisions you might make about how to write a large program.
- thesuitonym 11mo ago
  Chris Sawyer lived and breathed assembly, earlier in the article he states that he just felt more efficient writing it than higher level languages. Then you've got the modern team of devs who probably haven't worked with asm since university, and it becomes difficult for them to review the original source code. Also Chris probably wasn't doing a lot of the actual programming, so instead of one guy working on a passion project, you have a team of devs doing a job.
indigoabstract 11mo ago
> it just sort of grew gradually and I felt it was better spending my time working on something that was fun to work on even if at the time it looked like there was no possibility of it becoming commercially worthwhile. The indie ethos, before it was even a thing (or in the very early stages).
deanc 11mo ago
This game _is_ my childhood. Spent countless hours one summer doing every scenario, learning all the little easter eggs (Michael Schumacher on the Go karts anyone?). The spirit of this game lives on now in OpenRCT2 [1] - which brings the game into the modern age and is backwards compatible with all the scenarios from the original. It even features multiplayer park building. [1] https://openrct2.io/ https://openrct2.io/
- naths88 11mo ago
  You just made my day. Today is going to be really productive.
  - reddalo 11mo ago
    Beware that you still need a copy of the original RCT2 game in order to play OpenRCT2. You can still buy it on GOG [1] though. [1] https://www.gog.com/en/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2 https://www.gog.com/en/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2
- konimex 11mo ago
  Speaking of which, I wonder what Chris would think of OpenRCT2 and OpenTTD, which reimplemented his games with different programming languages and outright different graphics (which allowed the latter to reach its 1.0 milestone not requiring the original Transport Tycoon assets).
  - reddalo 11mo ago
    I can't recall the source so take this with a grain of salt (I think some members of the OpenTTD forum managed to contact him), but I remember him not being happy about it. He perfected the games according to his vision, so it makes sense for him not to like people rewriting his code and adding new features.
    - PunchyHamster 11mo ago
      I think he just wants to be paid for that.
stevoski 11mo ago
If you enjoy these types of stories from video game industry veterans, I recommend the My Perfect Console podcast. https://www.myperfectconsole.com/ https://www.myperfectconsole.com/
HelloUsername 11mo ago
I also recommend about RCT reading/watching: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44758842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44758842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39792034 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39792034 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42346463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42346463 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4BD8AqD9g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4BD8AqD9g
reddalo 11mo ago
Chris Sawyer is my hero. I spent countless hours on his games when I was a child, and maybe that's the reason why I've became a programmer. I'm sad that Chris Sawyer is such a reserved person, his public appearances are super rare [1] and he has no internet presence, except for a website that hasn't been updated in ages [2]. I wish he had a blog where he shared how he made his games. [1] One of the few: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU73g72NTHc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU73g72NTHc [2] https://chrissawyergames.com/ https://chrissawyergames.com/
- embedding-shape 11mo ago
  I get a different feeling from Sawyer being a reserved person, it actually gives me hope and joy, that he can enjoy something he's obviously great at, and doesn't need to compromise on "getting famous" or "being recognizable" in order to get there. Sometimes you get the impression that you have to be on social media to have an impact on the world, or that if you don't share your development tips on a blog you aren't as good as someone who does. And it's not right, but it's a really easy trap to fall into. But for me Sawyer proves that this is not needed at all. He's enjoying his relatively anonymous life (compared to what it could have been) yet have accomplished games that will probably always been remembered as long as there is humans alive.
- RankingMember 11mo ago
  > Chris Sawyer is my hero. When I see his name I reflexively start hearing that iconic Transport Tycoon intro music play in my head.
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
Jaysobel 11mo ago
I print RCT 'rollercoaster coasters' out of my kitchen for Etsy. Free Dynamite Dunes candles this year because we ordered too many (write in that you want one). https://bansostudio.etsy.com https://bansostudio.etsy.com
- Aachen 11mo ago
  That page just says "Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker". I have JS enabled and this browser doesn't have an ad blocker...
  - ekropotin 11mo ago
    Do you use PiHole as your DNS server by any chance?
p0w3n3d 11mo ago
Chris Sawyer's work known to me is mainy Transport Tycoon and TT Deluxe (which are now implemented in opensource repository, and I think it even has its own free graphics by now. But the original graphics, and MOSTLY music is great, you can even listen to it, remastered with live instruments on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFsrmLhC00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFsrmLhC00
exogeny 11mo ago
RCT2 is my favorite game of all-time, bar none. It is an absolute joy to play (via OpenRCT2, it should be said) all of these years later. It's a masterpiece and Chris Sawyer is a genius.
amitp 11mo ago
Nice interview! I didn't realize there was inspiration from Theme Park [1], a game from Demis Hassabis (DeepMind). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game)
- zehaeva 11mo ago
  I am blown away that one of the programmers on Theme Park is now one the leading researchers in modern AI. Wonders will never cease.
  - IncreasePosts 11mo ago
    I think Demis was just so embarrassed by the AI in Black and White he constructed his life around fixing it. I'm expecting a patch drop from him as his last contribution to humanity.
pixelN 11mo ago
Parkitect feels like the spiritual successor to me. https://www.themeparkitect.com/ https://www.themeparkitect.com/
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
ed_mercer 11mo ago
RCT was great. My favorite RCT successor is Planet Coaster, it's basically a modern 3D version of RCT with great graphics, ride cam, and the same general vibe.

292 points by areoform 11mo ago

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

> It actually took a lot longer to re-write the game in C++ than it took me to write the original machine code version 20 years earlier. Is the most interesting quote IMO. I often feel like productivity has gone down significantly in recent years, despite tooling and computers being more numerous/sophisticated/fast.

cadamsdotcom 11mo ago
Expectations have gone up accordingly. I think the real constraint must be market timing - as much work as people can do to meet the market (eg. Have the thing done by Christmas), that much will end up being done.
scandox 11mo ago
> it took several years and a small team of programmers to re-write the entire game in C++. It actually took a lot longer to re-write the game in C++ than it took me to write the original machine code version 20 years earlier. Expanding the quote because the word "team" is probably relevant to why it took longer to rewrite. At a certain scale there just is a huge advantage in everything being inside one head...
- jillesvangurp 11mo ago
  Communication overhead is a big thing in teams. If you have a struggling team, halve the size. It's crazy how well that works. It's not the people but the number of them. Once your people are consumed by the day to day frustrations of having to communicate with everyone else and with all the infighting, posturing, etc. that comes with that, they'll get nothing done. Splitting teams is an easy to implement fix. Minimize the communication paths between the two (or more) teams and carve up what they work on and suddenly shit gets done. In this case, they probably were trying to not just rewrite but improve the engine at the same time. That's a much more complicated thing to achieve. Especially when the original is a heavily optimized and probably somewhat hard to reason about blob of assembly. I'm guessing that even wrapping your head around that would be a significant job. Amazingly enjoyable game btw. Killed quite a few hours with that one around 2000.
  - jack_tripper 11mo ago
    >Communication overhead is a big thing in teams. If you have a struggling team, halve the size. It's crazy how well that works. I wish my managers would get this. Currently our product shit the fan due to us being understaffed and badly managed due to clueless managers, and what they did was add two more managers to the team to create more meetings and micromanage everrying.
    - EvanAnderson 11mo ago
      I'm sorry you have to deal with that. "The Mythical Man Month" should have been required reading for your managers.
      - DerArzt 11mo ago
        For all managers and all staff beyond entry level!
    - sfn42 11mo ago
      I would be so extremely out of there.
- ekropotin 11mo ago
  I think it’s just unique for Christ, who obviously a genius who can think in assembly code.
- olelele 11mo ago
  The Adams bros / Dwarf Fortress anyone?
dwroberts 11mo ago
Found this part strange because in other interviews he seemed to imply (for RCT classic) that there was almost some kind of VM-like structure that was running the original code underneath as-is
kragen 11mo ago
It's possible that "it took several years and a small team of programmers to re-write the entire game in C++" because ⓐ those programmers were not as good as he was, and/or ⓑ they had to duplicate the behavior of an existing program exactly, rather than enjoying Bob Ross's happy little accidents, as long as the game was fun. I'm pretty sure most programmers who are comfortable in both C++ and assembly language can add working functionality to a program faster in C++ than in assembly. Of course, certain C++ libraries will eliminate that advantage, but choosing to use those libraries isn't essentially different from many other bad decisions you might make about how to write a large program.
thesuitonym 11mo ago
Chris Sawyer lived and breathed assembly, earlier in the article he states that he just felt more efficient writing it than higher level languages. Then you've got the modern team of devs who probably haven't worked with asm since university, and it becomes difficult for them to review the original source code. Also Chris probably wasn't doing a lot of the actual programming, so instead of one guy working on a passion project, you have a team of devs doing a job.

indigoabstract 11mo ago

> it just sort of grew gradually and I felt it was better spending my time working on something that was fun to work on even if at the time it looked like there was no possibility of it becoming commercially worthwhile. The indie ethos, before it was even a thing (or in the very early stages).

deanc 11mo ago

This game _is_ my childhood. Spent countless hours one summer doing every scenario, learning all the little easter eggs (Michael Schumacher on the Go karts anyone?). The spirit of this game lives on now in OpenRCT2 [1] - which brings the game into the modern age and is backwards compatible with all the scenarios from the original. It even features multiplayer park building. [1] https://openrct2.io/ https://openrct2.io/

naths88 11mo ago
You just made my day. Today is going to be really productive.
- reddalo 11mo ago
  Beware that you still need a copy of the original RCT2 game in order to play OpenRCT2. You can still buy it on GOG [1] though. [1] https://www.gog.com/en/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2 https://www.gog.com/en/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2
konimex 11mo ago
Speaking of which, I wonder what Chris would think of OpenRCT2 and OpenTTD, which reimplemented his games with different programming languages and outright different graphics (which allowed the latter to reach its 1.0 milestone not requiring the original Transport Tycoon assets).
- reddalo 11mo ago
  I can't recall the source so take this with a grain of salt (I think some members of the OpenTTD forum managed to contact him), but I remember him not being happy about it. He perfected the games according to his vision, so it makes sense for him not to like people rewriting his code and adding new features.
  - PunchyHamster 11mo ago
    I think he just wants to be paid for that.

stevoski 11mo ago

If you enjoy these types of stories from video game industry veterans, I recommend the My Perfect Console podcast. https://www.myperfectconsole.com/ https://www.myperfectconsole.com/

HelloUsername 11mo ago

I also recommend about RCT reading/watching: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44758842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44758842 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39792034 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39792034 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42346463 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42346463 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4BD8AqD9g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4BD8AqD9g

reddalo 11mo ago

Chris Sawyer is my hero. I spent countless hours on his games when I was a child, and maybe that's the reason why I've became a programmer. I'm sad that Chris Sawyer is such a reserved person, his public appearances are super rare [1] and he has no internet presence, except for a website that hasn't been updated in ages [2]. I wish he had a blog where he shared how he made his games. [1] One of the few: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU73g72NTHc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU73g72NTHc [2] https://chrissawyergames.com/ https://chrissawyergames.com/

embedding-shape 11mo ago
I get a different feeling from Sawyer being a reserved person, it actually gives me hope and joy, that he can enjoy something he's obviously great at, and doesn't need to compromise on "getting famous" or "being recognizable" in order to get there. Sometimes you get the impression that you have to be on social media to have an impact on the world, or that if you don't share your development tips on a blog you aren't as good as someone who does. And it's not right, but it's a really easy trap to fall into. But for me Sawyer proves that this is not needed at all. He's enjoying his relatively anonymous life (compared to what it could have been) yet have accomplished games that will probably always been remembered as long as there is humans alive.
RankingMember 11mo ago
> Chris Sawyer is my hero. When I see his name I reflexively start hearing that iconic Transport Tycoon intro music play in my head.

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

Jaysobel 11mo ago

I print RCT 'rollercoaster coasters' out of my kitchen for Etsy. Free Dynamite Dunes candles this year because we ordered too many (write in that you want one). https://bansostudio.etsy.com https://bansostudio.etsy.com

Aachen 11mo ago
That page just says "Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker". I have JS enabled and this browser doesn't have an ad blocker...
- ekropotin 11mo ago
  Do you use PiHole as your DNS server by any chance?

p0w3n3d 11mo ago

Chris Sawyer's work known to me is mainy Transport Tycoon and TT Deluxe (which are now implemented in opensource repository, and I think it even has its own free graphics by now. But the original graphics, and MOSTLY music is great, you can even listen to it, remastered with live instruments on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFsrmLhC00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFsrmLhC00

exogeny 11mo ago

RCT2 is my favorite game of all-time, bar none. It is an absolute joy to play (via OpenRCT2, it should be said) all of these years later. It's a masterpiece and Chris Sawyer is a genius.

amitp 11mo ago

Nice interview! I didn't realize there was inspiration from Theme Park [1], a game from Demis Hassabis (DeepMind). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_Park_(video_game)

zehaeva 11mo ago
I am blown away that one of the programmers on Theme Park is now one the leading researchers in modern AI. Wonders will never cease.
- IncreasePosts 11mo ago
  I think Demis was just so embarrassed by the AI in Black and White he constructed his life around fixing it. I'm expecting a patch drop from him as his last contribution to humanity.

pixelN 11mo ago

Parkitect feels like the spiritual successor to me. https://www.themeparkitect.com/ https://www.themeparkitect.com/

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

ed_mercer 11mo ago

RCT was great. My favorite RCT successor is Planet Coaster, it's basically a modern 3D version of RCT with great graphics, ride cam, and the same general vibe.