After the debut of the Battle for Cedar Point, Cedar Fair rolled out the application to a second of its US parks, with the launch of The Battle for Kings Dominion. Whether they are waiting in line to ride, or having something to eat, downtime now becomes playtime for guests at this popular park in Doswell, Virginia, just as it did at Cedar Fair’s flagship property in Ohio.
Christian Dieckmann, corporate vice-president of strategic growth at Cedar Fair, parent company of both parks said:
“We are always looking for ways to make the guest experience more fun, We learnt a lot from the launch of The Battle for Cedar Point. We have introduced an enhanced version at both parks, this is based on insights gleamed from watching how our guests interacted with the game. They really engaged with it but wanted more to do in the queue lines, more dynamic gameplay and more customisation.”
The Battle for Kings Dominion, launched in June 2017, is an example of what Holovis calls ‘Parkwide Experiences’ concept. Promoted in the park and downloadable to players’ phones for free, it “gamifies” activities guests are already doing. For example, they can collect points for riding rollercoasters, miles travelled or the number of inversions they endure.
Five of Kings Dominion’s key attractions are transformed into “coaster alliances” – avatars. These are:
Dominator
Flight of Fear
Intimidator 305
Avalanche
Volcano
These are depicted in the app in the form of a battle shield. Each alliance has its own personality and narratives. For example, there is a Transformers-style robot for Intimidator 305. There is also a cute, kitsch Yeti for Avalanche.
At Cedar Point, the coasters featured are:
Millennium Force
Valravn
GateKeeper
Top Thrill Dragster
Maverick.
After choosing their allegiance, guests compete against each other in an attempt to defeat the other alliances. Players can also create their own avatar which can be used to progress through different levels of the game across multiple visits to their chosen park. Each player’s effort contributes to the overall contest, which is announced at the end of the day. Guests can also play mini-games such as coaster trivia quizzes in the queue line, and enjoy a broad range of augmented reality (AR) experiences. These can then be shared with friends on social media.
Dieckmann went on to explain:
“The app allows people to record snippets of video, enhanced with augmented reality – similar to filters on Snapchat but tied to specific signage in the park, Players appear to have a lot of fun sharing these moments and it definitely helped create buzz for Cedar Point, marking us as a true innovator in the amusement park industry.”
Cedar Point also benefited directly from sales of The Battle for Kings Dominion merchandise. This included an AR-enabled T-shirt. This can be brought to life using the app and special pins tied into in-game achievements.
The Battle for Kings Dominion was created by Holovis and the extensive team of character and concept artists, animation experts, audio engineers, graphic designers and coders working closely with technical and operations staff at Cedar Fair.
Our Vice-President of Development, Amy Steele, commented saying:
“Extended Experiences are the future of entertainment, Every element is connected together, allowing guests to discover hidden narratives and gamify what are traditionally passive moments. Everything now becomes a chance to connect with other members of the park. Guests can also share their moments with their wider community on social media. One thing we noticed is that people are still interacting with the app when they get home. So we have built in more features so the game play can continue as they prepare for their next visit.”