RollerCoaster Tycoon Let Guests Drown

While developing RollerCoaster Tycoon in the late 1990s, Scottish game designer Chris Sawyer had to optimize the game around the limited processing power and memory of contemporary PCs. When guests fell into water, he made them wave for help and eventually drown because the alternative required additional swimming animations, graphics, and programming. Sawyer decided that allowing them to swim to shore would demand too many resources for such a minor feature.

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