I have watched some pretty in depth videos on this game in construction of buildings etc, I assume this is top level play.
How many levels of play are there ?
I would not be surprised and expect that most of the trophy parks in the videos are sandbox building based on unlimited budgets, just to show what can be accomplished. When it comes to park management, actually playing this as a RTS/management game, there are sandbox, regular, and a challenge modes. Not sure if those have individual levels within them. Sandbox is just sandbox.
The game has two distinct aspects, building versus layout and management. I don't think the games cares how pretty your structures are as long as they are functional and well laid out. I'll admit what drew me to the game is the awesome building capabilities. I'm not an expert on every building sandbox out there, but with extensive experience in Fallout 4, Minecraft, and ARK Survival Evolved, from a purely building aspect, what is included in the base game, PC blows them out of the water even considering mods available for those other games. To be fair, keep in mind that each game focuses on different things. If you want incredible Dino's, you want ARK, post apocalyptic survival, Fallout 4.
It can argued that park management is the main focus of PC, but here you have a game where, building abilities reigns supreme, however, it's limit is that the focus is on amusement park building, not houses with real doors and windows with furniture, kitchen, etc.
One thing I've become aware of, the basic building controls are not terrible, but for other than basic building, the controls are challenging. I feel challenged. If you want to wow yourself and maybe others, you have to devote time studying how building is accomplished on a "professional" level.
When you watch one of those Silvarret building videos, he makes it look easy, but it's not. Keep in mind he's sculpting David, not drawing a stick figure with a crayon. I jumped into the game, started experimenting and have found it can be hard getting things to go where I want them to in a complex structure just using basic pieces. And that combining pieces will be required.
It's not that combining pieces is difficult, but it can be, and getting them in the right place to align with other building parts. You'll also discover that many of the pieces you see in a featured building is actually made up of multiple pieces that have been melded together, with skill.
One basic tip you'll become aware of fast, building parts are not stacked as if gravity exists, they float and there are no collision limits. Pieces can be shoved into one another and into the ground to modify how they look and to create new things.
To be inspired watch the This Is Amazing video (post 7), Silvarret's videos in post 10, but to learn basics, watch Geekism's videos, like this one where instead of just showing sped up building, he actually explains how.
