Anybody got tips for making good multiple paths? How do you guys go about doing it? This I think is the area were I need the most help. If any of you have seen my tracks you know that I spend a lot of time on backgrounds. I think of a cool environment first, and my driving line is secondary--maybe that's my problem to begin with. Do you guys build the tracks first and then fill in the backgrounds? Any tips are appreciated.
Senior Member
Everyone has a different workflow so I can only speak for myself but the way I work is to create a couple of obstacles, then create the background for those, ride over them a few hundred times and see what feels natural for the next obstacle and continue from there.
Creating a track with multiple routes is great fun but very time consuming with testing. You don't want to end up with one route being massively quicker than the other (like Smelting Hazard) because most people will just use the quickest route and will never see the rest of the level.
Just try to keep in mind that a line that weaves in and out of eachother is probably better than having two toatally seperate lines altogether.
Trials Developer
Awesome comment euphy...your're so right!
Senior Member
i do exactly that. build a lil, drive a few hundred times and just build whats next. my co-build account 'mustard trax' is notorious for multiple routes. the way i involve the rider is to add in a crazy egg or 2 and announce it so people try multiple routes etc to find it. as for building multiple paths, most of the time, it just happens because during test a certain obstacle that worked for me a hundred times b4 sometimes i cant do it again and i think, 'well i want people to finish' so i build easier but longer time routes to allow all skill levels to finish and i usually make the silver medal times apropriate with my 'scenic silver routes' as i call em.Originally Posted by EuphoricFusion
Senior Member
ThanksOriginally Posted by JJtheGerman
My track "Scaffold Run" is the only track I have made with multiple routes in mind from the start.
It took a ton of testing and looks pretty simplistic but no matter which way you go you generally end up about a tenth of a second apart which I thought turned out pretty good over a 25 second run.
OK, heres my best tips that i can think of
- Do NOT make ONLY the top or ONLY the bottom faster, it was MONTHS before we actually found the fastest route on the original trials 2 "Maze". Maybe even have it so that at the start you go on bottom then it goes up to the top or maybe you stay on the bottom for a little while then go up to the top for a little while. Or perhaps, make it so that you have to "try" to stay in the middle route
-Make it so that you cannot just "find" the quickest route right away, you really have to think of where to go when theres 4 different ways to go ( If you REALLY want a maze track anyway). I guess this all counts particularly on the track "Maker".
Thanks. Anyone else?
what more is there to itOriginally Posted by Rorschach3000
Senior Member
EXAMPLE VIDEOOriginally Posted by 420- Do NOT make ONLY the top or ONLY the bottom faster, it was MONTHS before we actually found the fastest route on the original trials 2 "Maze". Maybe even have it so that at the start you go on bottom then it goes up to the top or maybe you stay on the bottom for a little while then go up to the top for a little while. Or perhaps, make it so that you have to "try" to stay in the middle route
To answer your questions, it all depends on your building/track style, no two creators are the same. I like to build my drive line and fill in background as I go (hoping I don't run out of objects lol) 90% of my tracks are built on the go and I don't plan anything. I do lots of testing, testing is ESPECIALLY important in multi path tracks.
Make sure that you test and retest from prior checkpoints to make sure gaps and obstacles aren't too tough to get by. Multi path tracks are best as medium tracks, fast and flowing. Try to make the lines intertwine as it becomes more difficult to know which way is faster. This also give the riders more playability, they can see which area is fast and which is slower.
Gr8 stuff everybody. I agree with everybody. Like Jarr3tt said no two creators create alike, so whatever works for you is the way to go. I dn't necassarily have a set way to build tracks. I usually come up with a theme or idea, create as I go, and try to stay in the theme or idea I had planned. Sometimes this means making enviroment first other times it's the driving line obstacles that are the idea and i'll fill in the back and foreground afterwards.
I dn't have much experience making multiple paths, I just did my first on-Struktura. And I did what everyone is saying not to do, lol. I Made my top section much faster than the bottom half. It's not a very long section and is relatively difficult to get on the top level, but it does let you skip 3 obstacles. I originaly was going to have you skip just one obstacle then force you back down in an awkward way. So it would have been faster to go up then back down before i made you go back down, but I thought that this would frustrate ppl. Now I know that this isn't the case, and understand why.
This is a good thread, and cool advice from everybody.
