How do you go about building your tracks? | Forums

[xB00MEx]

I'm curious to know how some of the better track creators go about designing/building your tracks. Any tips in track design would be greatly appreciated.

Do you lay it out on paper first, or just start building and go from there?

Do you finish the main part of the track, then go back and add the background or decorations or do you build it in sections and finish each section before moving on to the next?

[RetiredRonin]

I build in checkpoint sections, starting with the line and then doing background. I never draw anything out, but I always start with a basic idea.

[NovaDarkStorm]

I base things off of real life things around me like boxes or pallets, I have sprockets on my machine that look like saws when they are spinning, I think of enviroments outside like snow, sunny, dark, cloudy. Use them in some tracks if need be then I use that idea or base things in doors. Barrels with toxic in them or water, oil, snow.

Take stuff like this and work on a basic routine, it will all come natural, make sure you know it's a easy, medium, hard etc track. And test how you want an object to be placed, how it should work. How you want things stacked is upto you.

Ask some pro players to test your track, how long it takes. Where can it be improved.

Look at previous tracks people have made. Copy what they have done, integrate it a different way, make the driving line your own. There is so many tracks out there to learn from.

Nytmair was taught when I told him to make a track like attica dominatus. Look how far he has come now.

good luck!

[willyums]

i build an obstacle and test it, seeing how the bike 'comes out of it' and then build the next obstacle in relation to where the bike feels like it should be.
i do the whole line like that and only then put checkpoints in. i think thats the best way to get a rideline that feels good to ride. then i do the lighting.

after that i put the structures in on the rideline (no floating pieces) and then start working on the very basic background stuff, only putting detailed stuff in at the end so you can spread your remaining objects equally throughout the track.
then its just final touches, changing the lighting/fog a little, maxing out the object limit, medal times etc. but i think everyone finds their own way is best for them

[rlmergeuser]

I usually have a general idea of what type of track I'm building, and I try to keep up with boring decoration and not just ride line, so I'm not left with a complete line and no decor. The most important thing for me is the line, I spend a lot of time trying to make the obstacles match nicely with the fastest way of running the track.

One thing I keep doing though is to start out thinking, "this is gonna be my first extreme track", and when I test run it, it just strikes me as boring, so I tweak the obstacles until they're medium or hard instead. Can't tell you how many times I've done that.

[jook13]

I build like 99% of each section as I go, adding full detail and lights before I move on. At the end I usually end up deleating more than half my lights because the editor cant handle it.

I never pre-sketch anything on paper. I always have a very exact image in my head of what I want. And what I make is always incredibly different than my vision.

[xMotionSickness]

i build an obstacle and test it, seeing how the bike 'comes out of it' and then build the next obstacle in relation to where the bike feels like it should be.
i do the whole line like that and only then put checkpoints in. i think thats the best way to get a rideline that feels good to ride. then i do the lighting.

after that i put the structures in on the rideline (no floating pieces) and then start working on the very basic background stuff, only putting detailed stuff in at the end so you can spread your remaining objects equally throughout the track.
then its just final touches, changing the lighting/fog a little, maxing out the object limit, medal times etc. but i think everyone finds their own way is best for them

This is almost exactly how I build my tracks. The only thing I do differently is that when im happy with a section of my track ill start placing structures and basic background objects. I dislike finishing a track up to the finish line then having to decorate the whole thing, I get bored of decorating, I just like building nice racing lines. I also like to build right up to max object limit and ill keep extending my tracks until I hit the limit so its important that the track is more or less finished after a 30 second run, then ill begin to extend it to the limit.

[BlueMageFTW]

and then start working on the very basic background stuff, only putting detailed stuff in at the end so you can spread your remaining objects equally throughout the track.

i have a really neat trick for this. a fantastic, big thrills dlc builder named oSKUMBAGo gave me this tip long long ago.
whenever i start a track, i dig a hole behind the start line and i place 100 trampolines all about, turned diferent ways on and off the driving line. basically i hit Y while holding a stick and a trigger and it will duplicate and rotate at the same time.
then when i get the dreaded you cannot save too many objects message, i go back there. i remove 10 trampolines and try to save again. ill repeat until it allows me to save. then i remove the remaining trampolines (and count them) and that tells me exactly how many objects i have left to use before hitting the limit. not that anyone really counts but i believe you can use about 1000 objects. some count as more though, like lights are about 3 to 5 objects, glue counts as objects etc etc.