Member
I could have swore there was something like this here, but I can't find it now...but I have come across some annoying problems with tracks lately that are so common it's pathetic. If we could start a list of what to look for when building/testing tracks maybe it will stop, or at least give people a clue what to avoid doing when building their tracks.
**Medium tracks that either force you on the Phoenix or can not be completed with the Scorpion. This one annoys me most because when I play a medium track I want to use the Scorpion since I still have problems taming the Phoenix sometimes with how bouncy it is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't even unlock the Phoenix until you take the A License Test which automatically defaults tracks "requiring" it to hard and above. My advise would be to test it with both and if the Scorpion can't do it then label your track hard, or re-work it! Which brings me to...
**Wrong difficulty label. Sometimes this is because as the track creator you know how to hit each obstacle 1000 times over and you think it's easy. Or maybe your just an awesome player and have no trouble getting over everything with 0 faults. Whatever the case, you have to think of the obstacles as someone playing your track for the first time and knowing nothing about it. Or if you can, get some friends at different skill levels to test it out. I played one yesterday that was labeled medium and had technical obstacles exactly like Way of the Ninja, which is an extreme course. I have no clue what would make the creator think his track belonged in medium when something similar was labeled extreme...at the least it should have been labeled hard!
**Water, a.k.a. the bike is not a boat! There seems to be a trend with having you "float" across in tracks lately. I played one where I literally had to bob in the water about a football field length to get to the finish. Skimming the water is fine, and if you don't make a jump and drown that's fine...but flat out having me swim on a bike? Bad idea and slow as crap with very little room to even tip the rider without drowning!
**Bad camera placement. It's ok to use custom cameras, and sometimes you just have to because of a weird angle the game camera uses in certain situations. But if you are going for something cinematic at least make sure the rider can see how to stick his landing. Simple things can become 10x harder to hit because you can't judge how your bike is positioned in the air because of the camera angle. Or the worst is when your in the air or about to hit a ramp and there's a sudden snap to a different camera throwing your position off! Rule of thumb is, if you are going to have problems sticking the landing then you may need to re-evaluate that custom camera.
**Can't see the driving line. This one is sorta like the custom camera annoyance but it could be a problem on it's on in some cases. Generally this is when there are things placed in the foreground that completely cover up the rider for a given period of time. But sometimes its obstacles hidden behind foreground objects, and other times it's coming around a curve and slamming into something full speed because you didn't have any warning it was coming. If your going to have something that the rider is going to slam into at least put up some signs to let them know it's coming, but the best idea is to figure out a way to slow them up before they even reach that part!
That's all I can think of for now, but I know there's more tips out there for people to avoid doing building their tracks.
Quote from: BERTANDERNY
**Test, test and test again. So many tracks i have played just seem to be flawed on a basic level that a simple test before sharing would have fixed. Sometimes its logic and sometimes its obstacles but if tested properly the issues would have been found and fixed.
**Obstacles placed in an arbitrary manner do not create a a good track that if cant be beaten means the player is not good enough. It simply creats frustration. If you have an idea for a trick or obstacle then we go back to point one. Test it over and over again and be sure it is obvious how to complete it or that its not difficult simply through bad placement of pieces. A hard track can still be enjoyable but a badly placed track is frustrating.
**Sharp turns in the driving line. try to avoid these as they can create stability issues through no fault of the player. *Append - Whipping the rider around because of sharp turns can be easily avoided by placing fewer spline points and adjusting the curve with the LT and RT. If you find your turn is making the bike "jerky" then try adjusting the curve a bit and see if it fixes it!
**Details. if scenery is included be sure it looks right. having floating trees for example and just looks rushed. *Append - Also watch overlapping objects that create flashing twitchy textures, it's very distracting and ugly when that happens. If you notice this simply move one of the objects up or down until it stops flashing. When placing objects try to make them look more natural and not a jumbled up clump. Like a barrel half inside another barrel, or tires merged into each other. It will just end up look odd and stick out like a sore thumb.
Quote from: Monstabonza
**Don't build tracks above your skill level. What I mean by this is if you can't regularly beat the ingame extremes with say 12 or less faults, then you probably shouldn't be building ninja tracks. Probably not even extremes. You can't really build a well rounded track unless you have the ability to complete said track. I know people think there's a level of prestige for building extreme tracks, but look at the tracks from the guys that do the best extremes they also build really good easy and medium tracks. Build for your own ability is the point I'm trying to make.
If you have any more tips post them here and I'll add them to the first post.
Senior Member
Couldn't agree more with you, even tho my first evo track is water basedbut i was just experimenting with the physics on the first days with evo. I'm not very proud of it now.
Senior Member
Regarding difficulty...
I noticed you played my 'The Ratway' track yesterday. So, with you being on my friends list, I watched your replay. I'm guessing that this thread was partly spawned from your annoyance of the difficulty rating of this track.
Several obstacles are quite tricky with the scorpion. But you persevered and finished it. Well done.
I also noticed that 'Dark Castle Returns' gave you similar grief.
The problem is that my friend who tests them with me is rather good at trials. He flies through the tracks I make and tells me they are easy so I have underplayed the difficulty on them.
However, I'm aware of this and have a second, not so talented tester now.
Unfortunately I cannot edit the currently published ones but future ones will be better classed...
Member
It wasn't yesterday, I played your tracks way back on May 21 when I responded to your thread here: http://www.redlynxgame.com/forum/vie...hp?f=82&t=9641. It wasn't long after I finished the main game and just started playing TC tracks so I didn't have a base for annoying things yetOriginally Posted by Cruelty976. But I just watched that replay myself and holy crap I sucked back then
Where I'm coming from is someone that started with Trials Evo so I don't have the mastery of people that played Trials HD for years. There is (and probably will be) a lot of riders that start with Evo and are still getting a handle on the game. Generally, this minority of people are still going to be using and prefer the Scorpion till they get the hang of the Phoenix more. And the tracks they are going to be seeking out are medium or below with a little bit of hard if the track looks cool. Some may adapt to the Phoenix quicker, but I can almost bet that the general newcomer to the series is going to be riding the Scorpion for a long while. When selecting the difficulty just keep in mind the growing number of players that are and will be new to the series to reach a wider audience with your tracks. Unless you are just trying to reach the Trials veterans, that's why I steer clear away from extreme tracks.
i put up a thread about such things in the editor section. maybe i should have put it here. check it out.
some constructive criticism (my two cents) - by me BERTANDERNY
maybe you could add my points and have this become a proper advice thread for budding builders.
I'll add something.
Don't build tracks above your skill level.
What I mean by this using you can't regularly beat the ingame extremes with say 12 or less faults. You probably shouldn't be building ninja track. Probably not even extremes. You can't really build a well rounded track unless you have the ability to complete Said track. I know people. Think there's a level of prestige for. Building extreme tracks but look at the tracks from the guys that do the best extremes they also build really Good Easy and medium tracks.
Build for your own ability is the pint I'm trying to make.
monsta bonza
Member
That may have been where I saw it before. I'll check it out and try to work it into the first post.Originally Posted by BERTANDERNY
I agree with that Monstabonza, you can't really know what makes an extreme track fun until you can consistently hit everything. It just ends up being ridiculous obstacles without an understanding of how things are put together.
