"Coastal Cruise" - my first upload | Forums

[rlmergeuser]

I just submitted my first track to TC; looking for critique and thoughts.

GT: Knot A Tumah
Track: Coastal Cruise
Difficulty: Extreme
Tags: Technical, Realistic, Themed, Scenic

I've poured my heart & soul into this track for the past 10 days and would love to hear some feedback. I've worked tirelessly to ensure each jump/checkpoint are possible, free of physical hiccups (things in the way of the driving line), and none of them are one-trick jumps that need a perfect driving line; although, a couple spots do require a good deal of discipline.

Please let me know what you think about the environment. In real-life I actually love old, worn structures and create a lot of art surrounding them. Laboring over this track was a passion of the environment and how the rider interacts with it so I would love to know how people feel about it. Does it work? Did it do well? Was it convincing?

My secondary goal was an extreme challenge. I really enjoy the extreme difficulties and wanted to test my abilities in the editor. Many jumps fit that category while some don't. I had to weigh the fun & environment on many decisions. Feedback here is probably crucial.

My biggest fear are the medal times. I've tested the track start/finish a few times to determine medal times but I'm not exactly an expert at my own track - I've beaten my own gold/silver faults/times but Platinum is an approximation based on lots of testing as I have yet to plat my own track (an artist can never fully enjoy their own work, you know?) Therefore if I need any feedback at all it is with the medal faults/times.

Any feedback is appreciated, I believe I can be able to produce one more detailed track before the end of summer and would love to do so. Anything I get here will be incredibly helpful.

[Barrybarfly]

Good post. I'll try and give your track a run next time I manage to get online and I'll pop back with some feedback once I do.

[Barrybarfly]

Urgh. I dont know what to say about this track. Really, an extremely good player needs to try it and see if its ninja or not. I can't honestly tell if the obstacles are really badly made or just really difficult. The theme and scenery is ok though, that worked pretty well. But the fact that it took me 179 faults to finish is way off from an extreme track. So its either me or the obstacles and I wouldnt want to say which tbh. If its me then I cant judge the quality of the line, so I wont try to.

Sorry I cant be more help.

[rlmergeuser]

I'm not able to finish and it seems the two who have (respect, where is the builder himself?) somehow had corrupted replays...

[scottie1230]

Just played your track. I think that from checkpoints 1 to 5 the obstacles are well designed and challenging. Then you reach the 6th checkpoint (where you accelerate off of the fire escape, then clear the metal ramp exstensions landing on the scaffolding, then have to jump over to the other wooden scaffolding) which is so much harder than the rest of the obstacles, because it is like the two hardest obstacles with no checkpoint inbetween them.
The rest of the track is good. So overall, it's a great first track, i'd give it a 3.75 out of 5... 4 stars on TC.
And may I ask why there is a checkpoint at the start line? Haha

[Barrybarfly]

Just played your track. I think that from checkpoints 1 to 5 the obstacles are well designed and challenging. Then you reach the 6th checkpoint (where you accelerate off of the fire escape, then clear the metal ramp exstensions landing on the scaffolding, then have to jump over to the other wooden scaffolding) which is so much harder than the rest of the obstacles, because it is like the two hardest obstacles with no checkpoint inbetween them.
The rest of the track is good. So overall, it's a great first track, i'd give it a 3.75 out of 5... 4 stars on TC.
And may I ask why there is a checkpoint at the start line? Haha

Purely to try and get some cheap faults and make us hit select instead of B. I forgot about that.

[scottie1230]

Purely to try and get some cheap faults and make us hit select instead of B. I forgot about that.

I got around 20 faults because of this the first time playing through the track Aye, he's a crafty one!

[rlmergeuser]

Just played your track. I think that from checkpoints 1 to 5 the obstacles are well designed and challenging. Then you reach the 6th checkpoint (where you accelerate off of the fire escape, then clear the metal ramp exstensions landing on the scaffolding, then have to jump over to the other wooden scaffolding) which is so much harder than the rest of the obstacles, because it is like the two hardest obstacles with no checkpoint inbetween them.
The rest of the track is good. So overall, it's a great first track, i'd give it a 3.75 out of 5... 4 stars on TC.
And may I ask why there is a checkpoint at the start line? Haha

Purely to try and get some cheap faults and make us hit select instead of B. I forgot about that.

Hah, well, I laid the driving line and never touched the 1st "checkpoint" and truthfully never though of it; not an intentional blight.

Well I'm disappointed but not unexpectedly. I appreciate the feedback and would much rather re-work the track and remove things like the checkpoint placed at the start and tweak the "harder" jumps. I aimed for Extreme and designed it as such but not impossible so it should be expected that some jumps are difficult.

I can't fix things unless I'm told their broken, I spent the last two days mulling over all the jumps and playability so as the creator, much like an artist looking back at their painting, I don't how it looks to other people. I easily completed the track in under 30 faults to upload to TC but then again I've played every jump hundreds of times and know how they work, much like anybody that goes through and practices any of Red Lynx's Extreme tracks to get gold & platinum.

I won't be hurt by critique so please don't hold back.

I would love to get more feedback and I'll re-work the track and upload it next week.

[Barrybarfly]

Well, if I'm honest I think its too hard to be classed as just an extreme track. There's one obstacle that stands out for me especially. You jumo onto a ramp that curves away from you, land the other side on a palette/walkway and hop over a vertical secion onto a downslope with a platform you then have to get onto that is gapped away from the downslope. If you can be bothered to fast forward through my 12 minute replay, you'll see how much trouble I had with that and how I managed to cheat my way through it.

Also, your first obstacle is going to really put people off. You have to get that upslope 100% perfect and then hope to get a perfect landing in order to make the next jump and get to a cp. Most people are going to try it a few times and then just quit. Its not a bad obstacle as such, just a bit too hard and people in TC often have no patience.

I think it was the second obstacle where you jump between a wooden pole and a shipping container? It took me a few faults to realise I couldnt land on either and was actually meant to go low there. After the first obstacle I kind of assumed I was just making a bad jump, until I got annoyed and tried to cheat underneath and realised that was the actual route! lol

In places the track has decent flow but then in others it really doesnt. This was kind of annoying as i wasnt sure if it was a start stop track or a flowing track.

It sounds like I hated the track and tbh I wasnt that keen. But most of the issues I have could be solved with such minor changes that people wouldnt tell this version and a tweaked version apart in a replay. Its just a case of a few mm here and a few mm there for the most part.

So dont be disheartened. Always remember that I'm trying to be constructive and help, but also that this is just my opinion. I might be asking you to ruin a really good ninja track, or helping you make a really good extreme track. But these are my opinions so I figured that I'd let you know what I thought.

[rlmergeuser]

It sounds like I hated the track and tbh I wasnt that keen. But most of the issues I have could be solved with such minor changes that people wouldnt tell this version and a tweaked version apart in a replay. Its just a case of a few mm here and a few mm there for the most part.

So dont be disheartened. Always remember that I'm trying to be constructive and help, but also that this is just my opinion. I might be asking you to ruin a really good ninja track, or helping you make a really good extreme track. But these are my opinions so I figured that I'd let you know what I thought.

I get what you're saying completely. I'm about to graduate with a BFA and deal with these kinds of issues all the time: things where I intend something to look a certain way and people either completely miss it, see something different, or flat-out hate it. I have to put it out for show or I'll never know. Subtle changes like a line or slightly different color, or in this case a slight shift in ramp rotation by a degree or two, may change the look/feel entirely. I would have never though that the 2nd jump would have been confusing; but then again I'm the "artist" and you as the viewer (player) interpreted it completely different. It may be as simple as a small change in scenery to direct the player much like I would change a painting to direct the eye better. Would people play it again even under a modified name? Who knows, I'd rather fix it and re-brand it rather ditch it completely.

In the end there is no "ruining" the track because it isn't that great as is and now I know that. While it is hard to change things after many hours I've spent hundreds of hours on paintings just to completely change large portions of them - a gut wrenching move but sometimes it must be done. The same can be done here.