Global Track Central - a community based track database v2 | Forums

[Fexelein]

Hi all -


When I am not playing Trials I am usually sitting at my computer programming stuff. It's what I do. A few days ago I was set out to create an application that could act as a portal between all of the various custom Trials tracks and the community. I call it, Global Track Central!

Here's a few of the problems I was trying to solve:

[list:2kjm5ie0]
[*:2kjm5ie0] A collaboration platform around Trials tracks. [/*:m:2kjm5ie0]
[*:2kjm5ie0] A repository for awesome tracks, including TrialsSE, TrialsHD and the future of Trials.[/*:m:2kjm5ie0]
[*:2kjm5ie0] A much better search system than Track Central currently offers[/*:m:2kjm5ie0]
[*:2kjm5ie0] A moderated space that is maintained by the community, and contains only high quality tracks![/*:m:2kjm5ie0]
[*:2kjm5ie0] An open platform, something that can change over time (as opposed to Xbox Live, which is secret, dangerous and closed)[/*:m:2kjm5ie0][/list:u:2kjm5ie0]

Today, a few days later I present to you the first version of my Global Track Central. It is set out the achieve the ultimate Trials repository. Even though it is not finished you can clearly see the potential.
I've put quite some work in this, and I certainly didn't achieve any medals, so please let me know what you think!

This page shows an overview of all the tracks. Newest tracks are on top. If you click on a gamertag in the "creator" column it will pull up the search window and searches for that track author.

This page shows all the tracks for Trials Evolution.

The search window allows you to search for a specific author, multiple tags and keywords in the track title and description. You can also filter Trials version, Game Type (Trials, Skillgame) and Difficulty. I've added 5 Ninja Levels and a few Tags like Remake and Driving Line.

The submit track windows allows everybody to submit a track. Tracks are currently added instantly but I want so create moderation around this. My goal is to create a database that only contains good tracks that meet certain community-set requirements.

Among regular track information the user may provide a custom preview image and a youtube link. The rating can be set by a slider for now, no actual rating system is present.
The LINK ID is generated but can be changed. It is designed to be used as a global id. I currently use it for deeplinks and Twitter tags.
The medal times in the screenshot are still disabled. I am not sure if this will be of any value.

This page shows the details for a Track. As you can see it is a little rough around the edges, but I am no photoshop guru.
It shows a small thumbnail of the track and a button for that opens Youtube. The Twitter tag at the top right is there for easy copy&paste. The last 15 tweets with the HashTag for that track will be shown below.
You can also see the rider times on this page. The points column is auto-calculated based on the medal time inputs.

This screenshot shows you how to submit your own times. If you have a new time, re-submit it using this form and it will be displayed with the track. As you can see you can directly link to "proof" of your rider. This can be done by providing another YouTube link that will be shown next to the rider's time!

Another thing I have implemented is the ability to submit rider times. You can submit and re-submit your time and see that time in the leaderboard for that track. If a track have valid medal times, points will also be calculated and shown. You will need to provide medal times, an ultimate time and the score-coefficient. For more information about that, read this: global spreadsheet thread. One of the cool things I have been able to do, was create an Event Summary with riders and times based on a TAG! All I needed to do was create tag for a specific event and add that tag to the tracks. Here's the outcome:

http://fexelein.dyndns.info/#/Event/...20Championship
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/Mobile/E...20Championship

The points would have been shown if the medal times were provided for those tracks!

Because a lot of you are using mobile devices I have created a mobile site for data consumption. That means you do not get the benefits of
adding & modifying data, but you can view the information on the site.













Okay, that's about it! Please let me know what you think! If you think you can help out, let me know!
If you have suggestions, tell me! Even if you totally dislike this idea, feel free to express it here!

Here's the link (temporary one):
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/

Deeplink to a track:
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/#/Track/0hrvtfw7

Deeplink to the Remake tag (shows all remakes!!):
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/#/Tag/Remake

Deeplink to a creator (shows all tracks by e.g. RedLynx):
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/#/Creator/RedLynx

Mobile site url:
http://fexelein.dyndns.info/Mobile/



- Fex

[Morfyboy]

Hey man,at a glance i have to say well done..im sure there will be players on here that will find this very useful..im not really into computers that much to appreciate this but if i got to understand it then i would possible use it..
I think there is always a place in the forums etc for great services created by other trialers wether its feedback, or more technical things like this..so to finish, looks awsome..

[luthanick]

This looks great man. Can't wait to see tracks getting added to it. Maybe RedLynx will pick up a few tips that they can use for TC in future updates, because it is really impossible to search for anything on TC at the moment.

The whole trial track on a usb stick isn't needed for evo, but I guess for the other games it would be useful.

Also, Would it be possible to comment without having a twitter account?

Custom leaderboards. seems tiresome to enter it manually, but for those interested I guess could be interesting.

Looking forward to progress on this though. nice job so far.

[geordiedeviant]

This is great.

Personally I'm rarely ever in front of the PC when playing Trials, so this would be awesome for having a database of vids to watch and get a little more info on it while on the computer.
I would love to see this in mobile app form though as I could then recline on the couch and still be able to search for the newest NONE Basketball 'tracks'.

[NasT65]

... well done sir...very well done.

[JoeRegular]

This is really well done mate, great work. I think the tracks on a stick idea would be really useful for those on the pc a lot but you'd need to check the legality of it...I'm sure Shifty can help you in that dept

[aWebDesigner]

Excellent. I have wanted to do this since day 1 but my programming skills just aren't up to the task. I would be happy to set up a site for this and host it on my server. Add me on XBL ASAP

edit: didn't even see the links. I thought you just had this set up locally. Awesome job!!! Send me a friend request anyway if you have the room.

[luthanick]

I noticed that the different sorting options only sort one page worth of data. Is it possible to sort through ALL of the track info. For example, I tried sorting by creator and it only sorted that current page of creators. Still, will be great when more people start putting tracks on here.

[Fexelein]

Hi everybody, thanks for responses!

I have done a lot of updates so please check it out! Everybody is now free to submit and edit existing tracks. I have also added a few animations to show off my skills!

Also, Would it be possible to comment without having a twitter account?

I have used twitter because is it free to use, widely accepted and quickly implemented. I don't like twitter either but it seemed nice-to-have. I am still thinking about a user system but that is a lot of work, done properly. I'm not sure which direction I'll be going from this point forward and most of that will be up to the community.

I am hoping to get some more people engaged into submitting tracks, I have seen a few been added. In the meanwhile I hope to shape up the graphics a little more with a nice logo ( I've asked Fat Shady in a PM) and some overall polishing.

This is great. I would love to see this in mobile app form though as I could then recline on the couch and still be able to search for the newest NONE Basketball 'tracks'.

Unfortunately I am not a mobile developer, yet! And, I love this platform (silverlight) that I am using. I've been able to make some real progress in very little time and I just couldn't do that with other platforms including HTML5. Sorry.

This is really well done mate, great work. I think the tracks on a stick idea would be really useful for those on the pc a lot but you'd need to check the legality of it...I'm sure Shifty can help you in that dept

Thanks Joe! Good point! I'm sure one of them will respond sooner or later! I like the idea of hopping onto my computer and downloading a new fresh batch of Trials Evolution levels onto my USB stick and playing them without painstakingly searching for them in Track Central!

Excellent. I have wanted to do this since day 1 but my programming skills just aren't up to the task. I would be happy to set up a site for this and host it on my server.

Thanks! I'm sure you are a much better designer than I am, one must pick a path at some point. If you are up for it I would like some help in that department!

I noticed that the different sorting options only sort one page worth of data. Is it possible to sort through ALL of the track info. For example, I tried sorting by creator and it only sorted that current page of creators. Still, will be great when more people start putting tracks on here.

I've fixed that for now, in the sense that it doesn't sort at all. I'm putting this one on my todo list!

- Fex

[emerica6708]

Great job, it looks awesome. I don't think the USB idea will work though, I believe the tracks are signed only to the Xbox that originally downloaded them, I know that's how it works for DLC and Arcade games but I'm not positive about something like this so it might work but I doubt it. Still a very useful app without it.