DJ wrote:I'm disappointed that some of you giving this criticism (the two above posters for example), are track makers yourself, and didn't enter the competition. Why?
So certainly you aren't saying that the only people who are qualified to give criticism are those who entered the contest?
Pretty immature response - unless I'm totally reading it wrong.
DJ_Diehl#777 wrote:All of these are not aimed at your track in particular Garasaki. (No offense, but the last one is)
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3. Fluidity - I found that many of the contest tracks dont "flow" together, it seems like the obsticles are just randomly thrown in with little or no thought going into the flow of the displacement map. I love tracks that have a smooth flowing displacement map (Broadmeadow, Unidilla, ect) one section should lead you into the next without you saying "WTF was that"?
I certainly don't take offense to constructive criticism. If you had insulted my mother or said "your track sucks" then I would be offended.
I purposely make my layouts unpredictable, although I think they flow well. Of course I'm used to riding them as they come together so I am probably not an accurate judge of what flows well and what dosent.
I also try to force riders to take awkward fast lines or "smooth but the long way around" lines. Just seems more interesting to me to do it that way. Overly smooth tracks with the same style jumps and corners throughout seem really boring to me.
I would appriciate even more specific criticism - ie what particular sections on the track made you go "wtf was that"? PM it to me if you don't feel comfortable posting here or elsewhere.
I haven't had time to really ride many of the tracks. I spun a few laps on Cedarshire Hills last night, and while I originally did not care for it, it definately grew on me. The thing that is frustrating about it, is it's hard to tell the difference between a 4th gear, wide open, seat bounce huge jump and a little hump corner when you are coming up to them - I found myself jumping over 3 straights away from the one I was supposed to be on several times. Would be nice if there was a visual que (ie placed objects) that say "hey dipshit, slow down, this is a corner, not a 130 foot triple". I also thought the disp could use some breaking bumps and I would have liked to see the traction value upped a bit. The ontrack decal dosent have a smooth edge either. I really liked the subtle use of elevation changes throughout.
I noticed several of the tracks had a bipolar personality. Windcott, Kingluc, and Cedarshire Hills all seemed to have a big jump, rhtyhmy, totally flat area then a naturally layed out, no jumps type, hilly (Cedarshire Hills is the only one that kept the hills throughout) area. Kingluc was definately the worst in this regards - it would have been a much more enjoyable track if it were simply split in 2, and made into 2 tracks. Cypress Hollows was basically flat with weird, spontaneously appearing gullys, then one HUGE uphill/downhill section. Anyway a lot of those layouts felt a bit like the terrain was made to suit the track, rather then the track being built on top of the terrain.
I really really like Cypress Hollows. The decals are amazing. I struggle with the track because, depending on how you look at it, it's too narrow or there are too many trackside objects. Ask Stocksy. .
I feel like there were several sections that felt really repetitive. Left turn with 3 ruts, short flat straight, right 180 with 2 ruts, left turn. I kept thinking "wtf I already rode this section didn't I??". Some additional elevation change would have been nice. Sometimes I wonder why I give advice on track layouts, since my tracks tend to be greeted with a resounding lack of interest
, but IMO a (video game) track should always be turning or changing elevation, or both (even when you are in the air). Otherwise it gets boring.
I liked the ruts. Sort of. Like I said, they were way repetitive. And they were too on top of the ground, rather then dug into the ground. IF they were dug in, you would be able to take an outside line, square off, and ride across the ruts. Think about how many additional lines this would open up! However, because they are so "on top" of the terrain, it is impossible to ride across them - making every corner have 2 lines (or occasionally 3, if you drew a 3rd rut). It also makes for a crashfest - if you pop out of the rut, you crash because you bike gets stuck teetering on top of the 3 or 4 foot high rut. If the ruts were dug in, and you pop out of a rut, you just correct yourself because now you are on top of the normal terrain.
I personally really liked the jumps, they felt really realistic. Could maybe have used more maybe. And theres not many places to whip it. I'm not sure why everyone picks on that big triple - I could barely double it and it seemed obvious to me the idea was to rail the outside, double single thru there or hug the inside, manual, double out of there (which would be a great passing line). Tripling never even crossed my mind.
yFMX's track was good - the whole dark thing was super well done, and it was amazing how obvious the Messiah influence was on everything on the track. To me the layout was nice and flowing, I would have maybe added some jumps and made it less bumpy. The lighting was hard to deal with - I think this track would be really good if it were released as a day version (smoother and hey guess what, you can see) and a night version. Then you could learn the layout on the day version, making the night version way more fun and less frustrating. Its really hard to enjoy a track with a laptime this long, a layout this complicated, and riding it half blind. The decals ontrack were awesome, you could only see them in about 3 places though. The offtrack decals were way to MvA style for my tastes.
I didn't care for Archview much - the textures were really not well done and the disp had some bright spots but overall felt too smooth and boring. I understand (now) it's a replica and I am just not sure a replica of a local jumpy track is the way to go for a contest. The triple is super fun though - in fact if they entire track were built the way that tabletop-turn-triple-turn-double-tabletop section was, with some more bumps throughout, that would be a really really good track. A few of the ruts, although not visually top notch, rode really well. Also felt like they misused the LOD thing for objects on this one, as they would suddenly appear when I was about 20 feet from them.
I only briefly rode Lodge Forest. One thing about BR21's tracks, for me, is that I have to set my bike up specifically for them (hey jlv, how are those saveable suspension settings coming...??????????????????????) so I have shied away from this one. I think his tracks are ridiculously fun when my bike is set up softer for them. It became obvious to me within seconds that this one is the same way - I just haven't had time to go out and enjoy it yet.
I haven't given Timber Hills enough time to form a decent opinion. The only thing I can say about it is it appears to be an MvA convert. Haven't decided if that's good or bad.
Which is actually a good segway into Pinned Town which felt exactly like an old MCM2 convert. Like the old WFO huge air nationals. I also thought this one could use more traction. Also havent had an opportunity to give it a good go.
Kingluc had some really fun jumps that I loved, and a few natural terrain sections I liked, but just didn't go together well at all. The corners seemed a bit suspect and there weren't many options. The terrain was obviously created to suit the track - totally flat in some areas, cliffy in others, and gentle hills where the layout needed it - Felt very much "made by humans".
I was suprised overall by the laptimes on these tracks. I purposely spent a lot of effort keeping my laptimes short. But it turned out being on of the shorter tracks in the contest.
Initially I was sure Cypress Hollows was my fav. Now I'm not sure if it's Cypress Hollows (with amazing textures, a great enviroment, but frustrating [although fresh feeling and enjoyable when not crashed, stuck on a rut, or trapped between a 4 foot high rut and 4 trackside objects] disp) or Cedarshire Hills (which I was not at all lookign forward too honestly, but has a really fun disp that takes some time to learn, and an adequate enviroment).
I dont think a single track has really stood above the rest - the just seems to be 2 groups of tracks here to me - really good but not perfect (maybe that's just being unrealistic anyway) and pretty good (with lots of potential shown by the creators).
I definately agree that this contest has raised the level of trackmakign here. Even the "worst" track in this contest is much much better then the tracks that were available a year ago.
lol i didnt read it but i agree.. i think?
Especially on Factorys track
