RPG track building contest results

We received 14 submissions to our RPG anniversary track building competition, and today we are finally able to release the results. We hope that everybody had a challenging time trying to follow our rules and theme^^. We have seen many original and smart solutions to the "alternative routes" theme, everything from simple, second-gaining jumps to the requirement of special powers to move on. We have driven all tracks two times, judging by originality, atmosphere, the implementation of the theme and the route/tricks. Points were given from 0 to 100, where 100 is the best. Below are the final results + our reviews.

#	Track	Author	Tec score	Hawk score	Total score
1	Drop Scrolls on Sobékite	fish	90	84	87
2	Four Powers	Sebik	80	88	84
3	The Graveyard	Stromek	81	82	81.5
4	Tikal	Hogleg	76	73	74.5
5	GoldenEye	AtoM	68	70	69
5	Fang	svbg869	73	65	69
7	Thrillerbarc	Igntul	60	70	65
8	Impel Down	Robot	50	55	52.5
9	Arcadia	Enai Siaion	38	50	44
10	Polaris	jurek	30	45	37.5
11	We Be Pimpin	Kopstoot	37	30	33.5
12	AlienAttak	White	20	30	25
13	Avoid Fail!	Syr Skwirrel	10	15	12.5
14	Race to the Lighthouse	DarkPowa	1	5	3

Drop Scrolls on Sobékite, by fish

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2152985#auto

Tecfan:
The first run on this track left me with a very cool impression. It takes some time to find the route, the atmosphere is great, the track design is beautiful and the GM update looks very nice (though a bit too "clean"). Most of the jumps have an original feeling to them, and the alternative routes are small, but perfect! You will gain a decent amount of time taking the fast routes, but neither route ruins the flow. The flow of this track is its best property. WR-hunting on this track is great(ly frustrating:>) because of the race-like feeling. 90/100

HawkGer:
To begin with I really liked the idea of a Sobékite-themed track. The similarities to Sobékite concerning atmosphere and the route are not too striking, I found your implementation to be a good compromise. The route and the tricks are very good, producing a great flow. Especially in combination with the nicely implemented alternative routes it's very fun to search for the fastest way. With a little over 6min I found the track to be too short though. The atmosphere was good too but not very original. Especially tweaking the scenery would have made it much more stunning. Overall a very good track, 84/100 points


Four Powers, by Sebik

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2132778#auto

Tecfan:
I never actually liked the Manic Miner mod, it's too clean for me, but the great intro, music and MT makes the atmosphere pretty good. A very original concept with the whole "obtain special powers to move on"-theme. The alt. routes however are hard on the "easy" routes, and easy on the hard routes, but the MT to show which route is which is great. The route is cool, with a lot of re-uses made possible by the MT and the theme of the track. The tricks are very easy, but none of them are particularly bad. 80/100

HawkGer:
This is an extraordinary track. The basic route is already build very professional with lots of variety and good obstacles. But what makes some of these tricks so special is the "power"-theme the track is using which was conveyed very authentic to me and is implemented very intelligently to create new challenges. In general the MT and especially the 3D-Skins were stunning and add greatly to the atmosphere, which to begin with I already liked very much by using the Manic Miner mod. The only major flaw this track has are the alt. routes which are too long compared to the normal route. 88/100 points total


The Graveyard, by Stromek

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2146376#auto

Tecfan:
This track has a great atmosphere, but is kinda ruined by the bad MT work. The MT colors are dull, and there are no transitions between the different colors, and no use of trigger conditions at all. It's a little confusing in the start, figuring out the correct CP order (you can take multiple), but other than that the tricks route were excellent! Great pathfinding challenge, the alternative routes are not always obvious, but most of them are smart and good. On the second run, it also gets a very nice flow, so 81/100 for me.

HawkGer:
The track was very interesting to drive the first time, offering many challenges one had to figure out which, after multiple runs, proved out to be very calculatable and flowing. The atmosphere as already mentioned by Tecfan was indeed great but could have been much better with a few MT tweaks. I very much liked the implementation of sounds though which added greatly to the atmosphere. The alt. routes have a good length compared to the normal route and are well placed on sections which could be difficult for the player. 82/100 points in total.


Tikal, by Hogleg

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2085617#auto

Tecfan:
Tikal is a track which at first does not give you a good feeling, but after some CP's it's getting great. The atmosphere feels kinda old-school, but it is something different with the Stone mod (something different here means "no so good"). On the second alt. route, you will be punished for not being lucky enough to take the hard way. All the tricks are nice like on the classic RPG's, but still a lot of originality. Some of the alternative routes are perfect in terms of length and hardness. Despite its flaws, this is a great track, so 76/100.

HawkGer:
A really good track this one. Especially the route and the tricks is what I liked the most. A lot of creative, original and challenging obstacles. Some of the alternative routes were too long; if the normal route had been longer they would have been very good. On the plus side the track has the most alt. routes per checkpoint. The atmosphere was good, though not really impressive. But definitely the best atmosphere created with the Old-Stone-mod so far. A great track: 73/100 points.


GoldenEye, by AtoM

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2149676#auto

Tecfan:
Great layout on the track, looks very beautiful. Gives a nice atmosphere. The tricks are mostly cool, the route is nice, though I forgot CP1 the first time I tried it. The alt. routes are however not too good, but they're not directly bad either. On CP31 you can take two different CP's. This is a good track, but not the best. 68/100

HawkGer:
I liked this one a lot. The layout of the track is really amazing and the fact that all the action takes place on such compact space is remarkable. I also liked the compact atmosphere in combination with the Forest-mod, although it has been seen many times. The tricks are very original and fun in my opinion. They are diverse and produce a good flow throughout the track. That the route is incorporated into the layout makes the track very structured, I like that. Alt. routes were generally built quite well but they were too long/too hard. A great track overall - 70/100


Fang, by svbg869

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2051213#auto

Tecfan:
This track's first impression is great. Nice use of a clean, but interesting mod. The funky scenery makes the atmosphere interesting. I found the track to be pretty original, diverse and to include new tricks, and you needed to search to find the next CP. However, sometimes the route was a little messy, and you could take the wrong CP if you didn't pay attention. There's also a couple of rings which really kills the flow. The alternative routes though, are great. They are not always so obvious, and there is a good difference between the easy and the hard route. I believe that the CP0 alt. route is the perfect example of an alt. route, but this track won't get full score because of the rings. 73/100 from me.

HawkGer:
Unlike Tecfan I was rather struggling on my first drive. It was on many occasions unclear to me as to where the correct route would lead. Probably a major reason for this is the open room construction and the overloaded scenery in combination with the mod which gets very transparent with the blocks you used. I didn't really like the look of such crowded design. In result, the atmosphere was also not particularly impressing to me. The mod is a good choice as it is used very rarely but to me it wasn't very appealing. The general layout of the track however I found very original for which you will get heads up!
On second and third drive the track became better compared to the first impression, not giving me headaches from searching the way. And I really liked the flow of the tricks then too, which btw. most of them I really like. The tricks are quite diverse, challenging and well calculated. They are not all too original though I find. The rings outside the normal route I found to be rather useless and annoying. The implementation of alt. routes is well made throughout the track. Overall I have a positive feeling about the track but many aspects make me give this only 65/100 points.


Thrillerbarc, by Igntul

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2146178#auto

Tecfan:
This track is a nicely built RPG with cool tricks and an OK atmosphere, but there are some problems with the alternative routes.. The first alt. route is for example a lot easier on the hard way than on the "easy" way, and the alt. routes are in general not very good as opposed to many of the other alt. route solutions we have seen in other maps. The track isn't extremely original, but with some of the new tricks this was all in all a good driving experience, even though the color MT work was dreadful. 60/100

HawkGer:
This one is quite a great track. The main point it scores with is the route.
Upon first drive it's not confusing to find the route and it feels very adventurous to advance in the track. The tricks are mainly well calculatable; there were only two or three sections which felt required a lot of luck to master. They are also diverse and sometimes original and I also like the fact that the race time of the track is very long. The atmosphere on the other hand wasn't too convincing; not even once did I feel the spooky/scary atmosphere the track promises to give me. In terms of layout the track only reminds rudimentary of the track's theme. Maybe some good MT would have helped to create a better atmosphere but the one being implemented rather makes it even worse through bad clip transitions and big fonts.
The alt. routes are mostly okay, only one seems to stick out by being harder than the actual route. 70/100


Impel Down, by Robot

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2159314#auto

Tecfan:
For me, there's no atmosphere at all on this track. From the sky, the track looks OK, but once you go under water level it's just lots of random building blocks underneath the sea. The mod is original and self-made, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is good. CP6 and 27or28 is pure luck. The latter really just destroys the track. Some of the alternative routes are actually easier the hard way, and I'm not so impressed by the alt. routes in general. However, this track has many great new and original tricks and some cool CP's, and I would like to see more from Robot in the future. 50/100

HawkGer:
I didn't find a particularly interesting atmosphere in this track either. The textures of the mod are quite good but they don't really produce a special look as one would expect from an anime-themed track and neither does the design of the track support a decent development of an atmosphere. Some of the obstacles are very well made and original but for me there were too many luck-based stunts in it which made the route quite unpleasant to drive. The alternative routes are not very well implemented, some being harder than the standard route.
I will give this track 55/100 points, considering the creative aspect of the mod, the tricks and the signs.


Arcadia, by Enai Siaion

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2079330#auto

Tecfan:
Arcadia is a track which is almost atmosphereless for me. The mod is over-used, does not look good, and does absolutely not look good in fog. The track however is extremely original, and has a good route, but not very exciting and not very original tricks. Technically this track doesn't even have any alternative routes, which actually should disqualify the track. 38/100

HawkGer:
This is a good track but nothing exceptional. The only thing that sticks out is the basic idea behind taking checkpoints in a free order. Its implementation could have been much better though by not having to respawn three times for each checkpoint and rather creating a path for the three rings which would then lead back to the checkpoint, assuring the creation of a flow. I was also very disappointed about the tricks; nearly solely focusing on jumps. I liked the atmosphere of the track, having a good design, scenery and usage of MediaTracker but it didn't feel very special. 50/100 points.


Polaris, by Jurek

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2142994#auto

Tecfan:
Polaris is a track that feels very mediocre. First, the ice mod does not look good at all, and gives a terrible atmosphere, and all the rings makes a bad first impression. The route and tricks however feels pretty nice, but don't impress me much. Some of them are also very unsafe. I could not see many alternative routes, I'm not even sure if there were any. 30/100

HawkGer:
The track started out with quite a nice compact route in the beginning but the more I advanced in the track the less interesting it became. Some of the tricks are quite luck-based and the rings don't help either building up a flow. The atmosphere was good in the beginning but to the end it felt like it was very unfinished. A lot of spaces which got no surrounding blocks at all and therefore you could see through the whole track. A better scenery definitely would have boosted up the atmosphere. Alternative routes were virtually not existing. All in all only 45/100 points.


We Be Pimpin, by Kopstoot

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2151892#auto

Tecfan:
This track has no atmosphere whatsoever. It uses a mod that does not look good at all in the current mood, and a theme that is rather lame, with non-funny pictures spread across the whole map. The tricks are OK, sometimes cool, and sometimes not, but the few alternative routes were not so good (though I really liked the CP4 one). But the track has a good flow and easy to know which CP to take next, but of course the author had to add pointless rings which ruins the flow. 37/100

HawkGer:
I didn't really enjoy playing this track. First off the checkpoints are, for my taste, set too near by each other. And in combination with the unchallenging tricks, the route doesn't really get exciting. Also the route was way too clear upon first drive and you didn't really have to search for the route so that it felt more like a long racetrack rather than a RPG. The atmosphere isn't very special either. The mod doesn't really match with the theme of the track, which btw I found even distasteful at times. There also isn't a structural design visible and neither does the scenery make much good for the atmosphere. All in all a decent track, 30/100


AlienAttak, by White

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2146431#auto

Tecfan:
This track gives a bad first impression. It looks like a bad RPG from the start. The scenery is boring throughout the track. The "fail" MT is sometimes triggered even though you stay on the route, thus forcing you to restart. The "drive maximum 80km/h to pay respect" is a direct rip-off from Enai. The MT is terrible all over the track, and especially at the last CP. It's just torture, and really, really, really kills the track. All the tricks are mediocre, only basic balancing and jumping, and not original at all. The alternative routes were nothing special. 20/100

HawkGer:
I didn't really expect much from this track right from the start and the rest of the track didn't convince me otherwise either. The tricks are very monotone, having very few variety with only border and jump parts. The atmosphere and the design do not change much throughout the track, they are consistently unattractive. The MT was horribly used, making the experience even more unpleasant in the process. It is not the worst track, but still only 30/100 points.


Avoid Fail!, by Syr Skwirrel

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2159040#auto

Tecfan:
This track does not have an atmosphere, mainly because of the trial-like route and scenery. On many CP's you are able to take the wrong CP. The very few alternative routes I spotted was not good at all, and the first one is nearly impossible (without luck), in other words, you will be punished for not being lucky. The track has some dead ends which tells you to search somewhere else. It is not very original, but it does include a few new tricks, but it can not get a good ranking because of the lack of atmosphere and alternative routes. 10/100

HawkGer:
This track is built very basic and was thus unattractive to me as a player. The tricks are not very special to begin with; no block combinations that feel original. The route had some basic elements of pathfinding, but it isn't too clever build. Scenery is used very lightly and the track looks too open with it. Generally there isn't really any atmosphere in the track, it just feels like blocks being put randomly near each other. The few alternative routes are not very well made. Only 15/100 points.


Race to the Lighthouse, by DarkPowa

TMX: http://tmnforever.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=2094684#auto

Tecfan:
Lighthouse is not even an RPG, and technically it should have been disqualified for not being built on the track base. You can cut virtually every CP, and the route is very unclear and bad. No good tricks, no RPG elements. Just terrible. 1/100

HawkGer:
This track is very poorly build. It nearly completely lacks a structured route and elements of design. Scenery is virtually not existing and thus the track looks very unfinished. It's possible to take multiple checkpoints on many locations, making the route very confusing. The tricks are very basic and not special at all. Only 5/100 points for this one.


So that's about all! We have to congratulate fish for the victory, and Sebik/Stromek for the runner up places. Here's what they won:

1. fish: A brand new TMUF account
2. Sebik: 15 000 coppers
3. Stromek: 10 000 coppers