Welcome to the ManiaExchange Monthly Track Contest (MTC), October 2013, hosted by MX. I will be your host for this month.

In the MTC, your task is to build a track on a given theme (see below). Later on, all of the entered tracks will be rated by our judges and a winner will be found.

The Details

Let's have a look at the details of the contest:

Theme of the Month: Verticality : Build a track with significant vertical structure

Deadline: Sunday, October 27th 2013, 23:59:59 Pacific Time (Monday morning in Europe)

Prize:

Honour and the right to brag! (Jozii used to say that )
Top 3 tracks will be featured in the News section, getting extra spotlight.

The rules:

You can build in any Trackmania 2 environment.
Max. 1 track per author. Single author per track.

Significant vertical structure means that there should be slopes that the car travels up or down, perhaps loops all wall-to-wall jumps. A track resembling multilevel parking house would also fit the description. However, do not confuse the topic with "Crazy acrobatics" -- it should still be a primarily race track.

Blockmixing is allowed, however there will be a 2 point "fee" deducted from the DESIGN category if your track uses blockmixing. Please state clearly in your track description that your track is blockmixed. Also: If your track REQUIRES Unlimiter to be installed on player's computer, it will be rejected!

Include the sequence of letters "MTC" somewhere in the track name so that it can be easily discovered on mania-exchange.com.

The track must have been uploaded to the exchange before October 28th 2013 00:00 Pacific Time.

Important: To enter a track, simply upload it and post a link to your submission in this thread.

Theme explanation

Generally, tracks tend to spread in width, rather than height. We're looking for tracks with significant vertical distances and height changes. It is up to you how you will approach the topic.

The Judging System (Attention! Change in point limits!):

Confirmed judges:
kruemelyeti
Alcator

A number of judges will rate the tracks on the following topics:

Design – Layout, respawnability of checkpoints, learning curve, scenery, the general "feel" of the track. -2 if you use blockmixing. Max 15 points/judge
- I am adding "Learning curve" to this section: Ideally, a player who never raced the track should be able to get further and further in your track with each try, or become better and better with each run. Try to avoid building sections which are show-stoppers for less skilled players.
- As a general rule of thumb, the faster a player goes through the track, the harder it should get, not the other way round.

Creativity – The creativity of the track itself and especially the "Verticality" aspect Max. 15 points/judge

Fun Factor – Sometimes a track can be poor in every way, but still extremely fun to drive. Depending on how fun the judges find your track, a few extra points can be given. Max 10 points/judge

Regarding the final results, the lowest and highest score of each track will be deleted and the average of the "medium scores" decides - if the number of judges is at least 5.

We need reliable and committed judges, so if you want to volunteer as a judge, please send a PM to Alcator!

Good luck! If you have any questions, please ask away

Seems like the first TM2 MTC I will take part is here Fun theme!

I have a great idea! I've been wanting to make a certain type of map for a long time, and this is the perfect theme for it (Don't want to say what, because it will be an awesome surprise ). As far as I know, it will be the first of its type ever built

Nice theme. I think there will be a ton of different types of tracks with this one, so I think its going to be a little tough for the judges to compare them. I can't wait to see how this one turns out!

just in case you want to make a high cylindric tower by which you slide down, it was done ^^

Great theme! Good luck to all participants!

I like this theme Hopefully I will have time to make a track!

Do you judge MT work or are you wise and judge only all important stuff?

Well, IT DEPENDS.

For instance, there is now a track submitted for this round which has a MOD that makes the track very dark and hard to navigate. That, in my opinion, makes the track less fun, so I'd be inclined to give slightly fewer points to the track than without the mod.

Similarly, if a builder decides to add some MT effects that either significantly improve the gameplay, or on the other hand significantly worsen the experience, then I'd be inclined to adjust the rating accordingly.

But I don't really care whether you switch to the bumper cam during loops, or if you add INTRO/REPLAY -- you SHOULD do that, as a matter of professionalism, but it generally does not affect the rating (unless done badly, such as rear camera forced during loop).

The question was only that if I will lose millions of points for not making an outro with "cool" cameras and use trillion replays with super-blur in intro.

I'll of course add loopcams and gps, maybe even a little intro

No, MT work is not an official rating category. Just make sure judges know where to go. How you ensure it is up to you.