Welcome to the ManiaExchange Monthly Track Contest (MTC), March 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: Unusual Multilap: Build a multilap track (with "Laps" set to AT LEAST 2) which differs from the standard multilap format in some way (hence, "Unusual").

Deadline: Saturday, March 23rd 2013, 23:59:59 Pacific Time (~ Sunday 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 Stadium or Canyon!

The number of laps must be at least 2. There is no upper limit.

There must be at least one Checkpoint (This is automatic, TM will not allow multilap track without checkpoints)

By "standard" multilap track, we mean what Nadeo offered in their Nations, United, and Startrack campaigns -- i.e., multilap track where you cycle on the same track N times. To make your track Unusual, you must deviate from this mode in some way. Please note that the longest standard multilap track from Nadeo has 60 (sixty) laps, so it is unlikely you might differ from the standard just by setting the lap count too high. Be more creative :-)

Judges are not required to spend more than 30 minutes on your track, so if you make your track too long, you risk that judges will be unable to finish it. But we're not putting any maximum author time limit. Again, be reasonable.

Max. 1 track per author. Single author per 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 March 24th 2012 00:00 Pacific Time (March 23rd 23:59:59 is OK). I felt that it be best to allow everyone to work on the track on the last Saturday, even until midnight.

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

Theme explanation

We're looking for tracks which take a fresh, new approach to the multilap racing. Make your track cool in some way!

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

Confirmed judges:
wait (Big thanks for stepping in!)
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 "Unusual" thingy 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

I suppose building part of the track in TMNF in order to use its editor bugs counts as blockmixing?

Enai: yes, please.

I think i got it

is it a lap track with diffrent routes, kind of ?

so stadium tracks are allowed now ?

SPIDER says:
is it a lap track with diffrent routes, kind of ?

That would be ONE, but definitely not the ONLY ONE, possibility. As long as your track is different from the standard multilap style, it's OK. Please, let's stop spoiling / hinting / checking for approvals -- use your creativity!

SPIDER says:
so stadium tracks are allowed now ?

It says so in the rules, so, YES, you can build in either CANYON, or STADIUM - either one is OK.

sorry missed that

Alcator says:
Please, let's stop spoiling / hinting / checking for approvals

Stop being so judgemental i was just asking a simple question

Will there be a winner for canyon and stadium, or only one map can win?

tcq says:
Will there be a winner for canyon and stadium, or only one map can win?

I was thinking for quite some time about this question even before posting the rules, but I think splitting a topic like this into sub-categories would not be very beneficial. I could understand such splitting if the topic was "fullspeed" or some such that requires completely different approach in each environment, thus creating a significant disbalance between them in terms of building difficulty, but I don't see such difference as far as "making an unusual multilap track" is concerned.

Please keep in mind that the winner is determined by points, so it is entirely possible for 2 or more tracks to share the top position, thus having multiple winners.

However, since this is a community-driven competition, if it is a desire of the community and there are enough participants to merit such split, then I think agreement could be reached to split it. By "enough participants", I'd mean at least 7 for each environment, and better 10.

What do you think, people?

i tought of building a stadium track with the canyon car but its possible to cheat
and drive with the stadium car and thats faster ,i dunno how but the submit engine should
recogniced when i submit, if i use a stadium car or canyon car when validated at submit but noo..
btw i think a mixed contest works best , maybe you can add up to top 5 place if there is more than 10 contestants.

Hmmm, makes me wonder what goes for "unusual". Would having to go through the origin for an 8 be unusual? Probably not enough, I guess...
Man, by now I'm so afraid to make a map that requires the use of the brake, it almost sucks the fun [of sharing] right out of me. I think it's part of true racing skill, knowing when and how to use the brake. But by now it seems that the most skill is required by the map builder and the racer just wants to figure out when to turn, hahahmmm.

Eitherway, I'm not giving up hope to contribute something joyful for ya eventually.

I'll do some experiments... sounds like an interesting challenge.