Welcome to the ManiaExchange Monthly Track Contest (MTC) for July 2020! Sticking around like disgusting old gum, Arkive hosts again!




In the MTC, your task is to build a track on a given theme. Later, all the tracks are rated and a winner is found.





Theme of the Month: Free Trial




Build a platform, trial, or RPG style course.




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Theme Specific Rules

• Your course should be a platform, trial, or RPG style course
  
• Since styles are flexible, there are no hard rules you must follow (aside from the usual rules, that is).


General Rules

• The track must be built in TM2
  
• You may submit one track maximum
  
• Duo tracks are allowed, but each map counts as one track for each author involved
  
• MTC should be present in the track name. Example: "trying things [mtc]" or "(MTC) Rather Poor Gymnastics" (check that any special characters do not break in the TM or MX track name)
  
• The track should be built in the most recent version of the game
  
• All environments are allowed
  
• All titlepacks are allowed
  
• Blockmixing is allowed
  
• Envimixing is allowed
  
• Embedded items are allowed
  
• Stadium64 base is allowed
  
• TMUF cars are allowed
  
• Mods are allowed (remember to include locators!)
  
• Press Forward, Left, Right, or similar tracks are NOT allowed
  
• Courses requiring OpenPlanet are NOT allowed

If you have any questions or would like to contest a rule, feel free to ask!


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Deadlines

• Your track should be uploaded before the end of July 31st at midnight EST. Submissions will continue to be accepted until I officially announce closure in this thread, which will likely occur the following EST morning
  
• Tracks submitted within the deadline will have 24 hours after submissions close to make any last minute edits
  
• Public voting will go from August 1st to August 8th or until the internal judging is finished, whichever occurs later
  
• Results are calculated and posted soon after public voting closes



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Prizes
Honour and the right to brag! (Jozii used to say that. I wasn't around then, but maybe some of you still remember him? )
The top 3 winners will receive a showcase of a track of their choice (< 10 awards)

How to Submit

• You MUST upload your map to this map-pack and optionally post a link to your map in this thread
  
• You can update your track within the deadline as many times as you want
  
• Submitted courses may be updated within 24 hours of submissions closing, in case of any necessary last minute changes; new courses may NOT be submitted in this time frame
  
• Updating your track after the revision deadline has passed will lead to a disqualification. You are free to update your track once the results are published

Judging: Public and Internal
We will use a mixture of 75/25 between internal judging and public voting if there is 1 public voter, 60/40 for 2, and 50/50 for 3+

• Everyone is allowed to judge, even players who submitted a map (your score on your own map will be removed, so give it whatever you want!)
  
• Every track will be judged with marks from 0 (bad) to 10 (good). All votes greater than/equal to 7 or less than/equal to 4 require constructive feedback on why you gave it that score
  
• Note that you have to judge a stage entirely! You cannot judge only half of it. If you are not able to finish the map, your vote can still count! Please only leave that as a very last resort, and still judge the entire map fairly
  
• You must play and vote on all tracks for your votes to count
  
• You need to verify your vote by making a post here (for example: "Voted ")
  
• One best and one worst vote for each map will be ignored if more than 10 people vote
  
• The internal judging will note some detailed feedback with points based on categories (Theme [20p], Creativity [10p], Fun [10p], Detail [10p])

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please ask!

Submissions are officially closed! The new Trackmania and its own lovely MTC seem to have stolen the spotlight; looks like we've only got one entry this month, but judging will still be performed for feedback's sake. Well, pjw, you've got 24 hours to make any last minute changes! Public voting should be released sometime soon.

July 2020 Public Voting Link: https://forms.gle/mnB91YRyUuCihk7n9

This month there's 1 map! Download it here.

In the voting sheet, give your score before your feedback (0 to 10, decimals are allowed). If you have comments, leave them right after your score. For example:

8.4 - It was hard, but it didn't feel unfair.

• Everyone is allowed to judge, even players who submitted a map (your score on your own map will be removed, so give it whatever you want!)
  
• Every map will be judged with a decimal number from 0 (bad) to 10 (good). All votes greater than/equal to 7 or less than/equal to 4 require constructive feedback on why you gave it that score
  
• Note that you have to judge a stage entirely! You cannot judge only half of it. If you are not able to finish the map, your vote can still count! Please only leave that as a very last resort, and still judge the entire map fairly
  
• You need to verify your vote by making a post here (for example: "Voted ")
  
• One best and one worst vote for each map will be ignored if more than 10 people vote
  
• The overall score will be a mixture of the average public score and the average internal score
  
• The mixture will be 75/25 between internal judging and public voting if there is 1 public voter, 60/40 for 2, and 50/50 for 3+
  
• You must be able to play and vote on all maps for your votes to count

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A panel of judges will also judge the maps.
This internal voting will follow the format of:
Theme (20p) | Creativity (10p) | Fun (10p) | Detail (10p)

All public voting will soft close on August 8th, 2020 at midnight EST. After that, you may still vote until the internal judges complete their voting.

Arkive says:
judging will still be performed for feedback's sake. Well, pjw, you've got 24 hours to make any last minute changes!

lol, I'm not sure if I've ever seen one entry on a previous MTC. The only change I would make is a better AT since the old one got nuked by a last-second fix...but I don't have time right now, so no worries.

Good luck! It's a tough trials track (and I greatly appreciate any feedback/replays). Cheers!

I don't know about the other sites, but we've had one previous occurance where only one submission was made. It was the November 2016 MTC, which just asked builders to do an envimix map. In retrospect, I'm not really sure why it didn't get more than one entry; it wasn't a particularly difficult theme, and I don't recall anything major occuring that would move people away from TM2. I guess people just didn't end up able or willing to build for that month.

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pjw takes first place!

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• The finish on top is a good idea; overall, the deserved winner this month! - Marius89
  
• The sections were all rather unique and creative. - Arkive
  
• Overall I like the atmosphere, not too bad considering this is the only map submission. - eFFecT

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Considering the new TM2020 MTC attained 29 submissions, I think it's safe to make a guess as to where everyone went.

Congratulations to our winner!

They get a news showcase of their choice for placing in the top 3.

Here's the link to the full results sheet.

Thanks to our participant this month for joining in the contest!

Arkive says:
Thanks to our participant this month for joining in the contest!

Wow...that's an awkward phrase, isn't it?

Seriously though, thanks a bunch to all three of you for not only the effort put forth to drive the track, but the very thoughtful and valuable feedback. The biggest message that I will try to take to heart from now on is better guidance on a track like this. Difficulty is fine, but when the player is unsure if they're doing the right thing at all...that's frustrating. Understood, and I'll try to do better in the future in that respect!

(And it's going to be really weird if mine is the only submission for August as well...just sayin'... )