New track: Old England

[ctdabomb]

Here is a new track I have been working on that takes place in an old fashioned England. Hope you like it.

[Arthur]

Just wow. This is a really well made track! It's short, sweet and simple, yet challenging enough to be entertaining. And the scenery looks very good. You've improved your texturing skills a lot, I can tell.

Since it's so small, a few more scenery elements outside of town would be nice, as long as it doesn't get too crowded. Maybe a fountain would look good? Just a small suggestion.

In any case, I think this is your best track so far. Maybe a little on the short side, but that's a strength as well, since you've managed to make it really quite nice in the space you've got. Can't wait to see more improvements and for getting it on stkaddons. Good work!

[ctdabomb]

Just wow. This is a really well made track! It's short, sweet and simple, yet challenging enough to be entertaining. And the scenery looks very good. You've improved your texturing skills a lot, I can tell.

Thanks! my modeling skills have improved a lot also along with texturing.

Since it's so small, a few more scenery elements outside of town would be nice, as long as it doesn't get too crowded. Maybe a fountain would look good? Just a small suggestion.

I was thinking some sheep would look good on the hill and maybe a small lighthouse on the shore?[/quote]

In any case, I think this is your best track so far. Maybe a little on the short side, but that's a strength as well, since you've managed to make it really quite nice in the space you've got. Can't wait to see more improvements and for getting it on stkaddons. Good work!

If it is too short, it wouldn't be too hard to lengthen the country part of it at all.

[Arthur]

I was thinking some sheep would look good on the hill and maybe a small lighthouse on the shore?

Sheep sounds good. Maybe you could try something else than a lighthouse though? That's been used in a few tracks already, so something else would be nice for a change. I won't complain if you decide to use a lighthouse anyway; it's just my need for uniqueness which rears its ugly head when I'm writing this.

If it is too short, it wouldn't be too hard to lengthen the country part of it at all.

It's hard to define what "too short" is, and a lot easier to decide what "too long" is. I think it is nice the way it is, but maybe a bit short if it was to be included with STK. The way STK is headed, we won't be changing the default set of tracks just for the sake of doing it. Any new/improved track will need to offer something of significant value over what we currently ship with, since the correspondent challenges would need to change as well, and possibly even the overworld itself. So in that case it would probably need to be longer and more interesting. For addons, I personally think it's nice to have a short track like this for quick races. It's very competitive with many AI's.

Bottom line is that if you want to extend it, do so; but if you're happy with what you have, you can polish up, maybe add a bit more eyecandy, and perhaps create a medium length track next time around.

[code-breaker]

How about many chimneys with smoke, Mary Poppins style? Also, a [somehow more difficult] shortcut through the neighborhood just before the hill. Looks great!

[ardvark71]

Hi all...

A very nice map, although I would widen the track.

Regards...

[Ludsky]

Good Track

[Iridium]

Hi all...

A very nice map, although I would widen the track.

Regards...

Nah, there are too many ridiculously wide tracks out there *cough*Amazonian Journey *cough* Shifting Sands cough*
Unless it's REALLY thin, ex. the track "what a mesh", then it should be fine.

[Arthur]

I agree with Iridium. Diversity is nice, and tracks who are a mile wide tend to be a bit too easy in my opinion.

[Iridium]

I agree with Iridium. Diversity is nice, and tracks who are a mile wide tend to be a bit too easy in my opinion.

Exactly.

[ardvark71]

Hi all...

At the same time, narrow tracks make it more difficult for those who are not as skilled playing STK.

Regards...

[charlie]

I like the premise of the track but I think you're making it a bit too basic. Perhaps not - perhaps it is good to have simple, fast tracks as well as giant ones.

However, if you were to lengthen it, here's a few suggestions.

Track design suggestion

[Ludsky]

I like the premise of the track but I think you're making it a bit too basic. Perhaps not - perhaps it is good to have simple, fast tracks as well as giant ones.

However, if you were to lengthen it, here's a few suggestions.

england-mod.png

Very GooD Idea

[charlie]

Here's an update with a smoother, longer curves either side of the viaduct, since those parts would otherwise be steep and there's already some sharp corners around the pier/town.

I'd put zippers on the pier and perhaps on the viaduct.

Design update

[Ludsky]

Here's an update with a smoother, longer curves either side of the viaduct, since those parts would otherwise be steep and there's already some sharp corners around the pier/town.

I'd put zippers on the pier and perhaps on the viaduct.

england-mod.png

I like, is very good.
Wait Ctdabomb.....

[ctdabomb]

thanks for the suggestions charlie, but I think that I will keep the track most of how it is now(what do others think?).
I added some sheep, docks, and other random stuff.

[Tuxfan]

I like racing short tracks and be able to do many laps.

Example: Olivers Mathclass is a rather ugly level, but it is really fun to race several laps (e.g. up to 8). I would never dare to have a race on the subsea track with the same amount of laps. Subsea is a really beautiful track though.

Currently there are more long tracks than short ones. Old England doesn't need to be any longer in my opinion.

[Binky]

I think this one could be improved by removing the walls on the edge of the track (something like the Scotland track)
I would also extend the track as in the sketches above, and make the track wider, while scaling everything down to compensate

[ctdabomb]

I decided to actually try out charlie's ideas here is what I cam up with. I threw this together quickly so don't worry, If people like this and I/we decide to keep it this way, I will remake/improve the grass and other parts. right now I actually really like it except for the part where you drive on the dock. with the dock part it is 1:15 long without it, it is 1:00 and the original is 0:20. the aqueduct is more like a bridge. I might change it to be longer and more aqueducty. Opinions on which version is better is greatly appreciated.

[charlie]

It looks good! I haven't tried it, so can't comment on how it drives, and for obvious reasons I'm probably not the most impartial.

An alternative to the dock/pier might be a [wide] ramp onto one of the ships, and either a jump at the end of the ship on to the pier or a jump from a one ship to another (could be done with the ships side by side, one higher, so you go over the edge and land on the deck of the smaller ship) and then another ramp from the 2nd ship to the pier.

[Ludsky]

No bug/problem for me of this track, I think is your best track (Peaceful is Beautiful but Bug, Lava field is same, Scary Swamp has a shortcut)

Just one Bug

[ctdabomb]

I am nowhere close to finishing this track. I just threw together Charlie's ideas together to see what people think, so... er... um... I know of this.

[Ludsky]

I am nowhere close to finishing this track. I just threw together Charlie's ideas together to see what people think, so... er... um... I know of this.

Charlie have a very good idea

[Ludsky]

The curve/The Turn is hard for all Karts

All karts fall in the Water

See picture

[hiker]

An alternative to the dock/pier might be a [wide] ramp onto one of the ships, and either a jump at the end of the ship on to the pier or a jump from a one ship to another (could be done with the ships side by side, one higher, so you go over the edge and land on the deck of the smaller ship) and then another ramp from the 2nd ship to the pier.

Funnily enough I suggested something very similar on irc yesterday. Imho the pier is too boring (drive-wise because it is very narrow, and to look at as well), so I suggested perhaps a 2nd pier parallel to the current one, which then goes 'down' towards the second dock. Then a jump to get from one pier to the other. This jump can be scripted (we added support for this, but that's not used in any tracks so far - look at some of the canons in Mario Kart Wii to see what I mean).

The ship idea might make an interesting hidden short cut: a ramp where you need nitro or zipper to be able to jump on a ship (else you will fall into the water). On the ship would then be a 'scripted jump'/canon/... which shoots you back to the track. Example:

That would get rid of the boring backwards/forwards section of the current pier.

The other thing I am not entirely sure of is the aqueduct: It looks like it's half of the track, and there isn't really much happening visually. Maybe removing it (going back to the original shape), and instead adding more track inside of the city might be better.

Cheers,
Joerg