Track: Percent One Racing
Type: Circuit
Garage Settings: 900 med tires/soft suspension
Checkpoints: 10
Lap time: 2:00
Music: Farmroad
In e-mail, Tarres informed us of a track he made before any other called MTRA Farmland, and it's abundantly clear he was referring to this one. Now, here's where it gets kind of "involved", and pay attention because there's a test at the end of the review. The race bitmap has the words <i>MTRA Farmland</i> emblazoned across a picture of this track, and ironically the track with the name MTRA Farmland has the standard <i>Created using Traxx</i> races picture. And indeed Tarres confirms this for us in his readme.txt file where he says, "to prevent conflicts, the old one is called <i>Percent One Racing</i>." Additionally, the pod files have the same name (MTRA.pod), however, MTRA Farmland is appended with a "2" in order to distinguish it from the first, which predates it by nearly two months. Despite creating a bit of confusion unnecessarily, this new maker is on the ball enough to recognize the possibility of naming conflicts and has taken steps to avoid them. Which brings us to a lesson in MTM track making. New makers should name their files so they reflect what a racer can expect to find in the game. In this case, a track named "Percent One Racing" might better be named PercentOne.pod or Percent1.pod so that a downloader knows immediately what files are which tracks. This isn't a major problem, of course, since he's taken the most important step to differentiate the track names, but it's certainly a courtesy to give pod (and zip) files useful or meaningful names that are indicative of what's inside them. Okay, now that we have all that sorted out (we hope), let's talk about this track.
Percent One Racing is basically a one-lane dirt path through somewhat raised if not spiked hills. There's been no effort at
texture transitions, and corners are sharply defined 90ยบ turns. This is okay, of course, we've seen it several times before, and there's two colors used when roads traveling in opposite directions come near each other. Some of the hills are a green grass texture, which suggests the fertility of farmland as opposed to the surrounding desert terrain. And there's a barn, a bit of fencing, and a few cows (
buried into a hillside) to round out the setting. There are grandstands (not surprisingly) atop the
hills (surprisingly) to cheer on the racers. The course circumvents a swimming pool arrangement complete with poolside tiles. This apparent disparity of elements can be written off as artistic license and is the least of this track's features.
Tarres tells us in his readme to "go around the start light and checks" which we immediately discover should be read literally. We must not go through the start light, but
around it. All the props and models in this track are set to default type, thus, they cannot be driven through or passed freely by. In other words we're talking invisible barriers here, and nothing destroys a racers will to persevere, to live even lol, than having to contend with invisible barriers - trust us on that! Okay the "will to live" thing may have been pushing it a bit, but hopefully you get the idea. At any rate, the fun doesn't stop there. If you pass by a checkpoint and nothing happens, start backing up - some of them are in the wrong direction. More precisely, checkpoints four, seven, eight and nine are backward and you'll have some difficulty getting a couple to trip at all. Furthermore, he used
two markers to make checkpoints eight (seven and one) and nine (seven and two). Our guess is he was unable to come up with individual markers for those two checkpoints, so employed a little creativity. Interesting little maneuver there, and while it contradicts the rules of traditional track making as we know it, we were almost inspired to send Tarres a check for $1,000.00 for his ingenuity. Turns out we only had $32.45 in petty cash, so that idea didn't pan out lol. Last but not least is the train, which moves slowly, not forward but
sideways over hills and eventually sweeps across the track area taking everything with it as it goes. From this, we can tell that Tarres has not completed traxx school which would've provided the information necessary to solve all these problems and made a competent, properly functioning track.
From a racer's perspective, Percent One Racing is probably not the most ideally suited layout for competitive fun. However, the expo was not specifically aimed at racers, but at drawing out new makers and encouraging people to try things they hadn't done before. To this end, then, without Traxx School, it's remarkable that Tarres got anything working at all, let alone having done it in a structured, orderly way. I can't emphasize enough the importance for new track makers to take the time to complete Traxx School. I understand that perhaps it's uninspiring, plain even, and maybe even boring, but Traxx School alone will solve ninety percent of common problems and provide almost all answers to the difficulties we encounter in Percent One Racing. New track makers we implore you - please take the time to complete Traxx School. As for all you friends of wannabe track makers, do them the favor and point them toward it.
Here's another thing worth strong consideration: after you've gone over it countless times correcting what you feel are obvious mistakes & flaws, drop your project off at MTMG's Beta Room. There you'll receive advice from world renown (not really, but it sounds good) track makers, as well as input from expert racers who can clue you in on undesirable shortcuts, logical flow, areas that require extra smoothing, and a host of other things. The bottom line is even the very best track makers seek input and assistance from others. It's smart, it's sensible, and it's also a means for new track makers to gain a wealth of knowledge. In the end your tracks will be better for it, and you'll have a strong sense of accomplishment and pride in your work. I mean, what's not to like about a deal like that? Tell ya what, the next time you have a track ready to release, hold off on it, bring it to The Beta Room, meet the fellas & even help yourself to the complimentary donuts and skim milk (we're semi-health conscious over there). Leave your track with us for a few days, and after we're done with it you'll walk away armed with all the info necessary to make a better track - we guarantee it.
Finally, in defense of Tarres, he knows the score and tells us "the new one is much better" and indeed it is. If he sticks with it, and we certainly hope he does, it'll be interesting to see how things shape up with this guy!
