MTM2.com

What can I say, I like to see a new track maker appear on the scene. Speed Oval is Crashcart's traxx school track making debut and like the name suggests this is a short left-turn oval with few surprises. The course is carved into a randomly generated terrain and has a few abrupt altitude transitions that'll jar the fillings out of your teeth. To add to the roughness, there's a ground box bridge over some medium depth water that drops about a foot from one grid square to the next until it rejoins solid ground near a crazy 98 overpass. The final stretch forces you between a row of ground box walls on both sides of the road for a short straight-a-way after which you cross the start/finish line and round you go for another lap. To spruce up the view, CrashCart sprinkled a spattering of trees around the track area - which are happily set to no collide facing but could have benefited from a few tree trunks. All in all, a competently assembled track in which textures are aligned, models well placed, and checkpoints work correctly. The rough ride adds a challenging twist to a short oval, which I suspect was deliberately done, tho I'd like to stress that the transition between flats and hills be eased into rather than making the change all in one sharp go.

Also on the download page are two more tracks by CrashCart: Causer Catastrophe is an mtm1 based track that suffers from an over abundance of shortcuts, and Earthquake Farm that found me impossibly mired in deep water that I finally got myself out of and then I headed right into a too many models error - upon inspection I see the track maxed out at 541 scenery objects which is probably a tad high for a 12 segment layout. FYI the too many objects message is caused when large numbers of models are clustered together in a very small area.

Clearly, CrashCart grasps the basic track making concepts, and any shortcomings, if you can honestly say there are any at this stage of things, are little more than the exercises of a novice finding his legs. So, on behalf of everyone here and at the mtmg: Welcome to the show. We look forward to seeing more from you.

Phineus

Agree on all counts. Cr@$hC@rt's traxx school debut demonstrates he knows the basic ins and outs to track making. Judging by the number of tracks posted just one day after completing traxx school, it appears he's rushing things a tad too much. I was going to throw in a few observations from his track, "Desert Rose (Fixed)", but I think I'll post a separate review given the length of the track.

Take your time, Cr@$h. My guess is you're not under contract to complete a predetermined number of tracks per month , so let up off the gas a bit, formulate an idea, and then cultivate it at a moderate pace. Yes, there are guys/girls out here that can whip out a decent track in a day, but they've also been doing this stuff long enough to avoid falling prey to very basic pitfalls.

Lastly, I strongly encourage you to use the MTMG's Beta Room . Definitely forge ahead with your own ideas, but also take advantage of the know-how and suggestions of the track making pros - it'll pay off in a big way, believe me.

<font size=1>Edited by SLO_COPE (11-01-2003)</font>