A way the games could attract a larger audience

[MatheusKS]

Interface is not a problem, I guess. There are several options to consider.

http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l ... n-menu.png
A simple one, but can be hard to understand by some people.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lOGbzxz2Yjc/maxresdefault.jpg this is perfect


https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/ga ... 135314.jpg
An idea about choosing a title



Sorry about the links, all images are over 800 pixels wide.
Hmm, the PHPbb tags aren't working?

[Mandark]

The Forza menu looks really cool. This blue color is way much more pleasant to the eyes than the dark blue from maniaplanet

[Palteza]

Yeah 1st one is so smooth, really clear and would fit with tittle packs stuff

[Electron]

Everybody knows it as that good old game with fast cars and crazy stunts. [...]
It was simple, straight-forward, accessible, fun, and also had plenty of creative possibilites. [...]
So my idea to save the franchise is to implement a total free to play model for all the games in ManiaPlanet. [...]
The next step is to simplfy the current ManiaPlanet interface. A clean, simple and modern interface would benefit a lot, and I do mean A LOT.

Trackmania Turbo shows us that a good user interface alone doesn't help and that a lot of people are willing to spend a lot of money for Trackmania.

A game is played not very long, if it makes no fun. Even if it's free.

The critics about Trackmania Turbo shows us that playing the game is not really fun. It's partly frustrating. The solo campaign is much to hard. The cars are much difficult to control.

All environments of TMUF have their quirks but they can be learned quickly. You crash only if you exceed the limit of the car physics. And that is fun.
With Valley and Laggon it's different. You don't know how to control the car. The car suddenly breaks out or respond completely surprising. This is no fun.
Canyon is much more popular than Valley and Lagoon because of this. You learn very fast how to drift. And the challenge is to find the exact spot to start drifting or to decide not to drift. While drifting, the car is still controllable. Thats fun. The only problem with Canyon is, that it becomes a bit boring with the time. Because all ManiaPlanet environments doesn't provide enough blocks for good transitions and crasy stunts.

Conclusion: To bring back a lot of players, ManiaPlanet needs environments with easy to control cars and blocks that allow crazy tracks.
ManiaPlanet needs the thousands of casual players (and the established track builders) back and not a handful e-sports players.

Lagoon has potential to be such an environment. Nice blocks and the car is very agile and has much grip. This is very good. But the car is too fast for the small rollercoster roads. And on sand it is even worse to controll than in Valley on dirt. And on the wooden platform parts the car reacts completely random. That is very frustrating. So please correct this before adding Lagoon to ManiaPlanet.

[Dommy]

Trackmania Turbo lacks 99.9% of the things that were in all previous games. This is why intuitive interface didn't play any role.

[maxi031]

Trackmania Turbo shows us that a good user interface alone doesn't help and that a lot of people are willing to spend a lot of money for Trackmania.

A game is played not very long, if it makes no fun. Even if it's free.

The critics about Trackmania Turbo shows us that playing the game is not really fun. It's partly frustrating. The solo campaign is much to hard. The cars are much difficult to control.

All environments of TMUF have their quirks but they can be learned quickly. You crash only if you exceed the limit of the car physics. And that is fun.
With Valley and Laggon it's different. You don't know how to control the car. The car suddenly breaks out or respond completely surprising. This is no fun.
Canyon is much more popular than Valley and Lagoon because of this. You learn very fast how to drift. And the challenge is to find the exact spot to start drifting or to decide not to drift. While drifting, the car is still controllable. Thats fun. The only problem with Canyon is, that it becomes a bit boring with the time. Because all ManiaPlanet environments doesn't provide enough blocks for good transitions and crasy stunts.

Conclusion: To bring back a lot of players, ManiaPlanet needs environments with easy to control cars and blocks that allow crazy tracks.
ManiaPlanet needs the thousands of casual players (and the established track builders) back and not a handful e-sports players.

Lagoon has potential to be such an environment. Nice blocks and the car is very agile and has much grip. This is very good. But the car is too fast for the small rollercoster roads. And on sand it is even worse to controll than in Valley on dirt. And on the wooden platform parts the car reacts completely random. That is very frustrating. So please correct this before adding Lagoon to ManiaPlanet.

I second that and will add that some innovative game-play elements like that magnetic roads are GREAT for new and us old farts xd.

[kripkee]

Well, I would only support TM²Stadium to show new players how good the game is and how to control a car in this game. Canyon, Valley and Lagoon are pointless with the current handling - like "break for drift" but Canyon is still enjoyable. In Valley (dirt) or Lagoon it's hardcore ugly to correct the car if you are driving a bad line. For people who know how these enviroment work, should not have a problem at all. For casuals/randoms it's a nightmare. At the beginning of TMTurbo we had some big streamer with 1000+ viewers etc. That was the chance to show new players the game, but it got wasted and the big ones lost the motivation/interest. Enviroments like Bay, Desert, Snow, Rally and island is like playing with a toycar and you can jump and fly and you have something like "fun". Coast is slow and "realistic", but you can correct your line if you get a slide/drift etc.

Example: Lagoon - wood blocks, if you failed the line and you want correct it, you are completly lost. It's like driving on ice in Snow from TMUF. Same for beach blocks and offroad (?).

And with all respect which I have, the loopings and wallrides are completly worthless in TM²Canyon, Valley and Lagoon. Even a wallride with a rallycar in Stadium make for fun.

[...]

But hey, we get Maniaplanet 4 somewhen and suddenly new players come from nowhere and like the game, yeah! Oh wait, I am negative, noooooooooooo.

We had the hype, but whatever - same for Shootmania.

[i7mean]

This Kripke post is exaclty what I think, like exaclty. More particularly the weird gameplay of the Valley, Canyon and Lagoon, the fact that their looping and offroad are one of the worst thing I've seen in a driving game and the fact that new players won't come out of nowhere. Good advertising needed and MP4 looking like a real finished game needed.