So uh, why make maps for this?

[BLiNNeMaNS]

sorry for trying to help you and take the time to thoroughly test your tracks and give useful feedback.
won't do that again, that's for sure

Funny, because I didn't really make any assumptions, nor did you even address what I said about the lack of activity on tracks.

You assumed If you have a TM track that doesn't get hosted on a server, it is literally useless.
I actually did address what you said about the lack of activity. I even gave pointers on how to fix the activity: Promotion and use feedback to get better ( which is all up to the original builder)

I think you mean that most tracks arent played online because that arent suited for online play, not because they arent good.

No i meant they aren't good in general. TM is a racegame where everyone tries to get the best time from a to b. adding luck factors removes any form of skill, thus the track is not good for this gametype.

Does this mean your tracks are better than a no-namer's? No, but you will get the attention anyway.

Going back to september 2007 when i released my 1st track and no one knew my tracks..
I did exactly what i said in the tips:
Create a preview video so people won't have to start up the game to see
promote on forums
create own server
do promotional rounds on all servers you think your work fits
join a clan and play your work on the clanserver

Once you made a name for yourself and create the same quality for a while, yes, people will start to follow your work.


Totally agree on your SM comment. Still all tips mentioned above also apply on sm. Promotion is the key, and if your work is appreciated by the masses, fame will follow.

[nocturne]

Hey blin! been awhile, hehe..

To the OP.. there's no magic formula to get your tracks played.. First off, they have to be enjoyable, and at least have enough polish to convince players to try it and servers to host it (gps, intro, outro, etc..). On top of that, you also have the option of track recommendation threads here and on TMX, along with TMX's playpal service..

Mostly, though.. you have to be ready to put a lot of effort into it.. Back when people still played TM and I had an active server, I couldn't count how many track authors came on absolutely begging for me to play their tracks.. You have to put in some time, join and race in a few different communities, and warm server ops up to the thought of playing your tracks.

All that said, though.. it seems TM is a dying sport... there's a tenth as many active players as there was a year ago, and all the relevant community sites have seemed to be withering away into nothing. I can't think of any comparable game in regards to the necessity of community map makers, but if notoriety is your goal you may be better off finding a new game.

Edit: Oops.. forgot I was on the SM forum, hehe... but everything I said still rings true. There may be a SP side to TM, though really.. who bothers? You also have to take into account how hard it is to code up good bots -- given the best effort Nadeo can put forth, you'd still be forced to manage your own waypoint type system, as no bot I've seen yet can work accurately in a map that it doesn't have a preset understanding of.

Honestly, though... lets see if this game actually makes it to release, let alone whether Nadeo is still around in another 6 months. Then, we can complain as much as we like while being properly informed.

[Trackmaniack]

It all depends on how dedicated you are, at least IMO. I've made a few maps, put them up for evaluation here, and they got lambasted. I shrugged, because I wasn't really trying all that hard to get them into online rotations. Now, with SM being a primarily online game, things may be different--but I think if someone makes a decent map and works hard to get it out--MX isn't the only place to publish, you know--it'll get played.

[banjee]

also there is a such thing as hosting your own sever. thats why there is that "Create" button when you go into multiplayer...

[eyebo]

zixxiz posted on page 2 of this thread with a link to Trump Card II saying it was a good map and not played online because it's not well suited for online. While this is true, it's also true that the filesize of the track itself prevents it from loading on any server because the max filesize for TMF servers is 256 KB and Trump Card II is about 2 MB.

That's way off topic, but it had to be said.

[eyebo]

I ran across this post in another forum, and I thought this guy made a good point, especially in the last paragraph.

please be a throwback arena shooter. please be a throwback arena shooter. please be a throwback arena shooter.

please let's not have have weapon/skill/etc unlocks. lets have it be like Trackmania in that whether you've ever played the game before or not, everyone has the same exact abilities.

this could be the purest arena shooter ever, and the friendliest for new players (almost never see the same map twice would really push skill to the forefront and push familiarity with the game back down a bit).

(Source)

[SiH13]

this could be the purest arena shooter ever, and the friendliest for new players (almost never see the same map twice would really push skill to the forefront and push familiarity with the game back down a bit).

I totally agree
In BF3 i only play on operation metro and learn where to put claymore and where people are coming from. Now i can get like 20-30 kills and less than 10 deaths. When I started I had a k/d ratio under 1 (more deaths than kills).
The USAS (which is available at lvl 43) is like the pwning weapon and people with little skill can easily kill people with more skill.

Online play can be exciting if there are new maps all the time like everyone are noobs, including gear that does the same amount of damage

But on topic: I kinda agree with the title too, because nobody would ever add my maps to servers, so whats the deal of putting work into it. Playing with irl friends and making maps for videos is something else

[banjee]

I would totally agree with you guys but I am hoping for MX PlayPal Online to be open for Storm. In which case it would be easy to have your map played.

[TGYoshi]

I would totally agree with you guys but I am hoping for MX PlayPal Online to be open for Storm. In which case it would be easy to have your map played.

PPO always was great. I hope games don't have to last long to be fun.

[The_K]

I would totally agree with you guys but I am hoping for MX PlayPal Online to be open for Storm. In which case it would be easy to have your map played.

I would almost guarantee that there will be...