Trackmania 2: Canyon In-Depth Hands-On Preview

[POBmaestro]

Hi everyone

As well as following Trackmania since day one I also work as a journalist for GameOn. After a very busy but enjoyable E3 I finally got to concentrate on covering the Nadeo line-up in as much detail as I possibly could. I sent my work to MrBob who has said he is very keen for everyone here to see the finished articles and asked me to post a link to them here. Here is the in-depth look at Trackmania 2: Canyon:

http://www.gameon.co.uk/game/preview/tr ... on-preview

You might also want to see the second part to the article which covers Maniaplanet and Shootmania:

http://www.gameon.co.uk/game/preview/sh ... t-round-up

I have seen that these previews have already been linked in another thread and I would just like to a thank you to those who have commented already. Even though it has been a pleasure to be able to cover the game in great depth it’s always nice to see when work proves useful and is appreciated by others

If you still have any questions after reading this preview feel free to post them here and if necessary I can then put them to the Nadeo team directly.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy the read!

POBmaestro

[wiidesire-2]

Hi everyone

As well as following Trackmania since day one I also work as a journalist for GameOn. After a very busy but enjoyable E3 I finally got to concentrate on covering the Nadeo line-up in as much detail as I possibly could. I sent my work to MrBob who has said he is very keen for everyone here to see the finished articles and asked me to post a link to them here. Here is the in-depth look at Trackmania 2: Canyon:

http://www.gameon.co.uk/game/preview/tr ... on-preview

You might also want to see the second part to the article which covers Maniaplanet and Shootmania:

http://www.gameon.co.uk/game/preview/sh ... t-round-up

I have seen that these previews have already been linked in another thread and I would just like to a thank you to those who have commented already. Even though it has been a pleasure to be able to cover the game in great depth it’s always nice to see when work proves useful and is appreciated by others

If you still have any questions after reading this preview feel free to post them here and if necessary I can then put them to the Nadeo team directly.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy the read!

POBmaestro

hi pobmaestro,

thank you for your work.

Yes I have 2 question to you, which are very interesting for me.

The first question is about the release of Trackmania 2 Valley. I wondere that it will be released before Questmania, but my question now is the following:

The work of Valley stopped and Nadeo continued with Canyon. Will there be a new, better graphic of Valley ( cause they made maybe improvements with Canyon) than the old unfinished Valley?

second:

The closed beta is coming and the game should be released in about 3 month. Why is there no preorder version of Tm2? Will there be any bonus for the preorder version?


thanks for your work and your nice articles ( till now it were the best ones)

Sincerely,

Max

[tcq]

Why is there no preorder version of Tm2? Will there be any bonus for the preorder version?

I guess i can answer this probably.
As the game is DL only, i think you won't get any extras for pre-ordering (i can only think of DLC, which would be either maps, skins, mods and they would be soon available on community sites and thus don't make sense to me to give them out as a bonus) because even if you don't pre-order it you can get the game instantly at release.
As bonus there could only be keybound things and i can't imagine one atm (maybe a special tag for your account or so).

[wiidesire-2]

yeah but the preorder version could be cheaper for example, that was my question. I don't think that there will be any special bonus, either. There could be more skins or horns, but that's pretty useless

[POBmaestro]

The work of Valley stopped and Nadeo continued with Canyon. Will there be a new, better graphic of Valley ( cause they made maybe improvements with Canyon) than the old unfinished Valley?

Hi Max, thank you for the comments. Obviously Valley is still some way off its 2012 release, so I doubt there will be any exact details Nadeo can confirm on this yet. Remember all the Mania games will use the same game engine which has been in development for a long time. So basically expect the same graphics as Canyon, if that answers your question?

The closed beta is coming and the game should be released in about 3 month. Why is there no preorder version of Tm2? Will there be any bonus for the preorder version?
Max

I think this is a fair question. I will ask if there will be any bonus for pre-orders, as maybe players who have followed the development of the game for a long time migh appreciate a "founder" tag or something if they were to pre-order.

(I'll group all remaining questions together and send them on Monday )

[xis101]

These two articles show that you exactly know what you are writing about. Very good job, nice to read.

I´m more interested in maniascript. I would like to know a reasonable example what you could do with maniascript, that you couldn´t do in TMF. Solitaire is, let´s say a gimmick, but nothing you would normally create/use.

[POBmaestro]

These two articles show that you exactly know what you are writing about. Very good job, nice to read.

I´m more interested in maniascript. I would like to know a reasonable example what you could do with maniascript, that you couldn´t do in TMF. Solitaire is, let´s say a gimmick, but nothing you would normally create/use.

Hi xis thanks for the feedback

I suppose Solitaire was used as an example to show the broader potential of Maniascript, which will have script variables that can control what events happen on track. As I said in my preview Maniascript is probably better suited to Shootmania or Questmania where it could be used to make game modes and rules etc. What exactly can be done differently than the Mediatracker in Trackmania I don't really know, but it's resonable to assume that it will be limited by the imagination of a player as the library grows.

Hope this helps a bit, though I don't think I've said anything you don't already know! I will try and ask Nadeo for more specific details on Maniascript but I think it will only become more clear once the Alpha phase is complete!

[POBmaestro]

Hi everyone

I will try putting these questions to Nadeo directly first thing tomorrow morning. If you have anything else you would like asked or if I haven't answered your question enough then let me know today!

Questions so far:

Will there be one new single username and password log-in required for Maniaplanet, and will the player username appear on their map creations? (Some players, including myself, used their real name as the username in TMU but didn't like this appearing in their track creations!)

This might be a question for Ubisoft, but can you confirm if Trackmania 2: Canyon is going to be digital download only or will appear in retail shops as well? Also will there be a special bonus for pre-orders, such as a "founder" tag for these player’s in-game Trackmania 2: Canyon?

Can any examples of Maniascript, other than Solitaire, be talked about to help show how it can add to the possibilities of Mediatracker in the track editor of Trackmania 2: Canyon?

[wiidesire-2]

This might be a question for Ubisoft, but can you confirm if Trackmania 2: Canyon is going to be digital download only or will appear in retail shops as well? Also will there be a special bonus for pre-orders, such as a "founder" tag for these player’s in-game Trackmania 2: Canyon?

hi maestro, thank you for your help

pls change my question. We already know that there will be only a digital version ( download version).


Will there be a preorder version of Tm2 and if yes, will there be any special bonus in it like a founder tag for these players ingame Trackmania Canyon?

[POBmaestro]

This might be a question for Ubisoft, but can you confirm if Trackmania 2: Canyon is going to be digital download only or will appear in retail shops as well? Also will there be a special bonus for pre-orders, such as a "founder" tag for these player’s in-game Trackmania 2: Canyon?

hi maestro, thank you for your help

pls change my question. We already know that there will be only a digital version ( download version).


Will there be a preorder version of Tm2 and if yes, will there be any special bonus in it like a founder tag for these players ingame Trackmania Canyon?

Ok I will change your question. I have to admit I only recently realised that TM2 is download only, and that shocked me. I would still like to ask in a seperate question if there are any plans for retail release because, in the UK especially, broadband speeds are still relatively poor and many (including myself) have no easy way to download big files. If files can be downloaded in Maniaplanet like Steam that is OK as I can download files over a period of time, but I still have a download cap! Have Nadeo said previously how big the download will be, because that might be something else to ask