Hey! In this interview we have a Dutchman who doesn’t fear to try new transitions, even the ones that are called impossible – Joost! You can find more infomation about the project here. Enjoy his answers!
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1. Could you tell us something about yourself?
My name is Joost and I’m 19 years old. I live in the Netherlands (aka. Holland). I live in a city close to the German border, named Nijmegen. My hobbies are listening to electronic music, playing soccer and playing Trackmania of course. Next to that I’m a (engineering) student now, which has its positives as well as negatives. The study itself is hard work and I make long days, but the parties and everything else around it is great.
2. How and when did you find TrackMania?
I read a review of TMO once in a magazine. I wasn’t really into gaming back then, but it did really appeal to me somehow. I didn’t buy or download it however. Though I downloaded TMN eswc when I saw videos of it. I mostly played it online and didn’t build. When Trackmania United was released I bought it online for my birthday. This was in 2007. I played online and experimented in the editor. Half a year later I registered on TMX, and in November of that year I released my first map. It wasn’t until the end of 2008 that I really settled in TMX though.
3. Why is your nickname Joost?
My reallife name is Joost and I didn’t have any idea what username to choose, so I just picked my name. It gives a fun and strange experience to be recognised online by other players though, because it’s so personal!
4. Have you driven leagues or other kind of tournaments or matches in Trackmania?
Not really, unfortunately. I once participated in an special event, a tournament in which all maps were envimixed. I formed a team with Nitroguy and we had great fun! It was a great surprise and experience to drive something so new and different, despite ending close to last in the tournament.
5. Your maps are known as very experimental, transitional and usually also very hard. Why do you build such a maps instead of easier and general ones?
Because I have fun doing it! It’s also my style I guess; I like to experiment and I almost always persuade a target when I build a map. These targets often challenge me in some way or another so in the end the map is always a bit more special. Oh and I’m a terrible perfectionist, I have trouble building a normal platform because I find it boring.
6. How do you invent your transitions?
Great question I have to say! I’ll try and keep it short though, otherwise people won’t be bothered to read the interview until the end.. There are a lot of ways in which I invent them. There goes a lot of thought and experimenting in certain transitions, whilst others I simply ‘discover’. Most of the times I choose a block and I start to experiment with other blocks to combine them. This literally means that I just select another block and I put it next to it. After that I check how they line up basically. This procedure is done while making a map or in a completely empty map. Depends of the situation, but from my experience the best ideas are born during the building of a map! The physics of the car play a role as well. All in all it’s quite technical; it comes down to experimenting, ideas and most of all knowledge of the editor and the driving physics.
7. Brace Yourself. Over 100 awards in TMNF-X, 50 in TMUF-X. It's called as "possibly the most creative track in the hole of TMX" and "ROFLSAUCEMAYONNAISECRAZYUNPOSSIBLELOLWUT track" due to its mind-blowing transitions, insane difficulty and innovative usage of rare blocks. Could you tell us something about the building process and your thoughts about this map?
It’d be a pleasure! It is indeed a special map for me too. Stadium had always been my number one environment both building and driving-wise. However I always released my maps on TMUx rather than TMNx. When I saw the quality on TMNx I became more active, but I saw a lot of really similar maps. People said that creativity wasn’t really possible anymore. To make a statement I challenged myself to make something unseen, something unique. I started from scratch even though I already had about half the ideas in another map. The first half, up until the first sculpture was made really quickly. After that everything went in small steps, with lots of corrections. I put in more time in testing rather than actually building the map! There were a few months in which I didn’t even build anything at all. In the end I got everything to work exactly as I wanted it. My target was achieved. 
8. It's almost an year from your latest release in some "TMU environment" and almost two years from the second latest one. Why have you stopped building in those environments?
With the release of TM2, a lot of users moved away. Mostly from TMU, which in my experience has really had a negative influence on the TMU-exchange. And because of that I slowly moved to TMN-exchange. Building in these environments hasn’t changed a thing though, I still enjoy it. Some days after this question Joost built a rally track for United MTC
9. If you had to list your best maps, which maps would make it into the top three? Why?
Argh, the hardest question of all… It’s a tough call, every map is special for me. Personally I would say these maps are my best:
- Go With The Flow (rally)
- Brace Yourself (stadium)
- Serenity (stadium)
Go With The Flow, is really a map I’m proud of. Even with little building experience in rally, I created an epic start and turned it into an exhilarating hunter! Oh and it’s the most awarded tmuf rally map, something I’m quite proud of  As for Brace Yourself, well I explained that already in another question. It’s a one-of-a-kind map really. The last one then, Serenity. This is one of my quickest build maps, since I had to finish it for the MTC. Building it was a rush, but a good one. Everything I thought seemed to fit. It was a great building experience!
10. I noticed that I forgot to drink my coffee while making these questions and it's cold now. Do you think that cold coffee make you beautiful as some phrase says?
Did it take you that long to think them all up?! Well I don’t know the phrase, but as a student I need my daily basis of coffee or something similar to keep my focus! Oh and iced coffee is delicious, so I agree.
11. Do you own TM2 Canyon? At least you don't seem to have maps in Mania-Exchange.
I do own TM2, I bought it when it was released. I tried out the editor, played online a bit and I experimented a bit here and there. In the end however it didn’t ‘grab me’ like TMN and TMU did. I might start it up sometime and rediscover it though, time will tell.
12. Your top 3 websites & games.
Websites:
- TMX
- Youtube
- Facebook (during boring classes)
Games:
- Trackmania
- Need for Speed Shift2
- Need for Speed Underground2 (love it still)
13. Which is your favourite environment to drive and which one to build?
Driving wise I really enjoy rally. Downside is that you need a gamepad to really appreciate the environment I think. Building in stadium is without doubt the best for me, the great diversity in blocks combined with the stable and sharp handling of the stadium car makes it ideal for building in my eyes!
14. Describe yourself with four words.
Creative, Lazy, Aware, Thoughtful
^ These words actually were on the paper I received from wormi and they just fit perfectly. I consider it creative, lazy and thoughtful of me.
15. What does your dream pizza include?
Bacon, cheese, unions, beef, some other vegetables and a hamburger in the middle. Yeah, that should do.
16. Is it true that people in Netherlands bike a lot?
Oh god yes. It’s like the number one transportation method, especially for students. Downside is that bikes get stolen a lot as well; the front wheel of my bike was actually stolen about a week ago.
17. If you have something else to say, please write it here.
NO.
Thanks you a lot for those great answers! I hope you get your bike wheel back 
See you later with a new face!
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As for Brace Yourself, well I explained that already in another question. It’s a one-of-a-kind map really. The last one then, Serenity. This is one of my quickest build maps, since I had to finish it for the MTC. Building it was a rush, but a good one. Everything I thought seemed to fit. It was a great building experience!
