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Location: Home  Blogs  Is your map worth to be driven? 
More Posts by .zapph'
Title
Is your map worth to be driven?
My personal planning for the future and some other stuff :)
First time blog!
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Is your map worth to be driven?
Is your map worth to be driven? 21 May, 2013
 .zapph' (20 comments, 1894 views)  
Heya MX people!

I've thought about this theme for a longer time now. And I came to the opinion to let you guys know what I think!

This thread is about some requirements a map has to have for myself that I will drive/test/award/whatever... it!
As an old TM freak who was active in the best times of TMX I think I have the right to have requirements...
It was when I was between 15 and 16 (over 2 years ago) when I was very active on TMX.
At that time there were so many awesome people and a great community. They held a damn lot of Screenshot Competitions. Many people offered their skills as Screenshot makers and intro/outro editors.
Many tracks had a ScreenCompo in the back. And there were so many awesome talented guys to make screenshots.
Every track ahd an individual representing Screenshot for it, and those screenshots made one hungry for more.. hungry for the map. If it looked great you became the urge to drive that track.

... Nowadays I look in the forums...
and I see there's not many people active, and even less ScreenCompos. I don't know why that is.. probably because most of the old TMX-community quitted TM a long time ago, but it could be totally something else!
I think this is pretty sad if I compare it with these old days of TMNF.

As you can probably tell from this longer text, for myself it is important to see a Screenshot of the map, a nicely edited one, that makes me want to drive a map. But I look around the new maps, most awarded, botw and everything, and there's mostly shitty Screenshots or none! I think, that if you put some effort into your maps to present them to the people, you really want people to drive them. Very often the maps in the botw menu are from the same guys. And these guys tend to just make a screenshot from the editor, scale it to the fitting size and that's it!

But this is not enough for me! I only want to drive maps which needed some effort. Like a nicely edited screenshot.
It doesn't have to meet Zhuckar's standards :d mine hardly can reach his level.. But it should be something more than just a textoverlay with the mapname.

Furthermore what a good track is to me, is a cool, short intro.. Intros bring the map closer to the player.. he gets a look at the map and if the intro is done nice, he wants t drive it just with more power.. do you understand what I'm trying to say?

I always make intros and screenshots for my maps, and although they aren't the best, I can tell that I am proud of my creations. I put some effort into it and my work makes me proud!

And that is what I need to drive another one's map!

>>A screenshot
>>An intro

They don't have to be your creation, but please.. have at least a nice Screenshot!!!

That's it from my side.
If you want to tell me your opinion, go ahead. I am open for other minds and discussing!

Peace,
Zapphire (y)
Comments
20 comment(s).
 SPIDER writes ... 21, May, 2013  
This guy use a screen - 7 award - the screen don´t tell nothing :$
not sure if the screen is important as you say- the author name is rather important +o(
accordingly to this map - maybe a secret map is more exciting one ;)
Kata's Kave by   kata78

edit: i looked at a few screens and they don´t show more than 5 % of the track
we all know its a car game right ? :o :o :o
 51Wizard writes ... 21, May, 2013  
Yeah, Hans Holo has already touched on it, but putting together a decent screenshot will
often depend on having the necessary software on the pc. Luckily i have PhotoShop and
can add text etc to my screens, but if we simply press 'prt scr' to grab a still of the screen
then the only option left to us is to resize it ready for upload.
More important imo is posting a 'Author Comment' - if the mapper has made an effort to
write a few words about thier track and what we can expect from it, then i am happy to
give it a go even if there is no screenshot.
 BLiNNeMaNS writes ... 21, May, 2013  
as i also mentioned in this topic there's several reasons for a lack of activity.

However, i thought of another one just now..

The new maniaplanet buddysystem. Every buddy you got gets a message in his list (the "user1" and "buddy of you" are now buddies list) whenever you release a new track on mx. This kinda removes the urge to post on forums to promote your new creation. Also the ingame PM system adds to that factor. Then there's the active community on the maniaplanet forums and everything i mentioned in that topic.

So, a good way to promote your upcoming tracks is buddy server admins and friends of serveradmins
(and offer to send them 150 planets so they can purchase the slot if needed)


MX wise, people usually look at 4 things: screenshot, replays, comments, trackname, awards. (all create a new icon in the list which makes it stand out) so it's a good idea to upload your authortime AND post a 1st reply for your personal feedback on comments/awards. This will give rec hunters a target time and if a track gets activity there's a bigger chance of getting awards (4th icon appearance in tracklist) as well.
Another thing to think of is naming the track. BLiN's FS #58 sounds like factorywork rather than having taken time to tune the track. So always search for a fitting name.
 Hans Holo writes ... 21, May, 2013  
A screenshot might lead your attention to a certain track, but it has nothing to do with the track itself; so I don't care about it when playing other's tracks.

I spent a lot of time building and testing my tracks, but when it comes to screenshot and intro, I only do something that can be accomplished very quick. I don't want to spend time on unnecesary/additional stuff.
I also do not have a software for editing pictures, so all my screens are done with Windows Paint (I also don't want to spend time on learning to use another program just for a screen).
When I play tracks, I have a reflex to skip every intro (even those I want to watch), and if I watch the intro, I get bored really quick. So my intros are never longer than 10 seconds. (Another reason might be the Media Tracker itself, which is an insult to everyone who ever used Video editing software.)
:p
 arzgaa writes ... 21, May, 2013  
I feel ya and see your point. Definitely the most attractive tracks are the ones with gorgeous screenshots. But as for me, I'm pretty much enjoying the race no matter what kind of a track, even without a screenshot. I mean, it's interesting to see what kind of creations can I find, even if it's some 0 award, no name author and everything indicates a horrible track :d
Like ya said, and I agreed, screenshots definitely make the tracks more attractive, but to me it's not a necessity in finding new tracks :p
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