Last week I announced a small and quick, but hopefully still useful and interesting, project where you were all invited to suggest underrated tracks for a mention here in the blog.

The deadline passed several days ago (but due to some problems I’ve been unable to post during the past few days – thus the lack of activity this week), and now we have one selected for you all to try out 

Unfortunately, though, it’s not a Stadium track, so this one is for all United players 

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In the spirit of highlighting unknown authors and underrated tracks, here’s a chance to get your – or someone else’s – underrated track noticed!

Simply submit a track by leaving a comment below with a link to the track and a short text about why you think it deserves more awards. The track mustn’t be new and it shouldn’t have more than 10 awards already. Deadline: 1st of July (only four days!)

One submitted track will then be selected and highlighted here in the blog next week. A small favor for underrated tracks as a whole, but a bigger one for that one lucky track specifically, and I for one would like to think that that’s still quite a big deal.

So go on, don’t be shy. If you know of or find an underrated track, don’t miss this opportunity to get it noticed 

X-Rated and TM Creative started a project a few months ago with the purpose to find long forgotten unawarded but great tracks in the depths of TMX. Now, the results of this project are here! Article written by Dutchman.

First a short briefing for those who (against all odds) haven't taken any notice of this great event: The recent discussion about tracks brought up at TMX, the TMX-blog, the Tmaniacs-blog and various forums inspired me to call the community for a treasure hunt into the wastelands of TMX. Players claim little alternation in trackstyles on servers while there are a lot of excellent, but underrated tracks and fresh but unknown authors at TMX. I took myself to the test and picked 20 unawarded old tracks from TMX. After less than two hours I was not surprised to find 3 tracks that would do well on a server. Conclusion: There have to be a lot of excellent tracks lost in the wastelands of TMX - you only have to go out and find them.

But it would be a lifetime job for a single person - and so the idea for the treasure hunt was born. By selecting tracks from a single environment sorted by awards, descending and oldest first, i got lists of unawarded tracks and declared a single page with 20 tracks as a claim to be scanned by a contender.

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This is a dead-old debate: which is better, full-speed or technical? Of course, there’s no correct answer, and it’s all a matter of personal taste, but still the arguments keep flaming in various forum discussions every now and then. Most recently, there was a discussion about whether full-speed or technical is harder to build on the recent Monthly Track Contest theme “two tiles wide” (or, in the case of Nations, “four tiles wide”).

But what is it that starts this sort of debate all the time? Why is it so difficult to just accept that some people prefer one over the other, and that not everyone thinks alike? It might be a biased view, but it’s my experience that technical builders more often “complain” about full-speed tracks than the other way around. Perhaps full-speed builders are simply more compassionate and open-minded then those who dislike full-speed? :P

No, personally I believe that full-speed often is perceived as an “easy solution” and a much less complicated way of building than the more technical counterpart, at least if talking about the Stadium environment (for some United environments, this might be different). But of course, that’s not the case. In fact, I believe the best full-speed tracks are often the ones that require the most well-crafted solutions. The problem is, as the driver you often don’t see it, partly because transitions and critical parts are so skillfully woven together, partly because you’re just flying past it in such high speeds you don’t have time to reflect upon it. And isn’t it so that many of the most popular tracks on TMX are full-speed tracks?

Then again, technical tracks aren’t easy to build either. The best ones require a balance in regards of turns that distinguish the sudden and just annoying brake from the ones that require skill to take perfectly but that don’t ruin the feel of the track.

And it’s at this point that I’ve settled my mind on which I prefer. Again, neither is “better” than the other, but there is one key ingredient that distinguishes the excellent from the plain good: a perfect combination. The bets tracks, in my opinion, aren’t those on which you simply take one wallride after the other at high speed, nor the ones where every turn involves a tap on the brake key. It’s the ones that include natural brakes, technical turns and high-speed transitions but without the need for constantly letting go of the speeder. It’s the ones where braking comes naturally, without the need for a key to do so but with the usage of well put together turns where speed loss comes automatically. Tracks where the vehicle strokes the edge of the turns at high speed, combining technicality with speed in a way that makes the track really stand out.

In short: full-speed is great, as are technical tracks, but one is much more fun if the other is present too. There’s no need for flame wars – an agreement won’t be found anyway – but there is the right to an opinion. So which one’s yours? Full-speed or technical?

Here’s a quick review of an underrated track.

• Track: HullaBaby
• Author: domase
• Environment: Stadium
• Awards: 1

HullaBaby is a very nice little speedtrack. It's a lot of fun to play and get a good run on. The track has a backboost, but you'll need it. Most of the time, you'll be on a loop at high speed. The track itself is thrilling and desperately needs more awards, come on community!

The Good

• Thrilling high speed action

• Addictive

• Easy enough for beginners

• Cool camchange at the end

The Bad

• Backboost

Leave your own opinion about what’s good and what needs to be improved in this track in a comment below!

Blog Tracks is a concept that’s been seen before on TM blogs, and now it’s coming to the TMX Blog as well. Basically, blog tracks (BT) are tracks created in association with a blog but by well known track builders, usually a new one for every track.

For the TMX Blog, a new track of this kind will be released every now and then. Most of these are likely to be Stadium tracks, considering the TMNF players, but other environments will of course also be represented. The aim: awesome tracks, of course! And the first one is already here!

• Track: London Rain [BT #1]
• Environment: Bay
• Author: Siem

So go ahead and download the track, and don’t forget to award it if you like it or comment on it of you don’t ;)

Click here to read the first part.

--=> M <=--

Maze Map

A maze map is a track with a web of roads, but merely a few checkpoints, and will allow you to make creative route choices.

Mix Map

Not to be confused with a bug map, a mix map is a track where the position of certain blocks stored in the GBX file have been hacked with external tools. The idea is that one block is moved to the position of another to form a new kind of block.

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If you start to play TrackMania beyond Solo mode and explore what the community has to offer, you soon get confronted with a plethora of different terms for tracks, not all of which are self-explanatory.

In this article many of the different types of tracks, which have developed over the years, are introduced with a short explanation. Some types might be missing, especially from the early days of TrackMania Original. If you are aware of additional types of tracks, please add those in a comment to this article.

The terms track and map are used synonymous and are often interchangeable.

--=> B <=--

BASCO Track

A Build A Stage COmpetition is a special community track, where each part (stage) of a track is built by anyone interested in taking part in the competition. Each contribution is evaluated by a group of judges who decide who the winner for the current stage is. Then building begins anew for the next stage, then judging again - until the track is finished. This concept was developed at TMX in 2006.

Bug Map

A bug map is a track which aims to exploit errors in the track editor to create impossible or otherwise sensational parts and transitions. Most bugs involve deleting previously placed blocks and the most famous example is probably the invisible road in the environment Island in TrackMania Sunrise.

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Blockmixing – that is, when you hack the game to add blocks in places where they don’t belong or normally can’t be placed, add several blocks in the same space, etc. – has always been discussed a lot. Is it a nice addition to the game? Does it ruin the game by letting you do things you normally wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be able to do? Is the fact that some people are good at it while to others it’s a real challenge to learn make it unfair? And does it lower the overall quality of tracks, since it’s an art so hard to master?

I guess there’s only one correct answer: it’s stupid and unfair!

No, just kidding :P I do believe, though, that it’s – as with a lot of other things – just a matter of personal taste. To some it might be the best thing to happen since TrackMania was released, and to others it’s a very odd thing that doesn’t belong in the game at all.

But let’s find out what the TMX users really believe. Just answer this simple question in a comment: Blockmixing, good or bad?

Oh, and you haven’t missed this month’s United MTC, which is all about blockmixing, have you? ;)