Welcome to the Author Showcase, a project founded by Natzke on Trackmania Nations Exchange. We already made a lot of Interviews, with famous users like Ron Turbo, Panis and GanjaRider, but also normal TMX users like Quat or SeaDevil! We have gotten a lot of positive reactions to it. And we now got the great news that we can publish our Interviews on TMX Blog! We hope you enjoy it!

=¤=

Hello, readers….this week we bring you one of Power Rangers that comes from Germany and want to express how serious is situation on front of good and evil xD Really, this week we only can say, for sure, that he is gr8 track builder and to meet him closer you need wear helmet ;) Boys and girls, let’s meet…

Dartz4!

1 Please tell us more about yourself (birthday, real name, place of birth, height, weight, favorite color) and your background?
Hello, my real name is Valentin R. Deuschel. I'm from the south-west of Germany, where I grew up, finished school and do my military service which lasts 9 months. I am 20 years old, 172 cm short and I weigh 65kg. In my free-time, I do sports besides trackmania, preferably jogging and soccer. At the weekend, I go to clubs, parties or watch soccer matches of my favorite team FC Bayern Munich together with some friends (in case I can convince them). I'm planning to study something about mechanical engineer somewhere in the future.

2 What made you become a track builder and who make biggest influence at your beginning?
Honestly: I don't want to hold a laudatory speech about any builder, because I'd like then. The biggest influence has been my old clan Spieleplanet (SP) which I still ride on but left on my still lasting search for a new clan. Mostly the tracks my aWu, Foulie and the wish to play a track by myself on my favorite server [SP] Geekzock motivated me to improve my skills. Once I conquered the world of SP and Geekzock, the doors of the TMX-universe opened for me, where I had to start from the beginning once again. "Brown Stains" by GanjaRider and Panis' "Moving Power" have been outstanding tracks which I wanted to keep up with.

3 Can you please guide us through a typical track project from start to finish and what part of track building do you find crucial?
Let me answer the last part of your question first: Working with the mediatracker. You need to put in lots of time to achieve something that just slightly satisfies you. Once you get the hang of it, you can do impressively much with it - as you can see on TTC 1 and 2.
But back to the main question: In the beginning I always try to think of what exactly I want to build: Speed, Tech, Speedtech, fast Slides, slow slides, grass, dirt, platform, transitions.. Once I've decided this, I try to think of a smooth start or a nice slide and then I keep on building. Then I try to randomly get inspired by everything I've seen yet or just try out some crazy combinations of specific building-blocks. While building, I keep on test-driving my tracks to find out the biggest amount of fun. Even the scenery will get added and edited while building because it often develops into later trackparts, which makes the track more winding and gives you some cooler re-uses and crossings. After finishing the actual track, it usually takes up to 2 or 3 weeks until I can bother to add some MT-work. That's about it.

4 Where lies your strengths and what is your weakness in track building by your opinion?
My strengths? I think it lies in my try to make my tracks as perfect as possible. I'm very self-critic and whenever I don't like one part, i might already rebuild the whole track. I'm very experienced with the stadium environment, which makes it easy to handle all the variety of building-blocks.. Maybe the playing time over all the years is my actual strength.
Then again I have - quite a lot - weak points too. Sometimes i do have these days where I can't build anything at all after finding one hell of a great start (I had this problem on "Smashed" for example). Same goes to MT, it's almost to cry about sometimes. High-end tracks nowadays need some really good look so succeed online and on TMX. Oh, and my scenery usually looks horrible, I need to keep my scenery very light to not let it look like a disaster.

5 How would you describe your style or better say what makes you different than others?
I don't think that I differ to other authors at all. Like everyone else, I try to bring in the best flow, the nicest transitions and the most innovative tracks on TMX. Maybe I do drive my tracks more often than other before I release them, but honestly, everyone can build outstanding tracks if he just takes the time he needs for it.
I'd say, my style usually tends to be speedtech or tech with lots of slides and a tight ideal line. Fullspeed and big long jumps/drops is not my thing, I don't care too much for them anyways. Online my style is - even when it's semi-pro styled - more fun - at least for me.

6. Where do you find inspiration for tracks?
I usually find my inspiration online while playing a couple of tracks with cool transitions and start sections. Many of those ideas are pretty new to me and instead of immediately building them into a new track; I keep them in my memory to implement them when I have a creative moment.. Which usually happens when I get my working-flow.
TMX has also been a big inspiration for me. Especially in the beginning I tried to cope with legendary trackers (Table, Sivert, CraxX, Foulie, Hawk_ger Andree, Olda X….) which are a big part of my still lasting motivation.

7. Can you tell us what great track builders need to posses besides versatile capability in track building?
When "great" refers to fame and reputation pretty much everywhere in the Trackmania universe, I'd say charm, activity in forums and TMX, helpfulness among other authors and - the most important thing - he should keep it real. Also he shouldn't be too convinced by all the bootlickers on servers and TMX. You know what I mean I guess..

8. What makes TMX so special place in your opinion and did TMX made influence at your life in any way?
TMX made me keep on building and trying out new things. The rating system - even when it brought up several complains and discussions - is unique like this. The exchange between users who aim for the same - building great tracks and having fun - is the reason for permanent improvement. We only owe this to TMX.

9. Can you share an entertaining story from TMX with us?
That's a good question but I can tell you a cool story: Back then when TMX has been down for a while, I've released my first track of the short-Map series a few hours before. At that moment I've been rather unknown and didn't get any attention. I was pretty disappointed as you can guess. But once TMX was back, my track has been showcased on FrontPage, there has been a great fight for the world record and the track gained more than 20 awards. I was so surprised and wondered what just happened. That was pretty cool.

10. Can you tell us who in your eyes who were the 3 most important persons that gave the biggest influence on TMX?
Definitely TimeBreaker. His critical analysis often helped me to understand what my tracks lacked. His excitement for my tracks often gave me new motivation to continue on this.
Another author who deserves being mentioned here is smok3y. He's an absolute all-rounder. No matter which environment he built on- his tracks always convinced me. Our collaboration ended in a very neat fullspeed-track.
Both Harmony~Brothers, bramble and Boumsong have also been very interested in my tracks, which ended in many beta tests, collaborations and awards.

11. What are your daily routine and your favorite daily activity?
Getting up at 05:30 a.m., having breakfast and taking a shower, at 06:15 I get into my car to be punctual at the briefing (06:50). At 04:30 p.m. I can drive home again, get out of my duty-clothes and spend the evening with friends, trackmania or other things. But most fun obviously goes on at the weekend. Sleeping long surely is one my favorite activities, which often is a must when the evening before took longer than usual - with alcohol.
You won't believe it but most of my tracks usually rise at the weekend, right after such a night with beer and stuff - the-day-after effect (now you know my secret).

12. Who made the biggest impact in your real life on you and why?
I think this was - excluding parents and siblings - my ex girlfriend who influenced me the most. Especially once it was over I had many thoughts about me, my behavior, my motivation and my relationship towards my ex and women in general. Especially the time after my relationship shaped me.

13. Tell us about a memorable moment in your life; a time you will never forget?
Back in fourth class I made the rowdy of our school cry with just one hold. That was pretty cool.

14. What is the achievement you have made that you are most proud of in real life?
That's easy to answer: I made my abitur with a grade point average of 1,9 which are pretty good. With a clever choice of subject and a little bit of effort I managed to improve my grade point average by 0,6 since 11th class.

15. What are the goals you are still working towards?
As easy to answer as the last one: As I mentioned I want to study after my military service and succeed there, of course. Like everyone I am looking for a save, independent and happy future - if I succeed is another question.

16. Any phobias/addiction or both you’re willing to admit and could you tell your favorite food and drink?
I'm addicted to Trackmania, that's for sure. But I don't have a problem with that, it's fun and doesn't take as much time as other online-games. I don't have any favorite food actually. I generally like the German, just like the Italian and Chinese kitchen. When it comes to drinks there is only one thing what I really like and pay for: Cocktails. These are my favorites: the sweet-fruity "Caipimara" and the exotic "Asbach Trouble Shooter".

17. What is your general opinion of TM game, what is so addictive, and do you think that Trackmania is friendliest game around?
Trackmania can make you just as aggressive as any other game - especially if you didn't get the hang of it yet. But in general I think that trackmania has a unique and mostly very friendly and supporting community.
This is also the strength of trackmania: A community, where you can have fun and meanwhile have some breathtaking races against each other in various compos and leagues. trackmania is due to the variety of tracks, building-blocks, 2D- and 3D-skins that multi-layered that you can explore new crazy things every day.

18. What are your top 3
- favorite websites / games and why?
- tracks of all-time and why?
Besides TMX my favorite sites are:
- Spieleplanet.eu – the forum of my old clan SP with discussions about everything that goes on in life and much more. Super community!
- Team-ulm.de – similar to facebook but then again so different. The events are being held very regional, which is why you can get way more precise news about parties nearby.
- Sport1.de – my sports portal for the newest info’s about soccer and other things.
Besides trackmania I don't play any other games.
My favorite tracks:
- Moving Power by Panis – No need to say about this one.
- Frozen Valley by Wallaby – Geniouslike snowtrack without bugs, many tight corners and a beautiful flow.
- Angel by Ron Turbo – Speedtech on a different level. I don't know how many battles I had on this track. It's just perfect!!

19. Can Trackmania make one step forward with Trackmania 2 and why?
I'm very excited to see trackmania 2 in action. The images looked very promising, let's hope trackmania trackmania 2 is full with racing-action, new building-blocks and a nicely pimped graphics-engine just like its predecessors. Maybe even with fewer bugs or none at all.

20. What advice would you give to someone who just starting out with track building and where we can find you online?
As I mentioned above: Just keep on driving your tracks while building them and try to get the best out of every part. Try to be creative and expect some flops, in the end it will help you to understand how this game works.. and don't forget to try out tracks by others. Whatever you do, don't forget: It's just a game!
Online you can find me on the TMX-Server "Playpal Online", the SP-Servers like "short and easy" and the "Mistral"-Server.

=¤=

Thx, Dartz4 4 this wonderful interview and specially BIG thx goes to TimeBreaker with out who we will be lost in waste space of German language XD Thanks for reading! See you next week :P

~ The Author Showcase