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- Dutchman

What kind?

lay down some rules to interest people tell us about your vision

I'll join. Whadya do?

- Mike

at first, thx for showing interest I was about to drop the thread cause there were no answers.

I'm open for ideas about style / type / size / story for the campaign.

My preferences:
- at least one track in every environment: alpine, rally and desert
- at least one track of every type race, puzzle, stunt and platform
- difficulty ranging from experienced beginner to something between intermediate/expert
- track length ranging from below 0:30 to max 2:30, perhaps one longer track
- storyline: some type of 007 story, investigation, spying linking all tracks. adventure game elements like: going to point A to find out you need to visit B to reach C
- MT intro, outro and ingame to tell the story, create atmo with text, effects, pics, sounds, ghosts etc. I can provide webspace to upload suff.
- perhaps some video in or between the missions ... let's see

mission (track) types:
spying: like i did in , where you have to stay undercover
transport: getting a very sensitive item from A to B without breaking it =>platform
scouting: stay off normal road, stay undercover, find secret entrys, find your way through mazes etc. possibly with a puzzle
racing: escaping the bad guys (being faster or do stunts/jumps they cant follow)
training: possibility for anything introduce beginners into basic technical driving and "standard" jumps / elements as well as special tricks needed later in the campaign

As you can see, I'm planing more than simply bundle a bunch of tracks together
trackbuilding will only be one part of the project, there will be room for skins, mods, MT specialists, pics, sounds and more.
how about really driving an aston martin in an 007-type mission, fonzie
how about some "apocalypse now" or "miami vice" feeling?
how about some monthy pythons, terry pratchett or douglas addams elements?

I already have a storyline in mind and will present it in some days. There will be elemets of "the fast & the furious", "honour drive", "007", "triple x", "Bullit", "gone in 60 seconds" and .... well i've said to much already If I tell you more, I'd have to kill you

- Track length: I have crap loads of mini-tracks, though they're mostly complete circuits.
- Intro: I've only fiddled with the camera once but I did a pretty decent job.
[url="http://members.shaw.ca/mccall1/trackmania/Property Ladder vid.Replay.Gbx"]Property Ladder vid.Replay.Gbx[/url]
- How would you set up video between tracks? Perhaps include a script telling the player when to minimize the game to watch a cutscene?
- Missions: heh, that scout mission sounds like it would start off as a puzzle where you fire the best 'sneak-around' . Check out the Rally selection of "Moo" 's tracks, he has some where you have to bounce off houses or squeeze through small areas at high speed - I hate that track.

Were you thinking of just some texture work or are you actually going to change the building and car's 3D models?

- Mike

Mikemc says...

- Track length: I have crap loads of mini-tracks, though they're mostly complete circuits.

Taking or adapting an already published track is ok for me, as long as it fit into the storyline. And this is exatly the point where you have to balance the earnings of using a ready made track versus the effort choosing the right track and to adapt it - which couldt turn out as a complete reconstruction.

Mikemc says...

- Intro: I've only fiddled with the camera once but I did a pretty decent job.
[url="http://members.shaw.ca/mccall1/trackmania/Property Ladder vid.Replay.Gbx"]Property Ladder vid.Replay.Gbx[/url]

I checked that replay, to bad you can see the intro only with the track

On video cutscenes: Yes I've thought about that way. telling the user in MT outro to run an external video file. I dont think there's an easy way to do this automatically by scripting. The same problem comes up with car skin changes or mod changes through the campaign. Perhaps there's a way to start TMO in batch mode with a specified challenge or somethinh like that.

On puzzle & scout missions: Have you ever build a puzle missions? While i did my first campaign, i did as a puzzle. it was quite hard to leave only one possible solution and making it not obviously. And it will be very hard to force tricky solutions excluding all other ways.

The use of mods and skins will be determined by the storyline.

I checked that replay, to bad you can see the intro only with the track

How do you mean? You can't watch a modified replay without the track in the challenges folder, or you can't have an intro video without having to race on that same track? If it's the second, how about having say, half the map is 'behind the scenes' and the other is the actual course. For the intro you have the camera looking at something while you drive the car to the location (behind the mountains or a wall) and then start the filming.

And here's the map for the above replay: Property Ladder

- Mike

I've worked with that sort of tricks in TM already
Goto http://www.trackmaniagame.com and look for a TM replay called "lady death pursiut"
if it is still online

Dutchman says...

I've worked with that sort of tricks in TM already
Goto http://www.trackmaniagame.com and look for a TM replay called "lady death pursiut"
if it is still online

Digital Jesters is gone, so the site is gone too.