MTC - All Over

Hey TrackmaniaExchange !

This is my submission for the MTC October 2022 - 10 blocks and not one more , I've read a lot of confusion about the theme in the TMX discord so I wanted to explain my process as well in case I made a mistake : I did not make a distinction between what is defined as a block and what is defined as an item, so any time I used something from the game, I counted it towards the 10 "occurence of things" limit. No matter if it was for scenery or the route itself, I would have counted a plastic tube item for example. Not counting Start, Finish, and signs blocks, and CPs, arrows, and trees items.

For the challenge I started on a piece of paper writing down how many variations in terms of surface each block offered. For example, a sausage turn would get 4 points by my system, because it has the normal sausage surface, the flat surface under it, and the sides that can serve as uphill or downhill curves. I would then progressively weight that score against previously "rated" blocks, so that I wouldn't pick blocks with the same "properties" as a previous one. It was very cumbersome and in the end not very worth it but still very interesting to do since it allowed me to see what blocks can be "optimized" in the context of this MTC.

I started building with a list of blocks I wanted to use, and every time I placed a block I would put it on the side of the Stadium just to keep in mind I had already used it (you can see the final 10 under the giant screen on one side of the stadium). I started building the route trying to find satisfying transitions and paths that felt natural and not too repetitive. With a lot of trial and error I came up with the map that I'm uploading now, a lot of the blocks you will see used weren't necessarily there in the first place. For example, I had a straight sausage transition used as a flat surface that I replaced with the blocks I was using already, to gain "1 free block". This allowed me to use the grass hill block for the scenery, which I built once I was satisfied with the route.

In retrospect it was quite a challenging theme, and I really enjoyed figuring out how to build a track while being limited in terms of options. I do think there is room for improvement, I only used the dirt transition twice in the map, when I probably could have used another block more often. I'm not quite satisfied with the scenery either, I generally dislike repetitive sceneries based on macro blocks, but I guess for this theme it was the safest option. It was hard to balance wanting a better scenery and keeping the route visible and clear enough. Hopefully I did a good enough job !

Good luck and enjoy the map !!