"Simple" does not have to be easy, neither does it have to be ugly.
These are two things I tried to achieve in my entry "Overkill" for this month's tracking contest, which asks the mappers to push the simple editor to its limit. This editor - as the name suggests - is very simple as it limits you in every way imaginable. Most of the things you view as a given or necessity in the advanced editor are unavailable here. This means no mediatracker, no (custom) items, no ghost or freeblock mode, no macroblocks, no unlimited map size, etc. Furthermore even the blocks that are available to you are very limited. This leads to quite some difficulties when trying to build a smooth and interesting route and scenery.
The biggest challenge for me here was to create a track that feels like one where you have all the tools and luxuries of the advanced editor at your disposal, to create something that is not just a flat and boring, uncalculated mess. Every turn and every transition was a challenge, some parts I ended up reworking over and over again in an attempt to make it smooth and interesting.
The result is a track that is quite challenging but very much rewards risky lines. The map even has an "identity". My impression (or hope rather
) is that it's quite huntable and replayable and feels homogenous and flowy.
Not having to worry about making it "suitable for totd" was refreshing and made me do things I normally wouldn't. I'm quite happy with the end result, both in terms of route and scenery.
Overall I really really enjoyed this month's theme. Building in the simple editor was like being a kid again; playing with legos, having to use all your creativity to make the most out of the limited amount of blocks you have. I hope we'll have more like these in the future
Enjoy!