Although im kinda starting as a track builder, i do have loads of driving experience since the beginning of track mania. i'll keep an eye on any new tracks of yours, keep an eye on mine and we'll both give eachother very honest information, tips etc about the tracks we've played.

sounds like a plan.

Are you kidding me, I love to hate your maps, you can't do this to me and countless others

Ok, ok, let's get to business. So there are a few connotations to what I think you think and feel and I am trying to understand what you feel and I probably have a little clue as to where you want to be and I am trying to understand what it is that you actually need. Confusing Eh!

Alright, I am always around when you are around and I gotta jump into this, like it or not. What are friends for [to dig you a hole and push you into it even if you were only contemplating it]

Now let's get one thing out of the way: There is no doubt you have the skill, the will and the power to do what only a few can do i.e. make a complete map and make it fun as well.

The thing that has now come into the picture: You want something that is more, how do you want me to put it, 'p o p u l a r' with the masses and the classes and the tracks don't fizzle out with an award or two. Or maybe it is not even about the awards, the tracks just need to be there in the minds of the people, so to say, for a longer time. I mean the tracks have to be more popular then what they are right now.

And you want some honest feedback: Well that is what I and the rest of the people who visit your track page do. We like it, we award it. Atleast I do and I am honest with it. But then again I understand what you mean and maybe I have been wrong myself in asuming [make an ass of me and you] a few things, like putting up those weird and whacky worded awards, rather than something more open and frank and constructive. And maybe some did follow that as well, and maybe I thought that was more fun thinking you will like it more.

And then here we are and we all kinda goofed up, atleast I did and now i know what you want and I should have been a better player and a better friend and went on these lines earlier. But let's get into what we have right now, what is gone is gone.

And the story continues...

...so of all the things that get someone started into making a map, the most important thing is 'p o p u l a r i t y', now there can be an exception to this however I am not here to discuss that, so anyone else who wants to discuss it please feel free to PM me, rather than take this topic to Mars, where we don't want to be.

So you are on your way to scaling this thing called popularity and longevity of the tracks you make and I have no doubt that you are trying to figure out what that magical solution to this is. I will try my best here to try and put my experience and thoughts and feelings into this explanation

My Background: I am a story in person for you, for you have seen me from my infant days and you and Zippy have taught me in my infant days. I am always so grateful to you and Zippy from the deepest depth(if there is anything like that) of my heart, for what I am today is due to your and Zippy's help and encouragement when I had just started to get into this game. So let's get that out of the way [that was for people who might want to know why am I getting into this].

The fact: You ask this question to yourself and answer it. Why do you make maps? Get an answer to that, don't tell me just keep it to yourself. For the answer I heard in your 1st post is what I am going to give an explanation to and we can discuss the exceptions that come into your mind at a later date and time.

The Answer: I make maps to see them get popular [ What I heard in your 1st post, I might not be off by a long shot, Eh!] and also the reason why I make maps. Yes sir we all do make maps to see them get popular. Not for self praise and ego and all that crap, there are exeptions and I am not getting into those. This is the general concensus. So let's stop hiding behind a facade and be honest. I like your honesty so I am here writing all this...

[trying to break it down into small posts for easy reading, and not many are going to read this anyways]

The maps you make: For most of us are classified Evil. They are fun, YES. They are innovative, YES. They are addictive, YES. They have MT, YES. They have decent scenery, YES. They have a screen shot, YES. So with everything ticking a yes where the hell are we not scaling the charts.

What I feel: Now this is my opinion and people might wanna grill me, so for those who want to, send me a PM. There is a difference in making maps for self satisfaction and for the general public. I prefer to go with what the general public will like, I don't think for a moment what I will like. I tick a few things in my mind, mentioned below:-
Gotta have flow
Gotta have something unique
Gotta be fun
Gotta give the pros something to get into their skin and challenge them.
Gotta give the average joe something fun and yet finishable and yet leave him with that 'Wish I was better and I would kill the times here', and that makes them improve at this game, which in turn is a good thing.
Gotta give the track that bling, MT and stuff, with a lot of fancy art work and FX and the jazz, you get the drift.
Gotta have jumps, people love jumps, don't ask me why, maybe we just can't get over the 'I wish I could fly" thing ever in our lives.
Gotta have speed, FS all the more better, for this community is biased towards FS, like it or not, and again i don't care about the exceptions but let us for once just look at what the heck is popular as that is what we are discussing here. And then again you could compromise on the FS jazz and make something a little drifty, now this game really brings that new genre into the picture which was never so popular in stadium and island, so to speak.
Gotta have transitions and the fireworks, show them something that makes them go "wow, I never thought you could build in this way". And then some transitions just become the norm.
Gotta have some nice deco and scenery.

Now after I have it clear in my mind that this is what the general public will like, I try and tick a few things that are common with what I like and the rest I can compromise with. There are exceptions to this bla bla bla. Then I get on with the business.

Now there are a few things that will go down well and a few which will not, so in the earlier stages of my life i started with what was popular and I made stuff around it. Then I started experimenting with a few things, now the things is when you start getting noticed then a few innovative things start to set the charts on fire. And then you start to master a genre of mapping style and then you are in the charts most of the time and the rest is history.

Now there is one major thing we are missing here. How the hell do you get people to notice you. The answer was always simple but people being people would rather discuss it to death and bother the rest, but will not get to it. Now the way I see you, you are willing to go down this path so you might as well do it. Get out there on people's track pages and freaking test them and comment on them and award them. Easier said than done. The point is to get people to notice you, you can't sit there and make a map and the job is done.

Now you have an advantage here already, you are well known, you are actually an antique piece so to say from the pre-historic times just like I am, so some of that will come back to you now. In the earlier days, I was a nobody and had it not been for this testing other people's maps and commenting/awarding them and posting my replays, I would have been a nobody no matter how freaking awesome maps I made. And then I started getting noticed and I started asking people to help me in how to make maps, starting from you and Zippy and then my XT team members were a great help all this while.

And then I started to look into what was popular and I changed my mapping style to suit that. I wanted to be popular, simple, I did and again exceptions bla bla bla. So I had to do something about it, I did. What I have witten above is a part of it. I used to spend 5-6 hours a day testing maps from all authors and posting something or the other on their pages. The aim was to get noticed, not to get awards or anything like such, they came in their sweet time and that was a bonus. Now there is a hint for you as well, I feel you gotta get more involved in testing and stuff from what you already do.

And now to what you can do: Change your style for the masses, I don't care what people tell you. Find some fun in what you might end up making from what you already do. You have very unique maps which offbeat, weird and high skilled people, like your truly will admire. But the masses FAIL on those tracks big time. You can't appreciate what you can't finish. To me you are popular and awesome because I respect what you make and appreciate that i get something different to have fun on and challenge myself.

So that is one thing where you can start, whether you will or not is upto you. Get into the genre of what ticks. You can't be making offbeat maps and still expect the same popularity. there is mainline cinema and offbeat cinema. You can't compare the two. there will always be masses and classes for mainline cinema and only classes for offbeat cinema. It's the same that is here. And this battle is not somthing you will win in a day or a week or a month. Though you have a head start but this will take a while. My aim here is to tell you what I feel and have experience over the last 7 years of being in TM and how I got here and I have seen other people and I know how they got there as well. To me the story has always been the same and the struggle has always been the same. Some people admit to it and do something aboutit and then there are some who just like to crib all their lives and fill pages in these forums but would not do anything about it.

And then again axceptions are there and bla bla bla. So once again, go ask that question and answer it. And then start whichever way you want to go, but this way is going to be the hard way. At the start you will not like what you build and why are you building it. For this time you won't be building for yourself, eh! But then again popularity never came without it's share of sacrifices, and this is one you will have to make.

So now you want me to rip your tracks apart, i will be more than happy to do so, but only after you tell me if you made it for yourself and what you want or if you made it for the people and what they want. There is nothing I see wrong in both the things. What is wrong in making things for the community and in return ask for some back, now that is a question a lot of people would not like to answer and i leave them to their point of view. I answer it with a "I find the best compromise on both the things and work with it'.

Over n out captain, holla and I'll be around to kick some butt, eh!!
Can't get more honest than that and hopefully I have not hijacked your thread.

So here's the deal, not sure but if you want to go to mainstream/mainline mapping then yours truly is at your service.

I am with you on this idea, maybe we can help a lot many people with this if they like to take it to that level. And then you can help me with a few things as well and so can others. And more people can chip in and join if they please.

IM EXHAUSTED! bloody hell smokey you could write a brick sized book on the contents of a ping pong ball.

ok lets see if i can condense this masterpiece of literary largeness.

make tracks with a more popular feel in mind.
hold back on the "evil" and build what others want
become known by testing and awarding/commenting on everyones track.

does that about cover it?
in answer i always try to make tracks for a variety of racers but tbh i suspect the evil difficulty part of my tracks comes from the uniqueness of the route i ask you to take.
ah now this thread actually encouraged me to start practising what i preached so i have been running random tracks and leaving feedback or awards depending on the quality. and true enough my tracks have been looked at and awarded/commented on more often.

and finely to you matey. i value every award or comment you make on my tracks as they are always a masterpiece of comedy. if you had truly suffered the afflictions mentioned in my awards from playing my tracks then by this point i would hardly call you human anymore. you have talked of scottish virgins and tight assed ants, needles for weeners, a nut out to get squirrels, "no shit you can't do this", burns the n00b balls, omelette on my windshield, Throw them all to the beasts now, falling for these bananas, Amazinghairyballs Track, n00bs get buried, I gave everything away to charity to be able to finish this map, nightmare/daymare/anyothermare.

and thats just some of my united tracks.

a smokey award needs no feedback, its a badge of honour all on its own.

Nah not really, thanks for the honor though

But ya you got it bang on. So let us see the next map you start, I am around to tell you mainstream or offbeat through-out the track building time, so I can look at every section you are making in the process if that helps

Smok3y is a man of his pwn style...
just a super guy
I once asked him if he could have any woman alive
or dead, who would you take....
Smok3y said "Alive"

my next track is already up but isnt out for awards or anything as its a practice folly track kinda thing. i will start work on a new track though and see what you think before i go live with it.

i have an ESL competition track made but i cant post it up yet as its still been judged. but trust me when i say that several goats and children were sacrificed in its making.