Track Design Tutorial

Tutorial on Track Design and 3D Layering

This tutorial isn't going to be so much about detailing, this is to help add depth, motion and character into your tracks by using interesting layouts and direction. If you find yourself always making tracks on a straight line with an occasional ramp or 2D loops, some of these tips should help you understand layering and how to create the impression of the rider exploring the track rather than riding over it.

Once you understand some of these basic principles, you should be able to make more visually appealing tracks with some practice. Then it's a case of applying your own style of detail and experimenting with the options.

Firstly, when you start a new track you want to plan what directions the rider will take.

Try to avoid this common layout -

We've seen thousands of tracks where you just travel backwards, then forwards, or just forwards and maybe over a ramp or 2.


Or you travel uphill or downhill the whole track.


Try this simple directional planning instead to start things off -

Example 1 Example 2

You can draw the directional arrows with scenery lines and use them as a marker for reference.

Here's a really quick idea of what you could do with example 1 -


With this example I wanted the rider to start in the distance and work your way towards the screen. So you start on a small island in the distance, next you move to the island in the middle of the water which is slightly bigger and then onto the foreground where the buildings are even bigger, giving you the impression you've come from the horizon towards the screen.

This has resulted in 3 layers within the track, but with the same directions I started with I could've had 4 or 5 layers or even more. Just keep bringing the rider forward towards the screen with another layer of ground surface and larger buildings, objects, footpaths, roads or fences each time.

This can work in reverse by perhaps starting on a large building on the closest layer, and working your way back to the horizon of your track by drawing smaller and smaller buildings -



You can do more with a track that just goes in one direction -

Here's a WIP of mine that might get finished in the future, it's in the first stages with basic outlines but it's a good example of how you can actually make a "just forwards" track interesting. You start on the middle layer (2), then go to the furthest (3), back to the middle layer (2) and then finish on top of a building on the closest layer (1).


And bear in mind that you don't have to involve the rider with every layer you create. In this fantastic track by Maple you only ever ride on one layer but there are actually 5 or 6 filled with trees, paths, animals and water -


It comes down to personal preference with how much hopping around a track you like to do, some like a singular route, others like back and forth over many layers. There are ways to make both options much more full and interesting.

If you do want to involve the rider with every layer you've got planned out, stairs are a great way to incorporate everything. In my track "Emire Falls", I used multiple stairways to create 5 ride-able 3D layers with buildings and objects in between, the smallest objects/buildings up top and the largest things at the bottom for perspective ( generally speaking of course, not all buildings are the same size ). And the multi-layered town with buildings at the top helped create some depth. This all started with good track lines to work with, direction is key.


Even if you're working on a 2D track like a skatepark or adventure track, the directional planning is still very helpful. The end result will look purposeful and finished. And remember, the whole planet isn't made out of ramps and buildings. Try some of these tips with an underwater track or a volcano, maybe a desert or exploring one of Jupiters moons. Diversity is good.

I won't fully go into perspective on this one as that's a whole other tutorial in itself, and I don't feel qualified to give proper advice on the subject. I just use the easy method and it works for me -


Hopefully this will help people to be more ambitious with their tracks and create something that can stand out from the rest. There's some solid advice on the forum if you need help with the detailing side of things, if you learn from this and blend it with your own style you should be onto a winner.



mR..A

 

This is really helpful, and I found it really easy to understand

 

Awesome! I love it when people delve deeper into any game/activity and discuss any sort of techniques and/ or strategies.

 

Thank you for sharing it
so I know how to kill 3D.

1. you love stickman's sentence
2. you skip stickman
3. you love bat's sentence
4. you skip bat
5. you finding out where can get more sentences
6. you skip all the 3D drawings
7. Keep using this way to kill 3D track design.


1. watch as Hello
2. watch at I come to kill you
3. watch at Thank you for playing this game!
4. No people look at the drawings! So good!

 

I was thinking about addressing the 'layering' technique in track making, because it adds a whole new dimension to a level beyond 2-D. Seems I don't have to, you addressed it perfectly here. Awesome stuff

It's funny because more recently I've been scrapping a lot of great ideas with good level designs because they'd require time I don't have. My last feature was literally a straight line though. Although that was more or less because I wanted to make a track with a similar feel to a sidescrolling game rather than me being lazy, many people may take it as laziness. Trust me, that track took ages. Why? Think about this: if you recycle portions of your track, that's less that you have to detail while still adding length to your track, while doing it in a straight line means that you'll have to detail every last bit of it just to play those parts through once. That's the opposite of lazy, and at points I regretted it.

A 33 second track with no recycling and full speed like that is a LOT of space to detail. I'd recommend you take my word on that, especially since recycling can not only save you time, but also make the ride more interesting. Not to say it can't be done nicely, but you'd better be ready to detail the whole thing. Make use of those layers mR..A is talking about, they've got more than just aesthetic appeal, though that may be the most important bit.

 

well, judging from what I have seen, mR..A , Maple , and CityShep should work together to make a really good full on detail, track design, and layout thread to help the rest of the sh*tty community figure out how to be good.