Contest 2026 Track making tournament

What's up everyone

It's been a while since I've been active here. Thought I'd make a return with a contest opportunity for you.

This will be a tournament-style contest with 2-3 rounds (Depending on how many people join) and will have a final. Each round will have a different theme and track "style" (ex. smooth, off-road, trial ect) with loose parameters, so you'll have an opportunity for creativity. My main goal is to get some more activity and quality tracks up on the home page

Rules:
-Adhere to each round's specific rules. They'll be posted below this first post.
-No collabs
-Have your track done by the deadline. Major point deductions will be given for late tracks
-Once your track is posted, leave the link here

Tracks will be judged on:
Detail quality: 20 pts
Creativity: 15 pts
Ride quality: 10 pts
Effort + follow through: 5 pts

There will be cash prizes/gift cards

Below, a poll will be accessible to everyone interested. The activity over the next few days here will determine how many rounds will happen and how it will be structured. ​

 

Round 1:

Start off with something simple.
Theme: Nature
Any natural scape (forest, cave, underwater, etc)
Ride: Smooth
Make the ride enjoyable, smooth, and clean. Plenty of example tracks for this round, but I'll throw some in later for inspo.

Due date is April 1st, 2026 (Midnight EST)

Be creative and make something unique! That'll help you a lot.
Good luck yall!
Judges: Myself, Elibloodthirst

R1 Contestants

pawflix

Sir__Human
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1011751-taste-of-a-broken-world

Clash06

TPlacella

Volund

Cryx

IAmMutskie

JustAGDFan

triip

Coated_Badger

Sltg28

KidCharlemagne

loge_0

Ponjoja

Egona

panda_rider

Zurge
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1011637-dominion

Innominate
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1012295-view-from-murphys

HtH_RIDES
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1012042-gecynd-r1

isekeb
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1012133-bleak

Baltic

So far a great list of authors, super excited to see what comes out of R1!​

 

Round 2:

Theme: Industrial
I want to see man-made structures and how it interacts with the natural world.
-Suburbs/burtalist landscape
-Massive infrastructure
-Industrial parks
-Any man-made landscape.
Incorporate nature into it as well. A comparison or mixture of both is lovely.
Ride: Imperfect
Make the ride something the player has to work around. Make it somewhat difficult but fun to ride on. Be creative on the ride here, you can take it many ways.

Due date is May 6th, 2026 (Midnight EST)

VA17
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/1012625-suburbias-decay-r2
​

 

Round 3:
...​

 

Final:
...​

 

In

 

in

 

is it possible i could contribute to the cash prizes?

 

I can't say yes just yet, because that could be seen as bribery. Let me see how active this gets, and I'll get back to you.

 

oh lmao ig, maybe i just dont pay you and pay the winner directly?

 

i wanna join but idk if motivation issues will let me get a single decent track out lol

 

In

 

in ! but almost definitely not all rounds. hope this gains traction

 

im in if it wasn't clear from this lol

 

in

 

In, might not go fully in, but hopefully this helps me get back into trackmaking

 

In
Long time no see fluffy

 

in

 

Can’t wait to post all the collabs I’m gonna work on for this. Probably gonna end up releasing them after the deadline too bahaha. Obviously I won’t be linking the track in the thread either because I need to keep my like ratio floating lol!

Nah it’s just jokes guys lol don’t worry about it. Yeah I’m totes in.

 

In