This was awesome to watch! As someone who (1) discovered your RUclips channel through your MK8DX track rating series, (2) has been a huge fan of your custom tracks since your MKWii days, and (3) has always wanted to create a track (but has nowhere near the skill or creativity to do it), I love watching explanations from experienced and talented track creators discussing how their tracks work and dissecting them. The Track Talk video concept is ingenious, and you structured and scripted the discussion very well. I agree with others who say it would be a lot of fun to see you collaborate with other MK8DX CT creators to make similar videos about their tracks. (To be honest, if I were you, I would hold off on doing a Track Talk on Green Hill Zone for a while because that track is, for good reason, quite famous; you could build up some anticipation if you waited a bit and discussed other tracks first.)
Thank you! Honestly, the entire reason I said "I wasn't planning on going Chronological Order" at the end was to basically imply "I didn't intend on doing Green Hill Zone next" because I'm not sure people will find that story as compelling as they think it might be and also I'm not sure I'm ready to make that episode yet since I'm aware it would probably be the most anticipated one. With that being said, a lot of people have already said they want it so we'll see.
You did a great job on the track overall and it was cool to see your perspective and sort of behind the scenes commentary! Sucks to see Greenwood Village wasn’t finished, but I’d love to see you come back to it in the future!
Thanks, although sadly I'd say Greenwood Village is well and truly dead. I don't see myself returning to Mario Kart Wii any time soon, and honestly the track just wasn't that fun to work on and the huge gap in handling between the inside drift vehicles and the worst outside drift vehicles made the town portion near the end brutally hard for the latter and trivially easy for the former which kind of ruins one of the hallmarks of the original track IMO.
Would love to see you talk about your process making Green Hill Zone. In my opinion, it has to be the best MK8 custom track of all time. Keep up the great work
Fantastic video! You’re honestly one of my favorite track creators, so I always wondered what the creative process was behind your tracks. Also, as a Game Designer, I totally relate to how you feel about projects. Almost every single one didn’t reach all the requirements I wanted, and I just wanted to finish it. I’ve always wanted to do modded level design though, and hearing some dev talk was a decent motivator for it. For the next episode…yeah I’d love to hear you talk about Green Hill Zone, seeing that it’s your most popular work and how generally terrific it is
I am in love with this. Hearing about the creating process as an outsider wanting to join the track-creating "scene" is incredibly helpful and inspiring. Additionally, the level of quality and effort in your tracks seems to be a whole step up from most other tracks I see. Awesome work and I'm excited to see more.
I enjoyed watching this video, mainly cause the video isn't like 1 hour long talking about track elements. To be fair, that and seeing your custom tracks for Mario Kart 8 got me to subscribe to this channel for like 2 years now. It feels good getting to hear about how your course was made as well as all the ups and downs of Game Designing. I totally understand how you felt about motivation and the urges of completion with the sacrifice of bad designs. I have made a BUNCH of custom routes in EventLab from Forza Horizon 5 and a lot of my earlier works aren't that great in terms of quality. I do a bunch of "route revamps" now and some of my revamps even needs more tweaking since the developers at Playground Games keeps giving us new props to play with + we have new features including the ability to combine and make our own Props, as well as a freaking concrete island. I should probably start using that island and make my own set of props for consistency sake. You get what I meant. It is totally fine to redo a course you have already done, even many months later. My recent route revamp was literally a route I made since the launch of the game back in 2021, and I redid that route literally in March this year, mainly cause I was motivated by a really good update that was coming out for that game called Horizon Retrowave... mainly because new in-game radio station. My best advice to keep you moviated for a while in making a track is really chuck on some music in the background. Music is good for the mood and the soul. I literally started making Spotify Playlists last year in 2023 because I was already bored of the in-game radio stations... and the fact that EventLab is practically quiet when you're placing down props. If you're looking for some music to listen to and have a pretty varied taste in genres, check out my Spotify profile. I make a Playlist public every couple of months. I have Seasonal ones (Summer Smash, Awesome Autumn, Wild Winter, Spring Sprung & Holiday Hours), as well as Special ones, and even Artist Specific ones. I treat Spotify as like a Radio Station itself, so yeah... I am not buying Premium. No siree. I am excited for another Track Talk, and I genuinely don't mind when you want to release those videos. You do you. It is your channel after all. For the next episode, Cheep Cheep Cove screams out to be quite similar to DKR Walrus Cove with the whole try to showcase every gimmick of Mario Kart 8. I also don't mind hearing about your work on the Green Hill Zone course. I am a *BIG* Sonic fan. Grew up with Sonic since my early teens, and I'm 25 now. I am super duper excited for Sonic X Shadow Generations this year.
Your ethos as a track designer are unmatched in the Mario Kart modding community. I hope this series sets a new standard for the blind turns plaguing this community.
I think that track was a really interesting experiment it's always crazy seeing tracks from other games being adapted to Mario Kart, my only minor gripe aside some lighting issues, it would be that the Bluey the Warlus reference is barely noticeable in game but it's overall a fantastic track. Ever thought on making CTR tracks for MK8?
Thanks! I think you're right on Bluey, it goes fast and the camera doesn't really show it well during the race. Part of it also I think has to do with the improper light baking since the lack of ambient occlusion makes darker areas of the track look flat which would include Bluey's head so I think it'd stand out more if I were to rebake. I don't have plans to remake CTR tracks because I don't really have any attachment to that game. Never played it as a kid and played a bit of the remake during a free trial weekend and thought it was pretty good but nothing special...except the Pinstripe boss which honestly may be one of my least favorite things I've ever seen in a video game.
Very interesting video! I liked how you structured it. I didn't even know you made this remake, though I have definitely seen it on other channels multiple times already. Very nicely done!
I enjoyed the concept and execution of your video. Would suggest, if u want to and find urself free time as well as other modders, participate in ur track talks. I feel the community would benefit from hearing some challenges and how they overcame them in the process. Good job on the video
Considering that quite a few of DKR's tracks have blind turns in them, it's honestly fitting that one managed to sneak its way into a remake.
This was awesome to watch! As someone who (1) discovered your RUclips channel through your MK8DX track rating series, (2) has been a huge fan of your custom tracks since your MKWii days, and (3) has always wanted to create a track (but has nowhere near the skill or creativity to do it), I love watching explanations from experienced and talented track creators discussing how their tracks work and dissecting them. The Track Talk video concept is ingenious, and you structured and scripted the discussion very well. I agree with others who say it would be a lot of fun to see you collaborate with other MK8DX CT creators to make similar videos about their tracks. (To be honest, if I were you, I would hold off on doing a Track Talk on Green Hill Zone for a while because that track is, for good reason, quite famous; you could build up some anticipation if you waited a bit and discussed other tracks first.)
Thank you! Honestly, the entire reason I said "I wasn't planning on going Chronological Order" at the end was to basically imply "I didn't intend on doing Green Hill Zone next" because I'm not sure people will find that story as compelling as they think it might be and also I'm not sure I'm ready to make that episode yet since I'm aware it would probably be the most anticipated one. With that being said, a lot of people have already said they want it so we'll see.
I genuinly first thought that this was an offical level. Great job!
You did a great job on the track overall and it was cool to see your perspective and sort of behind the scenes commentary! Sucks to see Greenwood Village wasn’t finished, but I’d love to see you come back to it in the future!
Thanks, although sadly I'd say Greenwood Village is well and truly dead. I don't see myself returning to Mario Kart Wii any time soon, and honestly the track just wasn't that fun to work on and the huge gap in handling between the inside drift vehicles and the worst outside drift vehicles made the town portion near the end brutally hard for the latter and trivially easy for the former which kind of ruins one of the hallmarks of the original track IMO.
Would love to see you talk about your process making Green Hill Zone. In my opinion, it has to be the best MK8 custom track of all time. Keep up the great work
Fantastic video! You’re honestly one of my favorite track creators, so I always wondered what the creative process was behind your tracks.
Also, as a Game Designer, I totally relate to how you feel about projects. Almost every single one didn’t reach all the requirements I wanted, and I just wanted to finish it. I’ve always wanted to do modded level design though, and hearing some dev talk was a decent motivator for it.
For the next episode…yeah I’d love to hear you talk about Green Hill Zone, seeing that it’s your most popular work and how generally terrific it is
This is very informative. I plan on using your tutorials to start my own custom tracks soon
I like this a lot! It's fun seeing the thought process behind a custom track.
a video so good I might steal its format
I feel like your videos covering how you made your SMB Wonder levels (RIP, thank you Nintendo) were of a very similar vein already
I want a sequel to DKR so badly. Seeing the thumbnail I thought for a split sec that it was a remake! Excellent work, sir.
I am in love with this. Hearing about the creating process as an outsider wanting to join the track-creating "scene" is incredibly helpful and inspiring. Additionally, the level of quality and effort in your tracks seems to be a whole step up from most other tracks I see. Awesome work and I'm excited to see more.
I enjoyed watching this video, mainly cause the video isn't like 1 hour long talking about track elements. To be fair, that and seeing your custom tracks for Mario Kart 8 got me to subscribe to this channel for like 2 years now. It feels good getting to hear about how your course was made as well as all the ups and downs of Game Designing. I totally understand how you felt about motivation and the urges of completion with the sacrifice of bad designs.
I have made a BUNCH of custom routes in EventLab from Forza Horizon 5 and a lot of my earlier works aren't that great in terms of quality. I do a bunch of "route revamps" now and some of my revamps even needs more tweaking since the developers at Playground Games keeps giving us new props to play with + we have new features including the ability to combine and make our own Props, as well as a freaking concrete island. I should probably start using that island and make my own set of props for consistency sake. You get what I meant. It is totally fine to redo a course you have already done, even many months later. My recent route revamp was literally a route I made since the launch of the game back in 2021, and I redid that route literally in March this year, mainly cause I was motivated by a really good update that was coming out for that game called Horizon Retrowave... mainly because new in-game radio station.
My best advice to keep you moviated for a while in making a track is really chuck on some music in the background. Music is good for the mood and the soul. I literally started making Spotify Playlists last year in 2023 because I was already bored of the in-game radio stations... and the fact that EventLab is practically quiet when you're placing down props. If you're looking for some music to listen to and have a pretty varied taste in genres, check out my Spotify profile. I make a Playlist public every couple of months. I have Seasonal ones (Summer Smash, Awesome Autumn, Wild Winter, Spring Sprung & Holiday Hours), as well as Special ones, and even Artist Specific ones. I treat Spotify as like a Radio Station itself, so yeah... I am not buying Premium. No siree.
I am excited for another Track Talk, and I genuinely don't mind when you want to release those videos. You do you. It is your channel after all. For the next episode, Cheep Cheep Cove screams out to be quite similar to DKR Walrus Cove with the whole try to showcase every gimmick of Mario Kart 8. I also don't mind hearing about your work on the Green Hill Zone course. I am a *BIG* Sonic fan. Grew up with Sonic since my early teens, and I'm 25 now. I am super duper excited for Sonic X Shadow Generations this year.
Your ethos as a track designer are unmatched in the Mario Kart modding community. I hope this series sets a new standard for the blind turns plaguing this community.
I think that track was a really interesting experiment it's always crazy seeing tracks from other games being adapted to Mario Kart, my only minor gripe aside some lighting issues, it would be that the Bluey the Warlus reference is barely noticeable in game but it's overall a fantastic track. Ever thought on making CTR tracks for MK8?
Thanks! I think you're right on Bluey, it goes fast and the camera doesn't really show it well during the race. Part of it also I think has to do with the improper light baking since the lack of ambient occlusion makes darker areas of the track look flat which would include Bluey's head so I think it'd stand out more if I were to rebake.
I don't have plans to remake CTR tracks because I don't really have any attachment to that game. Never played it as a kid and played a bit of the remake during a free trial weekend and thought it was pretty good but nothing special...except the Pinstripe boss which honestly may be one of my least favorite things I've ever seen in a video game.
Very interesting video! I liked how you structured it.
I didn't even know you made this remake, though I have definitely seen it on other channels multiple times already. Very nicely done!
Cool video
I enjoyed the concept and execution of your video. Would suggest, if u want to and find urself free time as well as other modders, participate in ur track talks. I feel the community would benefit from hearing some challenges and how they overcame them in the process. Good job on the video