BackYards Twist was inspired by a local kid I met about 12 years ago. This guy's parents had built a private riding track in the backyard so he could ride all the time. I think he was running a 75 at the time. They told me one day their kid was gonna be a world champion. They were right.
Well the idea of a private track has always fascinated me and since then I have been surprised too learn that many exist in our region. Turns out you can get a bulldozer for less than a new Caddy so you start a little land clearing business and use the dozer at home in between jobs.
This track design was made especially for AMA_Dirttwister's winter 2003 track design contest. The contest rules favor tracks which require a technical rather than wide open riding style. My approach is to use a very small grid scale so that the track is compact. Lap times can get below a minute but it is hard to build up speed with out leaving the course imediately so you will have to choose a more disciplined approach to making good time. The slower speeds make the jumps seem a bit more realistic. Once you learn the line you will find the fastest rides are accomplished by keeping the wheels close to the ground. You really have to hold back and work the brakes to keep a flow going. Of course there are a few jumps where you have to stick it it if you want to cross a gap. I even included a big showtime jump where you can display your best tricks while still staying competitive in the race. Have fun on the jumps but remember, the main theme is "keep the wheels down". You will discover a few puzzle sections where the first jump is designed to set a rythym... If you dive hard after the first jump you will find a sweet slingshot that will let you clear the later sections. Give it a try.
This is a full featured track. It has been completely tested and rides very smooth at 1024x768 with all settings at full quality on a 1400 Athlon system using a Radeon 8700 128mb. I hope the detail in this track will transcend the description of "eye candy" and offer an example of cohesive design utilizing all the features available to MCM2 track designers. I think the objects, sounds, and animations make the track a more complete experience. I very much hope you can enjoy this track at its full resolution.
I created a collection of brand new custom models just for this track:
TDpolebarn01,02,03,:
A Pole barn with galvanized roofing. This is a new variation of the tin shed model.
TDbarbwire02x:
A 2 section portion of barb wire fence to go with the other size barb wire models.
TDfarmgate01,02:
Metal tube style, attached to a fence post that matches the barb wire models.
TDdatatableMQ01:
A desk, chair, and desktop computer system.
TDfiretower01,02,03,03b,03c:
A Forest Service fire tower. This one took a LOOOOONG time to minimize the polys.
TDcorral01,02:
A small corral for mammals or large ground dwelling birds. I want to go back and add some details and tweak the scaling of the components.
TDfencepost01:
I forgot to make a seperate fence post when I made the first barb wire fence objects.
TDtinshed01,02,03:
You will not see this on the track but I went ahead and made 3 tin sheds using the pole barn texture map.
TDhawk01,02,03,04,2x01,2x02,2x03,2x04:
I made my first attempt at animating a custom object in dillo too. I wanted to continue with the bird theme that I worked with in my Quick 60 Karnival Twist track. I knew when I made that track that someday we would get to animate the birds.
I made a new low poly bird and painted a Red Shouldered Hawk texture map. It is the simplest of animations but it took a lot of experimenting to get things working well in the final game. I finally ended up with 8 different animations of the bird model. When all the varities are placed together it makes for a natural looking flock of birds gliding on thermal currents. It made me real happy to get this happening in the track. I hope you like them.
I also spent some time working with vehicles in dillo too. I encourage everyone to take some time in practice mode and drive around the area. When you see a Chevelle follow it for a loop. There are 2 Chevelles out there and they are set up too follow the roads very closely. This took some work but the result is a smooth looping animation. Furthermore both cars are using copies of the same animation file. I copied the file and edited it in a text editor so that the cars were spaced apart. The technique offers a lot of potential and when the TD team works out the details we will put out a complete tutorial.
The shadows were rendered with Dillo Too v95.6 and I must say... this feature is fantastic. It works great and its so easy. I feel guilty enjoying this feature because I know how hard MCMNut worked to provide a shadow rendering technique in 3dMAX. I think the AES system can give you fantastic shadow detail but the dillo too shadows are looking great as well. Jeff please don't hate me :-).
The last thing I did was add the sounds. I found a few stock sounds that I liked. Listen for a funky electronic sound for the scoring tower. (This may be the country but we are using a cool auto scoring system.) Check out the flies in the corral. Every corral needs some flies.
The bird sounds are custom. I worked really hard to get the hawk sounds to "mix" correctly into the scene. I wanted the main hawk sound to float right at the apogee of the showtime jump. I selected a short clip of a agitated red shouldered hawk from my personal sound library and after a lot of experimenting attached the sound to the datatable model that is placed in the top of the firetower. The table model object was custom made just to serve as the sound target because I was having some trouble with static emitter sounds in dillo too. (Laurie is working on the solution right now so look for v95.7 soon). You may notice a second sound track with crows and a hawk that is placed at the base of the landing. The two hawk tracks mix in an interesting manner as you ride thru the target area. I like it and hope you do as well.
The songbird sound clip is also from my library. I like it but feel that there are still some problems with the way it plays back. The sound clip features a bird song and a quiet passage and then it repeats. The digital audio mix engine does not seem to work well with the quiet passage as it tries to calculate when and where to add the sound data into the mix. If you ride thru the target quickly the mix seems choppy. Sound clips wih continous amplitude levels a mix better. I tried sound clips with busier bird activity but the contionus sound did not sound as natural so I choose to use the clip you heae in the track. I want to experiment more with the sound because it seems to really add a lot to the tracks potential for an immersive experience.
I would like to thank Bruce Atkinson (AMA_Dirttwister) and Jeff Hamblin (MCMNut) for all the utilities that I rely on to manage the track design process. I depend on APM, skywalker, GenPlacement and other utilitys they have written everytime I work on a track. I also want to thank Fixer and Extreme for the help with Dillo Too animation. Fixer walked me thru the import and save animation step by step during a chat session. Thanks Fixer I couldn't have got the birds moving in MCM2 without your help. Of Course I wish to thank Laurie (mcm2boys) for continuing to develop dillo too. The ability to add animation has really vitalized my interest in MCM2. I also very much appreciate the beta riding time I share with my riding bros Harmon (h2omon) and Wes (wesleman). Their friendship and generosity of test riding time on the same track over and over and over again is very much appreciated. Finally I want to thank my wife Gia who is so nice and supportive of the time I spend doing this stuff. Thanks to all of you.
