New Track idea for STK Evolution

[TuxRacer_0827]

I have a few questions about my update to the Jungle track. I was thinking of creating this update for STK Evolution, if possible. The track will be heavily based on the Cocoa Temple. Here are a few key points about the new track, followed by my questions:
-New track layout
-The laps are slightly longer than the Wildlife Jungle Ruins map, but a bit shorter than the Black Forest
-Completely new trees
-A few secret paths, but they aren’t too hard to find
-Capture the Flag might be playable, but it’s not 100% certain
-Completely new music that I’ll be creating
-New temple and much more.

Here are the questions:
-How do you create those reflections in the water, like at the Cocoa Temple?
-How do you make the bridge so that it has those gaps?
-Do you need a specific version of Blender to do this?
-Are there any points that aren’t quite perfect yet regarding the keywords?

Notes:
-I’m nowhere near as skilled as you guys
-I’m using a translation tool so you can understand it, because my English isn’t very good and that’s why there are sometimes spelling mistakes
-I accept that this track might not make it into STK Evolution
-I’ll check in more often if there’s something I don’t understand during development
-Before this new track is finished, other tracks will be added to the add-ons first.

Best regards,
TuxRacer

Images related to the first two questions:
         

[Alayan]

I'll let Sven answer the technical questions about graphical effects, but I'll say a few things regarding tracks for the main game.

I have a few questions about my update to the Jungle track. I was thinking of creating this update for STK Evolution, if possible. The track will be heavily based on the Cocoa Temple.

I welcome the spirit of wanting to improve the quality of the tracks you create and of aiming high to produce something worthy of integrating the standard tracks pool. That's a good way to think to be able to ultimately get a track as part of the standard set.

However, for a new track to make it in the base game, it is expected to feature a fair amount of new models (and textures), as well as original theming elements, unless it is designed specifically as a replacement (in which case it has to be a meaningful upgrade over the original). I'm sure that it would be much less work for Sven to create variants of existing tracks reusing the assets with a different layout, instead of creating original tracks, but it would be rather disappointing.

Of course some assets reuse is why we have a library of models, it's more efficient and it creates a sense of visual consistency when you have some shared elements between tracks. But for the base game, we want each track to also have some unique flair.

I would suggest you keep working on track projects, seeking feedback and improving your skills along the way.

When Sven works on new tracks, we usually coordinate closely and have discussions early on about the layout and the general theming concept, but this sort of heavy early involvement wouldn't make much sense with your track projects for the time being.

Nonetheless, I encourage you to share draft versions (only one topic per track project even if you share multiple draft versions over time) and to ask questions as you work, that's how you'll improve and will end up getting a track (or maybe more!) in the base game.

[Sven]

Hi, Alayan already said everything about making tracks for the new version in general.

Here are the questions:
-How do you create those reflections in the water, like at the Cocoa Temple?
-How do you make the bridge so that it has those gaps?
-Do you need a specific version of Blender to do this?

1. You need a texture with an alpha channel, In the material properties you need to selcet "custom shader" and then type displace as the shader name.
This is a bit restricting and will hopefully be changed in the future but for now that's the only way to set it up.
   

2. To create such gaps you have to make individual woodplanks first and then place them in a way to create those gaps. I would highly recommend to check out the tracks in the media repo to understand how things are made.

3. Yes and no. At the moment most things can still be done with 2.7 but you should definitely start to use the newest blender scripts if you are not already. I'm still using Blender 3.3 because I had some problems with track exports in the newer versions, but you can also try the newest versions.


A few more notes regarding making high quality tracks in general:

- Don't make your tracks too long. Making highly detailed tracks can take a lot of time, making shorter tracks reduces the amount of work and especially when you're not as experienced that is very important.

- Alayan said this already for main game tracks. But even for training and add-on tracks I would suggest to create unique tracks. It will challenge you in different ways than basically copying the concept of an existing track.

- Be aware that modelling assets for your tracks will by far be the most time consuming part. It's also the thing where you will learn the most as a 3D artist. While it's important to use existing assets, you should not shy away from creating your own assets. Especially the most used assets that will define the character of your track should receive enough love and time to really make the track outstanding.


Ultimately you have to decide what you want create and how you want to improve your skills. I personally made Black forest as my biggest learning project after about one year of learning blender beforehand. But that took me really really long and I think most people wouldn't have finished such a long project. It can become very frustating when you're spending days over a very small detail that will only make  a tiny difference visually. But those kind of things are normal andstaying patient is by far the most important thing.