A group of my friends have a LAN party once or twice a year, usually around 10-15 people, and I’d like to try (re) introducing Trackmania.
We used to play Trackmania 2 Canyon back in the day, but TM has been absent from LANs for quite some time now, and the group has shifted enough that many weren’t around for those days.
I’m looking for ideas on how to structure a local session to maximize fun for everyone, including those unfamiliar with Trackmania. We do play Wreckfest, so there is at least some disposition to racing games.
I’m thinking of hand selecting some beginner-intermediate level maps that aren’t too long (so finishing isn’t too challenging), and doing a rotating time attack to get the ball rolling. I might throw in some lol maps to keep things not as sweaty (as some members are quite good at TM).
After everyone is warmed up and feeling good, I’m hoping to do an elimination “tournament” (like cup of the day) to generate some hype for a final showdown. This could be less fun for some due to knock outs, but with a short enough map it could be pretty fun.
I’m thinking TM 2020 would be my ideal, but TMNF might be easier to get setup and going.
If you’ve done something similar with Trackmania, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
The cup of the day format is probably more structure than you need, but could provide inspiration for your lan format: https://doc.trackmania.com/play/how-to-play-cotd/
Thanks.
I’m almost more concerned about maps than structure. I don’t think everyone likes to slam their face into the keyboard for an hour to get AT on Summer 2023 15.
Challenging yet accessible maps that don’t inspire rage, ya know?
For me, the TMNF campaign maps are classics. Depending on skill level, you pick white, green, blue, or whatever. There's lots of other options obviously, but if you haven't played in trackmania together in a long while (or ever), you can't really go wrong with the TMNF campaign maps.
Thank god it's not just me struggling hard in that map. Those turns are rough.
It’s definitely a hard map.
The one saving grace is that once you “get it”, the AT time is not as brutal as it could be. In my AT run, my dirt uphill was only “okay”. I had a couple no-reset times that were a few tenths quicker than my PB.
I found one of the keys for me was nailing the first corner (red booster, setup as far left as you can, minimize drift time) as you can carry that speed through almost the whole map.