I want to take my foundation to the next level

Hello and welcome to this BeechCorp-approved guide to making better, safer tracks for all. Here at BeechCorp we value the safety and enjoyment of our drivers, for long-serving, happy and carefree employees that will NEVER leave.

To ensure we reach our quota of assimilated happy drivers we recommend following this guide when making your tracks.

The Essentials#

When starting a track, it’s a good idea to find and stamp in The Void, an element you’ll find in Art Elements, as that has a sky, grades and some logic in it, as well as a floor to build upon.

You’ll also need Track Logic, Start and Finish Gates and of course, Tren.

Pillars#

Pillars are generally placed between the track pieces at their join point to hold up the tracks. There are plenty of ready-made pillars to use, but if you need something bespoke you can build your own.

Building your own pillars isn’t too tricky thanks to Snap Points. As long as you’re comfortable moving the camera around, Snap Points do a lot of the placement for you.

Start with a post top, as that snaps to the track, and build down till you get to the floor. If your track piece is a helix or angled use the corresponding tops. There’s a narrow top if you can’t fit in a standard, and a double if you want extra support for the ends of tracks. If you can’t have a pillar directly below the track use a side support. If your track piece is upside down, you’ll need to use straps (see the Straps section).

After your top you need posts, whatever feels appropriate to the height available. Use a post joint to connect it to another post if there’s still a long way to go to the floor. Use some 90° bends if you need to avoid an obstacle. Repeat until you get to the floor and then snap a base to your post.

If your track is upside-down or you have a track section underneath, you can use a Wide Pillar. Alternatively you can use straps (next section).

There’s a variety of joints, allowing you to join posts together or separate track areas, whatever you can do to make your more dangerous tracks safer for your Tren drivers.

Here are a few examples of our structural creations with safety in mind.

Straps#

Straps are an extra support for your tracks. You’ll find that straps will snap to the middle of a track piece, where realistically you want to go over the join for maximum support.

The solution is to snap it where it wants to go, and then either clone it to the join, or turn on Grid Snap, align the grid to the snapped strap, and then turn off Snap Points and move it to your desired location, over the join of the tracks.

We also have pipe adaptors, which help with stability and offer the ability to join onto pipes and posts, but from the side of a track instead of underneath or on top.

If you’re having trouble fitting a pillar or even a strap you can always use the Track Clip, which clips onto the track join. These are a great minimal option for when you have ramps up or down, but don’t use too many - your track could be flimsy. For some extra support you can snap Post Joints either side of them and snap those to something else.

Barriers#

Barriers are helpful in avoiding derailment. It’s a balance between expecting your drivers to manage their speed wisely and helping them out on a tricky corner.

Barriers have a direction indicator in the form of red and white arrows. Feel free to flip them to point them in the direction you need to indicate.

Barriers should have ends - it looks nicer and can stop the player from derailing a little easier than a harsh stop. The ends can be flipped to accommodate being on either side of the barriers.

Make sure barriers aren’t literally just on the corner. Most accidents occur when coming out of a bend, so make sure the barriers carry on along a straight for a bit before ending.

If a barrier is next to a girder you can also use the Girder to Barrier piece for a nice transition.

If your barrier needs to end on an inside or outside curve you will benefit from using the Barrier End: Adjustable.

Note however that there will then be multiple sculptures within the element (a keyframe determines which are on). Keep an eye on your thermo and try not to use it a lot.

Signage#

Signs can give drivers critical information. Warning signs can be attached to track pieces using the accessory adaptors, or by using the track pieces with built in accessory adaptors.

The warning signpost has a slider with 11 icons to choose from - broken tracks, bridges, boost, inclines and more. If there’s something else you want to sign about you can simply remix it or use the empty signpost.

Safe Ramps#

The safe ramps in combo with the Landing Assister constrain Tren and its wagons to stay in line with the track and help prevent you from derailing.

If you have ramps, players will invariably think of doing flips, so make it clear with signage that they can.

Guiding Lights#

You can easily create a night time track by using the slider on The Void to switch it to night. Create with Studio Lighting on (under Guides). There’s a reason people don’t work in the dark.

On a night track, you should use the Track Light element to guide your drivers, whether to mark the route or to light up important areas or hazards.

Check Track Joins#

If you find you have places where Tren crashes again and again, check over all your track joins.

Sometimes, for example, a pillar may have been nudged and the track is snapping to that rather than the other track pieces. Move the pillar out of the way, get the track snapping as it should be and then put the pillar back.

Let Them See What’s Coming#

It’s important your drivers can see what’s coming down the track so they can drive accordingly. Whether it’s a loop-the-loop, punchers, domino barriers… your drivers need some warning!

Aside from signage, a good tool for this is the Camera Zoom Object. This lets you set the camera behaviour, zooming in or out depending on what’s needed for the situation. Use the Zoom Amount slider to adjust this, and the trigger zone to determine its range of effect.

Efficient Use of Track#

More for efficiency than safety, make sure you’re using the right size track piece for the job. If you find yourself having to use a variable piece, check first that you’re using the most appropriate sizes elsewhere. Maybe something is just a little out of alignment. For example maybe you used two 3 unit pieces, instead of one 6 unit piece.

Playtesting#

If you’ve been playing your track so much you can do it with your eyes closed, it’s time to get a friend to play and see how they do. Maybe something isn’t as clear to them as it was to you. Maybe you made it way too hard to get even two pips and you can only do it because you’ve practised so much!

Playtesting is vital and you can only do so much of it yourself if you want to make sure players have a fun experience. The last thing you want is comments about drivers chucking their controllers across the room.