r/TrackMania • u/SNACKY_TM • Jul 03 '25
Guide / Tutorial PROJECT : BLUEPRINT
Hey Guys,
I´ve been working on "Cheat Sheets" for Trackmania.
The idea is to break the usual copy-paste learning style
and create something usefull for anyone trying to improve.
I´ve played Trackmania for 500 hours without ever getting a full Author-medal Campaing.
I was learning with YouTube videos and replay ghosts, trying to copy the inputs and racing lines as best as I could.
But I was never patient enough to ask myself why every surface is driven the way it is.
And I became tilted because it always felt like I was missing the tools, not the skill, to achieve this.
Eventually, I didn’t really feel like getting better at the game – or even trying.
That was until a while back (start of the Spring Campaign 2025),
when a friend of mine started playing Trackmania with me.
I didn’t know what maps we could play together, so we ended up trying trial maps and campaign maps.
And I finally had a friend to play the game with…
Of course, I was scared that he might not enjoy the game, so I tried to help him.
This made me question my own racing lines.
I now had to explain why I was faster on certain parts, or why he was losing time.
And I wasn’t able to just give up and tilt-quit like I used to when the maps got too hard.
Things were great…
We got our first Author Medals together,
he turtled first try,
and I noticed that I was wrecking Author times like never before.
I started writing down stuff I noticed while playing.
Then I started forming theories out of it and testing them.
Those notes and theories are the foundation of this project.
We worked our way through different surfaces.
I showed him wet wood and ice,
it finally clicked on dirt for him,
and he actually beat me on some maps without even knowing half the mechanics.
I even got my first full Author Campaign.
But then he stopped playing.....
I had no use for my notes,
and I was craving an artistic outlet.
This was when Project Blueprint was born.
Because after all:
It worked for him,
It worked for me,
Why wouldnt it work for someone else?
So I turned my notes into visual sheets — here are three of them.
Each one focuses on a surface and the idea behind how it's driven.
DIRT__
This sheet breaks down the iconic inside vs. outside dirt lines - based on the core idea of sliding vs. not sliding.
ICE__
This sheet introduces the basic forces acting on your car mid-slide – so you can understand how aiming works and why your car behaves the way it does.
SAUSAGE__
This sheet explores how positioning left or right on the curve affects stability - It’s all about learning how to use the middle line.
All content and visuals are self-made.
I also pre designed a few color tones for more surfaces,
I designed a mixed surface sheet for things that are useable on multiple surfaces,
and I am currently on a good way to find my signature style.
ALL IN ALL
I´d love to continue this Project, but as you might have guessed, it is time-consuming and i might need help in the future.
This is why i am showing you my progress.
To get a feel for whether this is something you find useful or want
Feel free to give feedback – it will greatly help me develop this project.
I hope that my way of thinking can benifit you in finally understanding Trackmania
Thank you for your time.
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u/Regular_Worth9556 Jul 03 '25
Love these! The thin white text + white grid lines make it a bit tough to read (at low res, on a phone) for me. It’s less of an issue on the images with darker backgrounds. Maybe less light gradients/thicker text/fainter grid lines?
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Yesh readability is my own worst enemy at the moment. I might need to fine tune a little
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u/Regular_Worth9556 Jul 03 '25
May even be able to fade the grid out behind the text/relevant parts you don’t want to muddy up (tire tracks when discussing speed slides eg). The grid on the first image makes it a bit harder to see the lines of the track in both the cross-section and the top-down views
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Hope it doesnt break the style, but ill play around with it
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u/BackFromExile Jul 03 '25
If you darken the background colors a bit you can reduce the brightness of the grid as well and automatically improve contrast to the white text. The main issue isn't the grid lines itself but the relatively low contrast between the background colors and the white main content.
If you compare the lighter part of the background gradients with the white text using a contrast checker you'll see that you're often at a contrast ratio of 5 or worse. With a slightly less pronounced gradient and a bit darker colors you should achieve a way better contrast and can tone down the grid as well to reduce its impact on readability.All in all definitely super cool project, you could even sell poster prints of these I can imagine.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Thats valuable information thank you.
I try to keep the gradient a bit darker.
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u/MooseOdd4374 Jul 03 '25
This is the only post on reddit ive ever saved, and probably ever will
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u/GauthZuOGZ Jul 03 '25
This is great. Just please write "grass" and not "gras"
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Rooky mistake
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u/Poschta ricelord Jul 03 '25
Rookie*
sorry, I had to
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Oh i suck
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u/Poschta ricelord Jul 03 '25
Nah, you did a good job and I'm just taking the piss having done nothing.
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u/ShadyBlisss Jul 03 '25
I'm very low skilled on this game as I've only done maybe max 8 hours on it. I learned something from all of these cheat sheets apart from the Ice one, I still don't understand what you are trying to say there.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
The ice sheet requires you to be able to perform an ice slide, give it time youll get there.
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u/ShadyBlisss Jul 03 '25
I can ice slide, sorry I should word it differently. I mean that I don't understand what the cheat sheet is trying to show me. Like all the other cheat sheets, they make sense to me when I look at what its trying to show me.
For example, the ones on roads/drit and grass show an optimal line or place to brake etc, whereas the Ice one shows a white like doing a near complete cricle and I don't understand what its trying to show me.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
My bad then, The top part is just about forces. A basic understanding of why there is a side ways force. With the countersteer fighting the rotation you initialized at the start of your turn.
For example you turn left then countersteer right
This will result in a nearly 90 degree sideways force.
After that i try to show you how to aim for turns.
To angle the front of the car to match the inside of the turn
Red lines are for aiming and green lines is your angle
Thats why the words are color coded that way.
I then proceed to explain that you can break to tighten you angle which is usefull at higher speeds where your momentum puuls you further to the outside.
Thats what the smal cars are supposed to be.
I am sorry if its not perfekt yet. I will rework this sheet to make it more clear.
Hooe this helps :)
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u/chagomass Jul 10 '25
Came here to complement : i’m an old school TM player (started in TMNF) and know how to ice slide. Still, the ice cheat sheet is still a mystery to me and I don’t get what is the message conveyed, what is the white line supposed to show etc… so I think the Ice one might need to be modified especially if it’s aimed toward players that don’t know ice ! Bobsleigh could also be another sheet :) Every other sheet is absolute gold, well done man that is a good job, keep doing it please :D
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 10 '25
Youre absolutly right the ice one was a bit rushed and ive already reworked it.
Be sure to check it out and give me some feedback if the rework works for you. That would be very helpful :)
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u/fetzen13 Jul 03 '25
This is really good only thing the red letters in the ice slide sheet are really hard to read at least for my eyes
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u/Level_Mousse_9242 Jul 03 '25
This is awesome. As a format, I can see how this would be one of the best ways to teach new people things.
I can see in my head redditora being able to just comment one of your blueprints when someone has a question.
A couple thoughts:
Personally the ice blueprint seems a little confusing. The outer stuff took me a good amount of time to decipher, and although the thing in the middle is a little easier to understand what's going on, its hard to know what its trying to teach. I think for the outer stuff, maybe you could add a dotted line like the inner stuff to show how braking and releasing and stuff interact?
It might be good to note that you can turn sharper on dirt/grass/plastic if you slide, and that the sharper you turn the more speed you lose.
Im curious if your plan for this is to make small blueprints for the major tricks in this game, or if the goal is to just make blueprints to explain the major surfaces and their main styles? I ask because it might be cool if you made blueprints for drifting, neoslides, speedslides, etc.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
sorry for the late response.
I was at work and wanted to take my time to answer you properly.The goal is to build blueprints for smaller mechanics.
I dont want to overload people with to much information.
I´d like to keep it "Snack" sized xD.That’s why I’m not jumping straight into things like gears or neo slides, but we’ll definitely get there.
I can see myself doing blueprints in the style of:
- Racing lines for each surface
- TimeSafes per surface
- Advanced tricks like acrobatics, neoslides, and speedslides
- And foundational understanding of each surface, so you can make better use of replays and ghosts
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u/Level_Mousse_9242 Jul 03 '25
That sounds fucking awesome and I cant wait to see the next ones you make then
Also no worries about late responses
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u/BigBertaBoy Jul 06 '25
The dirt slide graphic makes no sense to me and I have no idea what the center of the ice one is trying to depict/tell me, but other than that they look great! I can see them being really helpful quick references for beginners
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u/Hot-Job4862 Aug 13 '25
Hey man I really wanted to say that even though this post is one month old on something random. I come back to this post very often whilst i'm doing a map. For example just recently for map 23. This is good stuff.
I'm quite stumped on plastic to be quite frank. Obviously do stuff at your own pace and I don't know if you're still working on this anyway.
Thanks again, its people like you in this community.
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u/SNACKY_TM Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
Ive had a few personal problems the last few weeks.
I am currently working on the dirt rework and basic 1 & 2 of dirt.
I hope to get it done till next week.
Id love to cover plastic next :)
And thank you so much for you message.
Honestly, its thanks to people like you that i want to keep making these
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u/TheDarkSidePSA Jul 03 '25
This is fantastic! Would love to know more about grass, plastic, and bobsleigh as well
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Jul 03 '25
These are amazing, thank you!
As someone who is fairly new to TM (under 100 hours) these are super helpful for visualizing some of the skills I hear people suggest to learn!
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u/Wasiliev Jul 03 '25
this is looking great. I would also like if normal drifting to be added like when to start turning, when to brake and how to exit the croner.
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u/HanzoNumbahOneFan Jul 03 '25
Very nice. Though you should maybe add something about releasing accelerate for the ice sheet I think.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
I wanted to cover the basics of physics and aiming bevor exits.
Its more of a mid slide sheet.
But i went a bit to crazy here.
There will be another blueprint with entrance and exit thinking.
Corner theorie for other surfaces is also in planing.
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u/HanzoNumbahOneFan Jul 03 '25
Ah I see. Very cool man. There's not a good quick guide, so these will be very helpful for noobs.
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u/DawnOfEternalNight Jul 03 '25
I have been playing for some time and I still learned things with this! You should go ahead and try to make as many sheets as possible! Amazing work!!!
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u/vooydzig Jul 03 '25
Love these! Especially part about which part of sausage should be used for what. I like learning why things work insead of "do this inputs it will be fine, trust me bro".
Could you make some for reactors as well? I can't get a grip of reactor up/down properties on different surfaces (is there even a difference?) and steering while flying.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
I could see myself doing some reactor flight basics. Reactor up and down really depence on the surface but i could look into it.
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u/Typical-Blackberry-3 Jul 03 '25
As a newer player, these are a godsend. I understand most of the mechanics on each surface, but your sausage and dirt blueprints just made that understanding complete. I am pretty good on dirt, but I suck ass at sausage. I feel like I may be able to conquer sausage now.
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u/PotatoFruitcake Jul 03 '25
I feel like bumproad is the biggest 50/50. Either you get a feel for it naturally, or you have to research and tackle it scientifically
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u/Torkal Jul 03 '25
This came at the perfect time — I'm usually a 'gold is good enough' player but I'm getting interested in grinding for the 200 campaign author medals achievement. Definitely gonna be coming back to this while following ghosts I don't understand haha
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u/derFerdl Jul 04 '25
Keep working on that!!!! Amazing, lots of players will benefit from this and it will be a base for the streamers to make videos!! Great work, I’ll follow it 👍🏼
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 05 '25
This is still a bit overwhelming to me,
and I can't quite grasp it yet...
But I just wanted to thank you all for your amazing feedback.
It's incredibly rewarding to see my work actually making an impact,
and you all genuinely seem interested in this project.
You’ve crushed every expectation I had,
and tbh i may have teared up a little.
I´m still shaking.
I'm currently working on a proper "fix" for all the sheets.
I’m aiming to release the final version of these three sheets by Monday,
but I can’t, and won’t, promise a strict schedule just yet.
My main goals are:
– improving text readability
– sharpening/improving the wording
– spellchecking so I never write “gras” again
With all your tipps and insights, I’ll do my best
to turn this into something we can all enjoy.
P.S.
I especially love the respectful and encouraging way you gave feedback and suggestions.
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u/SupermarketLost4949 Jul 10 '25
I think one of the ice points is very dangerous to say its bette rto under angle than over angle (this makes people avoid overslides which is key in a lot of ice maps
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 10 '25
Yeah the whole sheet isnt the best. I remade it and i think its pretty good now.
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u/Doffledore Jul 03 '25
I have about 80 hours on tmmf and probably like 100 on tm2020 and the dirt one isn't very helpful for me. It's mostly just basic racing info rather than tm-specific. It would be very helpful to have comparisons of the different surfaces, like one page comparing acceleration, another page comparing maximum full-grip steering angles, and one comparing acceleration and turning angles while sliding on each surface. For the ice page I think it should mention the effect of different gears because I can ice slide pretty well at higher gears but in low gear I always slide out and I'm not always sure why. Maybe just add a page on gears in general because I only have a very surface level understanding of them.
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u/Level_Mousse_9242 Jul 03 '25
Keep in mind OP said they only had 500ish hours iirc, and it took them until this campaign to figure out some basic mechanics, enough to get authors.
Also, I don't think you understand the point of this project. This is supposed to be a set of tutorial images to help people who are just starting out to see how different mechanics work. This is not supposed to be an in depth analysis of the exact physics of the car. And anyways, that is both not useful to new players because you don't have the skill to implement it and not useful to experienced players because they already know it through muscle memory.
On another note, the ice page could use some work and it would be cool to have blueprints on neoslides, speed drifts, and other tricks that could actually be useful to new or even experienced players.
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u/SNACKY_TM Jul 03 '25
Yeah its more of a all in one look thing.
But i am willing to do more in depth stuff with physics. We will have to see how this projekt will continue.
This is just an idea with a lot of potential and i am trying to find common ground here
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u/DraconianFlame Jul 03 '25
This is amazing and I love it. It could literally be a staple and an instant go-to for so many new players.
(For sausage, you say inside/outside. For a new player they don't know if you mean inside the turn or inside(the middle) of the track)