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Circuitnaut

I think I had to cheese this level because I had NO idea where to go.

They way the people in the voice lobby are talking, I had the impression that there was serious drama here and that you were 100% against skipping even as a concept.

Clearly I need to bug some people for being legitamate haters.

And as I already said, skipping to a reasonable extent could still be allowed even with sequential checkpoints; their primary purpose would be to prevent overly exploitative shortcuts in tracks like mine. But it's not solely down to me wanting my track a certain way. I simply feel that, in principle and regardless, it should be an option for those who want it, since as far as I'm concerned, it makes perfect sense that a proportion of level creators want players to pursue their track (or at least certain integral parts of the track) as closely as possible to what they've intended, and gone to the effort of producing.

I find your last point to be almost patronizing, as I could argue that the potential for major shortcuts in my track isn't the result of an inherently flawed design, but rather the consequence of the absence of a certain feature that I'm not alone in wanting to have implemented. ;p

Regarding how difficult it would be to implement sequential checkpoints, the imagined ease of such an implementation is admittedly just my assumption, however with all due respect I'm not going to simply take your word for it that it would be unduly difficult, unless you have particular insight into the dev process and can substantially demonstrate why it would be such a challenge (or just link me to an explanation from one of the devs if there's one).

It isnt possible to reset leaderboard times as of yet, the devs planned on figuring out something for that but as of now it requires allot of hassle on the devs end. Outside of that, forcing sequencial checkpoints wouldnt be nearly as easy as you think, esspecially with how distance is designed to encourage exploration for the fastest route.

On another point, adding enforced checkpoints would actually be in the hands of the newer players. Which is currently, and probobly will always be, the majority. The devs are in an awkward position with this because they support skipping, and have actually received oposition from the comunity by changing features.

If anything sequencial forced checkpoints would have to be a mode of its own, which would further divide the playerbase and cause more problems. I get that you wanted your track a certain way, but it is important to recognize the faults in a design, and learn from them.

It's for those reasons that I feel that I shouldn't have to go out of my way to purposely structure the track to prevent significant skipping, as it's something of a hassle to do this when the potential solution is something so easily implemented, in addition to the fact that I'd be going against my desired design. Moreover, enforced checkpoints could be a thing without precluding skipping altogether.

As for the alteration I made that you mentioned, I might revoke it if there's no way of resetting the leaderboards for a particular track, as it's otherwise indeed unfair for those who may want to challenge the top times achieved by virtue of that cheeky shortcut.

Corner-cutting or skipping to an extent is a totally acceptable aspect of play, in my opinion, and an understandably desirable one at that for competitive players, however I still wish that sequential checkpoints could be made an available option when they're needed to prevent shortcuts which are unreasonable i.e. significantly circumventing the intended general flow of the track. If the level editor is meant to stand for freedom of creation, as you say, then it ought to provide options that appeal to everyone, including those players that would actually prefer enforced checkpoints, whether or not those players are in the minority - again, in my opinion.

I am sorry to tell you that there will probobly never be any means of forcing checkpoint order in distance. I understand how newer players have negative views of taking shortcuts, but the game's description says that "You can also fly to discover new shortcuts and paths." This is viewed as a feature in the eyes of the devs. The game gives players allot of freedom with the car abilities and they see no reason to restrict them. You also have allot of freedom with the level editor and you are capable of preventing skips. However most of the more skilled players will then dislike the track and probobly wont play it.

You updated the track and made it impossible to skip dirrectly to the end from the finish, creating impossible times. It is best to keep skipping in mind when you create a level, not to prevent it or nessicarilly even to design against it. But embracing skipping adds a whole new dimension to the game. I hope you create more tracks with this in mind.