User:Jefe

About Me

I recently began modding Mario Kart Wii, but I've been modding Unreal Tournament 2004 for years, and run an RPG invasion server. (You fight against waves of monsters, pick a class and learn skills as in an RPG.) You can see some of my custom skins here and maps here.

Links

 Xfire: jefejefejefe

 MarioKartWii.com profile: jefe

 YouTube channel: reidevjord

 YouTube playlist of my custom tracks: watch

 YouTube playlist of some of my UT2004 stuff: watch

I maintain a collection of CT models on Google 3D warehouse. If you'd like me to add your track to the collection, upload it to the warehouse and post a link to it on my talk page.

Mario Kart Projects

My first Custom track is Rooster Island, which took about a week to model. It took another two weeks to completely finish. I wasn't sure what from-scratch custom tracks were capable of and what limitations there were in terms of poly count and textures, so I aimed for something simple, with an intentional N64 vibe. Since there aren't any tools for lighting levels properly, I also picked bright, vibrant colors. I based my textures and colors on Mario 64, another game that didn't have light sourcing. I am mostly happy with the results, although I am disappointed in SketchUp's lack of texturing options, and had to change some of my texture choices to simple textures that wouldn't show alignment errors prominently. Otherwise I really like the program.

My second track is F-Zero White Land I. Even though I grew up in the era of the SNES, I didn't get into F-Zero until GX came out. I wanted to pick an easy project and to do something from a MODE 7 SNES game that hadn't been done yet. I choose this level based on the map images on vgmaps.com. The layout looked good for Mario Kart, unlike many of the other tracks, which are dominated by long straightaways. A cool feature of this track is a series of nine jump ramps surrounded by off-road sections, which translate quite well to MKWhee, but are challenging.

Track number three is F-Zero Big Blue. I wasn't going to do another F-Zero level originally, since I don't want to be strongly associated with making just one type of level. Big Blue is a bit longer than White Land I at the same scale, but is also an easier track. The original level has no jumps or boosts, just a few sharp turns, a very long straight away, a few rough spots and one slippery bend. In my remake, I added several boosts and increased the amount of sand in the rough areas to provide some challenge and shortcut opportunities. I also decided to make some futuristic dome structures to flesh out the level. I'm very happy with how this level turned out.

I plan to release a minor revamp of White Land I soon.

Possible Future Tracks

(In rough order of likeliness)

• Another original design.

• A reverse Rooster Island, possibly set at a different time of day. (I actually had this in mind when originally modeling the level.)

• Another F-Zero level or something from another Mode 7 game. Possibly something very unexpected based on another SNES game.

• A mini-me level. Your character is about the size of a mouse inside of a normal sized room. These are very popular in FPS games, but I haven't seen any CTs like this yet. Waluigi Pinball and the Block Fort/Plaza battle courses are the same concept.

• A mini-me level based on building blocks or legos.

• A from-scratch remake of a Stunt Race FX level, a game I did play a lot. (I really need to locate another cartridge for easy reference.)

• An iconic level from a FPS game like DOOM's E1M1 or GoldenEye 007's Dam. Story or mission levels tend to have a linear structure, these could be adapted for racing with a little ingenuity.

• Something like DM-Hyperblast2. I will probably never end up doing this exact level, because there are so many limitations to doing the animated texture effects, but the exterior of the ship would be fun for racing.