Accessibility in Map Design by SapphiroN

🏁 Is your Trackmania map accessible? 🏁
To help you answer this, I have written the mapper's accessibility checklist! You can use it to evaluate your existing maps and to make them more accessible in the future.

Accessibility in map design means your work can be enjoyed by as many players as possible. 🏎️ It also means players will spend less time fighting the design, and more time enjoying the experience without interruptions. So with that in mind, let's dive into the checklist:

🔥 Difficulty
• Is the map playable by fast players?
• Is it playable by slow players?
• Can an average player finish on their 1st attempt?
• Does any section require a precise driving line?
• Are there any speed checks?
• Can I make difficult parts more forgiving?

↗️ Route
• Is there enough downtime between each action sequence?
• Is there enough time to react to each sequence?
• Does any section require memory over reactions?
• Is the track route easy to navigate?
• Can slow players take an alternate route if necessary?

👀 Visibility
• Are the corners visible ahead of time?
• Are the jumps visible ahead of time?
• Is it obvious which way to jump?
• Are sections with poor visibility properly telegraphed?
• Are signs positioned so players can see them?

⛩️ Checkpoints
• Are there enough checkpoints?
• Are the checkpoints well positioned?
• Can you comfortably respawn from all the checkpoints?
• Can you do a standing restart from all the checkpoints?
• Is it possible to miss a checkpoint?

🏝️ Scenery
• Does the scenery guide the player (with signs, arrows or shapes)?
• Is the scenery blocking any visibility?
• Is the map lit well enough?
• Can you easily tell the route and scenery apart?

🎬 MediaTracker
• Is there a GPS?
• Are automatic camera changes necessary?
• Are there any MT elements blocking player view?
• Can any MT triggers be accidentally activated?

🌿 Other accessibility tips
• Ask your friends to play your map
• Spectate them, see where they might struggle
• Test your map with different camera angles (*cough*)
• To simulate slower drivers, switch to a controller/KB
• For keyboard users, try playing left handed

That's all I had to say! 😌 It's worth noting that it's NOT a definitive "how to build a good map" list, only a tool for accessible map design. Sometimes it's necessary to break rules of accessibility to build something unique. Thank you for reading, I hope this is helpful! ✨

From: twitter.com/SapphTM
Be sure to follow for more great mapping tips!