This is a first in the history of this website. I'm publishing a new (finished!) project before finishing my current work in progress. I have worked on things along side my official projects before, but those never had the honour of being uploaded to this website.

I was recently confronted by a friend of mine who works over at Turborilla, asking me if I could assist them with creating a Trailer or two for their game Mad Skills Motocross. Obviously I accepted the proposal and the result is three distinct trailers that can be seen below. I also got the opportunity to contribute with my Level Designing skills in the form of a track in the later parts of the game.

Continue reading for more detailed information and some embedded youtube clips!

This first trailer is the first true official trailer for the game, and also the first one I worked on. The footage is recorded using Fraps and edited in Adobe Premiere, using Adobe After Effects for the text and logo animations.

I have done a lot of video editing before so that part felt natural to me. Working in After Effects is slightly less familiar to me however and it was certainly a learning experience throughout the project. In the end I think it turned out even better than I had originally envisioned it. I'm especially proud of the two logo animations.

The second trailer is not really a trailer at all. I was playing with my Wii Remote connected to my PC using Bluetooth and tried using it in Mad Skills Motocross. It worked like a charm and was also totally awesome, so it was decided that I should record myself playing the game in this manner for everyone to enjoy.

I used a Webcam to record the live action footage of me and the Wii Remote while simultaniously recording the in-game footage with Fraps. The two videos were then combined and synched in Adobe Premiere. I'm not entirely happy with how this video turned out. I was playing pretty lousy and it turned out to be about a minute longer than I had wanted it to be. But this was just recorded for fun to show everyone that it worked so I didn't want to overwork it.

For anyone that might be wondering how I got the Wii Remote working in the game I simply used GlovePIE and a slightly modified Trackmania Script which you can download here.

The third trailer is the result of an idea I had while recording footage for the first trailer. While recording I would frequently fail miserably and much of the footage was unuseable in an official launch trailer. So I figured I could use these failed takes to compose a "Deleted Scenes" or "Bloopers" video.

This also gave me the opportunity to try out some more After Effects features like the motion tracking system, making this trailer the most extravagant one in form of post-production work. It almost bordelines on being too special effects heavy but I believe the comical nature of the footage justifies it.

I used some pretty awesome sound clips that I found on soundsnap at the beginning and end of this trailer.
Specifically:
11501801, Robot 4, computer data loop 4, computer beeps 12 and 056 SpaceAtmos01 (For the "Corrupted Data" section in the middle)

As I mentioned earlier I also had the opportunity to create some tracks for the game using the built in Level Editor. I didn't end up making great quantities of finished tracks but one of the few I did make actually ended up in the game. It's called "flip it" and can be played in the 2nd division.

Here is a Youtube clip of me playing it and a partial screenshot of the editor showing the layout of the track:

As you can see it is not an especially challenging track when it comes to actually reaching the finish line, but it has a very smooth flow and is very fun to play. The challenge lies in balancing on the rear wheel as much as possible and controlling your breaks during the last 1/3 of the track.

This video also demonstrates that the last 1/3 of the track gives the player a choise. Either go full throttle and jump over the boost arrows or try to time your breaks and utilize them. Which adds to the replayability of the track because players can experiment with different approaches if they want to.

The section I'm most proud of however is the bump in the middle of the track which is amazingly easy to get the bike spinning on. It's just incredibly satisfying to get a really fast spin going and landing perfectly. I will probably end up creating more tracks for the game in the future because the editor is really nice to work with.

If you wish to send a comment or ask any questions please email me at contact@ladelulaku.com.
And be sure to check out the game itself! There is a demo available on the official website, free for anyone to enjoy.

- Official Mad Skills Motocross Website
- Turborilla Website
- MSM GlovePIE Script