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Meet Kaptn Klutch šŸ™Œ Trailmakers Builder Showcase

Builder Showcase is back. The second edition stars Kapth Klutch, one of the most beloved and active Weekly Challange participants. His sources of inspiration and design tips, exposed to the delight of the Trailmakers community.

Would you make a quick introduction to us? What’s your real name, age, where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Greetings to you All. My name is Kyle Mahoney, age 28, from Massachusetts, US. I am a Graphic Designer & part time Twitch Streamer, better known as, KAPTN_KLUTCH.

How did you first hear about Trailmakers? Why did you decide to jump in and start playing?

My exposure to Trailmakers came from the Xbox Game Pass, but my draw to the game comes through the Creative Freedom it offers. I compare the game alot to ā€œLEGO’s with Physicsā€.

Since we can build a wide range of vehicles, replicas, or totally new things from our own creative Imaginations. Even if you’re not attuned to the driving, flight or sailing mechanics yet, you can still build pretty much whatever you want, you may create something totally new and unique from experimenting.

What makes you come back to the game and spend time building and designing?

At first I tinkered around in ā€˜Stranded in Space’ to familiarize myself with the basics. After I was more comfortable, I’d try to re-create different Pop Culture references.

But, it was The Weekly Developer Challenges that gave me the ability to flex my creative muscles in new ways. After a few weeks and a couple of Trophies, I bonded with Twitch Chat and got exposed to this great community of fellow Builders.

Which of your creations are you most proud of and why?

There are a few things in my private collection I’m proud of, but there have been many fun and exciting themes to model after every week. My most memorable creation was the MasterPiece Challenge, where I submitted a functioning Baby Yoda [Grogu] replica.

Another key detail was an assist from a fellow Master Builder and well known name in the Community, SlimmShammy. They helped apply stabilization to the gimbels using Logic Gates - that I’m still not familiar with. It was a blast to make and even more exciting to have some collaborative assistance.

MASTERPIECE Challenge - Baby Yoda by ]{aptn ]{lutch

If you have to name one, who would be a source of inspiration for you on the game? Any favourite known or unknown creator?

I’ve got plenty of ideas jumbling around this noggin, but some days I get stumped or want to retry a build. There are TONS of great ideas to be found from content creators on Steam & Youtube.

To name a couple, I’ve always admired ā€˜Multiplayer Build Challenges’ amongst friend’s, like Scrapman’s ā€œEvolution Challengesā€ with his buddies. Another youtuber I watch often is ThatDomGuy, for his unique style of builds and always finding ways to push new ideas innovated through his designs.

What is your best tip for someone who just downloaded the game and wants to get started?

The game mechanics might seem overwhelming in the start but there is a way to ease yourself into them through ā€œStranded in Spaceā€. I took my time to fiddle around and absorb how different engines work, how certain wheels react to tertain, if weight has any factor etc.

I did my own trial and error crash testing, but If you get stuck, not sure how else to work on a Project, you can always save and come back later. Try looking into other solutions people come up with, you never know what you’ll find out there.

Would you like to add something? Words for the community, feature request?

I’ve played Trailmakers for about a Year now, there is still plenty more things I want to create! Being a part of this community and seeing it affect the growth of my own Stream Channel has been very encouraging. Can’t wait to see what else the game devs and community has to offer in future updates.

One Idea I’ve had is ā€œBlade & Spikeā€ Pieces. I imagined they would cause Physical Damage to vehicles without breaking off right away, then we can make Bladed Wheels for Death Races, Saw Blades for Construction, Battle Bot Royales, etc.

I hope everyone is having fun building to your heart's content. Thank you again for being awesome & for offering me this opportunity! You can find my channel at - Kaptn Klutch - Where I stream Trailmakers every Tuesday before the Weekly Challenges on Thursdays.

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So far the second edition of Builder Showcase. We hope it has been to your liking. We have loved getting to know Kaptn Klutch a little more. Thank you so much for your participation and for your amazing creations, Kyle. See you next time folks, where we'll learn more about a new top builder.

Good vs Evil šŸ† Trailmakers Weekly Challenge

Hey builder!

Congratulations to @Noahbj and BastionBrit on Xbox for winning the Good Vs Evil Weekly Challenge!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The next Weekly Challenge theme is SIGHTSEEING!
DEADLINE: Thursday August 5th 2021 11AM CET (3 hours before Stream)
Entry Limit: 1

If you would like to participate but do not know how, keep reading šŸ˜™

We will not judge your dreams, it is up to you:





Is it the first time you hear about our weekly challenge?
Every Thursday, our dev team try cool creations by the community with a weekly topic. Last week we saw some awesome builds by the topic "Good vs Evil" and this Thursday August 5th 2021 2PM CET we will be trying new cool creations made by you with the topic "Sightseeing" live on our Twitch.

Challenge? Is there a prize?
Yep! The winners get an exclusive trophy block šŸ† only available for the weekly challenge winners. You'll be able to proudly display your trophy on your creations as you want.

Want to participate?
You just have to let your creativity run wild with the next topic: "Sightseeing". It is easy to share your entries to the challenge through Steam Workshop naming it with the weekly hashtag (#SightseeingChallenge this week).

If you are interested in participating, we recommend you to go to our Discord server, where you'll find all the info on how to submit your best creations and let our dev team try them live. We have an amazing community & mod team ready to help newbies, so if you're just starting out at Trailmakers, this is your place.

Thanks for sharing your evil good creations, see you next Thursday builder šŸ› ļø

Meet Martysama šŸ™Œ Trailmakers Builder Showcase

Sometimes when scrolling through the gallery you stumble on a creation that is just amazing. A really talented person must have put tons of hours into this. But who are these people, and what is their approach when building?

Today we caught up with Martysama - who is regarded one of the top builders in the community and hear what advice he would give new players, and how he gets his ideas.

What’s your name?

Hi, my real name is Filip Martinez and my handle in game and discord is the one and only… Martysama.

How old are you and what do you do for a living?

I’m 30 years old (the best years of ones life, I’d say) and I’m a high school teacher. My area of expertise is biology, but I love all the science branches alike.

How long have you played Trailmakers and on which platform?

I’ve been playing Trailmakers for a bit over two and a half years now on PC. Not to brag, but I also passed 1000 hours of playtime mark this spring and I’m currently at 1238 hours… at the same time I’m proud of that fact and something is telling me I’ve been spending more time in game than I intended.

What makes you play Trailmakers?

Aside from simple cars, other vehicles and devices I was struggling to build something good at first. Even though I was objectively bad at building, I kept trying and I could see myself getting progressively better at it. A big motivation for continuing were the weekly challenges and seeing peoples positive reactions to the things I built. Today what I enjoy most is challenging myself and refining ideas and concepts I had before but did not have the skill to do them justice and using mods to make maps.

Which of your creations are you most proud of and why?

I’d say there is one creation and one map that take the cake. The creation is my two-part warrior mech. The reason for my pride is that I was able to make a Two-part walker that has an awesome walking cycle, is self-balanced and can controllably fly.

Torso of the mech is here and the legs here.



The map I’m proud of is Trailmakers city. It’s a full-blown city made from scrappy models with Riddicolases awesome trailedit mod. I’m currently working on an expansion for that map that I’ll release as a separate map, where I’ll be adding a huge jungle and a big battlebot arena. Based on what I made so far, I think that will be my best map for a long time, and best of all, it will include Trailmakers city as a small part of it.

Here is the link to the city.



A lot of people say: I don’t know what to build?
How do you get your ideas?


Creativity is my guide. I rarely build common stuff like a cars or regular boats, and if I do, I always try to do it with a twist. My advice for people who don’t know what to build is to start from a small part like: I want to build a machine gun, or a rocket, or a new suspension setup, or wall-crawling mechanism and after that build their creation around that idea. Also, something I find fun to do is search around the map for cool places I can build something into, some of my examples for that would be (a house that hangs on the edge of a cliff, cybernetic parts for a big snowman, big hangar doors that make pipes into your personal warehouses, a mine cart that can slide on the rails around the map, etc.)

What is your best tip for someone who just downloaded the game and wants to get started?

I suggest you try the different game modes to get a hang of building. Alternately you can browse the Workshop for awesome creations to have fun with, either alone, or with friends (no building skill required). That might motivate you to do those other stuff and learn to build yourself.

Anything you want to add - feature requests or anything?

I’ve suggested quite a few things in the Discord that seen to be quite popular. If I had to choose one to be added to the game, that would be my Fabricator block idea – A spawner block that would allow you to prebuild a low complexity creation you could spawn. Like we can do with beachballs or creates on their respective spawners.

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That’s it, hope you enjoyed the answers and creations by Martysama. A big thank you to you Filip, for making the most out of Trailmakers and for kindly participate in this interview. A more than deserved spot for a true Trailmakers Builder. Stay tuned for more Builder Showcases in the future!

Dreams šŸ† Trailmakers Weekly Challenge

Hey builder!

Congratulations to @Mr.Nothing and @Ghost Raptor/Mindstorms for winning the Dreams Challenge!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The next Weekly Challenge theme is GOOD VS EVIL!
DEADLINE: Thursday July 8th 2021 11AM CET (3 hours before Stream)
Entry Limit: 1

If you would like to participate but do not know how, keep reading šŸ˜™

We will not judge your dreams, it is up to you:





Is it the first time you hear about our weekly challenge?
Every Thursday, our dev team try cool creations by the community with a weekly topic. Last week we saw some awesome builds by the topic "Dreams" and this Thursday July 8th 2021 2PM CET we will be trying new cool creations made by you with the topic "Good vs Evil" live on our Twitch.

Challenge? Is there a prize?
Yep! The winners get an exclusive trophy block šŸ† only available for the weekly challenge winners. You'll be able to proudly display your trophy on your creations as you want.

Want to participate?
You just have to let your creativity run wild with the next topic: "Good vs Evil". It is easy to share your entries to the challenge through Steam Workshop naming it with the weekly hashtag (#GoodvsEvilChallenge this week).

If you are interested in participating, we recommend you to go to our Discord server, where you'll find all the info on how to submit your best creations and let our dev team try them live. We have an amazing community & mod team ready to help newbies, so if you're just starting out at Trailmakers, this is your place.

Thanks for sharing your wildest dreams with us, see you next Thursday builder šŸ› ļø

Toys šŸ† Trailmakers Weekly Challenge

Hey builder!

Congratulations to @Mightynight and @BittenDonut {АнГрей} for winning the Toys Challenge!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The next Weekly Challenge theme is DREAMS! 🧸
DEADLINE: Thursday July 1st 2021 11AM CET (3 hours before Stream)
Entry Limit: 1

If you would like to participate but do not know how, keep reading šŸ˜™

Take a look at these toys... for your kids *cough, cough*:





Is it the first time you hear about our weekly challenge?
Every Thursday, our dev team try cool creations by the community with a weekly topic. Last week we saw some awesome builds by the topic "Toys" and this Thursday July 1st 2021 2PM CET we will be trying new cool creations made by you with the topic "Dreams" live on our Twitch.

Challenge? Is there a prize?
Yep! The winners get an exclusive trophy block šŸ† only available for the weekly challenge winners. You'll be able to proudly display your trophy on your creations as you want.

Want to participate?
You just have to let your creativity run wild with the next topic: "Dreams". It is easy to share your entries to the challenge through Steam Workshop naming it with the weekly hashtag (#DreamsChallenge this week).

If you are interested in participating, we recommend you go to our Discord server, where you'll find all the info on how to submit your best creations and let our dev team try them live. We have an amazing community & mod team ready to help newbies, so if you're just starting out at Trailmakers, this is your place.

Thanks for play with us, see you next Thursday builder šŸ› ļø