• Answering 10 short questions
• Submitting 3 unique screenshots of your completed Route (i.e. you must take and submit your own screenshots)
• Voting for your Top 3 Buildathon Routes (excluding your own of course)

Guest Voting

Guests who have accessed the competition routes will also be able to vote on their favorite Route. Voting is limited to one vote per MyTrainz account created prior to November 13, and with Trainz Plus access (trial or paid).

The link to the voting form will be provided once the competition closes. 

Overall Winners:

In addition to our "participation reward" and to ensure some friendly rivalry, we want to provide an extra incentive to build some top quality Routes. Therefore we'll also be awarding a "Best Route" prize to the winning team.

The winner will be decided by way of counting the votes submitted by all entrants in the Buildathon Survey. Each member of the winning team will receive a $50 voucher to spend on the Trainz membership of their choice. 

Judges decision is final.

Choosing a Winner:

Every team will be using the same tools, and same content set, and then votes will be cast by people who participated. (To earn your reward for participating, you need to complete your vote).

Here are a few suggestions on what to look for when voting:

• How does the overall quality compare to other Routes?
• Is the Route complete?
• How unique is the Route?
• Are there interesting uses of the content set?

Of course you can choose any other criteria to help you decide your favorite Routes to vote for.

Developer Q&A sessions

There will be a number of Q&A sessions where you can chat with the developers and get all your MPS questions answered.

Join us either on Discord, or in-game in the "Just for Fun" MPS Route at the times listed below

• November 13 - 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Developer Q&A Session #1
• November 16 - 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. - Developer Q&A Session #2
• November 16 - 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. - Developer Q&A Session #3

Also, we will be online on our Discord Channel to answer any final questions and sort out any other issues on November 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Trainz Plus Free Trial 

If you have not tried out any of the Trainz membership options, then now is the time. Simply go to MyTrainz > MyMemberships to start your free trial (this requires a credit card but you can cancel at any time prior to the end of the 30 day trial period).

If you have previously cancelled your Trainz membership (and no longer have a membership), please email [email protected] and we'll provide you with complimentary Trainz Plus access for the duration of the Buildathon.

Preparing for the Buildathon

The more preparation the better, so here are some suggestions for you to consider:

• Firstly, decide if you want to lead a team or become part of another team
  • If you have a strong idea of what you want to build, then you should probably be the leader.
  • If you're more interested in helping out, check out the forums and Discord chat to find a team to join.
• Team leaders are encouraged to put together a team by creating a new thread using this Multiplayer forum link
  • Create a new forum thread, explain your goals and expectations and work out your plans before the Buildathon event commences
  • You can also use the official Trainz Discord Channel to discuss your plans.
• Want to join a team? Post in our "Buildathon - Looking for a Team" thread and try to find like-minded people in your time zone
• N3V Games will assist where possible to create teams for those having trouble
• Got other questions?  Please ask them in our "Buildathon Official Thread" here.
• Note that all Routes will be open to guest access during the competition, so guests will be able to watch progress but will not be able to edit
• Check out the "Just for Fun" MPS Route to find other people who are online in your time zone (see below for more information)
• We suggest you read the MPS FAQs here to become familiar with the functionality

Registering a Route and Team

This first Buildathon is a team event with teams comprised of 2 to 6 members total.

Team Leaders must register their full team using our online Registration form. 

Team members do not need to register separately. 

We will regularly update the main Buildathon forum thread with team lists.

Planning your Route

• Prior to the official event start, you are free to create your own Route for practice and planning purposes
• To do this just create a new Route and use the Share option (Go here for more help)
• You can make the Route open to guests or not, and determine who to invite
• We suggest you work out how much time you will each have during the competition week
• Then work out how long it takes you to create one baseboard
• From there you can work out how many baseboards to add
• You can also work out who is good at which aspects such as texturing, laying track, etc
• You can then use the practice Route as inspiration to improve upon in the competition proper
• We also suggest all team members check they can log in to their competition Route

Building your Route

• N3V Games will create one Buildathon Route for each team that registers
• These Routes will be visible in the normal MPS Route listing (but not editable until the event starts)
• Team leaders will be given Admin permission and team members Edit permissions
• Remember you can add up to 30 baseboards maximum (in any direction or pattern)
• Don't forget that you can also place and drive trains (but don't get too sidetracked by driving while you could be building! There will be plenty of time later for that)

"Just for Fun" Route

If you're not sure about joining a team and registering in the Buildathon, then we've prepared a special Route for you to enjoy and check out the MPS tools and systems.

We've created a Route named "Buildathon - Just for Fun" which will be the meeting point for our Developer Chats and for finding other interested particpants to join you in the Buildathon.

This Route has full edit access enabled for guests, so you can load in, look around, and help out as little or as much as you like. 

This Route isn't part of the official competition, but will give you a good feel for how things are done. The Route will remain open throughout the competition for anyone to contribute to, but will not be part of the official voting.

Guest Behaviour

You can search on "Buildathon" to find all the official Routes that are entered and click on "Edit Route" to join. (We will remove any non-official Routes named Buildathon).

As a guest in a Route, you are expected to behave in a polite and non-intrusive manner.

You are unable to edit the Route, but you can use the chat function and you are able to drive trains that are placed on the Route. (Go here for more help)

Team Leaders have the ability to ban problematic users from their route.

Test Run - 2 Hour Buildathon

We gave half a dozen beta testers 2 hours to test out the Buildathon concept. Starting with the original "British Midlands" route (quickly converted to use the MPS content set), a handful of people transformed and expanded the route in just two hours. 

Here are some screenshots of the progress made in this very short time frame:

Firstly, by growing from a 5 x 4 layout to 7 x 5 layout

Starting from the sparse 2001-style sparsely populated landscape (with speedtree replacements of course).

Plantation forests were grown and harvested.

A new seaside lumber industry was brought into operation.

At times, it was time to take a rest in the shade and admire the view.

Fields were sown. 

Industries became active.

New neighbours moved in.

And and soon as the 2 hour route building period ending, trains began rolling.

We can't wait to see the results of a week long effort with organised teams working toward a common goal!