To try out the basics I first built a test map. The first version was a track laid out in flat rows on top of tall block towers. It played fine, but it didn't feel like a mountain, so I rebuilt the road as a zigzag winding along a ridge.
The first version: five flat rows stacked on top of each other, everything built from square blocks.
The new road is 751 m long and climbs about 112 m. Its legs run diagonally, and the steepest part is a 21% grade. The obstacles, narrow passages and camp order stayed the same; only the shape of the road and the surroundings changed.
The start camp has tents, a campfire and log piles. The forest's roughly 3,000 trees, plants and rocks are drawn in batches instead of one by one, so the game stays smooth.
Wide terraces inside the bends hold village houses, a windmill and a graveyard. These little story spots keep the calmer stretches from feeling long and empty.
A giant wheel turns across the road, and you have to slip between its blades at the right moment. The other obstacles in this part are a cart crossing the road, a tilting log bridge, a collapsing bridge, graveyard gates that open and close, and rolling logs. There are deliberately no fences next to the obstacles, so a single hit can send you down.