i didn't mean to be insulting - i like your maps, and i actually do like the style.

That's what I call a Dedicated post.

"instead of using smaller blocks for the ninja to jump off of, like Riobe does (not saying that he's bad - in fact, you should look at his races)," XD

3/5 Take his advice. That quote put me down a little though. It was a series!!! Not a whole new permanent style. :)

that i forgot to mention. more on curves, from a more theoretical approach.
firstly, a standard curve is when you use, from a flat plane, a 37162. a bracket curve is a 382.
you shouldn't use standard or bracket curves. when you have curves, try to have the curves as broken up as possible. for example, if you have a plane of 1's that the ninja is jumping up, remove some of the tiles so that you only include those tiles that the ninja jumps on. A good way to apply this is by removing tiles from downward curves. a downward curve is a curve that, in the Cartesian coordinate system (xy planes), goes from quadrants 2 to 1 to 4, or from 1 to 2 to 3. in a downward curve, if you have two consecutive tiles of the same slope, you can eliminate the second one. also, to make the flow abstract, try including more 1 and 4 tiles. in addition, you shouldn't have that many big drops. like i said, the ninja should always be doing something. spectacular chimney jumps that span the whole side of maps and seem to not even be chimney jumps (because they employ thwumps or stand-alone tiles) are good to include as well. a good example of this is found on Nexx's Distorted Perception, on the left hand side. for that matter, anything you can find that is spectacular to watch should be included in a race lol. lastly, one thing about buttery flow; the ninja's path should hardly be disrupted at all; the word "buttery" should come to mind as you watch the thing go. spend time placing each section of the track exactly where the ninja will hit it.
anyway, i would strongly recommend collaborating with, say, destiny or da_man894, or maybe even your brother, and while doing so observing their style. it will help. i can almost guarantee it. it's hard to explain, but it will help.

it's loopy; loopy paths are bad. try to have the ninja always doing something. as destiny puts it, "up, down, off the cliff, hit the bounceblock, watch out for that laser!". also, for the gold, try to find a small pattern you like. then scatter it in clumps all over the map, with at the most 7 in total. try to include some more abstract flow in the race, you should not be able to tell from the thumbnail that it is a race. try to include some double jumps. as for enemies, make them efficient. include a few enemies, for this level i'd put in maybe 3 or 4, and have them be well-placed and efficient, while not restricting the ninja to a certain speed. do not include zap drones, they're annoying. look at races by bunniesandsheep or destiny or something before you begin making the race, just so you can get inspired. when you're making a race, make the flow first. make sure you have innovative, buttery flow that the ninja can move speedily through. have a complex path, and use one-ways, locked doors, and trapdoors to aid this. then, put the tileset in. have a theme for it, and make it look good. instead of using smaller blocks for the ninja to jump off of, like Riobe does (not saying that he's bad - in fact, you should look at his races), have larger blocks that the ninja flows around, like da_man894 does in his races. once you've put the tileset in, finish with gold, mines, enemies, and make it uncheatable. then you're set!

Meh, nothing spectacular. This really was just some sort of flowy tiles spread about. Covered in gold and enemies spread randomly throughout. This really didn't excite me or anything. The flow wasn't very good. It was quite short and easy. Not very good to look at. A bit loopy and repetitive. 2/5 sorry. Maybe races aren't your thing.