6 - Ram Tzu

Ram Tzu
@Ram Tzu
also known as: Samadhi001

Ram Tzu is most famous as the creator of the genre of XY, a genre of which he remained at the helm for years. However, he was also a pioneer of scenery, particularly XY scenery and minimalism in Line Art. And the ultra-smooth curves trend began with him, earlier than you might think!

Ram Tzu started early, shortly after Beta 2 was released, with his first upload in January 2007. Unlike the vast majority of us, his first videos were in fact quite good, and immediately in his personal style - smooth curves, extremely simple scenery, and lines at 90 degree angles. Fascinatingly, Ram Tzu's tracks inspired anomaly76 to coin the term "XY" in March 2007, but Ram Tzu did not start using the term until months later, and one of his most famous XYs, Joytopia III, was actually his very first solo release that was a true XY! This shows that Ram Tzu was far more interested in the style and aesthetic of his tracks than in specific rules or tricks.

Then Ram Tzu worked to perfect an utterly unique style involving spaced-out XY quirk and simple scenery evoking images of tunnels or caves, culminating with the masterwork JoyTopia III, which placed in the top 8 in the original Tournament of Champions.

Later, Ram Tzu began releasing XY tracks that focused more on flow and intensity. One of his later releases, Fluid Karma, has often cited as one of the best XY tracks ever made. He also managed to bring back the smooth curves and combine that style with his XY style to create his most popular track, Silk Road. Unfortunately neither of these tracks were ever entered in a ToC, so we have no real way of knowing how they "stack up".

His last activity on YouTube was in November of 2008 when he uploaded "Silk Road Armageddon", the version scened by @Georgio_Jc. He appears to have registered at least one account on WRTL in 2009, and then possibly a second account in 2014, but has never posted on this site.

Parcours 2 [2007]

Spoiler:

Not Ram Tzu's first release, but the oldest one we have. You can see how this track impressed people with its simple but highly effective minimalistic scenery, and the contrast between the carefully drawn ultra-smooth curves and the long straight lines. Within a month after Beta 2 came out in December 2006, Ram Tzu was the first to use the straight line tool very carefully to make smooth circular curves, a technique and style that continues to this day. There are also an impressive number of nose manuals for the time!

Chillin' [2007]

Spoiler:

Despite the fact that this track is nothing close to an actual XY track, it nevertheless marks the origin point for XY. Ram Tzu would continue with this style and eventually inspire anomaly's track XY (which explicitly spelled out that all lines were on the X or Y axis and coined the term). This track was also unique in its goal to create a relaxing experience.

Elevator Fun [2007]

Spoiler:

While probably not the origin of the elevator, this was the first track to feature elevators prominently and inspire them as a major technique in Line Rider. This also shows some of Ram Tzu's simple scenery style that would later become XY scenery.

Loopland [2007]

Spoiler:

If there was one track to showcase trick-based trackmaking in Line Rider before flatsled became taboo, this is it. Loops, loops, loops! Everyone was making flatsled loops, and Ram Tzu was at the forefront of this movement, with smooth tracks, clean scenery, and lots of loops. When it comes to flatsled loops, this track is the pinnacle.
[.sol (extended?)]

Dervish [2007]
(entry for quirky no-boost contest on LInerider.org)

Spoiler:

Check out that proto-XY! Ram Tzu moved into the world of quirk with this track, another not-quite-XY-yet. Gravity wells were invented mere days later, which changed the scene completely, but you can already see elements of early XY quirk in this release.

JoyTopia I [2007]

Spoiler:

The first in Ram Tzu's JoyTopia trilogy. In this track you can see a new scenery style developing, attempting to marry green lines with still-not-quite-XY quirk. Ram Tzu creates single-lined tunnels and rooms, with quirky lines inside these places. This style, and the quirk, becomes more developed in the following two JoyTopia tracks.

The Gun [2007]
(entry for 10-second start contest)

Spoiler:

A mini track with some cool still-not-quite-XY and an awesome concept. It is unknown whether this track won the contest but it's pretty cool nevertheless.

JoyTopia II [2007]

Spoiler:

Ram Tzu continues to improve his quirk and scenery style that he began in JoyTopia I. This track is, somewhat infuriatingly, not quite XY - two lines are not XY but Bosh does not touch them, so it is not known if they are green or not.

SpringStep [2007]
(collab with x612nt13)

Spoiler:

Despite inventing and pioneering the genre, Ram Tzu's first true XY release was actually a collaboration. (I think this speaks to Ram Tzu's overall indifferent attitude towards labels). The difference in styles is extremely clear in this track (despite Ram Tzu's style being the sole inspiration for x612nt13's part) - Ram Tzu's track style is much simpler and more effectively bouncy, while his scenery style is simpler and more abstract.

JoyTopia III [2007]

Spoiler:

Long cited as Ram Tzu's masterpiece and one of the best XYs ever created, this track is the epitome of Ram Tzu's simple XY quirk and scenery style. What makes this style so appealing is something that is extremely rare - an indisputably harmonious marriage between quirk and scenery. In the first Tournament of Champions, after steaming through the first round a full 16 votes ahead of TechDawg's Monumental and cruising through the next two rounds, it lost a rematch with Monumental for the Division A championship 33-36, putting it in the top 8 videos.

Magnetic Flux [2007]

Spoiler:

After the success of JoyTopia III, Ram Tzu took his tracks in a totally different direction. This is the first track where he started focusing on the twists and turns of Bosh in XY quirk, a style that would culminate in Fluid Karma.

QuirkX [2007]

Spoiler:

An all-X track! It seems that Ram Tzu decided to embrace experimenting with constraints after shrugging those constraints for so long. I don't know if this was the first all-X track, but it is doubtless the most entertaining one, even today.
[.sol file]

Quirkology: Lesson 3 [2007]
(collab with joonas, Owly, anomaly76, TechyKat, and x612nt13)

Spoiler:

The only Quirkology collaboration to include an XY section is, unfortunately, one of the weaker Quirkology tracks. Fortunately, Ram Tzu's XY part is actually one of the highlights of the track.

Silk Road [2007]

Spoiler:

Ram Tzu's most well known track, in which he brings back the ultra smooth curves that were missing from his videos for many months, makes them manuals instead of flatsled, and adds XY quirky sections in between manuals. It's a blending of styles that works surprisingly well, and he was the master of both. A smash-hit on YouTube, this video is one of very few Line Rider videos to have more than a million views. It is also the most-scened Line Rider track of all time, with three well known scenerizations (Silk Road Scened, Silk Road Armageddon, and Pillars the Second) and several more less memorable attempts lost to history. Numerous Silk Road tribute videos have also been made, including Glass Route by DaPoe.
[.sol file]

Hypnos [2007]

Spoiler:

Ram Tzu continues to develop his XY quirky style, quirk bits contrasting with frequent zero-point nose manuals. The vast majority of rotation in this track is clockwise, creating a hypnotic effect.

X2Y2 [2008]
(collab with anomaly76)

Spoiler:

In most of Ram Tzu's collabs, he generally does his own thing and the other collaborators either do their own thing or unsuccessfully attempt to match his style. In this collaboration, however, you can see these two learning from each other, each constantly attempting to blend in with the other's style. The results are that they both get better!

XY Files [2008]

Spoiler:

Ram Tzu continues with his quirky XY style, adding some tail manuals, granuals,  and horizontal pinches to the mix.

Fluid Karma [2008]

Spoiler:

Cited for years as one of the greatest XY quirks of all time, this track is Ram Tzu's quirk masterpiece. The masterful manipulation of Bosh's movement and rotation, the extensive space recycling, the contrast of the manuals, and the use of airtime make this fast-paced XY highly enjoyable.

flow dYnamiX [2008]

Spoiler:

Though not quite as entertaining as Fluid Karma, due to an all-over-the-place feel and some dead moments, this track is worth mentioning as Ram Tzu's final release. It is in the same style as Fluid Karma and some moments are extremely cool.