The latest indieVelo update V0.2.17 released October 2, 2023, includes user-requested route completion achievements and a call to action!
As the number of people using indieVelo increases rapidly, it’s become more critical to cover everyone’s basic expectations. As I mentioned last week, it all needs to Just Work (TM).
Although not part of indieVelo’s core innovation mission, this week’s release (see below for full details) focuses on one of the most requested and common features in gaming: Achievements. Initially, I implemented 25 route completion achievements to test the basic infrastructure and ensure everything worked smoothly. What comes next, however, is up to you!
– What kinds of achievements would you like to see?
– How should they be displayed in-game to best suit you?
– Would you like rewards for completing them, and if so, what?
– How should different levels of difficulty be recognized for you?
– What do you think would be genuinely innovative in this area?
Other fundamental changes in this release include a new set of monthly Challenges for October and a tweak to how we run team events. This latter point gives organizers the option to allow people who aren’t members of teams to ride as individuals, with their results not included in the final team result – to activate this behavior, just set the minimum team size to 0 when creating your own custom event. As usual, there’s also a wide range of other improvements and fixes behind the scenes to ensure everything runs a bit smoother.
If all has gone well, you shouldn’t have to do anything to get the new version, as indieVelo will self-update the next time you start it up. If you find any problems, however, instructions on how to manually update are on the website: https://wiki.indievelo.com/docs/updates
Please note that, depending on when you installed indieVelo, you may see a warning message recommending that you update the installer/launcher to the latest version. If you see this, download it again from https://indievelo.com/downloads, and the update will automatically apply. The entire process typically takes a minute or two, often much less.
The full patch notes are below!
“Thank you all again for your continued support, and do let me know your thoughts and suggestions for achievements – I can’t wait to see what we come up with together.“
indieVelo founder Dr. George Gilbert
Patch Notes – V0.2.17 – Key changes from last version:
- Added route completion achievements.
- Added new monthly challenges for October.
- Added ability to hold team events with riders who aren’t members of teams.
- Added support for Wahoo Powrlink pedal power meters.
- Added lots more teams.
- Improved mouse hiding behavior to not trigger when using a keyboard.
- Improved performance of network socket layer.
- Improved logging of server performance issues.
- Improved logging of server memory management.
- Improved logging of any client-server protocol issues.
- Fixed bug with FTP Ramp Test workout ending too quickly at low cadences.
- Fixed a bug with the display of terrain gradient occasionally getting stuck.
- Fixed bug with rider names occasionally appearing twice in monthly challenges.
- Fixed bug with display of nearest riders list.
- Fixed a bug which caused rider avatars to sometimes wobble in position.
- Fixed bug with occasional network dropouts.
- Fixed a bug that caused FPS to sometimes spike down for a couple of frames.
- Fixed a bug with server logging during a shutdown.
- Fixed a bug with a slow memory leak on the server.
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
