BikeGame Specs

Thoughts on XP level-type scoring for bikegame.

Basic Premise

  • one should start out with easy encounters, and build up enough points in those encounters to level up about once a month
  • however, one should also take on more epic scale encounters as one becomes higher level, which should have higher payoffs.
  • the challenge, then, is to figure out what’s possible from one end of the spectrum to the other in a one month timeframe, and to provide enough encounters at the appropriate level to score enough points.
  • (dollars-per-point budget side note): the scoring system should allow that the total points required to reach level 12 should payout about the budget one would have for that year, as a user pref.

High level look at some test cases on the spectrum

  1. at my level, I’m doing about 50 miles/wk, or 200 miles/mo, on my commute. Maybe another 15 on the weekends if I didn’t have a good reason to ride. So that’s all pretty easy, let’s call it 250 mi/mo, with maybe 5000 climb-ft/mo. So to go from level 1 (0pts) to level 2 (5pts:dist, 1pts:climb, total 6 pts). 50 mi/pt, 5000 ft/pt
  2. Patch (Urban Crawl) and Kent Peterson both do about 36 mi/day just commuting, at roughly 720 mi/mo. both of those guys would be considered at the high end of commuter miles. Kent Peterson also does long journeys pretty frequently, so throwing in a couple 120 mile S240’s and he’s up to 960 miles. 960 miles a month, by the above points system, yields 19 pts:dist and let’s say 18-20k climbing feet for 4pts, and let’s throw in a point each for the 60+ mile rides on the S240 (times 2 for a good month) for 4 pts, and call that 27 points. That’s enough to clear Level 9 in one month.
  3. Jeff Kerkove (http://www.jeffkerkove.net) did 16 races in 2008, placing 27th at Leadville. In one 5.5 hour training ride, he did 4500 feet of climbing, maybe around a hundred miles? So he’s probably doing something like a 1000-1200 miles/mo. with maybe 80k climbing feet. I’ll try and score a month like that below.
  4. Lance did stage 19 (55km) TT in ‘04 averaging about 32mph. Sweet Jeebus. He gets about 20-24 hours a week for around 1600-2000 miles/mo. If he’s training like that, and then does TDF that month…
  5. Need more test cases, especially for mtn bike and cargo bike low-end, high-end.

Closer analysis of test cases

  • level 1 (beginning): a month of commuting 5-7 miles a day, light elevation changes (200 feet / 3 miles), a couple excursions with the family should yield a levelup in one month.
    250 mi : 5pts, 5000 ft: 1pts => 6pts
  • level 10 (advanced): a month of commuting 30-40 miles a day, couple tours or group rides in the 80-100 mile range should level up for a 10. 700 commute miles + 300 miles of “other” = 1000 miles for 20 pts. 15k of climbing for 3pts. 2 long trips over 40 miles for two points each. 25 pts.
  • level 20 (superheroic): a month of doing an avg of 3 hours of riding (2400 ft, 60 miles) for 5 days/wk, plus one.five race at 100 miles or one 24 hour race should level up for a 20. (1200 + 150 racing) = 1350 mi: 26 pts, 50k: 10 pts, minor race of 68 miles, major of 100 (6 pts and 9 pts) for 15 pts. Total: 51 pts. 50 oughta do it. But what about the long ride bonuses? there’s at least one over 60 and maybe three in each week, so maybe 2 pts each for the 60’s and 3 for the 90? that’s 28 more points in a month. That’s like 80ish points.
  • God: TDF month: 1800-2500 miles (let’s say 2300 to make it easy) in 20 stages. So let’s say 46 points in distance, 90k feet of climbing for 18 points, most of those rides are 100-140 miles and the winners often take the non-climbing stages with avg speeds around 25mph (40kmh). So let’s say that 16 of those stages are 5 pointers (for very advanced riders), that’s another 80 points right there in bonuses. Plus the event bonus for just finishing the world’s most prestigious bike race would have to be like 20 points wouldn’t it? That’s like 164 points. That would advance someone two full max levels. I think that’s fair. (But should there be another speed range higher for the TT’s?)

Proposed points/level table

So we’re trying to get from 5ish to 80ish in 20ish steps… and then a constant point scale (80 sounds good? Does this need to go for 90? 100?) for every level after that. Here’s a shot at it: this assumes 1 pt : 50 miles and 1 pt : 5000 ft climb, as well as bonuses for longer rides, events, and trophies. If 80pts ends up being too easy for gods, we can continue the upward progression up to level 30, 40, whatever it takes.

Level Points to Complete Min Total to Level Notes
Level 1 4 0
Level 2 6 4
Level 3 8 10
Level 4 10 18
Level 5 13 28
Level 6 16 41
Level 7 19 57
Level 8 22 76
Level 9 26 98
Level 10 30 124
Level 11 34 154
Level 12 38 188
Level 13 43 226
Level 14 48 269
Level 15 53 317
Level 16 58 370
Level 17 64 428
Level 18 70 492
Level 19 74 562
Level 20 78 636
Level 21 80 714
Level 22..N 80 714 + ((N-21) * 80)

Note: giving this a try to start:

level 1   2   3   4   5   6   7    8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21
point 4   6   8  10  13  16  19  22   26  30  34  38  43  48  53  58  64  70  74  78  80
total 4  10  18  28  41	 57  76	 98  124 154 188 226 269 317 370 428 492 562 636 716 796

Some Scoring Tables sketches

Basic:
50 miles : 1pt
5000 feet: 1pt

Single Ride Scoring (Ride Type: Road, Levels 1-6, 7-14, 15+)

Distance (no speed) Avg Spd > 12 Avg Spd > 18 Avg Spd > 24
> 20 – 1|-|- 2|1|- 3|2|1
> 40 1|-|- 2|1|- 3|2|1 4|3|2
> 60 2|1|- 3|2|1 4|3|2 5|4|3
> 80 3|2|1 4|3|2 5|4|3 6|5|4
100+ 4|3|2 5|4|3 6|5|4 7|6|5

Question: how does one score offroad/singletrack rides similarly? Does climbing feet replace avg speed as the bonus enhancement? Trail rating?