Played through the first level. Began the second level and ran into some completely unrealistic situations.
After eating a 1900 calorie breakfast I took off riding. 13 MILES INTO MILD UPHILL RIDING I'M EXTREMELY TIRED? Ate a 250 calorie snack.
34 miles of riding and I'm exhausted and loosing points?
My only option for resting is an expensive hotel? No stealth camping?
NO WATER? only drink option is a can of soda?
The game penalizes you for not taking in MORE calories than you burn. Weight loss in a huge motivation for many bike tourists. OF COURSE YOU WANT TO BURN MORE THAN YOU CONSUME.
Just my two cents.
Thanks for trying out the game and taking the time to respond.
First off, let me say that the game doesn't try to exactly match an individual's bike touring experience. It is designed to show what bike touring is like.
The game calculates calories expended by figuring in terrain and wind. It also factors in metabolism (assumed to be 2000/day). It assumes that half of what you eat goes to maintaining your metabolism. Thus, the 1900 calorie breakfast gave you 950 calories of energy for biking. 950 calories gets used up quickly riding uphill and against the wind!
I'm interested in what you are calling "completely unrealistic situations?" You only mention two situations. One is that you are "EXTREMELY TIRED" after riding 13 miles having eaten breakfast and a snack. The second is that you are "EXTREMELY TIRED" after riding 34 miles.
First off, what you are calling "extremely tired" would better be called "hungry." It is my experience that I get hungry after riding 13 hilly miles. That is certainly the case after 34 miles. So, I'm not quite sure which of these two is "unrealistic."
Water isn't offered as something to drink as it has no calories. The game assumes that you always have enough water to drink. The only purpose of eating food is to gain calories to ride. It is also why coffee isn't included in any of the food menus.
You are correct that you can't stealth camp. I couldn't think of a way to factor in the issues that stealth camping presents (finding a suitable place to camp, getting rousted in the middle of the night) so I decided not to include it at all.
You are correct that you only score points for calories that you spend biking that you replace by eating. I have never heard of bike touring as a weight loss method and most of the input I've read suggests that most bike tourists do not lose weight on tour.
Again, thanks for giving me some real feedback.
Ray