Progress report and 2015 gameplay updates

2014 - Service improvements (better latency, more uptime)

The remainder of 2014 is being spent almost exclusively on improving the service quality, targeting latency and uptime in particular. This week I launched several improvements to increase uptime. Aimed at addressing one of the fundamental causes of "connection problem" errors, uptime has been 100% since it went live.

Chris, our simulator developer, is working on improvements in latency which will greatly decrease (hopefully eliminate) high pings. The most obvious symptom of this is cars warping around the track in a rewind/fast forward motion. I will also be focusing on this task too. This is a critical update because we have identified this as a bottleneck in the service. We anticipate the fix for this to be released in Q4 this year. 

Finishing these updates will mean we can refocus on gameplay updates in a way like we haven't been able to until now. This should mean that 2015 is the year of gameplay updates... lots of them.

2015 - Version 2 (and a new league system?)

For 2015 we will refocus all our energy on gameplay updates. After the recent survey (thanks to everyone who has responded) we have a clear direction on what features you want to see. The version 2 release will come first, which will increase the amount of paths that can be taken to achieve a certain outcome. For example, suppliers and car design will operate totally differently, and be much easier to understand. Each season, and each race, should throw up unique challenges which will benefit some cars over others, just like in F1, where a race with low engine demands lets teams with good aerodynamics shine, and vice versa.

If you've been around for a while and wondered where the gameplay updates have been, I understand your skepticism. But I will be writing a follow-up blog this week detailing why things are different now, and what has changed behind the scenes at iGP in 2014.

Since many ex-members have expressed that it was hard to fit a schedule in around their life, we're considering completely reworking the league system. It would allow you to race any time, any day, as much as you like, rather than being restricted to a league schedule. It would mean breaking up the current league system, but the benefits could outweigh the setbacks. It would also open the door to a pinnacle league and better casual racing as well. Let us know if you like the sound of this in the comments. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment with those too.

And of course, the bane of our existence: the Java platform. We really want to make 2015 the year we scrap Java for the race viewers. Can we get an amen?

Seeing a Black or Grey screen in the viewer?

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