Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#11

Post by minimaxir » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:15 PM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #3

The story is informative -- VR games don't sell well, except if you can time to new hardware -- but the math behind the $42.5k number is dubious. Can I value all my hobby projects at $60/hour too? Over a million USD accumulated losses during my adult life so far...

It's taking "opportunity cost" too literally.

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#12

Post by _ah » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:15 PM UTC

Presumably, there are interesting skills and experiences obtained from this project which can be applied to future projects or leveraged for a better / higher-paid day job. If the time investment is being valued at $60/hr, it's only fair to perform a valuation on the incremental training as well. This seems like a case where the numbers are easily skewed in either direction to fit a desired narrative.

Still, I acknowledge that it's very hard to spend a year of your life on something and only end up with $700 in-pocket.

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#13

Post by anoncoward111 » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

excalibur wrote: post #6

pavlov wrote: post #3

The story is informative -- VR games don't sell well, except if you can time to new hardware -- but the math behind the $42.5k number is dubious. Can I value all my hobby projects at $60/hour too? Over a million USD accumulated losses during my adult life so far...

I'd be happy with $60/hr for my day job.

Currently making $17/hr pre-tax and it is liveable in my suburban area. With overtime which is generously available at 1.5x pay, I could afford to raise a family even, and this job feels much more stable than other tech industry jobs I've had in the past.

I currently work for Star Gas, which is a northeastern USA based company that delivers heating oil to over 600,000 customers with revenue of about 1B per year (but razor thin profit margins of about 55m per year).

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#14

Post by Animats » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:22 PM UTC

VR goggles are dead.[1] At least for this generation.

[1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/proof-vr-sales-numbe...

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#15

Post by joenathanone » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

Check out the reviews of the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/528930/Fruit_for_the_Vill...

There are three reviews and they are all negative. Maybe the only reason he didn't make money is it's just not a good game.

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#16

Post by pj_mukh » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

"Platform holders need to make it easier for VR game developers to get their games onto their platforms and reach the people who want the game they’re making. This goes beyond just financial, this goes towards publicity, mentorship and more."

This point needs to be fleshed out more. What is say the Oculus App store not doing that the iOS app store is? As a user (not a developer) of both, I'm not seeing a difference.

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#17

Post by peteradio » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

anoncoward111 wrote: post #13

excalibur wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be happy with $60/hr for my day job.

Currently making $17/hr pre-tax and it is liveable in my suburban area. With overtime which is generously available at 1.5x pay, I could afford to raise a family even, and this job feels much more stable than other tech industry jobs I've had in the past. I currently work for Star Gas, which is a northeastern USA based company that delivers heating oil to over 600,000 customers with revenue of about 1B per year (but…

What is the cost of living? That seems rough almost anywhere to support a family. What do you do?

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#18

Post by theNJR » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

I lost $50k making a VR game show. That was fun!

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#19

Post by maccard » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

pj_mukh wrote: post #16

"Platform holders need to make it easier for VR game developers to get their games onto their platforms and reach the people who want the game they’re making. This goes beyond just financial, this goes towards publicity, mentorship and more." This point needs to be fleshed out more. What is say the Oculus App store not doing that the iOS app store is? As a user (not a developer) of both, I'm not seeing a difference.

It doersn't really - The poster made a crappy game, didn't market it, didn't test it, and seems to blame others.

There are 3 reviews, all negative, with show stopping bugs even 6 months after they first reviewed it. Poster says he didn't market it until 6 weeks before release. This is just shovelware, unfortunately

Re: Why I lost $42,500 making a VR game

#20

Post by peapicker » Fri, Nov 30, 2018, 10:29 PM UTC

jerkstate wrote: post #4

that's not $42,500, that's 820 hours

Another thing that's crazy is that writers, artists, 3d model animators, and voice actors[1] never make $60 an hour doing this kind of work, and yet he lumped those things under "developer time" high-level wages.

[1](Unless they're famous people for their particular talent category)