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

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

#71

Post by onedr0p » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 4:14 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #14

VR goggles are dead.[1] At least for this generation. [1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/proof-vr-sales-numbe...

A buddy of mine sunk about ~$2,000 into VR just as a casual gamer and not is not including the cost of a PC. He bought Oculas at launch, bought the controllers at their launch and bought many other accessories for driving and flight VR games. I initially thought VR was a fad but was still skeptical of its success. At this point I believe my skepticism is over. He and my other friends that bought headsets never use them anymore, it's been a year since they have played. They still defend their purchases, to them they say they got their moneys worth out of playing.

EDIT: One other thing I forgot to mention. Having the space to play and dealing with the wires is a huge frustration I saw my friends deal with. Every time they wanted to play they had to spend over an hour setting it up to just play for an hour or 2. That is unless you had a dedicated space for it. I hope no one wants their living room cluttered with wires going across the floor and VR accessories laying around.

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

#72

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 4:22 PM UTC

onedr0p wrote: post #71

Animats wrote: post #14

VR goggles are dead.[1] At least for this generation. [1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/proof-vr-sales-numbe...

A buddy of mine sunk about ~$2,000 into VR just as a casual gamer and not is not including the cost of a PC. He bought Oculas at launch, bought the controllers at their launch and bought many other accessories for driving and flight VR games. I initially thought VR was a fad but was still skeptical of its success. At this point I believe my skepticism is over. He and my other friends that bought headsets never use th…

[deleted]

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

#73

Post by onedr0p » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

jerkstate wrote: post #4

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

Seriously if he didn't spend the time making this did he gain $42,500? No, he would have gained 820 hours.

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

#74

Post by Animats » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 6:43 PM UTC

onedr0p wrote: post #71

Animats wrote: post #14

VR goggles are dead.[1] At least for this generation. [1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/proof-vr-sales-numbe...

A buddy of mine sunk about ~$2,000 into VR just as a casual gamer and not is not including the cost of a PC. He bought Oculas at launch, bought the controllers at their launch and bought many other accessories for driving and flight VR games. I initially thought VR was a fad but was still skeptical of its success. At this point I believe my skepticism is over. He and my other friends that bought headsets never use th…

It's frustrating. The experience is fun for 20 minutes or so, but it's downhill from there. I've used both the HTC Vibe and the Microsoft HoloLens, and enjoyed them. I've tried VR headsets all the way back to Jaron Lainer's original prototype. But I wouldn't spend two hours wearing any of this stuff. This seems to be the general opinion of people who can tolerate the things.

About 25-40% of the population becomes nauseated [1], which is a problem for a consumer product. That's higher than roller coasters. VR is just not going to be the Next Big Thing. Simple overlays in AR, maybe.

[1] https://www.sciencenews.org/article/virtual-reality-has-moti...

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

#75

Post by Animats » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 6:49 PM UTC

jnwatson wrote: post #33

Animats wrote: post #14

VR goggles are dead.[1] At least for this generation. [1] https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/proof-vr-sales-numbe...

The problem is the cheap ones are bad and the good ones are quite expensive. Cryptocurrency made it even more expensive, since the minimum graphics card is still several hundred dollars.

Even worse, once NVidia discovered that gamers would pay $1000 for a graphics card, they raised their prices. Their 1080 line, instead of becoming cheaper, has been discontinued. Their new 2080 line costs more and doesn't perform any better on existing games.

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

#76

Post by Mikeb85 » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 7:25 PM UTC

So he actually lost nothing, apart from a bunch of free time, making a shitty game that no one wants, then blames others for him not making money at the rate he thinks he deserves. I've seen better looking atmospheric games made in game jams...

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

#77

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 8:22 PM UTC

jowdones wrote: post #68

talltimtom wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For accounting purposes he likely did actually pay himself the money, transferring it from the company to himself, and adding the perceived value of the game to tho company, which can write off the loss going forwards.

Where I live (EU), if I pay myself "for accounting purposes" $60 / hour, then I own the state $24 / hour in taxes. Did he actually pay =~ $20,000 in taxes? If so, respect, he did pay himself $60 / hour. But I bet a castle that he "payed himself" $60 / hour just like I pay myself a castle per hour when I do side work. (Which is also why I so nonchalantly can afford to bet one :P)

AIUI you can keep the wages in arrears, in UK tax is due when you actually receive the money.

This is sensible: otherwise you might owe taxes if your employer company collapsed and you weren't paid, but without having income to pay it.

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

#78

Post by karmajunkie » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 8:25 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...

You can, and if you are self employed you can capitalize those losses under various circumstances. If you have even the slightest inclination to create something you think might sell one day, you probably should, if only for the purposes of establishing a tax basis for what you create. (This was a lesson learned somewhat expensively for me.)

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

#79

Post by powerslacker » Sat, Dec 01, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

onedr0p wrote: post #73

jerkstate wrote: post #4

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

Seriously if he didn't spend the time making this did he gain $42,500? No, he would have gained 820 hours.

I would spend well over $42,500 for an extra 820 hours.

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

#80

Post by onedr0p » Sun, Dec 02, 2018, 1:06 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #74

onedr0p wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A buddy of mine sunk about ~$2,000 into VR just as a casual gamer and not is not including the cost of a PC. He bought Oculas at launch, bought the controllers at their launch and bought many other accessories for driving and flight VR games. I initially thought VR was a fad but was still skeptical of its success. At this point I believe my skepticism is over. He and my other friends that bought headsets never use th…

It's frustrating. The experience is fun for 20 minutes or so, but it's downhill from there. I've used both the HTC Vibe and the Microsoft HoloLens, and enjoyed them. I've tried VR headsets all the way back to Jaron Lainer's original prototype. But I wouldn't spend two hours wearing any of this stuff. This seems to be the general opinion of people who can tolerate the things. About 25-40% of the population becomes nau…

I would definitely fall into that percentage. That mixed with myopia was a definite no-go for me, trying to wear the headset with glasses was too much of a hassle for me. If I didn't wear glasses the screen would be blurry and I would start to get a migraine after 30 minutes of playing. I am still interested in what AR has to offer.