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Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#111

Post by aidenn0 »

Here's old grouchy me talking:

I don't like subscription games, particularly games like this that don't seem to need any network connection at all to function.

I still play games that I bought over 30 years ago. Quell probably won't be still running their servers for the original game in 30 years, and if they are I'll have paid $4k for the privilege of renting this game indefinitely.

I get that I'm not the target audience, and for many people $5-10 per month feels like a better deal than $70 upfront for a AAA game, but I personally won't back something that is useless without a subscription fee.

If for for $X I could get the game, Y months of whatever the subscription provides (Events, whatever) and the guarantee that the game will still work when the servers shutdown or my subscription expires, that would totally interest me.

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#112

Post by adamhe »

This looks like fun, backed it. There is a lot of difficult pieces that have to come together for this to work though, and it is not just the hardware, if the game itself isn't good enough then the whole thing falls apart. I really enjoyed playing Beatsabre on Oculus.

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#113

Post by messiahtyler »

aidenn0 wrote: post #111

Here's old grouchy me talking: I don't like subscription games, particularly games like this that don't seem to need any network connection at all to function. I still play games that I bought over 30 years ago. Quell probably won't be still running their servers for the original game in 30 years, and if they are I'll have paid $4k for the privilege of renting this game indefinitely. I get that I'm not the target aud…

It looks like you get Quell single player free for life and the subscription is Quell +, I may have missed something where it mentions you need a constant internet connection though. Quote from the kickstarter: "Everyone who buys Quell gets the base game, for free, for life."

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#114

Post by aidenn0 »

messiahtyler wrote: post #113
aidenn0 wrote: post #111

Here's old grouchy me talking: I don't like subscription games, particularly games like this that don't seem to need any network connection at all to function. I still play games that I bought over 30 years ago. Quell probably won't be still running their servers for the original game in 30 years, and if they are I'll have paid $4k for the privilege of renting this game indefinitely. I get that I'm not the target aud…

It looks like you get Quell single player free for life and the subscription is Quell +, I may have missed something where it mentions you need a constant internet connection though. Quote from the kickstarter: "Everyone who buys Quell gets the base game, for free, for life."

Oh, I'm suddenly interested again; thanks for pointing that out!

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#115

Post by Guest19023892 »

Nice work on the product and video. It looks fun and it was easy to see what you're trying to accomplish.

That being said, with a $200 price tag and $10/mo subscription, why would someone invest in this instead of VR? Comparatively, VR seems to have a lot more versatility with regards to tracking and the types of activities people can enjoy, one of which is fitness related games.

With Quell, a person is limited to a single game, with one type of motion. I can't help but think this feels similar to someone selling a standalone VR system that could only play Beat Saber, and that doesn't seem like a very good value proposition.

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#116

Post by gverrilla »

douglaspaul wrote: post #62
gverrilla wrote: post #60

I like the idea, but the wearable doesn't appeal to me. You say it is like a game, but it really feels like this product is pushing serious fitness work. The problem with that is that people that are serious into fitness go to the gym. Is it even safe to wear those bands for the arms? I don't like the theme of the game too - seems disconnected from target userbase. I want to fight other players, not silly robots.

Thanks for the feedback, it's really helpful for us to hear you raise these points. The workouts are designed to meet your personal fitness level - the resistance bands can be swapped out easily, and different parts of the game focus on strength and cardio, meaning you can set the workouts to the goals you're chasing. As for the story - you say you want to fight other players - what does that game look like to you? W…

If this was purely a game and not a fitness gadget I would be interested. I'd be really curious if it was a good boxing game + this stuff to recognize movement from your hand (not these bands though). Would be cheaper too. But anyhow punching big robots/creatures just seems wrong - they seem to be heavy and my hand would just hurt lol. Also, when you use the word gamification it makes it crystal clear your game design knowledge and intentions are very limited. Don't take me wrong, I'm just being plain honest. Games > fitness, and this would make an awesome game. Particularly if it was competitive multiplayer :D (boxing and coop also doesn't seem right to me)

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#117

Post by mlkmt »

nartz wrote: post #100

This looks cool - but it would be 100% cooler if it was just a wearable, that I could customize to use with other games - for instance, World of Warcraft, punching to initiate an attack, and different motions to use items, 'click', etc. I can't imagine using the wearable very much if the game itself isn't compelling - which, from the movie, looks a little wack

I agree, it would be awesome. Thinks like virzoom bike controller are pretty fun and unlock unexpected use cases (see https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/5y15vx/elit... for a fun take on that)

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#118

Post by 0majors »

This is genius, congrats on launching!

In your position I would look to consider 2 things:

1) Add leg straps for kicks! That's a killer ab exercise and would work great with your concept. 2) Let other devs make use of the hardware asap! Your strenght is clearly in the hardware. There are tons of game developers who could create incredible games with this. How great would be UFC game with this?

Good luck!

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#119

Post by learnstats2 »

Congrats on raising a bunch of money!

To me, this looks very comparable to Fitness Boxing for the Nintendo Switch. I tried the demo of that intending to purchase, but then dropped out.

Regarding Fitness Boxing: - I didn't feel comfortable with the workout: since I have never boxed before, I was confident that my form was bad and had too few pointers to feel good about it.

- I ideally wanted a whole body workout, and there was no focus on the lower body at all.

- It felt tough already without resistance bands, so I wouldn't be confident about whether those were bringing a useful benefit for me.

Re: Launch HN: Quell (YC S20) – Immersive gaming and combat workout

#120

Post by jansan »

m_tweedie wrote: post #69
the_duke wrote: post #40

Love the idea, and I'd be very much interested in trying this out. Having done a little bit of boxing, it's a pretty good full body workout. It's hard to say how the resistance bands would feel compared to a punching bag though. Also: how do they work for different punches like uppercuts? How would you track blocking? How accurate is the position tracking? The tracking animation notably only measures one dimension (e…

Hi there, Martin from Quell here. Thanks for sharing these insights. We love boxing for its exercise impact—until you try it, you have now idea how quickly punching can get you out of breath! The main resistance is indeed to straight shots, but as we add new movements and improve our game and motion tracking, it is feeling more and more satisfying. Blocking is quite natural—when your arms are blocking your face in re…

Wouldn't AR with an actual punching bag be the better approach? I mean, the proper AR hardware is lacking anyways at the moment, so your approach makes a lot of sense. But in the end nothing can replace the feeling of your fist hitting a real punching bag when it comes to boxing.
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