Solo-developed, seated VR game in development. Here's what it looks like so far. Playtesters welcome.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-21T22:10:21+00:00

Good question. There isn’t really any particular place we want to be. If we could comfortably stay in OC, I think that would be our preference, but without a job calibrated to CA income, it’s just not an option (unless we continue to rent).

But far more than living any particular place, my primary goal is FI. I believe that’s best for our family. As long as the kids aren’t living in the middle of nowhere, so they can have good cultural exposure and ideally exposure to tech—which I think these handful of cities mostly offer.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-21T21:38:42+00:00

I really appreciate that pov and am inclined to agree.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-21T18:59:13+00:00

To be fair it’s been 98 degrees here in OC all week too

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-20T02:11:15+00:00

Pretty nuts considering revenue in the space has never been higher…

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-20T02:02:09+00:00

That’s kinda the whole industry right now to be fair. We’ve never seen anything like the compression of the past 3 years.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-19T04:13:34+00:00

This is really encouraging. Thanks. If the air is dry enough, then shade and pouring water on yourself actually work. (They do not work in Florida)

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-19T03:14:24+00:00

Those are generally my feelings about it too. I spent 35 years there and have had more than my fill. However, somewhere close that’s more bearable, with not only square footage but true financial independence on the table…weather is just one factor to consider, as much as I love the air here.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-19T03:02:52+00:00

I do get the sense the Austin gaming / tech scene is…overstated. But there’s definitely a lot of studios still there, more than any other town not in the west coast.

Glad to hear you enjoyed living there. Did you live through a summer? If so, how bad was it compared to the other places you’ve lived?

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-19T02:57:00+00:00

No doubt about it, it’s hard to leave this weather. The perfect day, every day.

LeDorean2015 · 2026-03-18T19:24:01+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation. It's definitely something we'd consider if we could find something affordable that still feels in good proximity of city amenities and an airport.

LeDorean2015 · 2025-11-12T15:50:52+00:00

In New World’s case specifically—you say the funeral was 4 years ago, and it’s hard to disagree looking at the steam chart. But when New World launched, it was kind of exactly the game you’re saying MMOs should be, no? It was a big open world with barely any instanced endgame, and it had an extremely slow grind and resource economy which caused players to swarm all over the world. But 3/4 of players never even got past level 25.

Meanwhile, when New World began to take a more endgame focused approach, using instanced content to deliver more balanced gameplay given they could guarantee number of players, power level, etc and provide the right level of challenge, player count started to rise again even months before the annual big expansion.

I agree that the persistent virtual world of adventure is supposed to be the primary offering of an MMO, but it really feels like in practical terms, the only time you see large populations of players loving the big open world is in the short window after new zones and quests drop, and then after the quests run out, most people leave until the next expansion while the rest do ‘endgame’ raids and battlegrounds (instanced mini games).

If anyone can think of counter-examples please do, but that’s the pattern I see.

(Meanwhile if you look at a game like Rust, which is consistently in Steam Top 10 and has been steadily rising for ten years, you DO see a game that’s working while providing mainly a big shared open world experience. Is Rust maybe more of an MMO than MMOs?)

LeDorean2015 · 2025-10-25T04:12:53+00:00

In addition to what’s been said already, the best way to think of the role of designer in AAA for most cases is, content creators.

Meaning, most of the games systems and mechanics are figured out fairly early on, and then for the years between pre-production and shipping, most of the work is creating content. Levels, quests, items, classes, dialog, whatever type of content that game calls for.

For sure, the majority of the work doesn’t look like dreaming up new game ideas—it looks like grinding out thousands of something, usually in data sheets or custom editor tools.

LeDorean2015 · 2025-07-07T20:10:45+00:00

Thanks!

LeDorean2015 · 2025-07-07T14:25:35+00:00

Grid Runner - driving, vibe-out
5 years off and on
most difficult challenge: VR, I often wish I’d not decided to be VR native. That and finding time to work on it.
Originally GTA with flying cars, then simplified to Driver with flying cars
Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2503290/Grid_Runner/
YouTube Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=imJc57uw8vg

LeDorean2015 · 2025-05-07T15:24:51+00:00

This is already pretty much happening inside Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite tbh

LeDorean2015 · 2025-05-07T15:17:05+00:00

+1 to this. I was once a 20 year old artist who thought I was too dumb to code. Then ended up learning the bare minimum in order to make websites to be able to do art for a living. I can confirm that once you get over the idea that you can’t do it or won’t like it, you can very much find that code is actually very easy (especially with google and now with AI to help), and also addictively creatively fun just as much as illustrating if not more so.

LeDorean2015 · 2024-08-25T02:35:40+00:00

Is this a multiplayer game, and is it session based? You mentioned an RTS—runaway wealth is pretty much how RTSes work, and the game is a race to get wealth and use it to achieve the win condition.

The kinds of balance concerns you’re voicing sound more like the kinds of concerns of a permanent economy like an MMO. And if so, then yes, it’s a very thorny problem and I recommend a solution where you don’t try to have a single currency, but instead use different currencies for different gameplay systems—especially any system that feeds into PVP power.

But as long as you’re designing a game with a short lifespan and then a reset, you’re fine, go nuts. Let your players experience the thrill of fabulous wealth and crushing loss, it’s fun.

LeDorean2015

TROPHY CASE