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Comment by glitcher | Hacker News Reader

I also love this idea, and the body harness looks like a very innovative approach.

I agree with many of the concerns OP mentions, especially the need for a variety of engaging games. The demo game feels a little too cartoony for my taste, would love to see more titles in different styles.

Another concern I have is how can it help reinforce proper posture, body positioning, and footwork? I realize this is very difficult to address, but those fundamentals are extremely important and seem to me to be areas where many beginners could develop bad habits if not corrected somehow.

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Thanks for the feedback, and you've raised some great points.

We're absolutely on-board with the idea of multiple games - we have the launch title being developed (that you've seen in our current artwork), and others in mind. Out of interest, what would be your preferred style of game for combat fitness? We've had some good discussions around this in our Discord server.

To your concerns re: body posture and movement; you couldn't be more right about the importance of getting these aspects right. We have experience both within our team and our advisers covering everything from international boxing to prosthetic design - we are taking the ergonomics and science very seriously for this exactly reason.

I'd love to see your interpretation of rails shooter like "The House of the Dead."

I'm imagining a branching "storyline"/exercise routine. One path might have many very weak enemies that take somewhat precise combos where another might have stronger minibosses where its a slugfest.

For me personally, I would prefer a more realistic style fighting game for combat fitness where my opponent looks and moves like a real person. Or even something along the lines of the classic arcade fighting games like Mortal Kombat where the violence gets a little more graphic. Basically games that feel like they are targeted at adults instead of all ages family friendly. But I understand the need for variety, and applaud the progress made so far on this project.

I can tell you we share that view - we're looking forward to growing out more games in the future, however we aim to make the launch time compelling to users of all ages, and that means getting the story absolutely right. There were definitely jokes in the team early on about licensing Mortal Kombat to up the ante of the fights!

After thinking about it for a day or so, I think what the Quell demo is missing for me is simplicity. Boxing is pretty fun by itself and there’s a lot of potential depth in building up different combinations of punches and the rhythmic nature of the exercises. So a simple Wii Sports or even Dance Dance Revolution style trainer would appeal more to me than a cartoon style game. If I were eight years old, it would be absolutely the reverse, but what I want as an adult is just the boxing.

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