Gaming Kerbal Space Program 2 (currently in Early Access)

[clipper]

Now, Starfield is coming fast and I don't know whether to finally upgrade my PC or get a cheap Xbox One X for it, given that I will absolutely want to play it, in all its buggy glory.

Far better modding support alone makes it worth going for PC over Xbox. While you can mod Bethesda games on consoles as well now, you're basically limited to Bethesda.net selection (which is minuscule compared to the stuff you'll find on Nexus Mods) and you don't have access to script extenders which allow for some of the more complex (and interesting) mods out there. My impression is that they're really pushing Starfield to a more sandbox direction with the whole 1k+ planets thing, so it's probably gonna be less narrative-focused and more on world-building/exploration (meaning less Fallout 4 and more Skyrim) - so the modding scene is likely going to be pretty huge, and could potentially fix many of the inevitable problems or lack of features Bethesda won't bother fixing and implementing.

 

[Face]

I mean, I know what's going on, but I haven't ever fired it up for a long time. I'd still be on horizons anyways, and that only because they finally threw it at everyone, and I never played online anyways, so I don't mind being decoupled (I mean, I'm a backend developer... I hear "decoupling", I immediately feel better ).

It is no Horizons/Odyssey question anymore. There now are 2 versions of the Horizons client as well: one running the old version of the engine, and one running the new Odyssey engine, which still is not optimized. I think they just gave up on it. This newer engine is now the "live" system, i.e. it is the only one that receives updates and development. In addition, the "legacy" system is a completely different server, so in essence whatever you do in this old systems will stay there, nothing gets forwarded to the "live" system. No progress, no credits, no unlocks, no BGS changes.

In essence you are forced to use the new engine with massive performance problems.

 

[Frilock]

So, a few patches in how are we doing? I really want to like this game, but I just can't justify it at this price point. Has it improved at all yet?

 

[AtomicTech]

It's a lot more stable and runs a bit better
I'd recommend hopping over to the forums and asking around about it; we've got our fair share of community disagreement

 

[Frilock]

Alexa, play Nearer my God to Thee

 

[Urwumpe]

Looks like Take-Two closed the development studio for KSP2, but updates should still happen... well, dreaming is allowed. Maybe it goes back to Squad?

Kerbal Space Program 2 developer Intercept Games and Rollerdrome studio Roll7 are reportedly closing as part of Take-Two's big layoff plan

70 employees at Take-Two's office in Seattle are being put out of work.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Linguofreak]

With KSP2 being dead and the IP still being held by T2, HarvesteR is going to need to show them how it's done properly, but can't call it KSP.

Since interstellar travel and colonization is in hot demand in the community, I might suggest "labreK Interstellar Ventures", but maybe that's a bit too on-the-nose and likely to attract lawsuits.

So my vote is for "Lab Rat Interstellar Ventures"

"Lab Rat" kind of sounds like "labreK", but is distinct enough to avoid trouble. And Lab Rats have a lot in common with Kerbals:

1. Small
2. Cute
3. Inquisitive
4. Endures unreasonable personal danger to further the cause of SCIENCE!

Our heroes were test subjects in the lab of [redacted1] a little green mad scientist of the [redacted2] species. One of [redacted1]'s experiments caused the sun of the planet [data corrupted] to explode, flinging the planet into a nearby black hole called Têktu, along with all the [redacted2]s. Only [redacted1]'s lab rats escaped, fleeing into the cosmos aboard the [redacted2]'s first interstellar vessel, still awaiting its maiden voyage. After years of travel, they have found a habitable planet and are preparing to make it their home. There are rumors aboard ship of a few rats on board that nobody could recall meeting before the cataclysm, rats with a greenish cast to their fur. The strangest tales speak of a rat with a strange accent who calls himself the "Fun German".

 

[N_Molson]

I hate to say it but it looks very much like they are pulled out the plug. $10,000,000 have been burned during the development, and enough was enough...

 

[diogom]

That said, when they probably inevitably deliver, I'm sure it will very much be worth it

Well, that aged like milk.

By the way, here's a chat with HarvesteR about this whole mess.

Considering how brutal it's been for game studios layoffs lately, I suppose maybe it was inevitable. We had studios and projects getting canned after releasing good quality products and doing well, so KSP2 must have seemed like easy pickings for the chopping block in the pursuit of ever growing profits.

 

[Linguofreak]

so KSP2 must have seemed like easy pickings for the chopping block in the pursuit of ever growing profits.

I'm fairly certain the project was doomed from the start. T2 only wanted to invest in polishing the original game and releasing that as a sequel, and the studio somehow convinced them that they could fulfill all the community's dreams on the same budget and schedule. I don't think the community would have accepted the original concept (we already have KSP1), and I don't think T2 would have accepted an honest estimate of the cost and schedule for the game the community actually wanted. Lies lead to dysfunction, which made the overruns worse, and the whole thing fell apart.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thats pretty much what makes the difference between true Indie games and Industry games. The industry wants to take the communities of the Indie games, but refuses to at least give the community what it wants slice-wise. On the other hand, they want to change gameplay and features towards attracting a new community, which is IMHO a pretty disgusting one, since they are pretty much the digital equivalents of heroine addicts.

 

[N_Molson]

Yes so from what leaked the investors, which were not technicals, put as a condition to 'reuse the KSP1 code'. Problem is, people (most were recruited because they were lacking of experience, in order to keep the wages low) in the dev team started to have ambitious ideas, like interstellar travel, colonies and to announce them as future features. It couldn't end well.

 

[Linguofreak]

Yes so from what leaked the investors, which were not technicals, put as a condition to 'reuse the KSP1 code'. Problem is, people (most were recruited because they were lacking of experience, in order to keep the wages low) in the dev team started to have ambitious ideas, like interstellar travel, colonies and to announce them as future features. It couldn't end well.

If you want to reuse the KSP1 code, you release DLCs to KSP1. If you want people to pay for an entirely new game, you start from a clean slate and implement the features that the community is asking for that are unfeasible with the KSP1 code base.

 

[Urwumpe]

If you want to reuse the KSP1 code, you release DLCs to KSP1. If you want people to pay for an entirely new game, you start from a clean slate and implement the features that the community is asking for that are unfeasible with the KSP1 code base.

Or at least use a improved version of the engine. But thats not what the industry does. See EA or Bethesda.

 

[N_Molson]

 

[Linguofreak]

I've been seeing mention on YouTube recently of a project by the working title of "Kitten Space Agency". The company behind it has apparently brought Harvester and a number of KSP modders on board.

The KSP franchise is dead! Long live the KSP franchise!

 

[N_Molson]

I hope they'll give back the Kerbals to the Kerbals... Kittens in space, I'm not really interested...

 

[jedidia]

I mean, why not play whatever antropomorphic animals in space? It's been done before!

(I've got to get myself that source book one of these days...)

 

[GLS]

Cats in 0-g is just not going to work

 

[Urwumpe]

Cats in 0-g is just not going to work

Looks like they didn't do to bad in microgravity for their first time.