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    calisker
    We’re proud to announce our new program in which your work as a creator and a supporter of Kerbal Space Program can be recognized and supported through cold hard cash.

    Sign up to be an affiliate with KSP, earning money for each viewer you bring to the game. To be more specific, we’re going to pay for each new player that clicks on your affiliate link and buys KSP from our store.

    This is the first time we’ve set up a program like this and hope it will be a successful one. We also are happy to work on making tweaks and updates to better serve your needs as a trusted partner. Please feel free to communicate directly with Maxmaps and me on this program as we want it to be a success for all of us. Please note this program only applies to external content, not that which is on our forums, social media sites or website, etc. This is focused on YouTubers, streamers or other content that you're creating and sharing with your own community.

    We will need you to sign up and be approved for this program but once approved, you should be ready to get your links and start letting your viewers know they’re supporting you when they buy KSP through your own special link.

    Click here to sign up: http://affiliates.kerbalspaceprogram.com.

    And track how you’re doing here: http://buy.kerbalspaceprogram.com.

    Thanks.

    ****UPDATE: In case I wasn't clear in the initial post - this is a TEST program. We are going to see how this works and decide after a period of time if it is something we will continue. We reserve the right to cap the number of participants, to change the program, including ending it. We hope this is something beneficial for all of us and appreciate your patience. Thanks for your help. Thank you.****
    Rowsdower
    While the World Cup kicks off in Brazil, Squad is launching festivities up in the stars with an official mod pack and community competition centered around the familiar planet of Kerbin. It’s time to celebrate the KERBIN CUP!

    OFFICIAL MOD
    Squad has released its first-ever official Kerbal Space Program modpack on Curse. The Kerbin Cup pack contains Kerbal-sized and rocket-sized SOCCER BALLS with the physics to match, as well as the flags of all 32 World Cup participating countries. It’s both a small token of gratitude and a way to capture the excitement of one of the world’s biggest sporting events, but in the grand stage that only space can provide.

    COMMUNITY COMPETITION
    Represent your KSP community home and compete in the Kerbin Cup contest! Reddit and The Forum will square off in a weekly, elimination-based competition where prizes and pride are on the line. Mystery, creativity and the community voice will rule over all.

    Have fun and enjoy!
    HarvesteR
    Work continues with Contracts, the weeks are starting to blur together as a continuous stream of work. As you all know by now, Chad is moving on to other projects.

    At this stage in the project, bringing in someone new as a straight up replacement isn't a possibility. The level of familiarity a developer gains after working for years on a project can only be gained by working, well, for years on a project. We have new people on the team as well, Hugo is doing some very good work, Rogelio is helping Dan with the animations, which frees him to take on some of the roles Chad used to do, and Nick, who modelled several of the parts in the ARM patch, is also working on other design jobs for things still some ways away. The plan then is not to replace, but to adapt to this new team structure.


    Not all is gloom and woe though. On the development side, we now have ahead of us what is unmistakably the last stretch for Contracts and Budgets on this update, so we shouldn’t be far now from a system which will obviously still need a lot of content added to it, sure, but should be able to handle just about any idea we can throw at it.





    To put this into perspective, I may have said this before, but I’m quite convinced now that the only existing system that is similar to the Contracts system in magnitude and robustness is PartModules. Now, consider that PartModules, while it made its first appearance in the 0.17 update with the LaunchClamps and got going in 0.18 with docking ports and all the other bits, the basic system itself actually entered development around the time of 0.15. About 6 months or more of development before it was even announced. it did turn out to be a system so important to the game, it was worthy of an entire talk to itself at the GDC.

    With Contracts, we are faced with a task that is similar in many ways. However, this time we are under very different circumstances. Most obviously, the game is now much, much larger than it was when the first Module-based parts were added, but perhaps not as immediately apparent, the level of quality expected of such a system today is orders of magnitude greater than what it was about a year and a half ago.

    This is by no means a bad thing. If the expectation of quality is ever rising, it means at the very least that we aren’t making the game worse.

    But therein also lies the main issue of recent times, and also the reason why we decided to push the 0.24 release back. If we had released Contracts as they were last week, back in the days of 0.17, it would have been pretty ok, and about on par with the rest of the game. However, because everything else is so much further developed, every new feature must be implemented, from scratch, up to the same levels of quality as the rest of the game, which is a lot of work to cram into a single update.

    The plan then was to split up the update into two smaller chunks: Contracts first, generate missions based on this progress-aware, semi-procedural framework, then create some placeholder contracts to make sure the thing worked. On the next update then, tie it together with budget management and add in some proper contracts.

    Of course, that plan didn’t quite work out. Not because of any technical problems, though, but because of a game design one. As I explained earlier on another article, there was no point to having contracts in before budgets, nor would have there been much use for budgets without contracts. The two systems, while technically separate, were one big gameplay mechanic.

    That was the focus of the first week or so of our ‘extended time’ with 0.24. We added enough of the budget functionality to make sure Contracts had a proper purpose and reason for being in the game, and that much I can say, has worked. Being required to purchase your vessels before you launch, and being rewarded for the things you achieve adds a whole new dimension to the game. Arguably, the missing link between a Space Exploration Sandbox and an actual Space Agency Game. There are other Career mechanics still left to add, of course, but nothing of this scale. With Contracts and Budgets in, Career Mode is now finally reaching a point in development where we can start to appreciate the entirety of what KSP will be.

    This not-so-distant point now, is what we set out to achieve after we declared KSP to be Sandbox-Complete, just as we finished up updates 0.19 and 0.20, and started in earnest to add Career oriented features. We are now looking, albeit still from a couple of updates away, at Scope Completion.

    If you weren’t around when we announced Scope Completion as our goal back then, let me recap: Scope-Complete means that every major gameplay system in the game is implemented, even if its content is limited. It means all the necessary support for the game’s content exists and can be expanded upon.

    I do need to make one thing very very clear: Reaching Scope Completion does not mean, by any means, that we’re done with the game, or even that the features we have are now finished and beyond improvement. Quite the opposite in fact. It means there are (or will be, as we’re not quite there yet) no more base systems left to do, and from there on, the focus shifts to improvements, optimization, and content.

    Of course, we have to to make sure we add enough content to show our new systems in function (imagine building yourself a top-notch gaming PC and having no games to play), but for a lot of areas, the amount of content we have added so far is symbolic at best. In some cases, like Biomes, it's actually the minimum needed to make sure the system is able to function, and scale as more content is added onto it later.


    This is how we’ve developed KSP from the start. Always focused on what I call the ‘area of least development’. Whichever part of the game is the least close to completion, or furthest behind in comparison to others, is the area to focus next.

    Working with minimal content during development isn't a bad thing for developers. I can't count how many times I've dreaded the prospect of having to go through all the 170+ parts and their configs, to make some tweak or another. Having less parts in the game would have certainly made life easier for us on many a situation... It would also have made for a much less interesting game. This, as with so many other things, is something we have to maintain in balance.

    Walking this line is not an easy thing to do. It's very easy to get tempted to follow some feature or another all the way through, rushing through it on that surge of ideas that pop up as you work on it. Other times, an opportunity may present itself which cannot be delayed (like a very recent one featuring asteroids, you may remember it). On yet other times, you feel the urge to just start chucking in everything that is missing, in the crudest way possible.. I don't have to explain why that last one is a bad idea...

    Naturally then, we have taken a few side steps along the way, adding features of opportunity here and there as they presented themselves, or killing off some annoying bug that had just pestered everyone for too long. For extremely large projects, like Multiplayer, we’re working on it in the background from several months in advance, so by the time we are ready to start focusing every effort on it, we won’t be starting from scratch. Sometimes it's worth it to leave the path to pursue something unique and interesting, other times however, we have to force ourselves to not work on that thing we've been itching to do for so long now, but won't get the game any closer to completion.

    In any case, the bottom line is that ever since 0.19-0.20 were released, our main goal has been to reach Scope Completion: Not finishing up what we started, but starting what still doesn’t exist.

    I do have to say this very clearly: Releasing 0.24 does not mark Scope-Completion. There will be at least one, possibly more updates still before that. However, after 3.5 years of work, a couple more updates is really not such a long way to go.

    We're getting there. Perhaps not as quickly as we would like, but we are getting where we want to be.

    Cheers
    Rowsdower
    Chad “C7†Jenkins has been a valued member of the Kerbal Space Program community and team, as well as a cherished member of the Squad family. It is why we have a bittersweet feeling about this post to inform everybody that he has moved on to pursue new game development opportunities.

    “We appreciated having Chad as part of our team and it was very meaningful that we gave him his first opportunity as a game developer,†said Adrian Goya, co-owner of Squad. “And while we are sad to see him move on to new projects, we wish him great luck and will always value his work with us.â€Â

    The entire team at Squad is appreciative of the efforts he’s made on behalf of KSP, including great work on the Asteroid Redirect Mission update and his talk about modular design at Game Developers Conference.

    “Working on Kerbal Space Program has been a dream come true for me,†Jenkins said. “I'm very thankful to Adrian, Ezequiel and Felipe for believing in me, and giving me the opportunity to work with such a talented group of individuals. These last two years have been a fantastic experience in so many ways. I'd also like to thank the KSP community, for being so supportive of me, all the way back to when I was first learning to mod the game. I'm looking forward to seeing all the awesome things that the team has planned for future updates.â€Â

    We hope to see everyone use this article as an opportunity to thank Chad for his efforts and show why KSP is considered by Squad and many others to have the best community in games.
    Rowsdower
    Hi, everyone.

    As you can see, things haven't really changed much here in the forum. Unfortunately, while the upgrade to new forum software was a success, we encountered several unforeseen changes to vBulletin during a final round of post-upgrade tests. These changes would have made for a radical inconvenience to all forum members, both user and staff alike. On the bright side, these changes had nothing to do with post wiping, unlike the last update

    While we had mentioned that the downtime would last for *at least* 48 hours, we did not intend to leave you without a forum for more than that time. With this, we've decided to publicly roll back to the forum software we're all familiar with. At the same time, we will continue to test the new update in a more fully formed test environment on the side. We fully intend to make a public roll out of new forum software in the near future. Once tests are complete and it's ready for release, it will require another period of downtime. However, knowing the changes we know now, we are confident that the results of the next downtime will be far smoother than what came out of this one.

    Thanks for your patience.
    HarvesteR
    Hi,

    It's been a while since we had one of these... If you're new to the community, this is just a small update to let you know where we're at with developing the next update.



    So, here's the latest news on update 0.24:

    We've completed the initial features we had lined up, had them QA tested, and even got a few experimental builds up for initial testing and feedback.

    We worked through most bugs. But the overall feedback we got from the exp group was that the update as a whole left them wanting, which was, well, not what we would have liked to hear... but such is the way of things sometimes. This is why we test before doing public releases: Not just to catch bugs and technical issues, but also to get subjective feedback on what we have, and act on it when necessary. This was one case where acting on it was necessary.

    The general consensus was that the Contracts system seems to be working quite well, functionally. But at the moment, the system is just that: Functional. We've built a solid framework, but to make this interesting and release-worthy, we have to populate it with interesting content. We also realized Contracts serve no purpose if there isn't a need for the rewards they offer. That means we still have a few features that need to be added.

    Essentially, we're moving the core essentials of Budgets, which were originally planned for 0.25, up to 0.24. This includes, among other things, the requirement to spend your program's Funds to launch vessels and purchase parts in R&D.

    Naturally, this means we still have some work ahead of us before we can call this update done. I just want to make it clear that we're not as close to release as people normally start to speculate when we announce having reaching experimentals.

    This is why we don't announce release dates in the first place, but we are very much aware that despite that, you guys will guess, pretty accurately sometimes, so we felt it was important to share this news. We don’t want the speculation to lead to overly optimistic expectations about the release date.


    In the (somewhat bent) words of a wise old master:
    Speculation leads to Expectation, Expectation leads to Disappointment, Disappointment leads to Hate, and Hate leads to the Dark Side.


    Cheers
    Rowsdower
    Hi, everyone!

    We know that we’ve been quiet about the future of Spaceport as of late. Too quiet. Between researching a number of viable solutions and testing certain implementations, we had yet to come to come to what the next step would be. That was, until now.

    We are ready to confirm that starting today, CURSE will be the official mod host of Kerbal Space Program. By signing up for a Curse account to use with KSP, you will have an unprecedented ease of access in which to download and implement mods into your game. Up until now, Spaceport, the former official repository for KSP mods had not allowed the simplicity, speed, organization and reliability that Curse can provide.

    If any modders have material on Spaceport that needs to be copied or otherwise backed up, it’s recommended that you do so before the site officially shuts down 30 days from now. Otherwise, you can start manually uploading your material onto Curse as early as today. If you choose not to do so, there are no other changes. You are more than welcome to host the downloads of your mods elsewhere and maintain your forum threads as you already have been. Just remember that Spaceport will no longer be online in 30 days.

    Going with CURSE allows them to do what they do best - host, organize and deliver your content in an smooth manner, while allowing us greater time and resources that will go into game development, strengthening the community and making the KSP experience greater on all sides. Do not expect Curse to start taking any drastic measures within the community, either. Your experience here on the forum, as well as our other social channels will not change. You’ll still even be able to discuss and download mods right off the forum if that’s your preference.

    For the modding community, Curse allows for certain benefits that Spaceport did not. Increased host support, regular upgrades and updates to the site as well as the potential for a larger community of players to download your mods are among them. Curse will also be rolling out a program for modders to be monetarily rewarded for hosting within their system. We'll be excited to make sure each of you interested in this program can discuss it with Curse.

    We know that changes like these can bring growing pains, but we feel that the positives you will experience with CURSE will outweigh anything else over time. Their team are all fans of KSP and know that you all expect nothing short of a high quality experience out of them. Throughout our discussions with them, we know that they’re quite up to the task and we hope that you will be happy with the results.

    Thanks.
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