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KSP Weekly: New Beginnings


SQUAD

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1 hour ago, HoloYolo said:

I feel like these devs do not understand what KSP was all about.

Never fear! The QA team is here to provide ideological continuity and player feedback to those ivory tower new devs. And the QA team has hardly changed.

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1 hour ago, HoloYolo said:

Although I'm glad we have new devs and they are probably working hard to make KSP greater every day, I feel like these devs do not understand what KSP was all about.

Can't you at least give them one release to see what they can do before passing judgment? We have no objective indications of their abilities yet. The weekly updates are a company policy/culture thing and not something the new devs chose.

I'd also note that we've got the fastest, most stable, most complete PC release ever alongside a console release that's two major versions out of date and barely works at all. If I was in charge of the Gantt charts at SQUAD, we would be "all hands on deck" for console until it reached rough parity with PC, even though it wouldn't make for very interesting weekly updates. That's just what you do when one part of your house is burning down while the rest is fine.

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The "big thing" is an API overhaul. I'm as sure of this as one can be about anything in software development.

Think about it. It's something to "hook into," in the software sense, which already means it's something to do with third-party code. It's taking forever, indicating deep changes. It's being hyped up, which means it must be big news-- something we could never mod before.

So I ask you: What has the community always wanted to mod in, but never could? Of these, what might @nightingale be particularly excited about?

Well, his past works focus heavily on contracts and career mode. That's something the community is riled up about. It's also, by the accounts I've read, not very easy to mod. And, its overhaul implies widespread, deep changes, since it's such a big part of the game.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're getting a new career mode.

Spool up the hype.

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14 hours ago, nightingale said:

I didn't mean hook as a double entendre... Just in the programming sense. :wink:

DOUBLE entendre? So they're adding TWO things you can hook to?

48 minutes ago, 0111narwhalz said:

It's being hyped up, which means it must be big news-- something we could never mod before.

Squad kind of has a history of hyping up things that aren't all that huge in the end. I recall one of HarvesterR's last additions to the game, a super secret addition that he hinted at for several weeks. People thought for sure dV numbers were finally being added. It was ground effects when rockets took off and landed.

Not to disparage that, of course. It's a cool effect and I really appreciate it. But this could be more in line with that than a full-on sweeping API change.

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3 hours ago, 0111narwhalz said:

The "big thing" is an API overhaul. I'm as sure of this as one can be about anything in software development.

Think about it. It's something to "hook into," in the software sense, which already means it's something to do with third-party code. It's taking forever, indicating deep changes. It's being hyped up, which means it must be big news-- something we could never mod before.

So I ask you: What has the community always wanted to mod in, but never could? Of these, what might @nightingale be particularly excited about?

Well, his past works focus heavily on contracts and career mode. That's something the community is riled up about. It's also, by the accounts I've read, not very easy to mod. And, its overhaul implies widespread, deep changes, since it's such a big part of the game.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're getting a new career mode.

Spool up the hype.

And didn't a past devnote say that the devs were working on implementing a storyline or sorts for the career contracts? 

 

I think some pieces of the puzzle are being clicked together... :confused: 

Edited by TheEpicSquared
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Actually I think I prefer the new 'KSP weekly' format to the old 'Devnotes'.

(ducks to avoid low flying, but misguided, negatively charged objects)

Why? Well, for me, it's easier to read and follow overall.  It' flows' better when reading it.  When multiple Devs were on the same task we got a mixture of repeated stuff just phrased differently and 'I did the same as.....' type reports.  Which personally I found a bit pointless and felt it was most likely an unwelcome chore for most of those writing it. 

Don't get me wrong, it's always great to hear about how it's progressing and what nasty bugs have been exterminated etc. and that will always be the case, but it comes across better when consolidated as it is now.  And, as a (not totally ignorant) non programmer, a lot of the more in depth explanations, although interesting,  I just found them a bit too much for me in many cases.

It's great to see that development continues, and a weekly reminder of that with new info when it's available is very much appreciated.  So thanks Squad, keep up the good work.

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On 1/21/2017 at 1:24 AM, SQUAD said:

We have been doing yet more localization testing and back end language support along with the usual reporting and testing of bugfixes, as well as some interesting changes to the struts and fuel lines, not to mention some fun bugs with the same which players won’t get to see. The results of this work are hard to specify, or even talk about in an interesting manner...

Emphasis added. I can understand this, particularly if it would take up somebody's time that might be better spent elsewhere. But I'd also say that if anyone on the Squad team does have the time - please give it a go! I think a short article like that would get a good response here, even (especially?) if the writing was a bit dry and technical.

Edited by KSK
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My post about next week's KSP Weekly was not intended to be on the bandwagon of negativity. I was hoping to bring a ray of goodly humour into the misery of deploration. I have failed. :(

I too appreciate the current KSP release, and agree with @pandaman about KSP Weekly vs DevNotes. Some on this forum used to moan about the hype-trains that got started up whenever Squad announced anything new, and I think regular announcements of gradual progress are much better than bombastic sensational announcements of grand releases. I mean, honestly, KSP has got to be selling itself by now, right?

But, you know, a TV ad would be awesome. Sure would break up the humdrum of PPI/medical claims services and car insurance comparison websites. (UK anyway)

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6 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

And didn't a past devnote say that the devs were working on implementing a storyline or sorts for the career contracts?

That was a localisation thing.  The contract back-stories were often barely understandable in English - translating the system and trying to implement grammar rules of multiple languages would've been a bad idea.  The new system is much simpler and much more coherent (which will make your mod obsolete, @DuoDex).

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My only recommendation to everyone is "Patience, for it is time for the Jedi to code as well."  

Look, obviously the localization effort to taking up a lot of the KSP dev resources.  SQUAD has learned over the years that giving information on features in work, if they aren't certain to deliver, stirs up ire in the community. Remember GP2, "Shmelta-V", multiplayer, and Porkjet's rocket revamp?  They were all good ideas but never came to fruition for various reasons.

I speculate that they are working on a big complex feature with lots of different avenues.  But it's still early in the development phase, and they are still trying out new ideas.  Not every facet they are looking at now will make it to the final product, so it's premature for them to announce it to the community.  Depending on which ideas work for the update, and which don't, they may significantly modify their early expectations.

I believe in SQUAD, and I know that they are even more passionate about this game than I am.  I give them the benefit of the doubt, and trust that we will hear more in the future when it is ready.

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It appears to me that there are many vocal people within the community who will grab their pitchforks and scream for Squads head on a platter no matter what Squad says, or even if they say nothing

Murphy's Oil Soap Law guys ... There are those who tend to complain regardless if there is something to complain about, and if there isn't something to complain about, those with this tendancy will either make up something to complain about or they will complain about past percieved grievances 

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18 minutes ago, Vallius said:

SQUAD has learned over the years that giving information on features in work, if they aren't certain to deliver, stirs up ire in the community. Remember GP2, "Shmelta-V", multiplayer, and Porkjet's rocket revamp?  They were all good ideas but never came to fruition for various reasons.

It certainly doesn't help Squad that all of these were announced, briefly commented about, then dropped and never mentioned again.  They might get a better reception if they would give a short explanation of why a potential feature has been dropped when it is dropped, rather than the current policy of not ever mentioning said feature again.

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5 hours ago, nightingale said:

That was a localisation thing.  The contract back-stories were often barely understandable in English - translating the system and trying to implement grammar rules of multiple languages would've been a bad idea.  The new system is much simpler and much more coherent (which will make your mod obsolete, @DuoDex).

Obsolete? Finally! :P It's been around far too long anyways.

Now if only someone would look at the bug/not-a-bug hangup that's killed Crowd Sourced Science.... :wink:

Nice job @nightingale!

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4 hours ago, razark said:

It certainly doesn't help Squad that all of these were announced, briefly commented about, then dropped and never mentioned again.  They might get a better reception if they would give a short explanation of why a potential feature has been dropped when it is dropped, rather than the current policy of not ever mentioning said feature again.

We find something to criticize either way. For example, GP2 has not been happening for years. Both Maxmaps and Kasper said things like Squad would rather give us more to do with the planets we have, in these forums, in reddit AMA's: players with long memories won't let it go, to this day.  A declaration that something will not happen doesn't stop a new post starting with: "It would be so cool if...," followed by another round of community suggestions, and mods.

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2 hours ago, basic.syntax said:

We find something to criticize either way. For example, GP2 has not been happening for years. ...[P]layers with long memories won't let it go, to this day.

True, there is a decent number of people that could learn to accept that their favorite ideas aren't going to make it into KSP.

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I thought it was Standard operating procedure for SQUAD to get quiet after a release until the next release neared and they started hinting about all the neat things they added to the game.

Some of the last few releases have had some features that did not make it in in time, so were held back for the next release.  This made it feel like new features were announced earlier than they traditionally were, but now that we have had a release with all of the hinted at features, there is nothing to talk about until we get near the release again and SQUAD starts hinting at new features once more.

Aside form the community having grown accustomed to more information(due to knowing about held-back features), there is the added element of some turn-over inside squad, giving the nay-sayers something to glom onto for the sake of sharing their pessimism far and wide.(while the rest of us spend our time enjoying the new features form the recent releases)

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16 minutes ago, Terwin said:

Aside form the community having grown accustomed to more information(due to knowing about held-back features), there is the added element of some turn-over inside squad, giving the nay-sayers something to glom onto for the sake of sharing their pessimism far and wide.(while the rest of us spend our time enjoying the new features form the recent releases)

At least the community is sharing with each other :confused: ... Unfortunate that it's mostly salt and flames

I guess everyone needs something/someone to take their frustrations out on

Glad to see that Squad has broad shoulders to take the weight of all that salt ... Thanx Squad :)

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Still waiting patiently for any hint of what the new feature is about. A new API would certainly open new doors to the modders. Revamped anything (science, career, skills) would be sweet. Stockification of KAC/TWP/KER would bring the last missing informational elements into the game, while KAS/KIS opens up a whole new area of building and modifying things literally on the fly.

On 1/22/2017 at 0:21 AM, basic.syntax said:

They don't want to talk about new features

The first rule of developing new features: No one talks about the developing new features.

On 1/22/2017 at 4:37 AM, The_Rocketeer said:

But, you know, a TV ad would be awesome.

Or at least a product placement spot. I know The Big Bang Theory featured World of WarCraft years back, I really think we need an episode of:
HFGrT7R.png

E: Yeah, I know, I've mentioned this before, but I'll keep bringing it up now and then until it happens, because it's something I'd really like to see

Edited by StrandedonEarth
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