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    Rowsdower
    Kerbal Space Program: Asteroid Redirect Mission is right around the corner!

    We are elated to have reached one of the final stages in the development of this free update -

    Experimentals!

    Tests are being made and things are being tightened up in this final phase before its release.

    Keep an eye out on the forum and all of our other social media channels for further news.
    Rowsdower
    Hi, everyone.

    We'd appreciate it if you could take a few moments to fill out a quick survey for us. It's about the impact that Kerbal Space Program has made in various aspects of your lives. Your compiled results will help us publicly reinforce the game's intended messages of positivity, creativity and intelligence among the community throughout our time at SXSW.

    Thanks!
    Rowsdower
    Collaboration kicks off at SXSW Gaming with first reveal during a live panel on show floor

    The Planet Kerbin has a new partner in the exploration of its solar system. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has joined forces with Kerbal Space Program to create Kerbal Space Program: Asteroid Redirect Mission, a special update that adds realistic NASA rocket parts and missions to the award-winning indie space agency sim game.

    The mission shares the same name as the three-part mission which started in 2013 and is currently projected to be completed in 2022 with a manned mission onto an orbiting asteroid beyond the Moon. Kerbal Space Program and NASA will share the stage at SXSW Gaming on Saturday at 12:30 in the Palmer Events Center in Austin, Tex. The panel will offer the first look at the in-game mission as well as discuss the process of taking a real mission that is still highly conceptual and assembling it in Kerbal Space Program.

    “Kerbal Space Program is about giving gamers the chance to dream big, even if they’re not astrophysicists. This relationship with NASA, the very beacon of big dreams and imagination, is going to give players a real opportunity to learn about the universe we’re living in,†Kerbal Space Program lead developer Felipe Falanghe said. “The Asteroid Redirect Mission is going to be one of the rewarding and challenging accomplishments in all of gaming. We can’t wait to see our current and future players take on this mission and perhaps, teach NASA a few tricks along the way.â€Â

    The mission mirrors NASA’s real operation in many ways. Namely, players will tackle the same three steps as NASA:


    Identify: Detect, target, distinguish and select the asteroids that you want to move Redirect: Build a rocket ship and set course to intercept the moving asteroid, then position your ship to redirect the asteroid’s trajectory Research: Send your Kerbals on EVA (extravehicular activity) around the asteroids to conduct experiments on the object and gather valuable scientific data as it (and you) hurtle through deep space


    “The collaboration with Kerbal Space Program can help drive interest by future explorers in next-generation technology development and deep space exploration, said Bob Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for Communications at NASA. “Having an element of the experience based in the reality of NASA’s exploration initiatives empower players to manage their own space program while getting valuable insight into the reality of studying asteroids as a next step in getting to Mars.â€Â

    Nearly a dozen new parts, including the game’s biggest fuel tanks, will help players tackle what is the most ambitious NASA mission to date. Another new part is the robotic grappling device, which players will use to snare the rock and redirect it into orbit around the Mun, Kerbin or other planets. This new device can also grab things other than asteroids, making it one of the most versatile parts added to the game. These new parts will not only help the Asteroid Redirect Mission but will also offer both new and old players the chance to experiment more in the game’s open sandbox mode.
    Rowsdower
    We're thrilled to announce our participation in several key events at this weekend's SXSW Gaming expo in Austin, TX.

    First and foremost will be a panel taking place on Saturday afternoon where Squad developers and members of NASA will get together to talk about Kerbal Space Program: Asteroid Redirect Mission. The much anticipated free content pack is based on a long term, real life NASA project which aims to save the planet by learning how to redirect asteroids away from it. More info on the panel and details on the free Asteroid Redirect Mission will be revealed this week.

    We're also excited to announce our participation in the SXSW LANfest, sponsored by Intel. They'll be hosting a Kerbal Space Program tournament on Saturday evening that will have competitors scrambling into the stars, as they will have to conduct several missions on the spot - no prep time allowed. Play for fun, great prizes and the chance to show your skills off to members of Squad, live and in person. More details on the Kerbal Space Program tournament at LANfest can be found here: http://intel.ly/1gLnfV5.

    For anyone who can't make it to SXSW, we'll keep you up to date news on the latest happenings. For those of you who will be down there, don't be afraid to say hello. We'd love to see as many of you as we can.
    Rowsdower
    Hey, everyone!

    It's once again time to rally up the troops. We need your help to win a major prize at the upcoming Game Developers Choice Awards. We have been named as one of the nominees for the Game Developers Choice Audience Award - an award arguably more prestigious than any other, because the winner is chosen by YOU!

    That is why we need YOUR help. We know that we have the best community in all the universe and winning this award will only be a testament to the heights we've all risen to together. A vote for KSP is a vote for all of us. You have until March 1st, so make it count!

    Click HERE to vote.
    Rowsdower
    EDIT: Entry submissions Are live!!! Go HERE to submit all your great work.

    Hi, everyone!

    I'm thrilled to finally be able to announce the contest we've been hinting at for weeks on end. Without further ado...

    Kerbin manufacturers sent their art directors into space for a brave experiment that unfortunately backfired. Since then, they've been left without anyone to create logos for their companies. That's where you come in!

    Use this week to create logos for your favorite in-game manufacturers. GO HERE to fill out your info and submit up to five of your creations at a time until Friday, February 28, 2014 at 07:00 pm CST. Allowable files include jpg, png and gif with a maximum file size of 1MB. Entries must have their filenames match the name of the company they are representing or they will face immediate disqualification.

    After that date, Squad will view each entry to determine the single best logo submitted for each manufacturer. The winning entries will get placed into the game as official company logos and those of you who create them will win the opportunity to have your names enshrined among the ranks of Kerbonauts in our name generator.. Winners will be notified via e-mail and asked to submit hi-res logo files, so we strongly suggest that you keep your originals.

    Here are the companies you can create logos for:

    R&D Department. STEADLER Engineering Corps. Kerlington Model Rockets and Paper Products, Inc. Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co. OMB Demolition Enterprises. Probodobodyne Inc. Rockomax Conglomerate. Moving Parts Experts Group. Integrated Integrals. Zaltonic Electronics. Rokea Inc. Ionic Symphonic Protonic Electronics. Maxo Construction Toys. Periapsis Co. Rocket Supplies. Goliath National Products. Experimental Engineering Group. C7 Aerospace Division. Vac-Co Advanced Suction Systems. WinterOwl Aircraft Emporium. FLOOYD Dynamics Research Lab. Reaction Systems Ltd. Kerbal Motion LLC. Sean's Cannery Dinkelstein Kerman's Construction Emporium. StrutCo. The Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society.


    Best of luck to you all. We hope to see your finest work!
    Rowsdower
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    Hi, everyone. I'm hoping to get some show notes going for you on this one, but for now, gear up for an interview that's definitely worth 49 minutes of your time. Maxmaps interviewed HarvesteR on the newest Squadcast. He goes in depth about upcoming 0.24 features and beyond. Also, don't forget to stick it out to the end. You may want to find out what #savethemagicboulder is all about.
    HarvesteR
    Hi.

    Once more, here we are at the beginning of a new update, and I want to share with everyone our goals and ambitions for the upcoming 0.24 release of KSP.

    We continue pushing forward with Career Mode, but this update has a few other neat things that should be very welcome additions, be you a Career-driven achiever or a Sandbox tinkerer, something in between, or even extrapolating the ends of that spectrum! We’ve got a lot to accomplish but we feel like this will be a great way to kick off a big 2014 for KSP.

    Anyhow...

    These are our main goals for 0.24:


    Contracts
    The first iteration of the contracts mechanic is coming up. At the Mission Control Facility, you'll be able to take on contracts from a list of offers. Each contract will give you a set of objectives to fulfill, possibly with added requirements, and a deadline. These contracts are going to be dynamically generated off a number of different basic mission templates, and filled out with detail based on how far you've advanced in your Career. A feature this large is most likely not going to be complete in a single update, but we feel like we’re off to a very good start with our initial plan.

    New Mission Control Screen
    It's been there for a while, but so far no Kerbal has dared enter that mysterious building at the space center. Oh, plus the fact it didn't have an inside also made it extra difficult. We're adding a new Mission Control Screen, accessible through the already-there Mission Control Facility, which will present you with a UI where you'll be able to pick out contracts and decide whether to accept them or pass them by.

    Improved Part-to-Part Joints
    There is one unassuming line in the Unity 4.3 changelog that made a world of difference to us. I'll quote it here in fact: "Physics." Joints can now have separate anchor points configured for both connected rigidbodies. What this means is that the era of rockets 'dancing' on top of their engines is coming (finally) to an end. We are completely re-doing the joints, to have much more control over how they link together, and not least, how much we want them to be bendy and wobbly. We're not eliminating the wobble altogether, as that would actually be removing a lot of what makes failures fun. We're aiming to have better control over it, so we can have wobbly bits where we want them to wobble, and more rigid connections where things are supposed to be firmly attached.

    Multiplayer's First Steps
    This isn't so much a feature at this point, but it's worth mentioning in any case. We're starting work on the core components of multiplayer now, so by the time we're about done with Career Mode, we'll already have a solid platform to start building multiplayer features on top of it. Right now, the primary goal is to write the server backend that will run things. There won't be much to show of this for a while, but we'll keep everyone posted about the progress being made.

    Tutorials Revisited
    It’s been a long time since we did the in-game tutorials now. They harken back to ye olden times of version 0.17, and when you consider that 0.18 was when we added maneuver nodes and docking, you start to get a sense of just how much has changed in the game since the tutorials were written. Needless to say then, they’re in dire need of a revision, and that’s what we plan to do on this update, and if time allows, also add a couple of new ones.

    And as always, the usual batch of small tweaks and bug fixes that we do as we go along.

    And we can't say this enough, this list isn't a preview of the changelog for the next update. These are our ambitions, not promises. Some of this might not make it in, while at the same time other things not on this list might be included as well, so the bottom line is, don't take this as if it was written in stone. (It was, in fact, written on my sweet new G19s keyboard, which the kind folks at Logitech sent to us. And no, they didn't make me say this).

    Anyhow, that's all the news for now, stay tuned for more as it develops.

    Cheers!
    Rowsdower
    Hi, everybody.

    There's no breaking news in this article, but we're really proud of what Eurogamer has to say about KSP in their early access review of the game.

    "It is, already, the sort of game you could play for 100 hours without exhausting its potential and yet, even when you're pootling around with doomed-to-fail contraptions, taking the most basic introductory steps, it's never less than charming, engrossing and entertaining. That you can go from such humble beginnings to explore an entire realistically crafted solar system is nothing short of remarkable. Strap yourself in. It's going to be a long and wonderful ride.â€Â

    Go ahead and read the rest of Eurogamer's review right HERE.
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