DeadJohn
-
Posts
1,164 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Developer Articles
KSP2 Release Notes
Bug Reports
Posts posted by DeadJohn
-
-
Squad was a business not a charity. May as well be mad at the KSP2 workers who wanted a paycheck. If all 70 people worked for free...
-
58 minutes ago, Tony Tony Chopper said:
But does it proof KSP2 development has stopped?
The absence of a clear statement is enough of a statement. Many huge corporate projects get silently dropped.
They could have said something reassuring like: "We are making corporate changes. KSP2 software development will continue. We will have more information with an updated EA roadmap on or before May 30 2024." Such a statement provides time for them to think about their schedule, and maybe chop the most problematic feature (multiplayer?) from the roadmap. Please don't nitpick this example; there are countless ways to state they are still committed to the game.
Instead, they said something like (and I'm being partly sarcastic here): "We are rationalizing the pipeline to synergistically synergize our synergies so that they are more synergistic."
-
43 minutes ago, Infinite Aerospace said:
The bizarre thing is, whilst option #2 comes with funding the studio, the game was generally in a bit of an upward trajectory since December. They funded it for an entire calendar year, let development reach a point where the game was there or there about for ramping up features and then what, cancel it? You've gotta see that as the most sensible option at this point. I find it hard to believe they would have funded it at all if the expected revenue was so low.
I don't have enough information to have a strong opinion on whether KSP2 should have been continued or canceled. The people who do have that info have limited liberty to discuss it (contracts, NDAs, future job prospects).
Maybe KSP2 had a lot of technical debt piled up due to past decisions, and getting the code to the end of the roadmap in a bug-free supportable state became too much effort? Late software projects tend to become more late. Some projects become unrescuable without starting over.
On the other hand, maybe KSP2 code was in good shape but their Private Division parent had to cut things due to finances or internal politics. Maybe it was a smart business choice, maybe it wasn't.
-
10 minutes ago, Infinite Aerospace said:
Herein lies the main reason I don't understand bringing the axe down, they're going to lose money regardless but only one of the options has a chance of generating revenue at some point.
Yes Option #2 generates revenue but also incurs expenses. Maybe the estimated expenses are costlier than expected revenue? Maybe someone evaluated the code and thinks it's too much effort to fix?
-
All this new BDB and Tantares activity is a welcome ray of sunshine. It's nice to read good KSP news. Thank you.
-
All this new Tantares and BDB activity is a welcome ray of sunshine. It's nice to read good KSP news. Thank you.
-
5 hours ago, Trollkowski said:
Hovers around 700 parts
Fantastic looking helicopter. Pun intended?
-
13 hours ago, moeggz said:
Colonies with resources and interstellar.
I highly recommend these base base building mods. I can't offer much help for resources and interstellar.
KPBS Kerbal Planetary Base Systems: This is my favorite base building mod. It has a full set of surface parts using a unique flat-bottom profile. Retractable wheel modules allow bases to be constructed by rolling them together on the surface; it's much less frustrating to use KPBS than stock parts when expanding surface bases.
SSPXR Stockalike Space Station Expansion Redux: This has some nice designs for orbital and surface labs, habitats, etc. Leg modules offer a self-leveling feature for uneven ground. The extendable crew tubes work like a grabber for constructing bases.
-
5 hours ago, RayneCloud said:
Do you work there? Because if you don't work there, you have no idea what you're talking about. We have no way of knowing the full cost of operations for intercept games taking in to account the building, computers, licenses, utilities, different pay scales for seniority and senior leadership, et all.
Do you see any plausible way their income from EA was greater than their expenses since EA was announced? Reread my OP for context and I think you agree that things were even more expensive than my purposely low estimate. If EA was just a scam all along to steal KSP players' money, then they would have started EA and shut down the project shortly after.
I have no skin in the game. When I first saw the status of EA after already being 3 years late, I expected 3 more calendar years before they could reach the end of the EA roadmap so I didn't purchase it. KSP2 still doesn't have enough features to pull me away from KSP1. I wanted to see KSP2 succeed but in the end it's only a game.
-
I suggest using CKAN. It's a separate program for installing mods. It has a filter feature which can filter out old mods that have not been updated for KSP 1.12.x.
Older mods from 1.11.x and older might still work, but if no one is maintaining a mod's metadata it may be abandoned.
What KSP2 features are you most interested in?
-
1 hour ago, Icegrx said:
despite any official statement confirming such
It's quite normal for companies to discontinue products without any announcement. Some companies state when things are canceled, other companies don't.
Take Two recently described other layoffs as "...rationalizing its pipeline..." That's a case of verbal gymnastics and I don't expect a clear official statement from them. Their prior statements force people to read between the lines.
-
TLDR: The publisher earned maybe $2M from EA, and spent maybe $4.9M keeping development going since EA started. EA was not a scam to grab money.
There's a lot going on in other threads. KSP2 might be canceled. That sucks, but some forum members are claiming EA was a scammy cash grab all along. Here's my case that it wasn't a scam, just a case of a software project that went way off course. I use a lot of estimates here, but each time I'm rounding in favor of the case that it *was* a scam, weakening my argument.
EA cost: Some players may have gotten it for less on sale but I'll use $50 to weaken my case.
How many EA buyers? There's no hard data with official counts. There are estimates as high as 30,000 that I have no way to confirm. I'll be generous and bump that to 40,000 copies sold.
Total EA income: $50 * 40,000 = $2M USD in KSP2 EA sales. I'm ignoring the percentage that Steam takes which would further reduce income.
EA duration: EA started late Feb 2023. It's now 14 months later, which I'll round way down to 1 year to make the math easy.
How much was spent after EA started? I'll assume the layoff filing of 70 people were all devoted to KSP, as that's supposedly the only game the affected office was working on. People were making a wide range salaries, from managers down to much lower paid positions. I'll guess at average pay rate $70k annually. 70 people * $70k = $4.9M spent since EA was announced.
Those dollar values do not mean I know whether it is/was correct or incorrect to cancel KSP2. Only insiders know the full story of the amount of cash being burned, future sales estimates, whether the code is salvageable or better to restart major parts, and many other things.
-
8 minutes ago, GGG-GoodGuyGreg said:
Gentlemen, behave.
Ok, the rest of you go on misbehaving
-
11 minutes ago, dlrk said:
Yes, they are a greedy corporation that pays their execs millions - with the money that KSP2 early access victims believed would be used to finish the game
How many copies of EA do you think they sold? Multiply that by $50. Then compare it to the cost of paying a team of 70 people for more than a year.
They probably lost money on EA. In hindsight, it would have been financially better for them to have killed it prior to ever opening early access.
And the most profitable thing would have been to start EA, get a bunch of sales, then kill it a few weeks after EA. That would have been evil ... evil but profitable.
-
If the KSP franchise was shuttered and we lost these forums, where would people go to discuss KSP1?
KSP1 is the only game I frequently discuss. I play other games and read their forums but rarely post, so I don't have any other favorite gaming forums. My first instinct if the KSP forums died would be to try contacting some of my favorite modders to see where they went.
(There's a gloomy mix of rumor+news about layoffs in the KSP2 subforum. That's not what I'm here to discuss, just offering context about why I'm asking my question.)
-
22 minutes ago, Yakuzi said:
Take Two commented on the recent developments to Game Developer:
"Take-Two confirms Kerbal Space Program 2 is safe despite Seattle layoffs" - source
Thanks for the info.
Reading the text within that article doesn't quite say KSP2 is safe, despite the headline. The article says KSP2 will continue to get "support" but doesn't actually promise ongoing development. Support could be as small as one part-time staffer answering emails from EA customers. T2 is quoted making legalese and no-comment statements in that article.
Maybe KSP2 is safe. Maybe it's not. The only thing that seems clear from the article is T2 has an attorney overseeing their statements.
-
KSP2 was already many years late before the team started using discord or the KSP2 subforums. Those communication channels cannot be the main problem.
-
The devs, designers, and managers don't need a wake up call. They are either already more awake to their development challenges than any of us regular customers, or if they think things have been perfect then they are beyond waking up.
Staff might be limited in what they can publicly say, but I'm convinced most of them believe that the development process has been less than ideal. A company's internal workings aren't usually a topic for public forums. In a few years maybe an insider will make it part of a software engineering course.
KSP 2 was already years behind schedule when Early Access started. That information was readily available to every customer. Late software projects tend to become more late over time. Customers have no choice but to live with it. Adding/replacing some people is unlikely to help very much. Tossing more people at a late project frequently makes things even later, so it's just wasted money.
-
5 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:
@DeadJohn What about while using KAS/KIS to attach heavy things while orbiting? That's not something I would do so I don't know for sure how that works. There was one case where, using KAS/KIS, I had a kerbal detach half of the ship from near the middle. (We don't speak of re-attaching. I have no memory of successfully doing that.)
I don't remember KAS orbit limits. I haven't used KAS for years because stock construction gave me fewer phantom acceleration events and fewer exploding parts after attaching. I still use KIS.
-
23 hours ago, LN400 said:
Thanks a bunch! How would this work in EVA? Do I need several kerbals floating around? Sounds nerveracking having to keep an eye on a small army of floating kerbals.
For stock KSP, there's no EVA construction limit while in space. Zero G makes every part weigh zero regardless of its mass.
-
I think you already have enough intake air considering that your still flying at a modest altitude. What engines & how many are on that plane? Do I see 1 Panther at the tail, 2 Junos on wingtips, 2 Goliaths under wings?
If that's the engine config consider redoing it to be only Panthers. They perform better at high altitude than those other engines do.
The Whiplash engine is even "better" but arguably too good and too expensive for your desired 10km altitude.
-
6 hours ago, Richmountain112 said:
Victus HP gaming laptop. I might be exaggerating but it takes roughly 15-25 minutes to load.
I'm not familiar with that model, but a quick search says it was first released in 2022, so I assume you have a fairly modern CPU, plus a fast SSD not a slow platter hard disk. That leads me to suspect you don't have enough RAM which might be causing your laptop to resort to virtual memory.
- How much RAM is installed?
- When KSP finally does load, how much RAM is your system using?
- CPU model?
- Is KSP installed on an internal SSD, internal hard drive, or external drive?
-
15 hours ago, Richmountain112 said:
I also want some optimization.
Tantares, along with several other part mods, is causing my game to take a significant amount of time to load, possibly more than an hour.
An hour!? What hardware are you using?
-
If I understand your question KSP is working ok. Only attachment nodes on the root part of the merged vessel are available. Here's how I merge:
Load vessel #1. Then load vessel #2 with "merge", don't try to directly attach it, just left-click to drop it inside the VAB. Then press 4 (or click the change root mode button), click on the part of #2 where I want to do the connection, and the open nodes on that part will appear. Finally, drag #2 to an attachment node of #1.
Dreamliners Site Expansion for KSRSS
in KSP1 Mod Releases
Posted
@Dreamliner The OP mentions Earth UHD as a dependency. The discord link gives me "This content is no longer available." Am I having some sort of permissions error on my end, or if the link is outdated can you please update it?
P.S. I did the obvious web searches for variants of "EarthUHD AND kerbal" and either get only this thread, or if I widen the search I get a bunch of unrelated photos of Earth.