Periple

MS Flight Simulator has about 10k peak players. It's not THAT huge, and also it's a more contested genre. I think KSP has the potential to be bigger. Factorio f.ex has about double that.

Yeah pretty much, the franchise won't work without it and it's not big enough to start over a second time.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has had lots of versions so why not KSP? If they can keep selling updated versions of the game, why wouldn't they?

This is pretty squarely in "can't happen" territory. If KSP2 doesn't fly for whatever reason, they'll just close down Intercept and mothball the IP. I would really only expect that to happen if T2 decides to close down Private Division. In that situation, the best we can hope for is a spiritual successor from somebody else. (Moreover, the engine really isn't the problem, and there isn't another engine on the market that's obviously better suited to make KSP2 than Unity.)

Originally they said that they expected Microsoft to cover the install fees for GamePass. So much for "only small developers!"

The issue with KSP2 isn’t lack of communication. The issue is a botched launch and subsequent slow progress. I still believe they can turn this around, but it all hangs on the roadmap updates. Deeds, not words.

Whoever it is, I agree with them. The downside risk outweighs the upside. With the current sentiment anything they say will be used against them. Saying anything at all about it runs a real risk of poisoning the well for the actual release. Better to be silent and release it when it’s ready.

Lawyers also save money. For example, they can get you out of extortionate contracts!

No but my studio employs some!

Thing about contracts is, they’re not always enforceable. That includes arbitration clauses. This is why lawyers’ services continue to be in demand.

They do have a choice. You don’t need 3000 people to maintain a game engine. They can downsize so their costs match their revenues. I think they will have to, because their customers clearly aren’t having it with these cash grabs.

I don’t think a retroactive change like that would stand up to a legal challenge anyway. Main thing is, we can now finish our ongoing projects and have a year or two to decide where to go next. Unless there are really drastic changes at Unity (like, a buyout and a total change in leadership and business model) I think it will be somewhere else.

Updated terms are nowhere near as crazy. They will only apply to future versions of Unity and the fee is capped at 2.5% of revenue. So at least it won’t continue to cost you money indefinitely. I don’t think it’s cool to double-dip with both per-seat and rev share, pick one, not both (or offer alternative plans so we can choose) and a lot of damage has been done. But at least already released games won’t be affected and current projects will most likely be able to continue normally. I think the long term future of the engine is still looking very murky though! https://unity.com/pricing-updates

Communication is a lot of work! Especially when you have to be extra careful to make sure you don’t say anything that could be misconstrued. Developers have other things on their plate and if they have to make a presentation every week that’s bound to suffer!

Fortunately you won’t have to, buy it, try it, if it doesn’t perform to your expectations, refund it!

I think they’re scaled down for gameplay reasons! If it took 10 minutes just to get to orbit every time that would get boring!

Capitalism is working just fine, it’s just not working for us!

Not that long ago sexual harassment was totally normal at work too, it’s only in the last few years that there have been consequences for it. Work culture has changed, in some ways for the worse but also in some ways for the better! I agree! Most devs don’t pay any attention at all to what fans are saying, and the first thing we tell new joiners is to walk away from online fan communities if they can. Fandom is toxic. That’s why we have CMs, they relay anything they think we ought to hear to us — and I guarantee that abuse and toxicity gets filtered out, while constructive, on-point criticism may make it through. Which is another reason sarcasm, lashing out, and being mean won’t help! No! 48% positive reviews is really bad!

I wasn’t talking about that question though and it’s not nice to put words in my mouth! If you’re saying this community is being too positive about KSP2 or its developers then I think you’re being silly again!

I wish it was that simple but it really isn’t, or we’d port all of our games to Unreal too!

The topic of conversation is studio communications, not the state of the game. I have no idea what you’re talking about but okay! The CMs are supposed to be nice. Developers like Nertea or any of the others are under no obligation to interact with us at all, it’s not part of their job description.

Yeah, that would be abusive. If you're not working to expectations, your line manager needs to find out why and help you get up to scratch. If it turns out you're not actually capable of doing the job you were hired for, then you might need to be placed in a different role, or sometimes more drastic action might need to be taken. In no case is it OK for somebody in the public to jump down your throat, for you to be publicly shamed, or any other stuff like that. It will only make things worse. Fans and members of the public least of all because we really have no idea what's going on or, if there is blame to go around, who ought to be blamed. Also gamedev is super high stress compared to most occupations that demand similar skill sets.

In my experience it’s really rare to see dissent in those kinds of meetings. Usually it’s just somebody with an opinion who bulldozes it through. BoD members are usually part-time, they have businesses of their own as well. Somebody makes a presentation, everybody else nods along and the decision is made. Also the more people are involved to share the responsibility the less likely it is for someone to speak up. I knew someone who was on the board of a giant telco making incredibly dumb decisions, he did speak up, everybody nodded along politely and then made the dumb decisions anyway and proceeded to lose several billion. Also BoD members who habitually question decisions aren’t very liked and usually go be members at some other BoD. That’s what happened to him.

Normal companies do a legal due diligence whenever they change something with legal implications. Even we do that and we’re just a mid-sized indie studio, not a publicly listed multibillion dollar business. I know a bunch of rich people and they’re not any smarter than anybody else. Most of them inherited their wealth and managed not to lose it; it’s surprisingly hard to lose money after a certain point, our economic system is hard-wired to funnel money up. Some got lucky, they were in the right place at the right time. Some are a particular kind of borderline sociopath who thrives in the corporate environment and have clawed their way all the way to the top. And almost all of them are convinced they’re rich because they’re smarter and better and more responsible than other people. Plain incompetence and hubris are perfectly likely explanations for this disaster, no need to invoke hidden motives. The people making the decisions just aren’t very bright but think they are.

As soon as supply line automation is up, it will be possible to create a stable equilibrium. That could happen quite early in the game!