Devnote Tuesday: Slow News Day I

[blizzy78]

Last week I was feeling ill and couldn’t make it my devnotes in time, sorry about that.

There is really nothing to be sorry about.

[selfish_meme]

This. I've had to install KSP on my (shudder) windows partition to get this game to work past 10 minutes. Sooooo unstable on OS X.

I said it in another thread, its not all macs. You guys should get together and figure out what you have in common. E.g. I have a 2011 macbook pro with Intel graphics running Yosemite. No crashes not even from the temperature gauges, I turn all the graphics setting down. No big mods but it plays. Stop saying all macs unless you have more specific information.

[Hotblack Desiato]

I think the balance update in 1.0.3 is very important because currently the whole game is balanced around the drag-bug in 1.0.

the thing I don't understand is: there was such a nice general roadmap: first make it playable, then add proper physics, then add science and economics.

I really don't understand why the devs threw this nice and clear roadmap away and added atmosphere and heat that late into the game. what they could've done: add the proper atmosphere and heat earlier, add economics a bit later, and then port to unity 5 (which had an uncertain release date for a long period of time). then, place the real 1.0 one release after the unity 5 port (which is a beta).

because currently, I'm not seeing a release version, that's still an alpha.

I think, the community would be okay with such a roadmap (and a release by end 2015). but what happened currently: the team put itself under stress to match a release date, worked weekends and apparently made some mistakes. mistakes that could've been avoided by not stressing themselves.

but of course, there could be other considerations, which we don't know yet. maybe squad needed the extra income to stay operational. and having a release version is better than having an alpha for close to 5 years (although lots of people consider the things squad did with unity as pure magic).

Edited June 3, 2015 by Hotblack Desiato
typo

[basic.syntax]

I said it in another thread, its not all macs. You guys should get together and figure out what you have in common. E.g. I have a 2011 macbook pro with Intel graphics running Yosemite. No crashes not even from the temperature gauges, I turn all the graphics setting down. No big mods but it plays. Stop saying all macs unless you have more specific information.

desepticon was referring mainly to his system, not going as wide on the "all Mac's" idea, as the post he was responding to.

I can't say much that is useful about the problem, though. It seems nearly binary: if you have an affected mac, the instability problem is really bad. If you don't have one of the affected systems, you're (obviously) not complaining. I found this quote in the Reddit version of this thread:

I haven't really seen this memory leak. What is the problem here? The heat gauges work and my game hasn't crashed on Windows or OSX.

[Kaa253]

I do live next to Karlsruhe (100km). Nice city with a castel and a scientific atom smasher. Lots of science going on there

I guess I will look out for wild Kerbals there now.

ANKA, technically speaking is not quite an atom smasher but it is a wickedly-way-cool major research machine and facility nonetheless . There are KSP fans in there too no doubt.

[Holyvision]

Bummed that the team keep shrinking, also that the 1.0.3 "in days not weeks" fix discussed last week is now "weeks" away. Glad they want to do a good job and all, but letting memory leak(s) and etc large bugs persist this long sucks.

[Wallygator]

I think the balance update in 1.0.3 is very important because currently the whole game is balanced around the drag-bug in 1.0.

the thing I don't understand is: there was such a nice general roadmap: first make it playable, then add proper physics, then add science and economics.

I don't really understand, why the devs threw this nice and clear roadmap away and added atmonsphere and heat that late into the game. what they could've done: add the proper atmosphere and heat earlier, add economics a bit later, and then port to unity 5 (which had an uncertain release date for a long period of time). then, place the real 1.0 one release after the unity 5 port (which is a beta).

because currently, I'm not seeing a release version, that's still an alpha.

I think, the community would be okay with such a roadmap (and a release by end 2015). but what happened currently: the team put itself under stress to match a release date, worked weekends and apparently made some mistakes. mistakes that could've been avoided by not stressing themselves.

but of course, there could be other considerations, which we don't know yet. maybe squad needed the extra income to stay operational. and having a release version is better than having an alpha for close to 5 years (although lots of people consider the things squad did with unity as pure magic).

This reflects my main complaint with the entire development process. There appears to be no road map in practice.

Stuff regarding strategy and roadmap has been posted in the past - but actual release behaviour does not seem to reflect adherence to any long range strategy. It seems to be more of a "shoot for an achievable opportunity" vs "strive to hit structured objectives".

Don't get me wrong, things are progressing... but still I see no organised plan or behaviour that implies it.

The core issue and conflict within today's game development eco-sphere is the unmanaged stress between "Developing computer programs" and "Producing Entertainment". In KSP it seems that the "Producer" has more influence right now and therefore the roadmap (if there is one) is more heavily weighted toward "marketability" vs "capability". I therefore expect bugs and play issues to continue.

I'm not complaining about the role or influence of the producer, rather the failing of the production process to emphasise the need for a solid roadmap.

Apologies if this too much to comprehend.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Wallygator

[Yakuzi]

I think the balance update in 1.0.3 is very important because currently the whole game is balanced around the drag-bug in 1.0.

the thing I don't understand is: there was such a nice general roadmap: first make it playable, then add proper physics, then add science and economics.

I don't really understand, why the devs threw this nice and clear roadmap away and added atmonsphere and heat that late into the game. what they could've done: add the proper atmosphere and heat earlier, add economics a bit later, and then port to unity 5 (which had an uncertain release date for a long period of time). then, place the real 1.0 one release after the unity 5 port (which is a beta).

because currently, I'm not seeing a release version, that's still an alpha.

You're not the only one, an overwhelming part of the community expressed their concerns about Squads decision to push a release version after just one beta iteration. Whatever Squad's motivation was, we have a "1.0" version now... I just hope they're taking a much needed step back now, think carefully and rationally about the future of KSP and evaluate the mess associated with rushing updates... at least with 1.0.3 it seems they are trying their best to get the aero/re-entry balance right... so who knows, we might actually get a proper beta version soon

Edited June 3, 2015 by Yakuzi

[Dimetime35c]

To the squad guys. You DON'T need to justify a break to us. We ALL know you've been working as hard as humanly possible on this game and if you want to take a vacation you don't need our permission to do so. We don't expect you to live at the office and I think most of the community would say you've all more then earned a nice long vacation! NEVER feel guilty about taking time for yourselves. You've done an impressive job with this "little rocket launching game" we all support and respect you guys. Keep up the good work!

[Umlüx]

even after the release, we dove

face first into the unity 5 upgrade, and several milestones have been

accomplished in it.

hype!

Hyperer hype!

Hypest hype since invention of hype!

[Schmonzo]

I think the balance update in 1.0.3 is very important because currently the whole game is balanced around the drag-bug in 1.0.

the thing I don't understand is: there was such a nice general roadmap: first make it playable, then add proper physics, then add science and economics.

I don't really understand, why the devs threw this nice and clear roadmap away and added atmosphere and heat that late into the game. what they could've done: add the proper atmosphere and heat earlier, add economics a bit later, and then port to unity 5 (which had an uncertain release date for a long period of time). then, place the real 1.0 one release after the unity 5 port (which is a beta).

because currently, I'm not seeing a release version, that's still an alpha.

I think, the community would be okay with such a roadmap (and a release by end 2015). but what happened currently: the team put itself under stress to match a release date, worked weekends and apparently made some mistakes. mistakes that could've been avoided by not stressing themselves.

but of course, there could be other considerations, which we don't know yet. maybe squad needed the extra income to stay operational. and having a release version is better than having an alpha for close to 5 years (although lots of people consider the things squad did with unity as pure magic).

well, hindsight does not really help anyone here I think. Remember SQUAD was not a gamedeveloping company before this game and as far as I know this also is Harvesters first game. I don't agree with a lot of the development of the game but luckily there always have been mods to make the game how I wanted it for me (far and deadly reentry in terms of atmosphere for example).

I have waited four years for this game to be finished and I don't mind waiting another four if they add features like they have in past. The game already is glorious in it's current state (at least with mods), everything that comes is gravy.

As for the money concerns: considering the size of the team and the sales numbers this game has racked up on steam alone (more than 1000000) someone has to be VERY greedy if they ran out of money for this project.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Schmonzo

[Greenfire32]

While I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, the fact that we're seemingly losing devs left and right here makes the prospect of officially supported multiplayer seem farther and farther off.

DMP is great, dont get me wrong, but I long for the days when I can actually dock with another player and not have the entire universe fold in on itself.

[GusTurbo]

While I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, the fact that we're seemingly losing devs left and right here makes the prospect of officially supported multiplayer seem farther and farther off.

DMP is great, dont get me wrong, but I long for the days when I can actually dock with another player and not have the entire universe fold in on itself.

I don't even care about multiplayer, I just want a polished, relatively bug-free game. If they keep adding new features, new bugs will crop up, drawing attention away from existing bugs.

[Zucal]

I don't even care about multiplayer, I just want a polished, relatively bug-free game. If they keep adding new features, new bugs will crop up, drawing attention away from existing bugs.

Hear hear. I can't enjoy shiny new features in the game if the game doesn't even work. cough cough OSX

[FlowerChild]

I don't even care about multiplayer, I just want a polished, relatively bug-free game. If they keep adding new features, new bugs will crop up, drawing attention away from existing bugs.

Yeah, big time agreement here. The announcement of multiplayer really didn't do anything for me other than generating some confusion and dread

Would love to see a stable and balanced version however, and am more than happy to wait a few weeks if it means we'll have one. I think the worst case scenario here would be a never-ending cycle of hotfixes with the balance of the game changing radically each time.

[basic.syntax]

I think we're well past the 'hotfix' phase, I like the word "patch" after the first week of a major release.

As a company grows, bureaucracy and procedures grow with it. At some point, whatever you like about (small companies in general) in terms of occasional comments on the forums or Reddit starts to dry up, because public comments have to be reviewed by a committee first. Or worse: a lawyer

[jjwb22101]

The number of team members going does concern me. Most of the veterans are gone by now, and the new members seem to join only for a relatively short time before leaving. I wish them luck.

How many employees total are currently at squad, anyway? KSP or otherwise?

Wow, quite the blast from the past seeing you around again. Completely agree with your thoughts. I really miss the novelty of having you around, and all the kool kontent you added. (If anyone remembers what, specifically, the k's are referring to, two internets to you!) Been working on anything cool lately Nova?

[Schmonzo]

Wow, quite the blast from the past seeing you around again. Completely agree with your thoughts. I really miss the novelty of having you around, and all the kool kontent you added. (If anyone remembers what, specifically, the k's are referring to, two internets to you!) Been working on anything cool lately Nova?

Knova not nova

[jjwb22101]

Knova not nova

True, kuite true.

[NovaSilisko]

KnovaSilisko

Wow, quite the blast from the past seeing you around again. Completely agree with your thoughts. I really miss the novelty of having you around, and all the kool kontent you added. (If anyone remembers what, specifically, the k's are referring to, two internets to you!) Been working on anything cool lately Nova?

Knova not nova

I will peel the both of you with a cheese grater and make an excellent omelet.

Anyway, a short list for the last question from jjwb:

Science of the Spheres < paused for the moment, see my signature, I think I linked the post explaining why in the first post of its thread

Secret Game Project I < paused

Secret Game Project II < active

General Music Production < sporadically active

Secret Writing Project < active

[jjwb22101]

I will peel the both of you with a cheese grater and make an excellent omelet.

Anyway, a short list for the last question from jjwb:

Science of the Spheres < paused for the moment, see my signature, I think I linked the post explaining why in the first post of its thread

Secret Game Project I < paused

Secret Game Project II < active

General Music Production < sporadically active

Secret Writing Project < active

Thanks for all the info Knova, nice to see you doing some cool stuff. Science of the Spheres is looking really cool, and I can't wait to hear what those secret projects are!

[Kartoffelkuchen]

Would be great if you guys could finally fix the new wheels by porkjet, none of them are spinning. Also, in the MK3 Cockpit, on tthe middle console between the two windows, the navball is rotated by 180º, which is annoying and irritating when you are flying from that perspective.

[flintlockmusket]

Wow, eight pages of people going "what!, it wasn't fixed yesterday" and "what about me". Give it a break people. KSP is a great game developed by a small team. People will come and go, it's the business of programming. Wish all who have worked on KSP good luck on future endeavors, and those coming on board, welcome. Unity 5 will change the game in ways that most people, including devs, couldn't imagine just a year or two ago. If what I've seen of Unity 5, and if Squad takes the time to move KSP, so as to use the full benefit of the power within it, we are going to be blown away. With that, and the great mod community that KSP has, this game will only get better, and better. As a old mainframe programmer, if you find a bug, then document, document, document. Believe me, they have overloads of work to do, and are only able to touch the top of the pile. Let's give them a chance to catch there breath and catch up. And Relax.

[NovaSilisko]

Knova

Stop calling me that, or you will become an enemy very fast. I don't think you understand how much that pisses me off. I can take a few, but do not persist in it.

[FlexGunship]

ITT we all press "ctrl+f" and search for "unity 5".