Kerbal Space Program - First Steps - Game Story Script

[SquaredSpekz]

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I am currently studying Game Development and one of my (many) assignments was to create a story for a game, original or based off an already existing game. Obviously, I chose KSP. I wrote this in a kind of script form. I thought I might post it here on Fan Works so that I don't lose it.
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First Steps
by SquaredSpekz

ACT 1

Open shot of Kerbin from Space, with the Sun rising from behind it, bright light reflecting off the atmosphere, showing the curvature of the planet ahead. The camera pans around the small blue planet, zooming in to this specific location.

**KSP Main Theme Starts playing**

The camera zooms through the dense clouds and then reveals a large complex of buildings on the coast of a vast ocean, a mountain range to the north, down to what appears to be a launchpad for rockets. The ground around the centre of the pad looks charred from the excessive heat of a rocket engine. Now, the camera stops, with a flag reading “Kerbal Space Program” in the distance. Two distinct creatures are also walking in the distance. They’re small, green and are wearing something resembling a spacesuit.

Wernher : Wells then Jeb, everything seems to be in working order for the launch.
Jeb : Good, Wernher. You and your team have be working really hard.
Wernher : Thank you. We’re really proud of the Progress. It’s much better than the last one.
Jeb : How so?
Wernher : We added more booster rockets. It will be ze most powerful rocket will will have ever launched.
Jeb : Good, it will be a fun ride to the Mün.

Wernher and his team have been working on the newest version on the Progress rocket for the last 7 months to desperately try and make sure it will work. The last four rockets have been unsuccessful, some exploding, some tumbling out of control on the ascent and some just not launching. Luckily there have been no deaths as all Kerbals can survive very dangerous situations and also because they had the means to escape.

Jeb and Wernher walk towards a gigantic door at the front of the biggest building in the complex, the Vehicle Assembly Building. The door opens slowly, revealing rocket. Tall, white and very sleek. At the bottom, an Engine, powerful and massive. At the top, the orbiter that will go to the Mün. Down the side of the rocket it says “Progress V”. There are engineers attaching the fairing around the orbiter to protect it from the dangers of flying faster than the speed of sound out of the Atmosphere. A Kerbal is watching over the process. He sees Jeb and Wernher and immediately jumps off the platform which is at least 30m high.

Bob : She’s a beauty isn’t she?
Jeb : Yeah. You ready to go?
Bob : Yeah? I...am...ready.
Jeb : You sure? You remember last launch right? You got scared in the lift up to the rocket on the pad.
Bob : No, 100% ready this time, promise.

**Flashback**

Progress 1 - Command Pod - Bob looks scared and then starts screaming

Progress 2 - Parachuting - Bob still screaming

Progress 4 - In Minivan to the Pad, still screaming.

Jeb looks at Wernher, concerned about Bob. He’s been terrified on every launch.

Jeb : So she’s nearly launch ready then?
Bob : Yeah, just putting the orbiter in the fairing, and packing the parachutes.
Jeb : This reminds me of something I used to do as a child.

**Flashback, Jeb as a child**

I used to build rockets out of tin foil and fizzy drinks. I would also make little creatures that would fly these rockets, called Humans.

Bob : Humans? That’s a weird name. What did they look like.
Jeb : Long tall, and pink.
Bob : Woah

**Gameplay Section that acts as tutorial for the player on how to build rockets. Attaching separate parts and then adding Fizzy Drink Bottles as an Engine**

Jeb : Nearly all the time I would launch one, and it would just turn around and smash into the ground, the bottle would just explode. But once in awhile, the rocket would shoot upwards until I couldn’t see it. I’m hoping that’s what is going to happen here with Progress V. Anyway, I better head off, see you at the meeting in 2 hours?
Bob : Yeah, see you.

Time skips forward, showing sunset over the North Mountain Range. Camera pans to Jeb, walking around the Space Centre.

**Mission : Get to the Administration Building** Gameplay where you control Jeb and get him to the administration building on the other side of the Space Centre.

Jeb arrives at the Admin Building. He walks into a meeting room where nearly everyone involved with the mission is sitting.

Jeb : Okay then, let’s start this meeting. We’re here to discuss the final objective that needs to be carried out before launch in 2 days, ’‘Choose a Scientist for the Mission’. Where are we with that?
Wernher : Well, I’ve been working for days on this decision. I gone through all the candidates and have decided on Bill Kerman. He’s a brilliant Scientist who in training has shown perfect scores on all simulated environments.
Jeb : Good. Well then meeting over. Oh one final thing, I’m going to be added a small amount of weight to the pod.
Wernher : How much?
Jeb : Only a few grams.
Wernher : That should not affect the launch at all. You may add whatever.
Jeb : Okay, I know exactly what I’m bringing.

**Launch Day, T- 30 minutes until launch**

Jeb, Bill and Bob are in the lift up the launch tower to the command pod. Jeb is looking excited, whilst Bob is once again starting to become anxious of the takeoff. Bill seems to be emotionless, neither scared or excited for the launch.
Mission control is packed with everyone from the KSC and the World Press as the launch is around the corner. Gene Kerman, Mission Director, looks at all the screen up in front of him, some with cameras viewing the rocket, some showing the rocket's path that it will follow up to space and some with gauges showing all of the resource levels, from fuel to breathable oxygen.

Gene : Okay then. T - 20 minutes until Go-No go for launch. How’s everything holding up.

Val, one of the programs best pilots, is a taking the role of Surgeon this mission.

Val : The crew are just being strapped into the pod Sir. Bob was taking his time, sounds pretty anxious.

**Cuts to shot of the pod, with Jeb being strapped in, camera pans to what Jeb is looking at, a small cardboard figure of a pink creature, similar to the ‘humans’ Jeb used when he was a child.**

Gene : Is there anything you can do that will calm him down?
Val : Unfortunately no Sir. Bob always seems to be like this on Missions. He is our best Engineer however, and will be fine.
Gene : I trust you are right.

**Time jumps forward to T-10 Minutes**

Gene : Okay then folks we’re going to run a Go-No go for the launch. BOOSTER?
Booster : Booster is go!
Gene : RETRO?
Retro : Go!
Gene : FIDO?
Fido : Go!
Gene : GUIDANCE?
Guidance : Guidance go!
Gene : SURGEON?
Val : Go!
Gene : EECOM?
Eecom : Go!
Gene : CONTROL?
Control : Go!
Gene : NETWORK?
Network : Go!
Gene : CAPCOM?
Capcom : Capcom is go Sir!
Gene : Okay then. Progress is go for Launch! Good luck!
Jeb : Thank you, Mission Control.

**T- 30 Seconds to Launch, gameplay. Objectives are to get to LKO ( Low Kerbin orbit )**

ACT 2

**Player Successfully Reaches LKO.**

Jeb : Mission Control we have MECO ( Main Engine Cutoff ), confirmed orbit of 92 by 89km.
Gene : Progress, we see you, orbit is within parameters for Mün Transfer.
Jeb : Okay, Mission Control. We’ll see you in two days for transfer. Progress switching to low power mode.

**Sun sets as the Progress goes into Low Power Mode.**

**T+2 Days, 10 minutes since launch**

Val : Progress this is Mission Control, how are you all feeling?
Jeb : I think we’re fine.
Bill : Yeah we are. All the experiments are in working order. We tested the Gravioli Detector and it’s reading 0.61m/s².
Val : Good. Going to hand you over to the Director now.
Gene :  Right then, Progress, you have 30 seconds until Mün Transfer Burn.
Jeb : Yes, Mission Control, we’re ready for burn.

**Gameplay, objective burn all fuel.**

Halfway through burn, a landing leg begins to wobble, and breaks. It hits the engine, breaking a piece of the nozzle. The rocket begins to boost off course.

**New Objective, keep rocket on course, here the player attempts to keep control of the rocket by firing thrusters on the front of the rocket to balance out the thrust at the back.**
**Player successfully completes burn**

Jeb : Okay, that was scary.
Bill : Sounded like a tank rupture.
Bob : Commander, we’ve seemed to have boosted left of our planned trajectory.
Jeb : How far?
Bob : 1000 metres. This means that we will approach the landing zone at the Mün at 1200m/s, 400m/s faster than we wanted.
Jeb : That’s fine, we should have enough in the tank to slow down. We need to get eyes on the orbiter to see what has happened. Bill, get your EVA suit on, go and report back any discoveries.
Bill : Yes sir!

**Gameplay, where you control Bill on EVA, looking for the problems**

Bill : Commander, this is Bill. I have found what appears to be the problem.
Jeb : Go on.
Bill : One of the L2 - landing gears seems to have fallen off…
Jeb: WHAT?!
Bill : ...and it seemed to have scrapped the paint off the side of the fuel tank and then pulled a piece of the rocket nozzle off.
Bob : That’s probably what caused the off-centre thrust.
Jeb : Right then. We need to get things fixed. How’s communication going with Mission Control?
Bob : Nearly there, seems the communications software crashed during the burn.
Jeb : Bill, can we land on 3 gear?
Bill : Um… no. There’s too high a chance of us falling over.
Jeb : What if… we land on the engine?
Bob : That’s crazy, even by your standards.
Jeb : I know, but It might work.
Bob : Maybe it will actually. A long as we fix this issue with the rocket nozzle.
Bill : Are there any spare struts in the containers?
Bob : Um…. yeah, why?
Bill :  If there are enough struts, I can wrap them around the end of the nozzle and that would fill the gap.
Bob : That should work. The struts can survive that heat.

**Gameplay where the player controls Bob, goes and finds the struts container and takes them to the airlock, then switches to Bill and takes the container on EVA out to the engine. Then take the struts and wrap them around the engine nozzle. Involves a minigame where you have to slowly wrap the strut perfectly around the engine by making circular movements with the mouse.**

Bill : Well then that should hold.
Jeb : Good. Do we have communication with Mission Control yet?
Bob : Um… we should. Commander…
Jeb : Mission Control, this is Progress, are you receiving us? Progress to Mission Control?
Gene : This is Mission Control, receiving you loud and clear. What happened?
Jeb : During the transfer burn, a landing gear fell off and took a piece of the engine nozzle with it.
Gene : A LANDING GEAR FELL OFF! Can you try landing on 3 gears?
Jeb : No, but we are going to land on the engine as it’s going to be very stable, especially with the struts we wrapped around the engine to fix the hole.
Wernher : Struts? They should last and be strong enough.
Jeb : Bill ran the numbers Wernher, it’ll work.
Val : Sir, I think they should now get some sleep now whilst they can.
Gene : Okay Val. Guys, get some sleep. You’re gonna need it.
Jeb : Sure, Director. See you in 4 days.

**4 days later, Progress is at it’s closest point to the Mün.**

Gene : Progress this is Mission Control, wakey wakey.
Jeb : Mission Control, this progress. We have “wakey wakey’d”. Bill, Bob, get to your seats, we’re about to a de-orbit burn.
Bill : Have you looked out of the window? The Mün, it’s massive.
Jeb : We’re gonna be walking on it soon. Get seated.

**Gameplay, player must successfully complete a de-orbit burn. Once complete, the orbiter slowly loses height and is now racing fast not that high off the surface.**

Bob : Wow, we’re going fast. I don’t like this.
Jeb : Yeah. I wonder what EVA would be like at this speed.
Bill : I think it would be dangerous, Jeb. Dangerous.
Jeb : Danger is what I live for. Right, we’re about to do our final landing burn.

**Gameplay. Player must successfully perform a landing burn, slowing down and then landing. When player has completed the deceleration and is slowly approaching the ground gameplay ends. Cutscene shows a view of the landing, touching down on the engine.**

Bob :  It seems the struts have done their job.
Jeb : Yeah, we better hope they stay. Mission Control, Elon Site here, the Progress has…

**The strut breaks, launching the ship upwards, tumbling.**

Jeb : Quickly, fire the RCS, try and stabilizing the roll. We should be able to land it perfectly.

**Gas shoots out of the RCS port, stabilizing the ship. It lands again, staying this time.**

Jeb : That was close. Mission Control, Elon Site here, the Progress has landed, again.
Gene : We see a second landing. What happened on the first?
Jeb : We accidentally executed a perfect ‘flip program’.
Val : Are any of you injured?
Bob : No we’re fine. Well I’m not really. Shaken up.
Val : No injures. Good.
Jeb : Right. Bill, shut down the Ship. Me and Bob are going to EVA to the surface.
Bill : Yes Commander.
Jeb : Opening the Hatch. Bob, you following?
Bob : Yes.
Jeb : Wow, it’s beautiful out here. Stepping down the ladder. I should've thought of a clever line.
Bill : You probably should’ve done that. I’m nearly done shutting down Progress. Turning off the APU now… uh oh. Was that the APU, or did I just activate the Termination System?
Jeb : What?

**Progress suddenly comes alive and launches, shooting Jeb and Bob off the ladder and Bill upwards into space, with no control**

**The pod continues upwards, then explodes**

Jeb : Bill!
Bob : NO!
Jeb : Mission Control, we have lost Bill. Mission Control? Mission Control, are you receiving us?

TO BE CONTINUED in…

[Tw1]

Bit of a Kerbal - human role reversal there. Interesting idea.