Devnote Tuesday: cleanup duty

[SQUAD]

Hello everyone!

Sadly we don’t have a ton to share this week: the developers are valiantly pushing forward on the code cleanup project that was started recently. They’re de-LINQing and removing unnecessary loops at a staggering pace. As a result we’ve limited the devnotes to a few small highlights, and everyone’s goodbye message to our technical producer Ted, who left the team earlier this week.

Chris (Porkjet) spent his week focused on improving the Interior lighting of the Editor scenes. It’s much softer now and more consistent throughout the various space center tiers. While working on the lighting, he also made tweaks to the textures of the building interiors and exteriors. The brightness and colors are now more balanced and consistent and the early tiers got a slightly different color scheme which makes it easier to tell them apart. As always, an image tells more than a thousand words so have a look at these screenshots:

• Interiors: http://i.imgur.com/4cVpdqx.jpg
• Exteriors: http://i.imgur.com/6cCrrCn.gif

Dave (TriggerAu) completed the review of our testing processes, looking at areas that worked well and areas that needed improvement. In true QA fashion we made a list of items to fix. Over the last week we have been working on three areas.:

1. Improving our test cases to better cover some areas of the game as well as be clearer on the purpose of each;
2. Getting things alone with the Devs SCRUM model so we can work in tandem and keep the good communication going that we already have; and
3. Looking at the backlog of bugs in all the trackers to try and find the best way to get the key ones visible

More news on the last item will follow soon™.

Last week was also the week after which Ted has left the team to move onto new challenges. Over the past years Ted has worked his way up from a forum moderator, QA tester and director to technical producer and he’s left a major mark on the game. Of course we wish him all the best with his new adventures but we felt compelled to leave a few words:

Kasper (KasperVld)
Ted, I’ve already said in many places that I think I’ve gained a friend for life in the years that we worked together. I mean that, and hope that in the future we’ll cross paths again at gaming shows or just as friends when we happen to be in the same general area. Your work on KSP has been phenomenal, and your drive, friendship and expertise will be missed.

Andrea (Badie)
Ted everyone in KSP will miss you, wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Keep doing amazing things and thanks for everything!

Chris (Porkjet)
So sad to see you go Ted, you’ve been such a dedicated developer and a good friend, always there to help if anyone needed you. It’s been a pleasure working with you and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours.

Bob (Roverdude) 
Ted, thank you for everything you have done, both for the community and for all of us on the dev team.  Your patience and truly world-class cat herding abilities will be sorely missed.  I have no doubt that you will continue to be incredibly successful in the next stage of your career.  It was an absolute pleasure working with you, and I truly wish you all of the best!

Brian (Arsonide)
Ted, although our hairlines have receded a bit over the years as we hammered out tracker issues, it has been a great experience working with you. Good luck in your future endeavors!

Nathanael (NathanKell)
Ted, you have given so much to this community, this game, and this team. You have kept things glued together and working well, you’ve made all of our lives easier and better, and you’ve had amazing success moulding KSP and the team into what it is. I say that speaking both as a team member now–I literally wouldn’t be had you not started the QA ball rolling a year and a half ago–and as a modder then, well recalling your tireless patience dealing with our fractious lot. And of course also as someone proud to consider himself your friend. I will miss you terribly, and wish you nothing but the best.

Dave (TriggerAu)
The man who started me on the path to very late nights and meeting a great bunch of people. Ted you will be missed for you brilliant organisation, your big picture view of whats going on and especially your great friendship. You’ve helped make KSP what it is and helped make it a great project to work on. Many, many thanks.

Steve (Squelch)
Ted, you have given so much of yourself to KSP and the community, you could be described as a Kerbal special envoy. Your tireless work behind the scenes has oiled the gears that make KSP so special, and I thank you both professionally and personally for your endeavours. I wish you luck in your next venture, confident in the knowledge that you’ll bring success to whatever you turn your hand to.  Farewell dear friend.

Mathew (sal_vager)
Ted, thank you so much for everything you’ve done, for KSP, for the players and for me over the years, we all owe you so much and it won’t be the same here without your influence. Take care in everything you do.

A yearn for change

Ways parting

Walk new paths

Bill (taniwha)
I’m sad to see you go, Ted. It was wonderful working with you in experimentals, QA and actually on the team. In many ways it is thanks to you that I am here. Best of luck for your future endeavors.

Nathan (Claw)
I’m not sure we can all adequately express our thanks for your time spent on KSP. You’ve really made a huge difference on the team…keeping the squeaky machine oiled and on the tracks. Much like several of us, we wouldn’t be here without you. Thanks again for your dedication and phenomenal work on KSP, the team, and a personal thanks from me for letting me help out all this time. KSP is what it is thanks to work from fantastic folks like you. Good luck with your future endeavours…Cheers!

That’s it for this week. As always, join our forums, Facebook, Twitter or the KSP Subreddit to discuss the ongoing progress. And don’t forget: KSP is launching on XBox One and PlayStation 4 later this month!

[Cornholio]

First!  Love me some Devnote Tuesdays.

[KerrMü]

Yay! Pics and Gifs. Always makes me happy.

[softweir]

Ted gone!   It's going to be a hard job replacing him with somebody as talented. There aren't that many certificated cat-herders to be found!

[Whirligig Girl]

I am very very happy with the work that Porkjet has done with the KSC. The lower tiers look so much better without that awful blue color. It looks like a real space facility in the lower tiers now. Still a bit too much of a jump from T2 to T3, but clearly y'all're not working to overhaul, just art-pass.

Edited July 5, 2016 by GregroxMun

[HoloYolo]

5th.

Ted leaving sucks. But that is in the past. We must look forward and hope for a great life for Ted, and hopefully a better KSP.

[NoMrBond]

Do you have a before/after pic of the performance profiler? Between say, KSP 1.1 / Unity 5.2.4 and KSP 1.2 / Unity 5.4b showing (as non-comiltally as possible) how much the jitter/stutter has been reduced?

Are there further plans being considered for the KSC?  It feels like there should be some T0 building before the current starter (T1) buildings, and even between the T2 and T3, between which the difference is pretty drastic, for R&D you could even break down the upgrade/s to it's component elements as the T3 building itself looks like it was designed modular.

Finally get some Porktures and it's KSC? You giant teases, where's them rocket partsssssssssss

Otherwise yikes with Ted moseying off into the sunset, who's stepping up to the Technical Producer or QA Lead roles?

[LaytheDragon]

Wow, the reworked Squad staff seen in the farewells to Ted appears much different from those who developed version 1.0! Those who left shall be missed, but it'd be good that there are still many a developer in Squad for 1.2 and beyond.

[Alshain]

For someone who isn't much of a videophile, what exactly are we looking at in those pictures?

[Iamsodarncool]

1 hour ago, GregroxMun said:

y'all're

I have never heard nor seen that word written before.

[Whirligig Girl]

39 minutes ago, Iamsodarncool said:

I have never heard nor seen that word written before.

It is rare, even in Southern U.S.A.

[EBOSHI]

Thanks for great works of Ted and all developers.

And, after clean up of code, I hope that big construction work begins.

I pray that there is a happy future awaiting Ted, developers, players, and the universe! 

Edited July 6, 2016 by EBOSHI

[klgraham1013]

Fair thee well, valiant Ted.  May the Kraken watch over you, yet also ignore you.

Edited July 6, 2016 by klgraham1013

[Robotengineer]

Are there any developers now who weren't modders at some point? Or, are there any original members of the team left?

[Alshain]

10 minutes ago, Robotengineer said:

Are there any developers now who weren't modders at some point? Or, are there any original members of the team left?

There was only one original team member, but Mu is still there and he is pretty close.

[smjjames]

Dangit, Ted left yesterday? Theres a bunch of turnover going on, but I guess it's inevitable and every company goes through this period anyway.

What is de-LINQing?

Anyway, not seeing much difference between the new tier 3 editor scenes (a before and after image would probably be good) compared to now, except maybe the lights are working again and the scaffolding is not so dark? The tier 1 and 2 editors definetly look better now though.

Also, now that we have metallic stuff (the new shaders and effects in unity that are getting implemented/turned on), I wonder if we'll have shiny windows?

[Ippo]

2 hours ago, smjjames said:

Dangit, Ted left yesterday? Theres a bunch of turnover going on, but I guess it's inevitable and every company goes through this period anyway.

What is de-LINQing?

Anyway, not seeing much difference between the new tier 3 editor scenes (a before and after image would probably be good) compared to now, except maybe the lights are working again and the scaffolding is not so dark? The tier 1 and 2 editors definetly look better now though.

Also, now that we have metallic stuff (the new shaders and effects in unity that are getting implemented/turned on), I wonder if we'll have shiny windows?

LINQ is basically a Microsoft Library that allows you to write code that is very short, expressive and easy to read. It also happens to be quite inefficient, so the devs are now going through the code and replacing LINQ calls with "normal" code, which will be less terse but more efficient.

[AlamoVampire]

i hope the cleanup includes that irritating mechanic that is stopping clearly free stuff from working simply because the game thinks its INSIDE a cargo bay or fairing or w/e when its clearly not.

[Streetwind]

6 hours ago, Alshain said:

For someone who isn't much of a videophile, what exactly are we looking at in those pictures?

I think the first one is just a general showcase of the new lighting. You probably need to compare it to what you see ingame right now to be able to tell the difference.

The second one shows how building tier 2 now looks more visually different from building tier 1. Right now those tiers have the same textures, but tier 2 is getting new ones. I felt that looked pretty obvious in the gif.

[Capt Snuggler]

Moar Porktures!!!

[WhereAmI]

It looks like we won't see reworked rocket parts in 1.2.

[Capt Snuggler]

2 hours ago, WhereAmI said:

It looks like we won't see reworked rocket parts in 1.2.

BOOOOOOOOO

[smjjames]

2 hours ago, WhereAmI said:

It looks like we won't see reworked rocket parts in 1.2.

Why do you assume so?

Also, DON'T assume so.

[Mutex]

13 hours ago, GregroxMun said:

It is rare, even in Southern U.S.A.

Y'all'd've thought it would be more common.

[beelzerob]

On the topic of pessimistic assumptions, I'll go with the console release at the end of July will push 1.2 back at least a month.  October maybe?