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I just watched old KSP trailer video from time the game was first officially released


Pawelk198604

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And when i saw i always thing about Challenger and Soyuz 1 tragedy, i think it was little bit offensive if you ask me :( 

 

But the other things feel is 

Disasters don't just happen the're a chain of critical events unravel the faitful desicions in the final sceonds from disaster

 

 

 

 

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I mean...it's KSP...

More than half of this game's reputation comes from things failing in spectacular ways. There's even an entire thread dedicated to "you will not go to space today."

Yes, Challenger and Soyuz 1 were massive tragedies, but I highly (I'll say again: HIGHLY) doubt Squad was poking fun at those specific instances...

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29 minutes ago, Greenfire32 said:

I mean...it's KSP...

More than half of this game's reputation comes from things failing in spectacular ways. There's even an entire thread dedicated to "you will not go to space today."

Yes, Challenger and Soyuz 1 were massive tragedies, but I highly (I'll say again: HIGHLY) doubt Squad was poking fun at those specific instances...

But obviously SQUAD PR squad did do their homework well :P 

The reference is obvious for every space flight enthusiasts :)   

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You aren't the first to think of that, or the first to comment on it. I also thought that video was in poor taste, as did a fair number of others when it first came out.

It's worth mentioning that Squad isn't completely oblivious to this. There used to be a somewhat tasteless joke about things catching fire around Gus Kerman (the head of operations in the Admin building), which was changed after a lot of people pointed it out. Given that this is a promotional video already released, though, and not something in-game that can be changed any time, I think it's unlikely Squad will do anything about it. (Although an apology would be appreciated.)

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10 minutes ago, Hotaru said:

You aren't the first to think of that, or the first to comment on it. I also thought that video was in poor taste, as did a fair number of others when it first came out.

It's worth mentioning that Squad isn't completely oblivious to this. There used to be a somewhat tasteless joke about things catching fire around Gus Kerman (the head of operations in the Admin building), which was changed after a lot of people pointed it out. Given that this is a promotional video already released, though, and not something in-game that can be changed any time, I think it's unlikely Squad will do anything about it. (Although an apology would be appreciated.)

I understand that Gus Kerman was supposed to be a reference to a character from a popular TV show that was related to catching things on fire. It's unfortunate that Gus Grissom died in a fire. But you're right - it has been fixed and actually replaced with a homage to his commitment of having windows installed on crewed capsules.

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4 minutes ago, Three_Pounds said:

I understand that Gus Kerman was supposed to be a reference to a character from a popular TV show that was related to catching things on fire. It's unfortunate that Gus Grissom died in a fire. But you're right - it has been fixed and actually replaced with a homage to his commitment of having windows installed on crewed capsules.

I think that's Walt Kerman you're thinking of, the hazmat suit guy. I'm pretty sure Gus was a reference to Grissom. They handled it well in the end though.

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To be frank some dark humor regarding real life tragedies in space exploration isn't a bad thing. Its just dark.  But besides that, as has been stated part of the fun of KSP is the spectacular failure and frankly you can't showcase that without it reminding you of Columbia or Challenger or any of the other failures in real life. 

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Despite whether you think it was in poor taste or not, I think laughing at the imminent deaths of two astronauts wasn't the best choice for the 1.0 Ready, launch trailer.  I'd like to think KSP's heart isn't really about laughing at exploding rockets, and for that to be what you choose to highlight in your launch trailer...  I just don't get it.   Seriously which one of these trailers gets you more excited to play the game?

Personally, I've watched Build. Fly. Dream. more times than I'd like to admit.  It even features super hilarious explosions and probable astronaut death.  ...but how does it end?  What is it's closing statement?  The beauty of triumph in KSP.  Struggling, only to succeed in such a grand and glorious fashion.

A trailer shouldn't be just a comical short only slightly related to your product.  This is your time to tell everyone what you believe your product is all about; why it's so amazing.  ...and the above is what Squad wanted to say.

That I will never understand.

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I think that we can laugh at the Kerbals exploding because the player can just load a quick save and all of a sudden the Kerbals are back. That's probably part of why the explosions are "funny", since there used to only be the Big Three, no others, and they'd always respawn even after the worst disasters. Humans, of course, have no such luxury.

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2 hours ago, klgraham1013 said:

Personally, I've watched Build. Fly. Dream. more times than I'd like to admit

I think that is a way better trailer, for several reasons, one of which is that it's all in game footage that hasn't been enhanced. I never really liked the 1.0 trailer because it's not what KSP looks like.

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This is strictly my personal opinion and interpretation on things, but I think a lot of people have taken the 1.0 launch trailer a bit too literally.  When Warner Bros portrayed The Coyote and Road Runner in the Looney Tunes decades ago, it was meant as a humorous chase and chased dynamic for the purpose of comedy.  Was WB actually advocating that it was in good taste for animals to continuously be hurt by dynamite and long falls into a ravine? I seriously doubt so.  We create satiric cartoons because generally it's seen as poor taste to display to kids scenes of death and physical harm of human beings.

KSP has been marketed as a game for all ages.  I'm sure that constantly seeing humans die in explosions and horrible craft-disintegrating impacts wouldn't allow for an "E" ESRB rating.  Regardless of the rating, I'm also sure a lot of parents wouldn't allow their younger children to play such a game if it featured humans dying and not fictional creatures.  Did Squad mean to advocate that it is a laughable matter when human beings die in the name of exploration and scientific advancement? I sincerely doubt it.

What I do believe (yes, just a belief because I'm not a member of Squad myself, but I give people the benefit of the doubt) is that Squad meant to bring a lighter, slapstick tone to Kerbal Space Program so that younger audiences weren't necessarily traumatized or horrified by inevitable failure when they were trying to design and test their rockets.  I believe the intent was to stimulate the imagination and encourage interest in physics and science, not to be callous in the face of legitimate human tragedy.  Children will learn about the realities of the real world soon enough, long before they get a job working on real rockets with real people on them.  But for now, I think a little humor with small, green, cartoon-ish looking Kerbals in fake scenarios of peril is just fine.

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37 minutes ago, Raptor9 said:

Squad meant to bring a lighter, slapstick tone to Kerbal Space Program so that younger audiences weren't necessarily traumatized or horrified by inevitable failure when they were trying to design and test their rockets.

I suspect you're right that this was the intent, but I think it had the opposite effect to what was intended. I'd have been horrified by that trailer when I was a kid. Even today, it makes me kind of ill.

The thing about Wile E. Coyote was he never actually died--he was always back for the next cartoon. The implied permadeath in the KSP 1.0 trailer gives it a very different, and much darker, feel, and one that I really don't think belongs in the cartoony kerbal world. An extra couple of shots at the end showing Gene hitting a big "Reset Flight" button and Jeb, Val, and their rocket materializing back on the launch pad could've achieved a different effect, but they chose not to do that.

Edited by Hotaru
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This is the video that made me buy the game. I had never heard of KSP and knew nothing about it. Through the magic of Steam advertising, I saw the official release. I'm not a space nut or sci-fi freak, but I clicked on it the way you would any game that sounds like it might be interesting. I watched this video and was hooked.

Making light of space-related tragedies would make me as angry as anybody else. But that is not what this is. It's a promo for a video game; and it's absolutely hysterical. They actually forgot to pack the chute. I cracked up when I saw it and moved on to the all-powerful reviews. By the second review I already knew I would buy the game. And it was all because of this video. It's more of a comical "human" error parody than anything else. The closest analog in the human space program would probably be the Mars probe that burned up when someone forgot to convert American to metric.

I don't believe there's anything here that warrants a change or an apology. It's a clever marketing promo that does exactly what it was meant to: it gets new players interested in the game through a bit of humor. And I am not one of the guys who think failure is funny. I take the game seriously and, when something goes wrong, I'd be more likely to smash my laptop than laugh about it. Humor can be powerful, though. It got me to further investigate a game I would've skipped past and never gave a second thought to. I'd have forty bucks and a couple thousand hours of my life back, but I consider it time and money well spent. I think it's a great video, and I hope they don't change a bit of it.

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They are cartoon characters. If heads 1/2 their body size, green skin and frog-like eyes aren't enough indication for that, I don't know what is.

Of course you can read into it what you want, but I doubt it was Squad's intention to make a "Challenger joke." Using similar vague references we should be disgusted by the game as a whole, as rockets can be used to deliver nuclear weapons.

The whole thing is just an "Epic failure! No, they're saved! Nevermind..." joke. Sometimes a rose is just a rose. No need to search for deeper meaning or references.

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  • 2 months later...

It's not the best trailer Squad have ever put out.  For me it's too far removed from what you actually do within the game, and looks completely different with it's enhanced graphics.  If I was new to the game, having bought it on the strength of that trailer, I'd be asking myself why the game looked so different and when do I get to the part where I can play the mission controller.

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