Behind The Scenes Documentary

[ZooNamedGames]

A suggestion I have is by far the most unique as this isn't something that would be implemented into the game beyond a web link. My suggestion is an inside look into Squad development of KSP. As I think it would be cool for some of us less savvy and less familiar with what's going on in the background, and we could have Squad lead us through the 'magic' that allows KSP to simulate an entire solar system on our desktop and with the efficiency of being able to simulate it all with even our weakest computers. Answering questions and showing us how the game handles loading planets and as you approach them, how KSP manages distant terrain and so forth. 

This is something that used to be present in games 20 years ago when the GameCube, PS1 Dreamcast and original Xbox, first released and introduced the possibility to utilize full motion video (FMVs). An era where literally anything and everything would be an FMV; cutscenes, intros, loading screens, transitions, end credits and more. As the 2000s rolled on, this novelty faded (and rightfully so for some part), but in that era there were two games in particular that used this feature to stand out from the rest in my opinion. That being Star Wars Rogue Squadron games on GameCube. Both of which came with documentary videos showing what the game's history was like leading up to and after it's release and showing development rolls (Rogue Leader Documentary Video, Rebel Strike Documentary Video). This allowed me as a player to really understand what the game had to overcome and what challenges the game had.

And most importantly to me- I think it would be a great chance for Squad to come forward and publicly state what their vision of KSP has become. I previously a year or so back, mentioned that KSP is mindless right now with no true identity or direction. As Squad originally made a silly space game about buildings rockets and allowing us to explore space and laugh as we blew ourselves up trying. Now, the silliness has started to be washed away by more serious, slicker more realistic textures and designs, while the old identity of KSP as silly and humorous remains. Leaving the question- what's Squad's vision for KSP. As I said on the same post, making suggestions is difficult as I don't know what KSP's path will be. 

But this is just my thoughts. What are yours? Am I an idiot? Should this be relegated to just a YouTube interview with the developers?

[Xurkitree]

Doesn't this exist already, even if its not as big as you wanted?

 

[ZooNamedGames]

5 hours ago, Xurkitree said:

Doesn't this exist already, even if its not as big as you wanted?

 

That really doesn’t cover the behind the scenes look at what’s Squad work is like, the challenges, etc.

[Tyko]

On 5/8/2019 at 7:10 AM, ZooNamedGames said:

That really doesn’t cover the behind the scenes look at what’s Squad work is like, the challenges, etc.

I'd think one challenge of working at Squad would be putting 40 (or 50 or 70+) hours a week into a project...developing, debugging, re-debugging. Finally announcing it and having members of the community say A) they're just hacks copying modders' work and B) all their work has no monetary value and they should just give it away for free.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Tyko

[ZooNamedGames]

54 minutes ago, Tyko said:

I'd think one challenge of working at Squad would be putting 40 (or 50 or 70+) hours a week into a project...developing, debugging, re-debugging. Finally announcing it and having members of the community say A) they're just hacks copying modders' work and B) all their work has no monetary value and they should just give it away for free.

That's always present with any developer and any game, but A) can be worded in a way that's less a cringey, and B) can be overlooked mentioning technical challenges, and in team challenges. Especially with having to develop one of the first space exploration simulators with custom and lego built vehicles. There's plenty of story there without having to delve into the negative aspects.

[pandaman]

On 5/7/2019 at 10:54 PM, ZooNamedGames said:

But this is just my thoughts. What are yours? Am I an idiot? Should this be relegated to just a YouTube interview with the developers?

My thoughts...  Nice idea, some has been covered a bit, as mentioned by @Xurkitree, but I do like that type of thing when they do them.

I suspect you meant more of a 'fly on the wall documentary' of life in the office rather than how they did specific features, yes that could be an interesting thing to see if done well, but it could so easily be really dull too as they would need to be careful about what they show as far as development goes, so if you want to see what "new stuff' they are working on then, I doubt that will happen (product secrecy etc).

 

YouTube interview?...  Yes, that would be a good platform for this, a link from the forums and the website would work.

 

Are you an idiot?...  Brave question.

[CycloneStorm]

Awsome!!!

[ZooNamedGames]

1 minute ago, pandaman said:

I suspect you meant more of a 'fly on the wall documentary' of life in the office rather than how they did specific features, yes that could be an interesting thing to see if done well, but it could so easily be really dull too as they would need to be careful about what they show as far as development goes, so if you want to see what "new stuff' they are working on then, I doubt that will happen (product secrecy etc).

I definitely would like to know what kind of things goes on with Squad life. It's why I linked the two Rogue Squadron Video Game documentaries since they go into detail of some of the stuff they do, the things they've overcome, the difficulties of deadlines, hardware challenges they've overcome, and a small peak into each developers unique personality (a quick watch will show what kind of crazy stuff some of those people did for the camera back in '00 when Rogue Leader was in development).

For some it might be boring and I get that, and fully understand that some people come to a video game to play and not to watch. Which makes sense but for some, like myself, it may be interesting to know what makes KSP tick so to speak. Learn what the dynamics is internally and what KSP's history and future is. There's lots that can be addressed thanks to this. Earlier today I mentioned KSP's seemingly aimless direction right now and a video on the game's past, present and future could address that quite easily.

19 minutes ago, pandaman said:

YouTube interview?...  Yes, that would be a good platform for this, a link from the forums and the website would work.

It could work but I think more would see if it was connected to the game internally. But that's just my opinion.

20 minutes ago, pandaman said:

Are you an idiot?...  Brave question.

I'd rather be told I did something wrong brutally then to not know and make the same mistake twice!

[klgraham1013]

21 hours ago, Tyko said:

I'd think one challenge of working at Squad would be putting 40 (or 50 or 70+) hours a week into a project...developing, debugging, re-debugging. Finally announcing it and having members of the community say A) they're just hacks copying modders' work and B) all their work has no monetary value and they should just give it away for free.

Try writing music.