Story

[Antiglow]

As we wait for the game to become more stable, I wanted to bring up the topic of story.
 

While the main focus of this game should be creativity and a realistic space simulator it’s always important to have a reason to explore beyond just landing on new planets. I feel it is one of the main things the previous game lacked. 

I know the devs have ideas and probably a few things already in the works in regards to story with a few of those being already hinted at in videos and models found in the files. 

However, It’s important for the story to not simply be just Easter eggs, but actually be something interesting that ties the world together and drives the player to explore other planets and star systems. 

The closest thing that comes to mind is The Outer Wilds which is a masterpiece with this concept. (If you haven’t played it, play it now) I will not spoil it here. 

If the devs could capture at least 10% of what The Outer Wilds does with its way of story telling and driving the player to explore planets for the sake of exploration and uncovering a mystery, it would make this game much more engaging and may also entice a wider audience. 

It would help planets not feel like barren lifeless spheres but like they have some mystery to them, something to uncover and some reason to be there. It could even tie into mining and resource gathering like “the player must drill down beneath the monument to learn of the xyz to and understand the next step” 

Adding the story into other science tools such as signal systems, telescopes, terrain and thermal mapping systems etc as well would be expected and an exciting experience. 
 

Imagine getting a strange signal from a distant planet or star system you need to triangulate. Now you have to setup sensors on different planets to get a fix. 

What if mapping the planet with SCANsat revealed something undetectable to the naked eye? Need to build a rover to get there

Find a strange mark on the planet? Turns out material analysis shows that the dirt is not native to this planet. Wonder where it could be from. 

Things like that, but have them tie together into a deeper mystery, not a simple Easter egg. 

Thoughts? 

 

[Periple]

Yes! I think the game would be much easier to get into if there was a story to hook you in and Outer Wilds style environmental storytelling would be the way to go. Once you’ve finished the story you would still keep playing as usual and if you started a new game you should be able to ignore the story. So I don’t think the story should be linked to progression, it should be a motivation though.

[regex]

I ... quite frankly I'm not interested in that with KSP. To me this game is about my successes, failures, and achievements, not following some sort of pre-defined plot (and if it's procedurally generated all the worse). At its core this is a physics sim sandbox with the ability to build individual craft, allowing you to surmount certain challenges of (space)flight (or driving too, I guess). Adding in these sorts of story elements would also greatly reduce replayability in my mind since all the wonder of engaging with those elements will be gone on any future playthrough. For that matter, what happens when the plot is over? What does the player do when all that's left is the sandbox? You're back to square one, a sandbox.

I am not at all opposed to story and enjoy many games that spin awesome narratives (Elden Ring, for one), but KSP isn't really suited for that IMO.

[Periple]

I don’t think there should be a plot. It’s not the same as story! I think Outer Wilds is a really good example of how it could work. I won’t spoil anything, but how it works is that you can go anywhere you like from the very beginning, you visit places, find secrets hidden around the little solar system you’re in, figure out clues, and eventually understand what the big mystery of the world you’re in is. There’s no predefined order in which you have to do things, you can just sightsee if you want to, and the reward is unraveling that mystery you find yourself in.

In a game like KSP that could be a lot lighter because it’s not the main gameplay focus, and it should be possible to just ignore it, but it could totally work and I’m sure it would help keep new players engaged as they figure out how to do things. Also if it’s done well it would just be fun!

[Sp1f]

Yeah, I respectfully disagree. I enjoyed the fact that the easter eggs in KSP1 don’t have explanations, because that allowed the community to come up with their own explanations. There are fan made full length feature films (like a dozen of them) made from cinematic KSP1 footage, all revolving around the stories people made up to explain the anomalies. Also hilarious graphic novels. If the devs spell these things out for us then it just stifles our creativity.

It’s way more fun for everyone if they just  give us weird things to find, then sit back and laugh at what we do with it.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Sp1f

[Kroven]

Yeah, I wouldn't mind having more local things to see. Even unique natural wonders scattered across planets would suffice for me.  Flying around Kerbin is fun, and setting my planes up and fiddling with settings and design for optimal flight has kept me entertained, but having a purpose for flying around and exploring at least some celestial bodies would be nice.

But  I'm excited to see what we have in store for us in the future.  Modders could potentially do this sort of thing later, I hope!

[Royalswissarmyknife]

5 minutes ago, Sp1f said:

Yeah, I respectfully disagree. I enjoyed the fact that the easter eggs in KSP1 don’t have explanations, because that allowed the community to come up with their own explanations. There are fan made full length feature films (like a dozen of them) made from cinematic KSP1 footage, all revolving around the stories people made up to explain the anomalies. Also hilarious graphic novels. If the devs spell these things out for us then it just stifles our creativity.

It’s way more fun for everyone if they just  give us weird things to find, then sit back and laugh at what we do with it.

100% agree Ksp isn't a game with story and lore

[Antiglow]

19 hours ago, Sp1f said:

Yeah, I respectfully disagree. I enjoyed the fact that the easter eggs in KSP1 don’t have explanations, because that allowed the community to come up with their own explanations. There are fan made full length feature films (like a dozen of them) made from cinematic KSP1 footage, all revolving around the stories people made up to explain the anomalies. Also hilarious graphic novels. If the devs spell these things out for us then it just stifles our creativity.

It’s way more fun for everyone if they just  give us weird things to find, then sit back and laugh at what we do with it.

I agree that it is nice that people came up with their own, but I think that was more of a reaction to a lack of it exiting in the first place and to make up for the game missing it. I don't think the devs creating their own mystery prevents modders and creators from doing the same. Both can exist at the same time.

19 hours ago, Royalswissarmyknife said:

100% agree Ksp isn't a game with story and lore

The great thing about a mystery like this is you can ignore it easily and have the same KSP 1 sandbox experience. 

--
To clarify especially to those that don't know Outer Wilds. I am not talking about a tunneled story or narrative that is spoken to you in any way. No pre-roll, no cutscenes, no blockers of any kind, the mystery is only solved based on knowledge the player gains and the player starts with no knowledge of the world or even that a mystery exists. Clues point to each other and if you want to follow them you can if you don't, then don't. At the end the mystery is much clearer but still left up to the player's interpretation of it all. But for players that want more of a reason/purpose to explore and more to the planets this would be very engaging.

(Unlike outer wilds I don't think there should be a translator or text beyond that which comes back from your science devices as a readout. )

Also I think the clues should be a bit harder to solve, not as hard as the SSTV Duna signal where you need external software to view the image but a little more science heavy than the normal game. 

[KSK]

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this. I agree that a scripted story wouldn’t be a good fit - and I say this as someone who’s spent a lot of time writing KSP fiction.

I don’t know The Outer Wilds (although this thread is selling me on it!) but that kind of optional mystery story telling might work better. What I’m not sure about is how optional I’d find it and whether I could actually ignore it or not.

I suppose the obvious answer is to make it a separate game mode or to have a setting to toggle it on or off, but that doesn’t seem very satisfactory either.

I’m not a fan of the Easter eggs - I find them out of place, especially the more pop-culture ones like the KSP1 monoliths. I’d much prefer geologic or geographic places of interest to go and find.

 

[mcwaffles2003]

 

On 3/3/2023 at 1:44 PM, Antiglow said:

Adding the story into other science tools such as signal systems, telescopes, terrain and thermal mapping systems etc as well would be expected and an exciting experience. 
 

Imagine getting a strange signal from a distant planet or star system you need to triangulate. Now you have to setup sensors on different planets to get a fix. 

What if mapping the planet with SCANsat revealed something undetectable to the naked eye? Need to build a rover to get there

Find a strange mark on the planet? Turns out material analysis shows that the dirt is not native to this planet. Wonder where it could be from. 

Things like that, but have them tie together into a deeper mystery, not a simple Easter egg. 

 

I'd prefer a larger overarching narrative not be present. I'd like the planets and colony gameplay mechanics be enough to give people the drive. City:Skylines doesn't need story, Planet coaster doesn't need story, MSFS2020 doesnt need story, and I don't see why KSP 2 does. That said, little tidbits here n there letting they player know the universe has existed before we the players arrived is nice, I don't think it should be the drive, but as long as it stays vague I think it could be something cool.

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by mcwaffles2003

[obney kerman]

I think story should really just be limited to easter eggs and other stuff that's completely optional. The beauty of stuff like the Kraken and the crashed saucers in KSP1 was that it let you make your own interpretation, and they were all things that you could play for hundreds of hours and not find. Making a rigidly defined story kind of takes that mystery out of it, in my opinion.

[Kerbart]

Actually you can have both.

Story Mode: a game mode where a player starts with a "story," similar to the Missions in KSP1. Players can create their own stories and share them on the forum.  A story file has landmarks (made out of crafts) scattered all over the universe, each can contain a hint on to where to find the next. Maybe a deserted ghost ship will provide the next hint... or a deserted rover on top of K2. A story engine which can be programmed in C# or Lua will be provided and can make the story less static.

I don;t think missions ever were a success but this could definitely work, perhaps as DLC?

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kerbart