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Devnote Tuesdays: The "Thousand Words" Edition

SQUAD

By SQUAD
in KSP1 The Daily Kerbal

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SQUAD

SQUAD

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<p><img src="https://31.media.tumblr.com/0ff9377afa68dc3ad3fe6844aaf1bd38/tumblr_inline_nfzdgprDah1rr2wit.jpg"/></p>

<p><strong>Felipe (HarvesteR)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> How to explain the insanity that was this week? I could tell of how testing and bugfixing has been going on pretty much non-stop from waking up to going to bed, and how this fabled concept of a “week-end†has become a strange, alien notion… But that wouldn’t cover it. I could also tell of how during this I moved to a new apartment, and took apart my computer (and desk, they’ve kind of become one unit at this point) and hauled it to the new place, put it back together again, and now I’m working through a 3G tether while the internet isn’t hooked up. But that wouldn’t be the whole story either… I should also tell that I’m getting married this Friday, and that all the preparations for that have happened </span><span>while </span><span>all that other stuff was going on… But really, I think I can more accurately explain how things are going over here by simply saying that the only reason I know that today is Tuesday again is because I’m writing a dev note. Madness I tell you, madness!</span></p>

<p><span>The game is looking pretty cool though. It should be well worth the effort once it’s all said and done. Most features are integrated and working together now in the main development branch. We have had a fair share of merging issues, but that was about expected, given how much was changed in this update. Most of those are taken care of now, and it’s really cool to see it all come together. </span></p>

<p><span>If I remember right, last week, I was writing about the challenges of coming up with meaningful, logical gameplay effects for each facility and for the Kerbal skills. We had many a discussion about those, and we’ve got a few new features as a result of that, which I think a lot of people will enjoy. There should be a screenshot about that further down, so keep on reading.</span></p>

<p><strong>Alex (aLeXmOrA): </strong><span>I’ve been working with Kasper trying to set a test instance for a new forum software. We want to check it and see how it works, and if it fits what we’re looking for and it’s a better option than vBulletin, we may want to change the KSP Forums. Also, I’m helping to change the VAB crew shown on each version of the VAB building. Since there are different tiers, I thought there should not be the same kerbals working around the building in each one.</span></p>

<p><strong>Mike (Mu):</strong><span> It’s been another QA week, so rushing around fixing bugs, finishing off the new pilot skills and its UI. Basically, pilot skills are a set of additional SAS type modes which allow the pilot to lock onto various vectors. All of these modes are available in sandbox but they will only activate in career as you level up Kerbals with the pilot trait.</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Marco (Samssonart):</strong> </span><span>I spent this week implementing the new building and wreck models Dan, Roger and Nick got as soon as they had them finished. By now, we’ve got the final versions of practically everything ready. We do have a couple wrecked buildings missing, though, but everything should be ready by the time we hit experimentals.</span></p>

<p><strong>Daniel (danRosas)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> After last weeks crazy crunch time, this has been a bit lighter. Just a bit. We finished the models, and it’s all into tweaking those small details that are popping out, thanks to our QA team. Managed to create some nice floors for the interiors after struggling with how they were implemented in the past. Turned out it was very easy. A tiled texture on the floor, and some decal lines with alpha with their cast shadows turned off. .After that, there have been some updates to the buildings grounds. That said, today I finished the wrecked buildings for the Research and Development compound. I’m happy to say, all models are modeled :D</span></p>

<p><strong>Jim (Romfarer)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> It has been another week of bugfixing and finishing up all the icons that are supposed to go into the editor toolbar. I also made the toolbar filters moddable and added some static methods to make this process a lot easier than the way it’s done internally.</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Max (Maxmaps):</strong> .</span><span>The push for experimentals continues as QA gets thinner. This week I’ve focused more on things surrounding KSP, such as working with the website, helping with some quirks regarding the forums, as well as looking into revisions regarding our legal stances on community projects. These are things we are cool with and should encourage some more. You should also be seeing a survey regarding KSP merch in the near future. </span></p>

<p><strong>Ted (Ted):</strong><span> These dev notes seem to be whizzing by. I can’t quite believe it’s December already! It’s been another busy week for all of us in QA. We’ve got all the 0.90 features into the main QA git branch, which is a good indication of how stable QA is currently and a factor that makes QA go a bit more smoothly (no more jumping between various branches and features).</span></p>

<p><span>We’ve had some pretty grim and elusive issues this past week and they’ve been excellently tracked down and squished thankfully. The upgradable facilities system provided a good handful of very difficult issues, with an ever continuing cycle of fix, check, fix, check, etc. Thankfully, hard work and late nights are paying off and those bugs are dropping like winged bugs that can no longer fly.</span></p>

<p><span>There’s not a whole lot more to talk about, but they say that a picture speaks a thousand words - especially pictures with lots of words in them like <a href="https://i.imgur.com/UYdC6Yj.png"><strong>THIS ONE</strong></a><br/></span></p>

<p><span>This is the UI that accompanies a Level 3 Kerbal with the Role of Pilot. Clicking each one will have the Kerbal hold each of the listed attitudes, with each one being unlocked as they level up from Level 0 where they start with the Stability Assist (old SAS). That image also serves as a nice preview of the fancy tooltips coming in 0.90!</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Anthony (Rowsdower):</strong> Greetings and meetings are the words of the hour. Things are looking mighty sunny over here, but it’s always sunny in Dunadelphia. Some of the aforementioned meetings from last week have proved quite fruitful and there’s some more this week that look to build on that. I know, I know, meetings and office things, blah blah blah. Might seem a bit boring on the outside, but in-house, there’s some pretty exciting stuff going on, which I hope comes together in a more, um, communicable way, sooner than later.<br/></span></p>

<p><strong>Kasper (KasperVld):</strong><span> Looking back on this week, I can safely say I’m glad that university exams weren’t planned for this or next week. Between moderating, paperwork, QA testing, working with Alex to set up some test environments for forum software and email answering I’ve spent an incredible amount of time with and for the community, and I’m loving it. Meanwhile, in other countries, the devs are very busy coding, modelling and testing, <a href="

No Hack Gravity tonight: @TanukiChau is working through the weekend with @Mike_Geelan to get biomes done for 0.90! #dedicated

— KasperVld (@KasperVld)

November 30, 2014
"><strong>WORKING OVERTIME</strong></a> to get 0.90 done. It’s looking like an incredibly content rich update so far. As QA moves forward and experimentals are coming ever closer, that part of the work should die down a little for me and I’ll be able to focus on the forums a bit more. </span></p>

<p><span>Did I mention KSP-TV yet? They hosted “Kerbol Con” last Saturday. It was great fun to watch. Props to all the streamers and the people who organized the event. <br/></span></p>

<p>Now it’s time to once again spotlight the community. I can no longer imagine my game without a good dose of <a href="http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/56440"><strong>ANTENNARANGE</strong></a>, a neat mod that adds a maximum range to your antennae, as well as allowing you to build communication networks and giving you the option to require an active communications link to control a probe. It certainly adds a level of complexity to the game in a way that is as frustrating as it is fun when you suddenly lose the communications link midway during landing your probe on a planet..</p>

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Bill Phil

Bill Phil

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Wow. I hope by old SAS you mean pre-0.21 SAS, because that's what I was thinking as I read the earlier parts of the devnotes.

Great job! You guys work really hard for this game, and I can't thank you enough. Looks like you're a bunch of true kerbals.

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Twreed87

Twreed87

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Awesome! I like the idea of this pilot thing!

EDIT: Oh, and what do you mean by "old SAS?" Does this mean the Kerbals can perform the function of the pre-.21 SAS or will SAS require Kerbals now?

I think what it means is that by default, they have the ability of current SAS. That is, they can keep the ship heading in the direction it currently is. Then you unlock new features, like the ability to stay pointed prograde, or towards the target, etc. A probe core and a lvl 0 Kerbal pilot would behave exactly as they currently do.

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BudgetHedgehog

BudgetHedgehog

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So, kerbals are BAD455 and Smart ASSes.. I think Squad has a predilection for donkeys, yes :)

Seriously though, having the little guys be able to actually hold a vector is pretty awesome. If there's one thing I hate, it's that even with SAS on, sometimes it can't stay pointing in the same direction, even if it's possible with manual inputs.

And of course, congrats to Harv! You found a very patient lady! :D

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DerpenWolf

DerpenWolf

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Here's hoping that engineer Kerbals can repair solar panels! Also I wonder if we are going to get a scientist kerbal that gets more science from observations, can remove experiments from parts, and maybe even clean experiments (they would probually carry X amount of cleaning/refill kits per kerbal so that the lab module is not totally unneeded). This also all looks like its going to make for one of the best updates!! Can't wait!

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