Do you feel KSP is ready for 1.0?

[basic.syntax]

STEAM stats: Helpful customer reviews

Recent Positive (16,776) Negative (277)

How is some number of reviewers crying about 1.0 "game's buggy, dated graphics, features incomplete - stay away" going to compete with thousands of others replying "...but, I had a great time?"

Still not worried.

[Fourjays]

I voted no for two reasons.

1) With all the changes listed, there needs to be at least one more beta release to iron out any flaws. Reviewers will be harsh given Squad doesn't have the big bucks of EA, Activision or Ubisoft to persuade them otherwise.

2) I still feel the science system needs work. While everything else has been added/improved around it, the science system has been left to gather cobwebs. It's satisfying enough early on, but it needs some growth and variation to it to keep it fresh beyond the first few hours of play. After a very short while the only variation in science is the scenery. It's just another currency that fails to capture any essence of what space science is about...

[Whirligig Girl]

2) I still feel the science system needs work. While everything else has been added/improved around it, the science system has been left to gather cobwebs. It's satisfying enough early on, but it needs some growth and variation to it to keep it fresh beyond the first few hours of play. After a very short while the only variation in science is the scenery. It's just another currency that fails to capture any essence of what space science is about...

According to Maxmaps, the science system is being overhauled, I guess that's just fit under rebalances. He wants to make it less of a clickfest.

- - - Updated - - -

I voted yes. It seems clear from Squad's statements that the KSP we will have at 1.0 is the KSP they envisioned when they started out. They have also made it clear that they intend to fix all of the known bugs. Provided that they are able to achieve these two things, then they are well within their rights to declare the game "done".

With the initial development of KSP completed, Squad can then move to fleshing out the game with new content. The Kerbol system needs a decent main asteroid belt, multiple gas giants, a Kuiper belt, and for good measure, an Oort cloud for end-gamers to explore.

NASA's upcoming encounters with Ceres and the Pluto/Charon system are likely to generate a lot of enthusiasm for dwarf planet exploration among players.

fixed that for you.

Problem is we can see exactly what Eeloo and Dres look like. If there was some mechanic where you have to take pictures to fill in the map view and tracking station, it would be much more fulfilling to get better resolution as you approach a new planet for the first time. Before Pioneers and Voyagers went to the outer solar system, we only had very rudimentary images of Jupiter and Saturn, and Uranus and Neptune were just points. Pluto and Charon are still just points, even as close as New Horizons is!

And I really hope we get a Charon analog to Eeloo. (Or some other dwarf planet if Eeloo is relocated.) Pluto and Charon are two binary dwarfs, orbiting each other. Leaving it out but leaving in a Pluto just isn't right. Even if you have to make it like a Moon instead of a binary orbit, it's still worth it.

[Corw]

In the world I live in the 1.0 means "complete", not "working, but need to be worked on still". KSP is beautiful beta, but lousy release. That is all I have to say on the subject.

[Whirligig Girl]

[Thomas988]

You know, hearing this made me not so worried. 1.0 is just a soft line being drawn that says that everything in the design document is done. After this, community suggested features will reign supreme.

Same. Y'know, Squad has spent 4 years making this epic, amazing game. Who's to say what is yet to come? Maybe this will be the greatest release of a game ever.

I do think KSP needs a lot of work before release, but if Squad says they can do it I think it's only just we believe them.

[Superfluous J]

Wait, 'V' didn't stand for *female lady garden* (I'm sure you can figure that one out) did it?

No, it didn't, but the public (at least for my little one-man section of it, and several others from I've read) instantly noticed that. Kind of like how version 1.0 doesn't mean "we're totally done and happy with the game as-is" even though the vast majority of the public will assume that.

It's odd to me that one of the major objections is that the new features won't be publicly tested before release. That's what happens with virtually every non-early access game.

This would be valid if Squad was known for releasing non-buggy code. Are they going to hire a dozen beta testers? The ones they have now (which I believe do the job for free) just don't seem to be cutting it. A beta version of an early-access game can have a memory hole as wide as the Mississippi. A released game can NOT. In Beta, you're supposed to report that bug. In a released game, you toss the game aside, never play it again, and likely never buy something from the developer again due to their shoddy product.

[tajampi]

I think it's, KSP (for me) is very stable.

I suppose they are going to fix all the "big bugs", like the Klaw, or try to kill a bit more the Kraken

After all, they are gonna keep releasing stuff for the game, so it's not like they stop developing the game or anything, so happy about their 1.0 release.

Cheers!

[NecroBones]

I voted "no", but only because I think it needs one or two more updates, with a beautification pass (clouds for instance, and maybe more terrain features to explore), and time to beta-test the last round of new features they're adding before the 1.0 release.

The choice of when to put the "1.0" label on a project is a sticky one, since it carries certain expectations with it. People expect it to be feature complete, and relatively bug free, and unlikely to cause backward-compatibility issues later. So the decision may be coming down to some of those aspects once the feature list is pretty complete.

[CG_Kerbin]

No I want them to make the 1.0 mind blowing I don't mind how long (I mind a little how long XD) I just love ksp and think squad is wonderful

[TheMoonRover]

"Do you think KSP is ready for a 1.0 release?"

As it stands, no. If SQUAD implement everything they listed then do the usual style of testing, maybe. But if they implement everything they listed, well, and test everything thoroughly*, then yes.

*By throroughly, I mean a rigorous "how can I break it?" Danny2462-style testing and/or an experimental release.

EDIT: But I trust them to do it right.

Edited January 24, 2015 by TheMoonRover

[Maxmaps]

[GusTurbo]

First off, Squad has done a great job on this game. It's my all-time favorite, and I've been playing games for 20 years.

I'm not worried about them ceasing development, I'm more worried that the official "release" of the game will be buggy. Consider that the radial decoupler bug started in .24.2, continued into .25, and still exists in .90. Who knows what new bugs will arise with the addition of new features. The decoupler bug is particularly representative because it doesn't require the player to go out of their way to break the game. It happens under mundane conditions: radially decoupling boosters.

I just want the game to have the same magic for a broader audience that it had for me and not have maddening bugs in the main phase of the game.

You guys don't deserve the reputation of "devs of a buggy game."

Edited January 24, 2015 by GusTurbo

[tater]

Maxmaps,

I'm relatively new, so maybe this was tried and didn't work well, so take it with a grain of salt...

This forum seems fairly busy, hundreds on the mod pages most of the time, fewer in other threads, but still a fair number of people. When announcements happen that you might expect will make forums explode, Squad should tag-team the forum for a few hours and clarify. A couple well-placed statements like the ones above would have instantly abbreviated a few (locked) threads, perhaps.

I have a feeling most of us worry about 1.0 release for you guys. We already know the game is good.

[Darnok]

[DBT85]

If they've fixed as many bugs as they say then yes.

The question is, are lots of people now going to buy it that haven't already, who then might be annoyed if there are still janky things. Or, is it essentially going to be all the folk that already have it that just continue on, knowing that Squad will continue working on the game beyond release.

One thing I've wondered is if KSP will ever get a sequel, or if its going to essentially be a continually evolving game. Surely at some point new revenue will need to be generated.

[SmashBrown]

Two things missing from that list for me, reentry heat, and some sort of "remote tech light" functionality to probes and such, giving a bit more depth to remote operations.

[Hannu]

I do not care if they call it 0.91 or 1.0. But it sounds crazy to add so much things and call it ready. I would release these additions in 0.91 and then watch how it works and release bugfixed 1.0.

I understand that I am so realism and physics freak that they never add things I want to the stock game. So, it would be nice if there were less updates and less frustrating mod updating circus after they call game ready. There are much mods to give information, realism, planets and other content to game. However, I hope that when Unity 5 is ready and reliable (if it ever is), Squad will release working 64 bit Windows version and couple of bugfixes before that. I have help programs and other programs I need in Windows and it is quite restrictive to play in Linux, even the game seems to work very well with both of my modsets, realism overhaul and graphics enhancements and extra planets with best textures.

[NovaSilisko]

I am curious when in the history of game development the meanings of Alpha and Beta got all screwy.

The way I remember it:

Alpha = the time where you iterate quickly, adding lots of new features and not worrying too much about bugs.

Beta = the vast majority of features implemented, not many new ones added during this phase, now mostly a long period bugfixing and balancing, testing kicks into high gear.

Release = most bugs removed, game balanced, mostly just babysitting the game and patching stuff that goes wrong, with occasional content releases.

So for me, I'd consider the current "1.0" here to be the final update of a traditional alpha phase. For, say, Minecraft, alpha/beta/1.0 were completely arbitrary milestones, with pretty much no change between them. Perhaps MC is the first game that pushed aside the traditional distinctions, not sure.

Using the "original design document" as a yardstick amuses me a little, given I think the original-original-original design document was for a 2d "get as high as you can" rocket game?

[Maxmaps]

Two things missing from that list for me, reentry heat, and some sort of "remote tech light" functionality to probes and such, giving a bit more depth to remote operations.

We're not super sure on something like remotetech, but reentry heat is something we can hammer out in half a day with Mu's new drag model. To call it dope would be an understatement.

Using the "original design document" as a yardstick amuses me a little, given I think the original-original-original design document was for a 2d "get as high as you can" rocket game?

That was from the original pitch of the game, the actual design doc came after it was decided that it would be a 3D game. It got fatter since but we're happy to say with this we fulfill it.

Now, to say 'therefore we are done with KSP' would be absolutely wrong. We have plans for (obviously free!) updates after 1.0 to smooth out rough edges and add a thing or two, but then there's things like 'drop everything and focus on upgrading to Unity 5 as soon as it is out' kind of stuff as well.

I know the Early Access environment has so far been... well, not great, but I like to believe that we have so far delivered and will continue to do so. There's no financial motivations or limitations hampering the team. We simply are not comfortable being an Early Access game anymore. If the game at 1.0 is truly at a state where bugs and balance issues outshine the gameplay to the point that critics slam us, then so be it. Frankly, I believe we can do better than that, and I will do my best to deliver on that promise.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Maxmaps

[NovaSilisko]

reentry heat is something we can hammer out in half a day

Hopefully can = will? I think the majority of the playerbase would deeply appreciate that... for those that won't, that's why the difficulty options panel was added

[CaptRobau]

No thanks to Remotech. Far too complicated for stock IMO. Something like AntennaRange is a much more stock friendly expansion on antennas, relays, etc.

[BudgetHedgehog]

Edited January 24, 2015 by ObsessedWithKSP

[Norpo]

Hopefully can = will? I think the majority of the playerbase would deeply appreciate that... for those that won't, that's why the difficulty options panel was added

Oh yes please. Reentry heat is only logical, if you come barreling down a thick atmosphere at 2000 m/s without proper protection, SOMETHING'S going to happen that isn't ideal for kerbal survival.

Just my thoughts, but I think it'd add a lot to planning out missions.

The hard part would be the balance, though... At what point does your ship blow up?

[ricktza]

No it's missing official multiplayer.