TLTay

Unrestrained opinion follows... skip if you're upset by forum posts. Every time I see one of the screenshots released recently, it feels like a bit of an insult. First it was spring 2020, then delayed, then another, now we're delayed nearly 3 years to get an early access release for 50 bucks of a half-complete game where the planets would be inappropriately barren in a circa 2004 mmo. Compare the nonthingness of the planets surfaces to the scenery of world of warcraft (2004) or morrowind (2002). Go on, have look. The textures here are better, but the emptyness is insulting. Don't tell me about rover gameplay and rock collisions. There's nothing worth roving to in those scenes. Why bother? Looks like KSP1 with marginally better textures. I just watched the eve probe tiktok... I hope that's potato-mode scenery on the surface for the integrated graphics customers. Zero hype generated by that. I'm more discouraged than anything else. When you expend a bunch of time and energy to get somewhere, you should be like: "WOW! This is freaking amazing!" Not: "Meh. This looks like the last repeating-texture undulating-mesh I just landed on, but with a slightly different color." The clouds are ok, and may be an art style choice. I'm hoping they hear this since the game won't be done for another probably 2 years. You'll hear about it on steam reviews too (from a number of people) if it releases looking like the recent screenshots. The "graphics don't matter" crew won't care if you make them better, but the "graphics matter" crew will. I've moved from the "definitely buying on day one" group to the "I'll watch some videos first" group, and if it looks like this on release, I'll sadly have to nope out until my first experience with KSP2 won't be a disappointment.

Those coulds look like the raised area you get around a line of stitches. You can't unsee it now. Also, howdy, rustled jimmies frend! I was just thinking of that term for the first time in years earlier today, and here it is now on the forum. Is it making a comeback? -forever unrustled.

? I don't want it to be. But I'm literally not understanding why so many people are upset about others wanting better graphics. Graphics don't make the game, but they can make it better. People were hoping for "WOW" and got "ok, these are perfectly servicable graphics, what really matters is the gameplay, and besides, all of my favorite games have serviceable graphics..." The real question is, would anybody here be disappointed of they pulled a fast one on us and it ended up looking like a major publisher put out a AAA title released in 2023?

Why not? /s? But seriously, the devs decided on an art style. It looks like they went with cartoon-meets-realism to reach a wider CPU/GPU audience. For those of us who prefer the uber-modded KSP1 scene, it looks like the decision has been made and we'll have to beg the KSP1 modders to pay some love to KSP2 to get that noncartoony-realism fix we crave. It is what it is.

Anybody else going to buy day one, fiddle with the game a bit, and shelve it until science/progression is released? Just curious.

They were bad on day one. Basic to the supreme. They checked the 3D graphics box, but that's about it. People just want to be as wowed as they should expect to be from a 2023 release from a major developer of what will end up being a full-price game.

The fact that it wasn't leaked until a month before release tells me this may well be a planned leak. Companies sometimes "leak" things on purpose. I can't imagine someone prone to leaking sitting on a video for 3 and a half years and then suddenly, when the marketing starts, deciding to leak it just then.

Nobody knows anything about the performance yet, just the visuals. All we have to do is microanalyze every single picture and video for the next month.

It's the expectation that a new game released in 2023 for new game pricing by a professional development team should look like it. If some modders can hack together code for a decade old game and make it look better than the new hotness... that is... ...unfortunate... It's a perfectly valid gripe. You shouldn't have to take a step down graphically to play a newly released game just to satisfy the 750ti crowd.

Can you divulge what graphics settings these are taken at?

Is the terrain pixelated? Look at the crater rims really closely. Looks like big pixels in some spots? Anybody else notice?

We'll find out in a month. I fear the level of detail and graphics was turned way down to play well with potato computers for a larger market.

Lack of scattering makes the grass look extremely shiny. Anyone else notice ultra reflective grass?

It would make sense to give access to youtubers early enough to create videos to drum up hype for EA release. If it's timed right, video releases could make a significant and free impact on initial sales. I'd expect videos a week or so out from release.

No worries. They just brought in KSP1 minimus for the lander video because KSP2 minimus was in the shop...

The sky has scattering. It looks like there is VERY clear air on Kerbin, but it does appear it can be somewhat seen in the distant mountain range behind the water.

I'm sorry, but I distinctly remember it being about a decade of development until updates stopped due to KSP2. Hopefully KSP2 will mot take as long, but so far it's not looking much faster to "complete."

"Let's make a procedural one that will scale with rocket size." Youtubers: "KSP2 SPACE ELEVATORS! We exploit the procedural lauch tower for fun and profit!" Developers: limits tower height. One particular forum poster: "My rocket is taller than the lightning tower..."

Oh no. Please don't get cancelled.

That would be nice. Sometimes we forget how much work goes into these UNPAID labor of love projects. If I had to actually PAY for the mod work put into my most recently used KSP1 install, it'd be a muuuch more expensive game. So, when KSP2 launches people are going to be like: "Why so few features?" It's because they had to hire, onboard, and pay people to work only 8 hour days. Many of those people probably don't actually have any personal interest in what they've been tasked to make. Compare that with a driven, dedicated modder who has been thinking all day at work about coming home and staying up late to code a mod of passion for their hobby... I mean, look what some of these people have managed to do. A handful of modders basically completed KSP1 for the devs. There's a solid chance modders will launch ahead of the devs and produce quality mods that the devs will seem to emulate. We saw this with a couple of "remastered" games recently, where a small group of fans produced a vastly superior mod/remaster product than what the well-staffed and funded development studio put out. Passion produces results far in excess of what a resume can foretell. I just hope the modders they hired for KSP2 don't get burnt out by red tape and have their zest diminished. TLDR: If devs provide a worthy platform, modders will "finish" the game with the features we've become used to. Eventually.

I've been abstaining since the announce video in mid 2019. It has been... uncomfortable.

Inspired by Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop?

Looks like a pipe that Italian plumbers use to traverse time and space. If you jump into it, it functions as a wormhole... Mario Kerman confirmed?

I'm pretty hyped to benchmark my current gaming computer against the new physics system to see how it'll hold up against the 1.0 release in XX months.

I was just going to post that same thought yesterday. I feel unrepresented. /s