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With all the nice IVAs available... is would be cool to be able to move around the spacecraft/base. Once you have that, you could imagine using VR glasses for a fully immersive experience launch/flight/landing on the Mun/EVA/fly back. Seems like a very cool concept to me.

In my view KSP 2 should feature advanced IVAs. I would see: - Interactive Cockpits: Fully interactive cockpit with functional gauges and instruments panels. One should be able to conduct a full mission within the IVA view. - Ability to move around and explore the interior of the spacecrafts: what’s the point of having large spacecrafts and colonies if you cannot move around and explore them? I feel that just better graphics, larger ships, colonies add “width” to the game. What we need is also a bit more depth to the experience, adding another level to the experience of spaceflight.

I fully agree with the parallel with Civilization. Civilization 1 was a great game which did unbelievable things when it came out in 1991. People where mind blown by the depth of the game and the fact that each new game could be completely different from the previous one... still, if you look at that game today... it's 2D, with ridiculous graphics and very limited options. New games have maintained the basic concept unchanged and added tons of new features, options and better graphics. If you look at KSP, you could think about something similar: Create a new, expanded, reliable physics engine that puts new solid foundations to the whole game. Add additional features to the basic game that add depth but don't change the core concept: Life support package: this is the biggest limitation I currently see. As much as I like the simplicity of the current game... manned exploration is at least 50% about how to sustain the crew for long duration missions... Something simple like USI-LS would be enough. One could always switch this off in the game options. Interactive spacecraft cabins: the ability to move inside the spacecraft and interact with the cabin (those IVAs are amazing... but such a pity you cannot actually move around and see more). Environmental effects: clouds on planets with atmosphere, geysers on icy moons, comets with icy trails, dust storms on Duna. One might even think about environmental elements affecting spacecraft flights... launch with wind or in a storm, and see your spacecraft rocked around... A richer Kerbin environment: Kerbin should have that special feeling of "home planet"... Some very simple cities, roads, procedurally generated simple road traffic, air traffic, sea traffic. Procedurally generated wildlife. More trees, more Easter eggs like the pyramids, maybe shipwrecks to explore... Planets that are more interesting to visit: planets with clouds, winds, geysers, canyons. Add some simple wildlife, sea creatures on Laythe... a live Kraken somewhere... Magic boulders, arches. Fossil extinct life on Duna... to go and research. Permanent bases on planets: end-game possibility for building more permanent bases on planets (adds meaning to the end game and adds another level of complexity). I would avoid colonization as this would be way much beyond the scope of the game. Just add bases where one can do research, refuel, base back-up crews indefinitely, run long-term exploration projects. Expanded Air, Ground, Submarine play: the terrain, the airspace, the seas and lakes are all already there... why not make use of them. Add side missions also to these elements. Let Kerbonauts explore the depths of Kerbin and other planets. Add undersea canyons, shipwrecks, easter eggs to the bottom of the seas... Auto pilot features: Something like Mechjeb becomes necessary once you add expanded features. Maybe just make it very difficult to research. KIS/KAS like features as standard: absolute must to make EVAs more meaningful. As it is, not much to do when you space walk in orbit or you walk on planets... Kerbonauts Merits: something like final frontier as standard... it's an absolute must. Tracking the history of your achievements, or disasters... part of the fun. OPM (or some versions of it): additional planets like OPM are also a must. The challenge of sending manned missions to distant planets is adds another level of complexity. Also, comets and a Planet X that can be discovered only late in the game... Other mods that should be standard in the base game: Near future Technologies, Planetary Bases Inc, Community Tech Tree, Space Y, Scan Sat. These are all elements that add richness to the game. Work on additional DLCs to be sold separately: Real Solar System with real-life spacecrafts Educational-based version of the game Interstellar quest Colonization I think point 1 and 2 would take the current great game to a whole new level. Basic concept would remain the same, and one could always adjust for complexity with "opt out options" (for example decide not to activate life support...).

Take Two interactive is a much bigger developer with deeper pockets than the original team. They do have the capacity to add the necessary resources to make a great game concept even better. Remember that initially KSP was developed by a very small team with very few resources. They did a great job but still they had to work with what they had. One basic limitation of the same is that it uses "Patched conic approximation" for the physics engine, which excludes things like Lagrange points, perturbations, Lissajous orbits, halo orbits or tidal forces. This is something that can only be done with a dedicated engine which probably has to be written from scratch. Felipe Falanghe of Squad developed the game on a string back in 2011, and he had to choose the most cost effective option to get this done quickly, not the best one. My view is that once you have a solid and optimized engine, the further development opportunities become endless. I remember that the European Space Agency was at one point hiring interns to work spacecraft concepts based on KSP... if you have a solid core physics engine this could really become both a great game but also a benchmark for education.

I believe the game engine has reached its limits and is now limiting any real further development. Every time they add new features with the latest patch, new bugs emerge that need fixing. The point is that KSP has reached well beyond what was the initial objective. It was a casual simple but science-correct space travel simulator, and through subsequent updates it has become so much more. I believe a clean slate project would help a lot. Let the developers team re-define the game objectives, and create something from scratch that is optimized for that.

I have been playing KSP for years now, and I always found the great support the developers have given to the game matched only by the amazing community that creates and updates content around it. However, I believe we have reached a limit where the continuous updates (1.4.1 / 1.4.2 / 1.4.3 / 1.4.4 ...) and the efforts of the modders to keep up is simply becoming annoying and defets the purpose of a great game like KSP. One cannot stop playing for a month without finding the last save unplayable, all the mods non compatible, and the latest version being a stop-gap solution until the next “.X” patch is out. It’s time for the developers to work on a “definitive” version of KSP (1.5.X...?) that is stable and optimizes the current game engine. At the same time, you guys should start working on KSP 2.0 (2.X.X...), with more radical improvements and a whole lot more “meat” to the game. New game engine? Life support? Colonization? Interactive IVAs? Actual things to find and study when you get to the planets (ET life, geysers, caves, fossils...)? A home planet that does not feel as empty as all the other worlds? Just keep all the great things the game has (life-like orbital mechanics, casual science approach...) and add on to it. You’ll find tons of people who will come along for the ride and pay $50 for a whole new version. I myself would pay $100... in detail: Create a new, expanded, reliable physics engine that puts new solid foundations to the whole game. Add additional features to the basic game that add depth but don't change the core concept: Life support package: this is the biggest limitation I currently see. As much as I like the simplicity of the current game... manned exploration is at least 50% about how to sustain the crew for long duration missions... Something simple like USI-LS would be enough. One could always switch this off in the game options. Interactive spacecraft cabins: the ability to move inside the spacecraft and interact with the cabin (those IVAs are amazing... but such a pity you cannot actually move around and see more). Environmental effects: clouds on planets with atmosphere, geysers on icy moons, comets with icy trails, dust storms on Duna. One might even think about environmental elements affecting spacecraft flights... launch with wind or in a storm, and see your spacecraft rocked around... A richer Kerbin environment: Kerbin should have that special feeling of "home planet"... Some very simple cities, roads, procedurally generated simple road traffic, air traffic, sea traffic. Procedurally generated wildlife. More trees, more Easter eggs like the pyramids, maybe shipwrecks to explore... Planets that are more interesting to visit: planets with clouds, winds, geysers, canyons. Add some simple wildlife, sea creatures on Laythe... a live Kraken somewhere... Magic boulders, arches. Fossil extinct life on Duna... to go and research. Permanent bases on planets: end-game possibility for building more permanent bases on planets (adds meaning to the end game and adds another level of complexity). I would avoid colonization as this would be way much beyond the scope of the game. Just add bases where one can do research, refuel, base back-up crews indefinitely, run long-term exploration projects. Expanded Air, Ground, Submarine play: the terrain, the airspace, the seas and lakes are all already there... why not make use of them. Add side missions also to these elements. Let Kerbonauts explore the depths of Kerbin and other planets. Add undersea canyons, shipwrecks, easter eggs to the bottom of the seas... Auto pilot features: Something like Mechjeb becomes necessary once you add expanded features. Maybe just make it very difficult to research. KIS/KAS like features as standard: absolute must to make EVAs more meaningful. As it is, not much to do when you space walk in orbit or you walk on planets... Kerbonauts Merits: something like final frontier as standard... it's an absolute must. Tracking the history of your achievements, or disasters... part of the fun. OPM (or some versions of it): additional planets like OPM are also a must. The challenge of sending manned missions to distant planets is adds another level of complexity. Also, comets and a Planet X that can be discovered only late in the game... Other mods that should be standard in the base game: Near future Technologies, Planetary Bases Inc, Community Tech Tree, Space Y, Scan Sat. These are all elements that add richness to the game. Work on additional DLCs to be sold separately: Real Solar System with real-life spacecrafts Educational-based version of the game Interstellar quest Colonization I think point 1 and 2 would take the current great game to a whole new level. Basic concept would remain the same, and one could always adjust for complexity with "opt out options" (for example decide not to activate life support...).