Infinite Aerospace

Hey, there's no doubting it had it's issues (a fair few of which are scheduled to be ticked off in the next update), but back when KSP1 was a fledgling it was barely even a game. I mean I remember loading it on a pretty powerful system and getting literal individual frames per second, and my rockets just randomly snapping in half and otherwise just disintegrating for literally no reason. But it got better, and turned into something of a cult classic. It's one of the things that gives KSP2 it's individual identity.

It's not just 'shiny things', it's simple features that streamlined and refined the experience, gone is the frankly stupid 'click on this individual part' and in was the Part Manager. The user interface is leagues better in KSP2, the atmosphere (the sound, the score) and the fact it looks *almost* on part with heavily modded KSP2 without the half hour load times. KSP2 always impressed me with it's snappy load times, and quick jumping between map screen, flight screen. The bones were there to 'level up' Kerbal Space Program, and we just got a version (0.2.2) that works properly and is enjoyable.

I reinstalled KSP1 the other week, when I have some time off work. Even with mods, it just feels basic in comparison, the UI is big leap backwards. When I launched a rocket, even though the texture quality (modded) is a bit better in the original, and it looks a little bit less glossy, and a bit more natural then experience was a bit 'meh' as the dramatic, enthusiastic score is missing, the sense of adventure it brings, the low, deep rumble of the engines is replaced with a generic 'rocket sound'. Got to orbit and was greeted with the generic music of space, and when I looked down on modded Kerbin, the terrain is flat and featureless, just 'painted' green, the clouds appear the same, like a layer just painted over the ground and I think of what we're losing. People can criticise Kerbal Space Program II, and Intercept Games but maaaan they got some things so on the money. It feels almost fitting that the final time I played KSP2 (before this all kicked off) was my big nuclear transfer stage powering down it's engines, set to depart Kerbin and head out to Jool, and just before I saved and quit, the sun disappeared beneath the horizon and the beautiful lighting (and BlackRack's magic) faded into darkness. I personally think, after a lot of mixed feelings over the past year and a bit, we're losing something that *could* have turned into something truly special in the gaming world, a true stand-alone title, in a class of one, truly unique in every sense of the word.

Problem is, KSP2 is at its core superior to KSP1 in all areas that matter, all in a much nicer put together package. It's kinda hard to go back to KSP1 and be greeted with the awful interface, the ham fisted 'click on part' system, the lack of any real 'event' in the games sound design. That'll all be a huge loss to the franchise, and even now as a mere 0.2.2 it's improved on a number of areas in KSP1.

This is all true, and it's the harsh reality of development in any guise. Whether that is software, or hardware. All projects have to operate with revenue generation in mind, or else they don't really have a purpose from a corporate point of view.

Nothing wrong with a bit of cautious hope.

I mean, unless there's some legal, binding reason that BlackRack cannot develop mods, like he has in the past. I guess that would be up-to him as to whether he'd want to continue to commit his free time to a 'dead' game. That said with his and Chris (Nertea) hands on experience with the game perhaps that's something of an avenue as to how KSP2 could live on after the supposed demise of Intercept. There are a fair few of the developers that are passionate about the project just from an artistic and creative standpoint that its entirely possible mods could leverage a lot of the bones of the game. But, like I said that depends as to whether creators want to give time to a game that's been shelved.

Hell, it'd at least be hitting the people who are actually responsible at the top of the hierarchy. The likes of Nate I doubt are really that involved in the actual running of things, so if this is really happening (Cancellation and shutdown of Intercept) I'd guess he's just as blindsided as anyone on this forum to be honest.

You purchased on Steam I assume? There's a little section in the Early Access information that states: "You (as the customer) should be aware that some developers will be unable to 'finish' their game". That's a fairly important point to highlight. If a developer is shuttered, and cannot therefore finish their game, it's essentially not Steam's problem as they gave fair warning at the point of purchase. I mean if you want to take Take Two interactive to court, I genuinely wish you the best of luck with that.

It's also pointless to freak out, as we can inact precisely no change to what is (or isn't) happening.

Unless you bought the game like, an hour ago that's going to be difficult as you won't get a refund.

There is another issue to cover, and it's not a one to discuss lightly or take as 'unimportant': Communication The one area that has been exposed time and time again of being really, really below where it should be is that of communication. The vibe I get from this forum, from Discord, from the Facebook groups I'm a member of is one of broken trust. The development team have been accused of over-promising and simultaneously under-delivering, then 9 times out of 10 have done nothing to quell those feelings in the community as a whole. There's people who came back, when For Science! dropped and started playing the game again but again there was almost radio silence between the developers and their customers / testers. They promised better communication, that they'd do better and just, haven't and it saddens me to say that but, it's the raw truth. I think if version 0.3.* had have been announced for June, for example, six months after For Science! and we'd seen a few patches between then and now, there'd have been a much more positive atmosphere surrounding the game in general. People would finally have felt vindicated for taking the chance and picking it up in Early Access. That said though, as a footnote we still don't really officially know what the score is, Colonies might be on the cusp of being announced and such. But again, communication is important. I for one hope that the Kerbal dream lives on, and Intercept are safe (for the most part) from the chopping block. Ad Astra!

The thing is, the people who already purchased the game have done just that, purchased it, as in past tense. They'd get the 'release' regardless. So take advantage of who? Their game is in the process of being review bombed to oblivion on Steam, no-one is going to recommend it, so who is buying? Sure might get the occasional person who'll think "That looks interesting" and picks it up on a Steam sale. But that's no use to Take Two interactive, they'd never recuperate their investment with that approach. This was something of an outcome I feared for Kerbal Space Program II back when it was announced it was coming as Early Access. The issue stems from it being a very niche game, with a fairly small player base. As soon as a company like Take Two became involved, you had to start asking "How are Take Two going to generate revenue from KSP2?". I say the above because literally nine of ten people I know personally wouldn't touch Kerbal Space Program because it's 'too difficult' and it has too steep of a learning curve for them to invest the time into it. I think that fits the vast majority of gamers as a whole, which is sad if I'm honest. Grand Theft Auto is almost guaranteed to be a resounding success, because the same people who buy all of the standard 'rinse and repeat' games will lap it up. No studio in their right mind would take that on, it's almost a guaranteed way to lose money. If Kerbal Space Program II has in-fact been canned, and Intercept is being shut down, Kerbal as a franchise is dead, gone, kaput, never to see the light of day again because no-one will touch it.

Yeah to be fair I find it hard to disagree with this. Most of the time, here and over on the Discord people being positive about the game are *way* rarer than people being negative about it. The whole attitude toward Kerbal Space Program II has been generally negative since the beginning of Early Access.

I've gotta ask, why in the hell did the developers think 'funding', which is one of the fundamental enablers (or hindrances) to real space programs, didn't have a place in the game? I think that was an insane choice on their part and I'm stoked that someone decided to take it on, this will be one of those mods that more or less everyone uses and it'll become such a common part of gameplay that it'll be considered 'essential'. Keep it up!

I mean it doesn't have proper physics either...that was the reason Principia was made for KSP1.

ShadowDev, you're the hero we all have but don't deserve.

I suspect that the atmospheric height has also been multiplied by a factor of 2.5 giving space - atmosphere boundary of 173KM. Is 85KM definitely a vacuum, i.e there is no drag slowing and object or is it just thin atmosphere?

I suspect the atmospheric height has also been multiplied by 2.5x which would put the atmospheric boundary at around 173,000 metres, which seems too high for this scale.

Kerbalism was, and still is the gold standard of how to do science in Kerbal Space Program right, it's the persistent having to remain on station that makes it better.

Anyone working on a mod to add flags to rockets in a similar manner KSP1. I used to be a huge fan of adding a big of flavour to rockets, kinda akin to how something like Atlas V launches with the mission emblem, ULA, NASA, and so on decals. Also, along the same line I'd love to see a method of adding different patterns to fuel tanks and such, rather than just the same generic look. The recolour tool would be much better with that, where one can cycle through a list of different patterns and colour them accordingly. I would have the faintest idea how to go about doing that though!

Just to clarify, there *isn't* a fix being implemented regarding the parachute issue? The reason I ask is because someone named "KerbalAdNetwork" (Whom is a KSP Community Manager) stated on a Reddit thread about the issue the following: "Got it, thank you. We’ve identified the issue and it will be resolved in the next patch." This was the day after For Science! dropped so I assumed it meant the parachute bug present in 0.2.0. Was there a previous bug with chutes?

"Our team is open to collaboration, idea-sharing, and learning from the success and challenges faced by the "Realism Overhaul" developers and the broader KSP modding community." I would assume based on this statement that no, it's not the RO/RSS team but instead a new team aiming to create a similar experience in KSP2.

I'd be a fantastic addition to the game IMO, especially with those obvious landing sites at the KSC and it make me have to launch a drone ship from the KSC dock for landings.

One of the engines from this mod is really good, Condor I believe it's called.