How Squad could have prevented the entire PS4 fallout

[ShadowZone]

In perfect world, this would have happened:

1) Squad would have released the PS4 announcement in the proper "Announcement" section of the forums.

2) The announcement would have had not only a picture, but also the following information: The port will be produced by a different company, control issues will be adressed during the port, the port will be released 2016. It would also mention that additional console sales would help PC development.

3) There would have been a separate Dev Note (linked to in the announcement), reassuring the community that the PS4 port will not affect PC development. It would also mention that 1.0.3 is still very much in development and everybody is working hard to get it released. It would also mention that Flying Tiger (the company doing the PS4 port) have already supported Squad in doing the Unity 5 revamp.

4) HarvesteR himself would have assured the community in the Dev Notes that PC development of KSP would always be the main focus and that there will be no dumbing down of the main game to accomodate console input or performance issues.

5) The community would have congratulated Squad on their efforts, reacted happy to the mention of 1.0.3 and the fact that new money will help the development of their favorite game.

Besides 4 and 5 all the relevant information was provided, but only in tidbits scatterd across 3 different platforms (Forum, Twitter, Reddit).

And I am still hoping for 4 to happen, so 5 could be possibly reached...

Update: 4 happened! See Edit below.

The lesson here is: Communication is key. It's as simple as that.

Edit: THIS is what would have alleviated everybody's concern. Thank you, HarvesteR!

No, not by any means. Our UI overhaul will indeed support development of a console-friendly UI, but that will be for the console version only. The PC UI will work just the same as it does now, maybe even get a few improvements for itself in the process.

Remember, KSP is a PC game being ported to run on a console. The port is branching off the main PC development code, not the other way around. We did need to work together for the Unity5 part though, because that affects everyone.

Cheers

Edited June 17, 2015 by ShadowZone

[regex]

It's easier to just post the announcement on Twitter, though.

[NovaSilisko]

As well as stuff like how the game is going to work on PS4. The only thing we've gotten on that front is that "it works well" on dualshock 4, but there's no details as to how. How do you handle action groups, or right-clicking parts in-flight, etc? A detailed description on that would have helped.

Having a less sketchy-looking team set out to port it would go a long way to help, too...

Edited June 17, 2015 by NovaSilisko

[Randazzo]

I would bet my last dollar on the fact that no matter how they presented it, some would have lost their minds.

Of course, it's hard to say. This is a fickle and strange community we have here. Announce new aerodynamic model, nobody minds. Re-purpose the round-8, the world comes apart at the seams.

[Tankman101]

I would bet my last dollar on the fact that no matter how they presented it, some would have lost their minds.

I would regrettably have to join in on that bet. The people here and on reddit seem to like speculating a lot.

Also pcmustardrace gibberish.

[Arsonik]

This doesn't merit its own discussion thread. I'm sorry if you felt your opinion of PS4 was more valuable then the other 100's of people already discussing it.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/125658-PS4-Announcement-Discussion

[Tankman101]

This doesn't merit its own discussion thread. I'm sorry if you felt your opinion of PS4 was more valuable then the other 100's of people already discussing it.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/125658-PS4-Announcement-Discussion

Sorry bud, but this isn't an opinion peice. It's a "How the information could have been said more clearly" thread.

[basic.syntax]

This nicely worded post could have been made in any of the three active threads.

5.) Someone would have been unhappy. This is the internet! It's inevitable

[ShadowZone]

It's easier to just post the announcement on Twitter, though.

Since when was KSP about being easy

I would bet my last dollar on the fact that no matter how they presented it, some would have lost their minds.

Of course, it's hard to say. This is a fickle and strange community we have here. Announce new aerodynamic model, nobody minds. Re-purpose the round-8, the world comes apart at the seams.

Oh I am pretty sure there would have been some negative comments, but not thet many and not that vehemently. There are a lot of things you can do in communication to prevent backlash like this. The Round-8 was different because they wanted to take away something that was established and apparently loved by a lot of players. New aero model is "just" a change in how the game works.

[Green Baron]

Well,

you may be right but we're not living in a perfect world and everyone makes mistakes (except me :-)). I was negatively suprised too, my first thought was "That looks like the peak of KSPs lifecycle" but even if it was the sky won't crack.

I hope that the returning "vacationists" keep their will to return to the daily routine at full throttle and locked to prograde despite of the storm and hope that the sea is calmer as soon as 1.0.3 is out.

Clear skies

k

[Robotengineer]

There is going to be fallout anytime there is a major change, no matter how good the communication.

[Mr Shifty]

As well as stuff like how the game is going to work on PS4. The only thing we've gotten on that front is that "it works well" on dualshock 4, but there's no details as to how. How do you handle action groups, or right-clicking parts in-flight, etc? A detailed description on that would have helped.

The touchpad on the DS4 has a left and right clickable area. (Bloodborne uses the left and right clicks for different purposes.) You could easily emulate a mouse with left and right buttons using it; no one has done this that I know of, but it's clearly designed for it. (It's less clear how you'd do mouse dragging.) The touchpad is also, IMO, easier to use than, say, a laptop touchpad, because it's already in reach when you're holding the controller.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Mr Shifty

[Arsonik]

Sorry bud, but this isn't an opinion peice. It's a "How the information could have been said more clearly" thread.

In your opinion.

[gogozerg]

The lesson here is: Communication is key. It's as simple as that.

Except when it's not a matter of communication.

[ShadowZone]

Except when it's not a matter of communication.

Why not?

There is no fault in porting KSP to the PS4. I am in principle fine with that and I guess a lot of people are. Abusing the dev notes for the anouncement and then not providing context and relevant information is a clear communication failure.

[Wiseman]

Every announcement since .90 has been met with vitriol, anger, wailing, gnashing of teeth, etc etc. I doubt any change in the presentation of the announcements would matter, the response from this forum would have been the same.

[AbacusWizard]

Am I remembering correctly that SQUAD's previous experience is in marketing? Many marketers seem to think that the most important thing about promoting a product is getting lots of people talking about it all the time--whether they like it or not is irrelevant.

[Tankman101]

In your opinion.

Nope

Literally ANYTHING other than twitter would have been a better medium. Twitter is absolutely notorious for partial statements.

[Accelerando]

Nope

Literally ANYTHING other than twitter would have been a better medium. Twitter is absolutely notorious for partial statements.

That, and it is also notorious for "I dislike using Twitter and would prefer not to have to have to use an entirely different website than the actual, official website for the actual game to get news about the actual game that the official website is made to announce things for."

Also, Hookups Wallpaper. I will never forget.

[Orbital Vagabond]

There is going to be fallout anytime there is a major change, no matter how good the communication.

This isn't an excuse to not use good communication.

Squad just doesn't seem to learn. No matter what they do (good OR bad), they communicate poorly, which leads to confusion, contention, and discord in the community, and then they assume that regardless of what was done, nothing could have possibly been done to avoid it because the internet is full of malcontents.

Edited June 17, 2015 by TestPilotTheta

[Red Iron Crown]

There is going to be fallout anytime there is a major change, no matter how good the communication.

So much this. There was no preventing the "fallout", no matter how well and clearly communicated the message was. People were going to say the sky was falling one way or another, the old PC vs console thing would rear its head, and people would complain about the details of how the port was being made. Some members of the community get up in arms about *any* announcement, no matter how good the news is or how well it's communicated.

[ShadowZone]

So much this. There was no preventing the "fallout", no matter how well and clearly communicated the message was. People were going to say the sky was falling one way or another, the old PC vs console thing would rear its head, and people would complain about the details of how the port was being made. Some members of the community get up in arms about *any* announcement, no matter how good the news is or how well it's communicated.

Be that as it may, but if HarvesteR's great writeup had been accompanying the PS4 announcement a lot of concerns would have been alleviated. Updated OP to include the article.

[sal_vager]

Maybe Shadowzone, though I think he was still on the way back at the time, I don't know about him but I get car sick when trying to type on a phone in a moving vehicle.

[Robotengineer]

Be that as it may, but if HarvesteR's great writeup had been accompanying the PS4 announcement a lot of concerns would have been alleviated. Updated OP to include the article.

Agreed, it seems sometimes that Max says something off the cuff and then other devs/higher-ups have to do damage control when the community flares up about it. Then again it could be completely different, but that's what it looks like from my POV.

[RAINCRAFTER]

I think the world ended today.