How finished is KSP in your opinion?

[Albert VDS]

I watch Die Hard and Die Hard 2 every Christmas - they aren't great though, just fun. I really like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I've seen it maybe three or four times. Leaving aside jokes about how that's the same number of viewing hours (heh), number of viewings/hours is not a sign of overall quality.

It's fun is my point. If it's not fun then you wouldn't watch it over and over again.

[KasperVld]

deep reflections

That's a very interesting perspective on things Moach

[Kar]

If by finished we accept that, every content, game mechanics, parts and gameplay, then yes, I guess it is finished.

If by finished we talk about, bugs, huge ram eater, lack of mod support (ram), no 64 bit version, bugs (oh already said that one), things that go out of control in the vacuum of space for no reason at all, bugs (dam I did it again), no, it is not finished.

In fact, in my honest view, 1.0 was a commercial move by Squad to present their product (nothing wrong about that). But for me KSP is still in beta, until:

- I can run mods with no ram problems in x64;

- I have no crashes due my ship or my station is made of 9999 parts;

- I have no loss of FPS even if I'm using state of art hardware;

- and probably many other things that I cannot remember right now, since I stop playing KSP couple months after 1.04 update.

I have more trouble running the same number of mods now, that I have like in 0.24 for example. In fact, 0.24 was the most stable version of the game. I do understand many more things were added, but KSP still needs a lot of work.

I believe in Squad, and I keep my good faith in them, they will fix and improve KSP in this year to give us the ultimate experience of running a space program, flying ships in space, improved graphics, improved fps and so on.

KSP at the moment is good, but it lacks stability, visual quality and engine performance.

[problemecium]

...Glue Kraken? What's that?

(your post is the only one that thread search says has the word 'glue' in it)

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/100032-Glue-Kraken

The variants I've been encountering are docking ports becoming unable to undock (occasionally en masse) and a NullReferenceException during the "packing for orbit" phase when trying to timewarp, which causes the vessel to freeze in place and make timewarping impossible, with a message saying the ship is under acceleration.

[Wallygator]

So far the poll says 80%...

So what is YOUR 20%...

Mine remains 50% bugs and 50% content.

(oops, or should that be a completely different question...???)

Edited August 31, 2015 by Wallygator

[peachoftree]

The thing that I think needs doing the most is definitely more detailed surfaces and more things to do on them (encouragement to explore!)

[TheMoonRover]

How finished is KSP?

Well of course that depends on how you define finished. (as someone said in the very first reply)

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Harvester's original idea for KSP was a 2D simulator where you build rockets and launch them as high as possible.

The very first publicly released version (0.7.3) was essentially a 3D game where you built rockets and launched them as high as possible. Even back then, it was (just about) possible to reach orbit and even escape the planet's gravity - this was before there was a sun, before kerbin even had a name. So by that logic, the very first publicly released version was at least 150% complete. And look at what that little 3D rocket launch simulator has now become. If it wasn't for the name, the kerbals, the flight UI and the core concept of launching rockets, KSP 1.0 wouldn't even be recognisable as the same game.

Did Harvester, when he was writing the first code over 4 years ago ever expect the game would become what it is today? Of course not. Did he expect the game to reach a stage where NASA would take interest? Of course not. Did he expect to someday have a variety of planets in the game, all in functioning orbits? Unlikely. Did he expect the game to reach a point where it was good enough to charge for? Perhaps.

My point is that KSP has always been constantly evolving, the developers never knew exactly how the game was going to end up (and probably still don't), so talking about what the finished game might be like and how close that might be is almost nonsensical, and certainly subjective.

So I would say KSP is NaN% complete.

Edited August 31, 2015 by TheMoonRover

[Lord Aurelius]

I'm going to go ahead and define my idea of finished as the game being stable, balanced, polished and coherent. Right now the game is none of these things.

The 1.1 update will likely make a big difference on the stability side of things, but as of right now this is something that still needs work. The editor especially is still prone to random glitches that require exiting the VAB (or even the game entirely) to resolve.

Balancing is something that can't truly be done until the game is feature complete (which it isn't), but Squad could still do a lot better than they are now. I still cringe at the wildly varying weights per kerbal of the command pods in particular.

Polish likewise is something that is done at the end of development, but again Squad could really do a lot better than they've been doing. New parts are being added every update, but there's a plethora of commonly used older parts that are still stuck with their old ugly models and textures.

The biggest area where the game needs work is coherency, especially career mode. Many of the features are still half-baked and need quite a bit of work. Specifically, there needs to be an endgame, a goal to work towards in career. Right now the closest thing to that is unlocking the tech tree, but once you've unlocked the tree there's really no further goals to pursue unless you make them up yourself.

That said, here's a short list of features I would like to see added to the game to fit my vision of complete:

Life Support (various mods)

Right now manned missions are OP, the additional weight is negligible but it dramatically increases the available science (plus infinite EVA fuel) and there is no penalty for stranding kerbals, especially with all the free ones that are handed out in rescue missions. The new antenna mechanics will penalize probes, further increasing the desirability of manned missions unless life support is implemented to balance things back out.

Kerbal Actions (KAS/KIS)

As of right now, Kerbals are pretty limited in what they can do. They do a great job of pushing (and running into) things and can do limited repairs and gather a little science, but there is so much more they could do.

Base Building (MKS/OKS/Extraplanetary Launchpads)

Establishing an extraplanetary colony has been proposed for decades (and has gained more attention recently with all the mars talk), this would be a natural extension for the game and would mesh well with many of the other features and provide a nice endgame goal for sandbox.

Time Based Science

Since science can be done instantly, there is zero reason to stay anywhere for any length of time. I've done too many missions where the lander touches down, the kerbals jump out and take samples, the science action groups are toggled, the kerbals retrieve/reset the necessary experiments, and I'm off again to land in the next biome. Time based experiments would add a great dynamic where you have to plan out your experiments ahead of time (instead of just spamming all of them everywhere) due to limiting factors like life support/batteries/flyby trajectory. It would make satellites and surface bases (and rovers and aircraft) much more viable as well.

Story Mode for Career

One idea I've liked (and seen mentioned repeatedly) for career mode would be a basic story revolving around anomalies and having to explore progressively farther from Kerbin to find new ones. The first one could be revealed on Kerbin once the first satellite is in orbit, at which point you would send an aircraft/ICBM to investigate, which could reveal one farther away on Kerbin, which leads to the Mun, and so forth to guide the player through the solar system. To keep things interesting, it would be great if the placement was randomized at the start of each career so you would have to actually search for them (using a scanner on a satellite) instead of just going to the coordinates on kerbal maps. Bonus points for awesome cutscenes of the likes of the update videos.

Procedural Solar System

This is a bit of a stretch feature, but it would be awesome if we could specify a seed on a new game that would randomize the solar system (planets, sizes, locations, atmospheres, etc). If the seed is left as the default, you would get the system we have now.

Anyways, on the topic of the original poll, I view this game as around 50% done. The core gameplay of launching rockets is close to being done, but there's still some areas (like career) that really need to be fleshed out before the game is really feature complete (not to mention multiplayer). At that point a major balance and polish pass (likely multiple) will be needed, and maybe then the game would qualify as finished. As it stands, it's still very much an early access WIP.

[Temeter]

My point is that KSP has always been constantly evolving, the developers never knew exactly how the game was going to end up (and probably still don't), so talking about what the finished game might be like and how close that might be is almost nonsensical, and certainly subjective.

So I would say KSP is NaN% complete.

I think that fits it pretty good. KSP will continue to develope, but it won't suddenly become a completely new tripple a quality game. Some people here just seem to go after whatever they want to dream into the game, some kind of perfect result.

Hate to break it to you people, but if you think this game is less than '70% finished', then it'll never be what you are asking for.

[Renegrade]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/100032-Glue-Kraken

The variants I've been encountering are docking ports becoming unable to undock (occasionally en masse) and a NullReferenceException during the "packing for orbit" phase when trying to timewarp, which causes the vessel to freeze in place and make timewarping impossible, with a message saying the ship is under acceleration.

Ugh. I haven't experienced most of that yet (thankfully), aside from the phantom acceleration issue (which was definitely not present in earlier KSPs).

Kerbal Space Program? More like Kraken Breeding Program :C

[Robotengineer]

So far the poll says 80%...

So what is YOUR 20%...

Mine remains 50% bugs and 50% content.

(oops, or should that be a completely different question...???)

You mean the 20% that I believe remains to be completed?

I would say it needs to be thoroughly bug fixed (hopefully coming in 1.1), a complete artwork redux (includes adding interesting things to planets), a couple of QOL improvements, and filling in the holes where there needs to be new parts.

[strigon]

I was kind of tossing up between 70% and 80%. It's 80% of what I think will be considered complete, and 70% of what I hope will be complete.

As other have said, it needs more content. Features, I think, we're good on - landing, orbiting, docking, building, mining... all things that are here now, and the only possible extension I'd like to see is (optional) Life Support and colonizing. But we're missing content; we have these huge, diverse planets with nothing at all on them. It's very time-consuming to put together an interplanetary mission, even more so to land and explore there, and we get nothing but Funds for our trouble.

Someone above mentioned a sort of story mode - I'd love to see that, as a first step.

Polish the game --> add more content on the planets --> story mode --> complete game.

[moogoob]

A game like KSP is never finished. Nor is it incomplete. At any given time it exists precisely as it means to.

(Apologies to Tolkien)

EDIT: Perhaps some philosophy behind my answer... I was loading up some old-ish (0.23) saves and got suddenly very nostalgic. I remember time before we got nice airplane parts (there were only two control surfaces!), where orbit from Kerbin still took 4500 m/s through the souposphere, when parachutes could be deployed at 2000m/s, the Stayputnik had reaction wheels and the LV-909 still made a nice ascent engine for Duna. These weren't good, or bad, they just were. It WAS a different game in many regards, and I guarantee that by the time we get to version 1.75 or so it will look like yet another different game.

And I'm glad that I get to live through all these different games.

Edited August 31, 2015 by moogoob
philosophy

[Nori]

I said 80%. The game is very playable right now, but I feel like it is "missing" a reasonable chunk of quality of life features or features that could work better.

In my game I have so many tiny little mods installed that I consider absolutely essential. Just in the editor the QuickScroll and QuickSearch mods are incredibly useful.

I also would echo what others have said about content. The game is about space, but it feels very anticlimatic to get to a planet and then... Collect some science and head home?

Extraplanetary bases would be a good improvement to this.

Lastly, and most importantly, I really hope that 1.1 fixes a lot of bugs because it is very frustrating to have 500-1000MB of memory leak in just a hour or two requiring a game restart.

[OldLost]

It won't be finished until there's an official 64-bit version for all platforms.

[michaelhester07]

There's no such thing as finished.

[yorshee]

I have no idea what was in KSP's original design scope so I dunno how finished it is in terms of features, but it could be better with some more bugfixing.

[Slam_Jones]

I voted 70%, and appear to be in the majority.

Most of the systems and everything is there, but it's not completely there. A couple more systems and some polish and it should be good.

[Smitty2558]

I feel that this game is 50-60% done, probably because I never want to see development end, lol. I mainly want more reasons to visit other bodies, other than science or achievement value. I also feel like the game could use a few more planets.

[Plume & Akakak]

Finished as in "finalized" :

Not up to me to decide, and immeasurable.

Also, it doesn't make much sense. Nowadays, many, if not most games are advertised and sold as being ongoing. Updates and content additions are here to expand their lifespan and profits. It is generally understood that a game may, or will keep on evolving.

Finished as in "full, amusing and interesting gaming experience" :

It is at every stage of the game history.

Finished as in "washed-up" :

Certainly not yet.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Plume & Akakak

[Frostiken]

Still waiting for a good science system and a damage system.

[Bishop149]

In my opinion "finished" is a lack of any major structural issues with the game, the occasional bugs or seemingly incomplete feature are pretty mush par for the course in many games, "good" developers will support their game and try and patch and improve such things out over time.

Major holes in KSP as I see them:

- No 64-bit as yet, and its a game that would hugely benefit from it . . . . hopefully 1.1!

- Takes a RIDICULOUSLY long time to load, many many times longer than any other RAM heavy game. I know very little about coding but assume this is an optimisation issue

- Lack of a decent save structure, it remains FAR too easy to lose a vast amount of game progress from either the game bugging out randomly or accidentally hitting the wrong button.

- The heat system still requires some major work, seemingly random overheating explosions abound.

- Memory leaks, IIRC stock KSP still has a few. . . . unacceptable in a "finished" product IMO

Fix those and I'd be pretty happy with in, I have no idea how much work that would be compared to whats already been done but guessing I'd say KSP is probably about 90% finished.

[Higgs]

Id say 60% needs more content like gp2 for example. When Eeloo is a moon and the game is 99% MORE stable id say its done. As has been said before this game is no where near being done enough to be a full

release, but more of a beta release quality.

[eddiew]

I tend to feel that KSP is about now reaching the end of beta... It's more or less feature complete, but there are balancing, quality, stability and consistency issues that have yet to be addressed. It is however very enjoyable, and some of the biggest problems (e.g. heating) have a game option to adjust them to suit the individual player, and are therefore hard to moan about.

I give it 80% because what I feel it needs is polish, polish and polish, not fundamental changes to the game concepts. It doesn't need new parts, or changes to mechanics, but it does need a massive quality pass, a Unity 5 update, and ideally DX10-11 - but what is currently in the wild is still a very viable game that gives its community hundreds, even thousands, of hours of enjoyment

Compared to some of the Greenlight and Kickstarter games that come and go, never quite materialising once the funding phase has been completed, I think KSP has done really well and emerged as a 'proper game' with ongoing development from a committed team.

[DoctorDavinci]

In traditional game dev all bug fixing is left to the end, it's rarely undertaken during development.

This statement is so true .. and to add a little clarification on how the gaming industry works today, many games don't even start development until after the hype has been started in the media which forces the developer to rush and meet a deadline because they have to have at least something to give to all the gamers who placed pre orders for the game they haven't even started to build yet ... how many broken, incomplete, reskinned games get released from mainstream developers each year?

The gaming industry as a whole is no longer what it was in the past. Companies hype games to push pre orders because if they can get $40 from someone without having to physically give them anything for 4 months it means that essentially they can count the interest on that $40 as a non expenditure income until they physically have to provide a product to the consumer 4 months down the line ... welcome to the world of high finance and investors where the objective is to take your money and not to develp the best game ever created

KSP is a labour of love and isn't even close to being broken which is pretty good in my books .. a bit buggy yes, but not broken and not a cash grab like so many of the mainstream reskinned games that are thrown at us these days

Finished you ask ... KSP is still in her infancy methinks. With all the love that people have for her I think she will continue to be developed for many years to come and who knows what KSP will evolve into

Dr. D

EDIT: I'd like to also point out that if said company gets 200 000 pre orders they have already recouped the cost and turned a profit from developing the game before they have developed the game ... seems to me that there would be no incentive to create an amazing gaming experience given these conditions as the aforementioned company would be more interested in coming up with a new game idea to push their pre order business model

Edited September 1, 2015 by DoctorDavinci
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