If You Ran KSP's Development...

[Bekiekutmoar]

I would focus largely on celestial bodies. Implementation of clouds on atmospheric bodies, EVE + Astronomer's Edge of Oblivion would be a nice example. A tedious atmosphere too Eeloo with grey/white glow on the horizon to give the planet a more distinct look. Changing the appearance of Eve to a more Venus-esque look. Implementation of more planetary systems if technically possible (there are already some mods that do this). Implement a form of Orion Propulsion to adress the vast distances between the various solar systems.

[Hcube]

There's what i would do :

-Add unity 5 (obviously) and what's planned in 1.1 already;

-make use of U5 and add clouds, new skybox, remove the ugly white horizon and pretty much do a general beautification, it's nice eye candy and it sells;

-Add a lot of space station parts and base parts like various modules, labs, greenhouses, habitation modules etc;

-I'd have Porkjet revamp the rocket parts ! He did an amazing job with the jet parts and right now there is no general stock look : you have to mix shiny NASA tanks with ugly rockomax poodle, 2.5m tanks and whatnot... That would no be an issue anymore;

-hinges ! Those alone could change the game completely;

-I'd probably make Kerbin and the whole system bigger : something like 1/5th instead of 1/10th and adapt part performance accordingly ; it would make some designs such as Apollo-style missions actually efficient and useful, and rocket SSTOs would be more of a challenge;

-make it possible to program probes to do something on their own when there's no communication available : for example run an experiment in x seconds or execute next node by itself;

-multiplayer (but i'd take my time and absolutely not rush it);

-make sure Flying Tiger doesn't do the same kind of job with KSP as they did with their previous masterpieces.

I actually am un able to play the game until May, but who knows what i will "discover" by then ? Maybe stuff that's on this list... The game dev is going great anyway

Edited November 15, 2015 by Hcube

[Death Engineering]

I would release updates half as often and QA twice as long.

[Tw1]

I've focused much more on the thing that makes kerbal stand out: the space experience. I'd've built career around that, with making it feel like running a space program, and making it feel like space exploration being key aims, rather than tacking on point scoring.

At the moment (unless it's changed in 1.05, haven't played yet), we've got insta science, an insta scan, and contracts were the key thing it wants is over in less than a minute. That doesn't feel like space exploration. That feels like just a game.

I would have made things go a little slower. ATM, missions get rushed through, and it's all over too fast.

I wouldn't have done the tech tree, and maybe not the building upgrades. They make the game too much about unlocking stuff, when the focus should be space.

Rather than a progression based game, I'd've made it more of an endurance type game, where the real test is in sustaining and expanding your space activity.

You wouldn't "complete" the game, as much as try and keep to a level of success.

Culling, or at least modifying other features which become redundant as you go on, is probably something else I'd do.

I'd give as much focus on exploring, and almost as much on managing the program as there currently is on building and flying. Flesh it out, to become the full space program game it could be.

I'd add a bunch of basically optional but beneficial ground and space exploration features, like geophysics sensors, radar, laser, drill and camera type tools. Stuff you can use repeatedly and gain different result. This would give those interested in exploring stuff to do, without forcing those wanting a quick mission to spend more time than they want.

I'd have the way the game determines science results be continuous, rather than discrete, (with pop up graphs and dials and things that provide a constant stream of feedback) so you can move about and get different results. I'd have some things change over time, to make old sites more worth revisiting.

And make the game's some measures of success that were tied more to some sort of rate of achievement, rather than just giving you a bunch of things to tick off. This would help make the game more about sustaining and refining your space program, rather than about all this unlocking and collecting.

Rather than making contracts the be all and end all, I'd've made more game mechanics which encourage the player to do things for themselves, without being told. Something where they can spot potential themselves, and act on it, making their own plans.

I'd've at least talked to a few geologists, or done some research before doing the planets. The planets are fine, and I enjoy the weird mysteries we have in Minmus, Eve, etc, but it would have helped to be more informed when making them.

I'd also-

Redesign the lab so its inside works several ways up.

Bring back the older mk1 cockpits, and make sure all the parts don't end up looking too uniform. (Surely I'm not the only one here who as a kid, thought about turning some old oil drums into their own spaceship? Kerbal lets you live that dream, and scale it up untill it works. But it's not quite the same if all the parts look too professional, and not something you could expect to get your hands on. Plus, I prefer something original and identifiable over exact clones of stuff from RL.)

I'd also give the island with the airfield a low lying beach again, that was better for boats.

I wrote some more on these topics quite some time ago, (budgets and science) in my blog should anyone want to read more for some reason.

I do think they've made some pretty brilliant choices as well though.

Keeping it free of story to encourage the imagination, keeping it free of weapons, enemies. The way map and flight view interact is brilliant, and flying is far more easy to get the hang of in kerbal than in orbiter. I really like how they made it just slightly different to our own solar system, to keep things fresh, but still let us relate to the issues RL probes have visiting each RL planet. I do like how they've errard on the side of good gameplay with things like kerbal EVA propellent, to keep it fun.

Overall, it is still a pretty good game.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Tw1

[severedsolo]

What IS it with you guys and CLOUDS?

I assume you haven't played KSP with clouds? Try it for one day. You'll never go back!

Plus, Max recently mentioned (although I cannot remember where, squadcast maybe?) that they want to make the game look prettier.

[Kerbart]

If I ran KSP development..

I would spend so much time running through a QA process that the much less buggy 0.1 alpha release would be due "any year now".

The problem is not not spending time on Q&A. The problem (at least with the 1.0 version) is that they simply ignored the feedback.

So that's what I would do if I were Supreme Benevolent Dictator of All Thinks KSP:

Incorporate Q&A feedback into the development cycle, instead of rushing things out.

[WinkAllKerb'']

the probelm is when i started writing this it was 16:23 utc and when i ended writing it was 16:26.

I can't do better with two arms and ten fingers and one keyboard. Anyway i choosen to write it like that for now.

[TheBrisbyMouse]

I assume you haven't played KSP with clouds? Try it for one day. You'll never go back!

Plus, Max recently mentioned (although I cannot remember where, squadcast maybe?) that they want to make the game look prettier.

I did try it. Didn't feel any more immersed than I did before. In fact, it was much worse because I was getting half the FPS.

The only way I would ever give clouds a greenlight is if it was toggleable and took less than an hour of development time to fully code, implement, and bugfix.

[carlorizzante]

I'd like to have procedurally generated planets with some sort of engine similar to what's used for Infinity: Battlescape. They look so smooth and fantastic!

Then weather and meteo, not just on Earth but as well as on other planets. And more Science! At least integrating some Science mods into the core game.

As for the size, I think it's just fine the way it's now. There's a lot to explore already.

But I'd like to see an improvement or an alternative way to how Kerbals are managed. I envision an hybrid between KSP and Settlers where in order to colonize planets the player designs structures and modules and then order Kerbals to actually run missions and build colonies on the surface of the planets, and that would happen over time. Kerbals will act on their own, following directives that the player gives them on an higher level of abstraction. We could always take control of a specific character, but having them acting on their own would vastly relieve the player from micro managing them all the time.

Otherwise I'm very satisfied with KSP, and I'm already dreaming of what KSP 2 could bring into play.

[sdj64]

Here's my ideal development cycle:

1.1-

Update to Unity 5

UI improvements and bugfixes (fix click-through and scroll-through plz?)

Other performance improvements

Texture update on the rocket parts (make Color Coded Cans stock and Ven's revamp for the engines)

Make a fuel switcher stock so you don't need plane tanks for nuclear engines

Balance the rocket engines so they're all relevant even in Sandbox

Fix the overheating high in the atmosphere and then DON'T TOUCH ATMOSPHERES ANY MORE

1.2-

New rocket and base parts - inflatable stuff, one or two near future style engines (1.25m plasma thruster, 2.5m VASIMR) and nuclear reactors, rotating rings (electric and gas powered), 1.25m gas propeller, 0.625m and 1.25m electric propellers, some New solar panels to go along with this stuff.

Contracts that reward long term stays on planets, context specific - if you have a base, explore the area around it with a rover or transmit lab data from it, deliver stuff to an existing base (land it nearby)

Contracts to refuel or repair probes and ships - "We have a probe that lost power around Duna. Rendezvous with it and restore power/ transfer fuel." then it becomes yours and you can do stuff with it like temperature scan contracts.

-some stock rovers, ships, probes, and landers for these contracts. Also "repair this ship and complete the mission" contracts too.

1.3-

Gas Planet 2, a comet, and a new Pluto analog

Visual improvements to all planets (this doesn't mean clouds but if there is time, clouds would be extra.)

Other stuff - sell beta access passes (and give them for free to youtubers and modders to test like they do already with experimentals) so more people can test new releases before they go public. This could get more money from the existing fanbase without making people angry since KSP might struggle to grow to more players compared to a game like Fallout 4. Improve the tutorials so that people who get the game don't dump it after half an hour of blowing stuff up (I hear they are working on this). Hold more official challenge contests like the Kerbin Cup.

[Pecan]

Hell, if I ran KSP's development I'd have to get used to working full-time again and there's not enough hours in the day to play it properly as it is!

(Edit: yes, I used to be a software development manager until I got bored of being rich and went sailing for 10 years instead. Now I just have a part-time hobby job).

[Lord Aurelius]

If I were in charge of KSP's development, this would be my armchair developer plan for after 1.1:

Phase 1: Finish adding new game systems
1. Kerbal Actions (KAS/KIS like functionality)
2. Limited automation (KOS, limited mechjeb)
3. Life Support (one resource simplified, ability to turn off using difficulty settings)
4. Player information tools (some kind of mission manager with alarm clock, dV readouts, maneuver planners, etc)

Phase 2: Overhaul career mode
1. Implement a story mode option for career (possibly with randomized elements so every playthrough isn't exactly the same) with increasingly difficult missions across all the planets (and lots of new anomalies to visit)
2. Improved science (more experiments, more incentives to actually explore rather than just biome hopping)
3. Upgradeable parts (so that all parts can be competitive in the late game and still preserve a progression)

Phase 3: Balance & Polish
1. Add a LOT more content (especially on planets)
2. More high quality parts to address holes in the current lineup
3. Improved audio
4. Improved graphics
5. Massive balance pass (tech tree, part stats, contracts, etc)
6. Go through the game with a fine-toothed comb and clean up inconsistencies

This is a pretty high level overview, but it sums up what I feel still needs to be done with this game. After each new feature, a quick balance pass should be done to ensure that the game is still playable (like is done now) but once everything is in place we still need a comprehensive pass.

[EdFred]

Get rid of female Kerbals.
Now, let me crawl behind this 3.5m heat shield.

Story lines. Where choices have to be made, and depending on the choice you make the story line goes a certain direction. Something where you can actually "lose" the game.
An AI: Rather than being the first in space while competing against, oh, no one. There's an AI that you compete against to be the first in orbit/the Mun/wherever.
A mode where nodes and parts are unlocked based on what you do, not where you put your science points.
Procedural Easter Eggs/rewards. The Armstrong memorial isn't always in the same place. Same with the things on Duna.
A parts editor/creator. I don't know how many times I've got a craft that is stuck in between Skippers and Mainsails thrust wise. (Yes I know I can limit the Mainsails, but they aren't as efficient then).



I don't see the need for more planets. We have most of the possibilities there are. High G with and without atmo. Low G with and without Atmo. Unless you want to throw one into a 60degree inclination or something. Maybe make more discoverables.

[Red Iron Crown]

[quote name='EdFred']I don't know how many times I've got a craft that is stuck in between Skippers and Mainsails thrust wise.[/QUOTE]
The new Vector fits this niche pretty well. :)

[EdFred]

[quote name='Red Iron Crown']The new Vector fits this niche pretty well. :)[/QUOTE]

Is that in 1.0.5? Because until they fix the lift problem the enclosure fairings, I'm staying at 1.0.4

Hey, where did all your rep go?

[Red Iron Crown]

Yes, 1.0.5.

[pip12345]

Fix the billion memory leaks.

[NecroBones]

[quote name='EdFred']
Hey, where did all your rep go?[/QUOTE]

Looks like an overflow to me. ;) lol

[HyperbolicKerbonaut]

Make the tech tree more logical and less grind-provoking. No more of this unlock node X to use stuff from node Y that also needs node Z. It would be great if the tech tree could somehow be tied to the world's first achievements and contracts. Like, if you get into orbit you learn about how rockets behave in microgravity and that allows you to research lower thrust, higher isp engines, or if you do barometric/temperature tests in atmosphere you learn about atmospheric heating and that, coupled with surface samples (ceramic analogue) from Kerbin, allows you to research ablative shields. You unlock the prototype part (which is somewhat nerfed--e.g. less fuel, less thrust--and unreliable) and you have to run tests like in the contracts and you use that data to research the final part.

Maybe that's too involved, but I think something like that would give the career progression more depth. Right now, goo, eva reports, surface samples, etc. all function the same way--to provide a single resource, science. Instead, I'd like to see those different experiments also contribute in their own way to the development of the space and aeronautic program. It's a shame that a game requires the player to learn about space travel doesn't reflect that progression in its mechanics. But the mobile lab is a (albeit passive) step in the right direction.

[herbal space program]

Make career mode about something beyond just unlocking the tech tree!

[Barklight]

[quote name='GregroxMun']You may very well be correct about different fuels.
You're not discovering the planets so much as finding out what they look like beyond their color.
Disagree that making the game slower makes it more boring. That's like saying stock scale is more boring than Toy Solar System. (Hint: It's not). The point in having Kerbin be full scale is so that the designs for spacecraft are more authentic, things that could actually function in the real world. Maybe include a 1/10 Full scale mode for an option to go back to the pre-rescale stock system. Heck, while they're at it they could include an optional Real Solar System mode. Imagine that![/QUOTE]

You could simplify the whole planet discovery thing with making them colored blotches as you mentioned and then introducing one new science part like a "Planetary Orbit Color Analyzer / P.O.C.A" :) Stick it on a probe and send it to the designated location and run it's experiment for a) some science reward (high orbit gives lower science than low orbit, does not work in atmo) and b) to reveal the normal model in map/tracking view. Part would not be necessary if your first visit to the planet was crewed, as you'd have a kerbal-eye view report of it. Or you could integrate it into the first crew reports on that orbit.

Following the Unity 5 compatibility update, I'd work on the x64 compatibility a bit. Perhaps make a high resolution texture overhaul package for the stock game similar to EVE / Astronomer's Interstellar pack. High quality graphics package available as a stock addition to the game, but optional (since it would probably cause issues in non-64x installs).

[Tourist]

Short answer, base-building parts and contracts that make base and rovers meaningful in the area in which they are placed.

Long answer

At this point, all I'd feel the game needs is more base building parts.... I mean, we have base building contracts, but not a single part suitable for habitation on other planets. The Hitchhiker module is not suitable because it is clearly oriented for Zero-G with the beds on the walls the node on the roof if you orient it "upright", but sadly its the only real option. I suppose you can use the spaceplane passenger parts, but they clearly look like a plane cabin. So long story short, base parts would be my first thing from here on out (after upgrade to unity, optomisation, bugfixing etc.)

Second would be add features to planets which require exploration, performing tests etc. Leading to ultra complex base and rover contracts.

For example. Contract 1: place a base containing 5 kerbals that can generate power, antenna etc... within area X. (X being an area with a diameter of say 10 km)

Contract two: Take two kerbals to anomaly Y (which would be within a short distance from or within area X and would actually be a thing, an easter egg, interesting formation, a wreck etc). And perform a specific scientific test or tests at the location. This would encourage players to use rovers to explore the area around their base (or build surveying spacecraft, if not rover inclined).

Contract three: explore anomlay Z (again, also within a short range of the base at location X, and again an actual thing.)

Contract four: Mission complete, abandon base return to Kerbin. (completion criteria being no more kerbals at station, former inhabitants returned to Kerbin.)

[Pthigrivi]

I've heard a number of people asking for cameras and blurring planets until they're used, but Im not sure what this accomplishes. At the moment there isn't really much functional difference between landing in one spot vs another anyway, so what does it matter if its blurry or not? What would be more useful would be a biome/anomaly mapper. It could even just be what the gravoli does.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

+1 Tourist, those sound like great additions, in particular adding some more habitat modules- Porkjet's are pretty solid, I think they'd fit nicely into stock.

[Spacetraindriver]

1st:TRAINS, TRAINS,TRAINS, TRAINS,TRAINS, TRAINS,

2nd: More varitey of plane size parts. Mk0, Mk1/2, Mk1, Mk1 1/2, Mk 2, Mk2 1/2, Mk3

3rd: More varitey of rocket size parts

4th BASE BASE BASE BASE BASE

5th: ROVER ROVER ROVER ROVER

6th PROP PROP

7th GP2, 3, and 4

8th More GALAXIES!

9th More engines (ESPICIALY a decent Single engine like the Mammoth)

10th Drumroll! FREE DLCs!!!!!

11th Trains!