Making ksp for iOS or android

[Spaceman8081]

 Recently everybody have been talking about wanting ksp to be on android and ios. So I think ksp should be on android and iOS so you can play and fly rockets on the go.

[technicalfool]

Not really an add-on discussion. Moved!

[nobodyhasthis2]

Lets get in working properly on a PC first. Roll on 1.1 

[Tex_NL]

43 minutes ago, technicalfool said:

Not really an add-on discussion. Moved!

Why moved instead of locked?
All other suggestions like this got shot down within one or two posts.

[Guest]

I'd only support this if it just lets me build rockets.

The iPhone graphics quality would have to be just awful to make it run at a desirable frame-rate.

Again, only the rockets.

[GreeningGalaxy]

Can most iPhones and Android devices actually run KSP?
Sure, some devices will, but would it be enough to make it worth it? KSP is such a CPU-heavy game, and while phones have great graphics these days, I just don't have a lot of confidence in a 2-GHz ARM for a task that x86 CPUs of equal or better frequencies struggle with. Even with substantial optimizations and simplifications to the part physics and other heavy calculations, I'm inclined to suspect that KSP would be a slow, battery-draining game on even the best devices. Maybe an iPad Pro could handle it, but I wouldn't bet any money on a playable experience on my perfectly decent Nexus 5.

What we probably should do is wait and see how the console editions work, then decide if mobile editions are worth pushing for. If successful, a mobile version could push the game into the hands of more "casual" players and those without ready access to a powerful-enough computer, which certainly wouldn't hurt anything.

Edited February 25, 2016 by GreeningGalaxy

[egoego]

The UI would be something very creative. Thinking on all the keybindings used that need to be mapped on a touchscreen that is way smaller than the display on my PC. So either 60% of the screen is buttons and/or you have very deep menu trees. 

[TheSealBrigade]

I think my phone would blow up immediately. Then I would have to call the fire department with my neighbors' phone. 

[pandaman]

I think that, realistically, KSP as it is, or even just a ship builder on a tablet, never mind a phone, even if possible,  would be too fiddly to actually use.  The 'cool novelty' factor would wear a bit thin quite soon for me if my fat fingers stopped me doing what I wanted.

On the other hand, offical standalone support apps etc I could see being a viable option. 

[Frybert]

What, you guys don't have it yet?

Spoiler

 

[Kerbart]

Try Simple Rockets. It's a dressed down version, inspired by KSP.

The total lack of fine control made it nothing more than a novelty to me, but it's fun to play around with it.

[Jeb Coleman]

KSP would run great on the iPad pro. Especially since it has DDR4 ram, and a 2.16-2.26Ghz processor. It would also run great on other iPads. But it couldn't be put on iPhone because the screen is too small.  Here are the apple devices that would run it best. 

Ipad pro 12.9 2x 2.26GHz 4GB DDR4

ipad pro 9.7 2x 2.16GHz 2GB DDR4

ipad air 2 3x 1.5GHz 2GB DDR3

iPad mini 4 2x 1.5GHz 2GB DDR3

Since WWDC is next week it would be good to implement any new improvements to metal into the app. Unity 5 allows you to export your game to multiple platforms easily. But lots of code would have to be rewritten into swift 3. I would enjoy helping with a project to bring KSP to mobile

On February 26, 2016 at 0:50 PM, Frybert said:

What, you guys don't have it yet?

  Hide contents

 

Are you using splashtop. I use it to stream KSP to my iPad mini 

The graphics would be great here is somewhat new iOS game that has better graphics than KSP http://www.battlesupremacy.com/

Here is a new iOS game that has great graphics Battle Supremacy: Evolution by Atypical Games
https://appsto.re/us/Gu0d5.i

Edited June 5, 2016 by Jeb Coleman

[kBob]

Screen is too small; also would need a pointer of some kind as a finger is not going to be very good for it.  Sure someday those devices may have the power to run KSP but not sure what you'd get out of it given the UI limitations unless it was greatly simplified.  Of course once they have the equivalent of a six or eight core i7 a 980ti or 1080 and the ability to connect to a big screen and keyboard/mouse than yeah why not ;)?  And yes I can connect my Surface Pro to those things but still wouldn't make much sense to run KSP on it (but it could).

[Jeb Coleman]

Those specs aren't needed to play KSP without mods. 

[Jeb Coleman]

The physics calculation could be done on an iPad here are some benchmarks.

This is the cpu minimum for KSP 

Intel Core 2 duo https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/1267779

and here are some iOS benchmarks. 

IPad mini 4

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/6756118

ipad pro 

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/6843146

ipad air 2

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/6847768

[XrayLima]

I'd happily just take a simplified VAB/SPH editor which could sync my designs to my PC.  That should be much much easier on the CPU requirements, and frankly I can't see much of the joy in playing a bare bones KSP on a tiny screen, but I can see some enjoyment in killing time on the bus preping my next mission for when I get home.

[Spaceception]

On 2/26/2016 at 11:26 AM, Kerbart said:

Try Simple Rockets. It's a dressed down version, inspired by KSP.

The total lack of fine control made it nothing more than a novelty to me, but it's fun to play around with it.

I used to screw around with that, the 2D KSP! Not to mention the fact planets don't move, you can't have elliptical orbits, once you're in space, you're in orbit, and planets are about1/20th the size of your spacecraft. But it was fun, and I built a pretty big space station.

On 2/26/2016 at 10:50 AM, Frybert said:

What, you guys don't have it yet?

  Hide contents

 

That looks A LOT like my moms phone

Edited June 7, 2016 by Spaceception

[Sereneti]

On 25.2.2016 at 9:18 AM, Spaceman8081 said:

 Recently everybody have been talking about wanting ksp to be on android and ios. So I think ksp should be on android and iOS so you can play and fly rockets on the go.

there is already a version for linux,  - and android is linux. - it dosnt take much work to compile a linux version for android.
But:
A Desktop-CPU had much, much more power as a ARM-prozessor. (and a lot of more instructions).
A Desktop-PC has much more ram, and much faster RAM as a ARM Prozesson
KSP has somethimes 100% CPU usage on a Desktop-CPU.
KSP use somethimes > 4GB RAM(stock)...

Have fun with that power on an ARM....
_----
"it is possible to cut KSP down" ...
yes it is.
but than it isnt KSP anymore...

[Red Iron Crown]

4 hours ago, Spaceception said:

I used to screw around with that, the 2D KSP! Not to mention the fact planets don't move, you can't have elliptical orbits, once you're in space, you're in orbit, and planets are about1/20th the size of your spacecraft. But it was fun, and I built a pretty big space station.

That sounds more like Space Agency to me. Simple Rockets has moving planets, elliptical orbits, etc.

[Spaceception]

3 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

That sounds more like Space Agency to me. Simple Rockets has moving planets, elliptical orbits, etc.

OH RIGHT! I forgot there were two different 2D KSPesque games