1.1 is seriously bugged, but comes it as a surprise...

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, luizopiloto said:

I'll not share my opinion about this... I don't want to get banned...

We should be free to express opinions we have regarding a product we paid for................go for it.

[Blunderbuss]

47 minutes ago, herbal space program said:

"Soon you will hear great news about KSP that will make the team proud of their effort"

Well that's sure made me curious! Although it does sound just a little bit like the sort of thing you'd say while you're packing your bags and searching for countries with the most favorable extradition policies 

 

 

I almost choked on my iced tea and made vomit in my mouth; I appreciate that!  

16 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

If that means they will have to expedite the wheel/leg fix then it is indeed good news. If not, meh.

Would the average console player even care about working wheels & legs?

Wait...

What?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Blunderbuss said:

I almost choked on my iced tea and made vomit in my mouth; I appreciate that!  

Would the average console player even care about working wheels & legs?

Wait...

What?

Will the console version have a KSP Zombie mode................

[r4pt0r]

3 hours ago, Majorjim said:

Squads response:

 https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/en/?page_id=387

Any link to the "press attention"? did CNN run a report on shady business ethics at Squad or something?

[maceemiller]

Wow......im literally shaking my head in disbelief with what im reading here. This may upset some but tough......I love KSP, I love 1.1.2 and instead of wasting my time on this thread, imma go to the VAB and build something. 

[Glaran K'erman]

3 minutes ago, r4pt0r said:

Any link to the "press attention"? did CNN run a report on shady business ethics at Squad or something?

Na, a few online game mags/blogs wrote a paragraph or two. Just Google-->News it.

[Virtualgenius]

Interesting article the only thing that it confirms for me was  the coding for spaceport 2 was finished and never used but was alluded to right up until an alternative site was announced 

Edited May 8, 2016 by Virtualgenius

[Ruedii]

Anyone who hasn't read the dev notes on a game like this seriously is simply asking for it.

The dev team encountered an unprecidented number of upstream bugs in Unity 5 during the transition.  The choice was pretty much wait 6 months for several major bugfix releases from Unity, or wrangle the bugs until they are under control and release something.  Doing the later was probably the best choice.

Believe me, nobody is happy with the bugs, but they are not Squad's fault.  The blame squarely rests on Unity and nVidia who have been putting eye-candy over a functional physics engine in their game engine components for the past ten years.    This is the inevitable result.   

[Plusck]

OMFG.

This reminds me of all the infighting over Deus Ex / Ion Storm Austin. Except that this time, the actual devs are still working on the game and not being fired or selling out, and the snipers are the web managers (and frankly, who hasn't heard someone say "I'm a web developer" and not thrown up a little into their mouth?) whose presence was basically useless as soon as xkcd first referenced KSP.

[RocketBlam]

Seems to be airing a bunch of dirty laundry, honestly.

Were all these people "fired", or just laid off? In the US, there's a big difference.

 

[Sandworm]

5 minutes ago, RocketBlam said:

Seems to be airing a bunch of dirty laundry, honestly.

Were all these people "fired", or just laid off? In the US, there's a big difference.

 

Neither.  In the modern world they aren't even employees.  These are contractors or some other non-employee employee.  "Laid off" is something from the days when people could expect to come back and/or situations involving mass firing.  People today are never fired.  The contract with their shell company isn't renewed.  I often complain to the CEO of my shell company, but the emails to him keep landing back in my inbox.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Sandworm

[RocketBlam]

That's fine, having your contract not renewed is not being "fired" either.

[Violent Jeb]

It all depends on the circumstances. If you felt like you were securely employed and you were "let go", then it "feels" like being fired.

Regardless, we'll probably never know the truth about that situation. It is clear to me, that regardless of the context, the sales figures say there could / should be double the number of hands working on this.. but what do i know.

well since you asked, what I do know, is that between the bad press, the droves of new users with unplayable games, and the fact that all this is likely going to remain so for weeks, it sounds like someone is going to have a very good Q2. Perhaps the next update will be prompt and in good order (if the console release doesn't come and sweep all of us under the rug).

 

Edited May 8, 2016 by Violent Jeb

[Fallarnon]

On 5/6/2016 at 7:57 AM, Red Iron Crown said:

Not speaking as a moderator or in any official capacity:

It's not suspicious to me at all. It's no win to get into a mudslinging fight with a former employee. If you say anything negative about the employee that gets spun as lying for damage control (or at the very least, breaching privacy by speaking about the employee's performance). If you don't say anything negative about the employee, that's seen as an endorsement of them ("Look, they don't even criticize him, he must be telling the truth!"). It's a game of he said/she said where one party is never believed because they're a company instead of a person.

The only sensible move is to not say anything at all. As an added bonus, it's also the most ethical move because a company shouldn't discuss employee relations publicly.

Quoting this as it's the absolute truth.

A lot of people here are banding behind this alleged former team member's posts on 4chan (Of all places, really?) but what isn't being considered is the fact that just by, again allegedly, posting these thoughts publicly this individual is giving us a huge insight into his own character. If two years on he's still so bothered by this after having been laid off by Squad, one has to wonder what he's been doing in the meantime?

There are usually some ill-feelings in any layoff situation like this, that much goes without saying, but generally speaking you get a new job, get busy there, and the feelings dull with the passing of time and lack of time to worry about it in the interim. If he's still this vehement about things this far along one has to wonder if he's been able to find gainful employ in the meantime. If not, could this be due to a lack of real qualifications and skills? I mean, I'm not trying to put the guy down but streaming is something you can get for free from the community and doing some HTML work to structure a newsletter is not a 40 hour per week activity. If he's got real skills and brings such good things to the table then he should have had no problem finding employ elsewhere and being swept up in the excitement of working there, not carrying a pitchfork for two years waiting for the opportune moment to stick it to Squad.

Beyond that, he's throwing out information to make Squad look bad but really doesn't provide enough detail. What was the nature of his employment with Squad? Was he hired on as a full-time W-2 type employee, a part-time employee, or was his role more that of a 1099-MISC contractor? NDA means nothing, most any company will have you sign a non-disclosure agreement when you take a job with them, especially in the gaming space. If he was a contractor as opposed to an employee, $2400 could really be quite reasonable. For example, he mainly talks about a newsletter and streaming. Streaming he was apparently already doing for free, so I don't see why Squad would opt to pay for it, and the Newsletter shouldn't take more than a handful of hours every week, certainly not 40! If he wasn't satisfied with his pay structure he was certainly free to seek employment elsewhere, yet he only left when terminated, so at the time he was clearly okay with that pay.

Honestly, reading this over the poster, if it was indeed this ex-employee, showed his true hand at the end when he declared the intent of all this. He's (allegedly) an ex-employee with a vendetta who seeks only to smear Squad's name in the press and hurt their sales. I'd venture to guess that he probably has had a difficult time finding employment post-Squad which has served to fuel his resentment and, as a result, has gone on this scorched earth campaign. The sad fact is that all he's really accomplished, if this is truly this guy, is to ruin much of his chances of working in the industry again. This is one of those things you simply do not do, you don't burn a former employer. Doing so leads potential future employers to worry about what you'll do if things don't work out with them and it generally makes you a bad risk, especially if you don't bring meaningful skills to the table.

[basic.syntax]

Wow. That this thread in the company official forums, critical of the company, has not been locked yet, is a sign that they are being tolerant of "constructive criticism."  I'm impressed that the founders have chosen to make a public statement. And I see one obvious reply: "we'll be watching what you do, not what you say." That is a reason some companies choose not to make such statements.

I was pleased to read in devnotes of months past that Squad was improving one aspect of working conditions, an office remodel. Last summer during the 1.0 release Squadcast from KSP HQ, the webcam was set up in their conference room, and people were taking turns in there, saying the room was really stuffy, hot & had no AC. Mexico City in the summer = hot.   One thing I respect is that they did not overspend, by leasing new luxury office space, to bask in success. The remodel and staff expansion we saw in the 1.1 release cycle, however flawed the result upon the chosen release day, suggests they have been working to improve.

[Sirad]

8 hours ago, herbal space program said:

"Soon you will hear great news about KSP that will make the team proud of their effort"

Well that's sure made me curious! Although it does sound just a little bit like the sort of thing you'd say while you're packing your bags and searching for countries with the most favorable extradition policies 

 

 

Hee. Signed- really really laughed mine ass off because i was writing the same comment but found this one while searchin if anyone mentioned that already.

Anyone from Amsterdam can check if DEPORTED (the company we made our license agreement with) is more than a Postbox ? I Bet: NOT. Because the WTC in Amsterdam is known to be only a big Postbox for just eh... ill better stop to prevent being banned.

You Made your license agreement with DEPORTED! and in case of mishap DEPORTED walks of whistling....

 

[metalmouth7]

44 minutes ago, Sirad said:

Anyone from Amsterdam can check if DEPORTED (the company we made our license agreement with) is more than a Postbox? 

I've heard some mention that it actually shares an office with a firm that specializes in creating shell corporations for tax purposes, and just happens to have staff on retainer for assisting Spanish-speaking clients.

[Temeter]

8 hours ago, r4pt0r said:

Any link to the "press attention"? did CNN run a report on shady business ethics at Squad or something?

No, I think destructoid or kotaku made a news out of it, just some half hearted report based on the very vague information we got.

5 hours ago, basic.syntax said:

Wow. That this thread in the company official forums, critical of the company, has not been locked yet, is a sign that they are being tolerant of "constructive criticism."  I'm impressed that the founders have chosen to make a public statement. And I see one obvious reply: "we'll be watching what you do, not what you say." That is a reason some companies choose not to make such statements.

To be honest, even after making this thread, I'm not even sure how constructive it really is as a whole. E.g. Reddit is currently in full drama mode right now and people are creating lots of conspiracy theories, mostly based on a lack of understanding how business works. This was mostly about the treatment of squads employees (which tbh, relies on outdated information and vague confirmations), but some people really try to make it a story about how they got wronged by the devs of KSP.

Still, I think it's better to let the drama run it's course. I've seen a lot worse e.g. on the steam forums of Uber, the devs behind planetary annihilation.

Edit: That said taking a closer look, this thread here is pretty reasonable. Gj community.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Temeter

[basic.syntax]

19 minutes ago, Temeter said:

To be honest, even after making this thread, I'm not even sure how constructive it really is...

When companies grow to the point that they need HR departments, they may issue job satisfaction surveys that can be submitted anonymously. (And managers start using the word process a lot.)  Some smaller companies may have comment boxes where employees can drop anonymous notes for (good) management to read. I think making suggestions along those lines are about as constructive as product customers in these forums can be.

[White Owl]

I treat you, dear forum reader, to my unsolicited Pollyana-vision perfect dream scenario for the future of KSP. If things happened the way I'd like them to...

 

Squad would sell the whole game to one of those faceless media monoliths everybody loves to hate. Like Disney, say.

Felipe/HarvesteR would get enough money to never work again. He could also hire a team of experts to follow him around, thinking of new ways to be nice to him. (Thank you, Douglas Adams.) His birthday would be a worldwide holiday, traditionally celebrated with improvised, handmade fireworks.

Everybody else who ever contributed to KSP development would also get enough money to never work again.*

The faceless media monolith would spend a bazillion dollars on perfecting KSP, and releasing KSP-themed projects for every taste. I foresee KSP: the Even More Realistic Than Orbiter Version... KSP: Baby's First Sandbox... KSP: Story Mode... KSP: Ultimate Atmospheric Flight Sim... KSP: The Perfect MMORPG... KSP: The Frakking Themepark!

KSP would become the dominant form of entertainment, worldwide. Wars would end. All former jocks would want to be pilots and astronauts. All former nerds would want to be aerospace engineers. The newly vibrant global economy would focus all humanity's effort on the goal of colonizing distant worlds.

My God, it would be beautiful.

 

*Except for MaxMaps, who would instead get punched in the face a lot.

[Temeter]

7 minutes ago, White Owl said:

*Except for MaxMaps, who would instead get punched in the face a lot.

I can's say much about him as a person, but he was hired as professional PR, because KSP kinda needed a better way of communicaton.

[Pixel of Life]

8 hours ago, Ruedii said:

Anyone who hasn't read the dev notes on a game like this seriously is simply asking for it.

The dev team encountered an unprecidented number of upstream bugs in Unity 5 during the transition.  The choice was pretty much wait 6 months for several major bugfix releases from Unity, or wrangle the bugs until they are under control and release something.  Doing the later was probably the best choice.

Believe me, nobody is happy with the bugs, but they are not Squad's fault.  The blame squarely rests on Unity and nVidia who have been putting eye-candy over a functional physics engine in their game engine components for the past ten years.    This is the inevitable result.   

 

So you're saying it's OK for the devs to suddenly go on a vacation and leave the game in a barely-playable state for two weeks, something that could've been avoided in the first place if they hadn't rushed the release and had done proper QA? Yeah, they're free to do whatever the hell they want to, but that's still a [REDACTED] move. Fix the bugs first and then go on a well-earned vacation. Not the other way round.

[Temeter]

36 minutes ago, CaptainKorhonen said:

So you're saying it's OK for the devs to suddenly go on a vacation and leave the game in a barely-playable state for two weeks, something that could've been avoided in the first place if they hadn't rushed the release and had done proper QA? Yeah, they're free to do whatever the hell they want to, but that's still a [REDACTED] move. Fix the bugs first and then go on a well-earned vacation. Not the other way round.

If it's been a real crunch phase, then a vacation was necessary. And nobody should be worked to death just so you get your update earlier. The issue is rather how the whole thing is setup, requiring a crunch phase in the first place.

 

And btw, there is still 1.0.5, which is rather polished in comparision. Nobody forces you to play 1.1+.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Temeter

[Fallarnon]

35 minutes ago, CaptainKorhonen said:

 

So you're saying it's OK for the devs to suddenly go on a vacation and leave the game in a barely-playable state for two weeks, something that could've been avoided in the first place if they hadn't rushed the release and had done proper QA? Yeah, they're free to do whatever the hell they want to, but that's still a [REDACTED] move. Fix the bugs first and then go on a well-earned vacation. Not the other way round.

When most of the really critical bugs are out of their hands and the others are minor nuisances? Absolutely. If you're under some delusion that this or any other software product will ever be completely free of bugs you should really disabuse yourself of it, outside of 'Hello, World' there aren't many.

[Sirad]

14 minutes ago, Fallarnon said:

If you're under some delusion that this or any other software product will ever be completely free of bugs you should really disabuse yourself of it, outside of 'Hello, World' there aren't many.

Sorry without being offending this is deja-vu

If i've gott'n a dollar for everytime i'd heard this or similar excuses:

'employee failed at debugging so he blames (insert any Software) whose employees too failed at debugging as excuse'

i wouldnt need to work anymore. Heard that the first time in the early 90's The coders still use that and get away with it ? gosh.

i took the wrong job.