We are losing Squad Staff!

[Moose Rocket Science]

We saw Felipe now Dan leave #SaveSquad

[softweir]

It happens. The good news is that both guys left for completely legitimate personal reasons and there is no suggestion there are any bad reasons. Companies have to deal with turnover, it's part of life. Unlike other fandoms, we get to hear about this stuff because Squad are so much a part of the KSP community, not just the developers!

[regex]

And?  People move on or reprioritize and things change, just get used to it.

[Bill Phil]

Wait a minute...

Felipe was the one who wanted to make KSP in the first place, right?

[flyboy67109]

2 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

Wait a minute...

Felipe was the one who wanted to make KSP in the first place, right?

Wait a minute...

Felipe made game? Cool! I wonder what it's going to be called? 

[Archgeek]

25 minutes ago, softweir said:

It happens. The good news is that both guys left for completely legitimate personal reasons and there is no suggestion there are any bad reasons. Companies have to deal with turnover, it's part of life.

Imagine a world where instead companies had to deal with delcious apple turnovers.

[regex]

12 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

Wait a minute...

Felipe was the one who wanted to make KSP in the first place, right?

Yeah, and after five years working on the same code base I'd want to move on too.

[HoloYolo]

1 hour ago, regex said:

Yeah, and after five years working on the same code base I'd want to move on too.

Same. Even with a very much devoted fanbase. 5 years trying to update/make the same game would be pretty tiring. It does suck that he did have to go, though.

[Vanamonde]

This isn't a new thing. A number of people have left or joined Squad over the years. 

[Snark]

9 minutes ago, SingABrightSong said:

the most recent post in a pointless doom thread like this

Meh, I think "pointless doom thread" is a bit harsh.  Somebody sees a couple of long-term Squad mainstays leaving "suddenly" right after a big release, and it makes them worry whether something is going on.  It's a legitimate question to wonder about.

That said:  I would strongly suggest that the answer is "no, we don't need to worry."  I've been working in this business for over 20 years, and I can tell you that people move around a lot, and the most common time to move is right after finishing a long project.  Staying on one product for 4 years or more is really unusual.  Honestly, after a year-long marathon like 1.1, I would have been surprised if folks hadn't left to try other things.

More discussion here, if you're interested.

 

[r4pt0r]

6 hours ago, regex said:

Yeah, and after five years working on the same code base I'd want to move on too.

Having just gotten into Dwarf Fortress, I hope Toady keeps working on that for a very long time.

[AlamoVampire]

1 hour ago, Snark said:

<sniped for clarity of my concern>... and I can tell you that people move around a lot, and the most common time to move is right after finishing a long project.  Staying on one product for 4 years or more is really unusual.  Honestly, after a year-long marathon like 1.1, <snip>

 

The underline is my doing, and pointing at something that concerns me greatly.

Seeing language like "finishing" leads me to think that the departures are because the game is considered done, with nothing new to be added. ever. I had hopes for a long and bright future for this game, but, if the core team is breaking up because they think there is nothing left for this game, I am deeply troubled and even more deeply worried. 

DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMER

This post represents my OWN PERSONAL concerns and fears, and if more is read into it, I cannot help that. I am voicing what is on MY mind. Nothing more, nothing less. I have salt grains at the door to my post, please apply them liberally. The information in this box does not represent what may be true, and does not imply anything buy my own fears.

END DISCLAIMER END DISCLAIMER END DISCLAIMER END DISCLAIMER

ALL of that said: I HOPE I am wrong.

Edited June 9, 2016 by AlamoVampire

[SpacedCowboy]

Oh no, the sky is falling!

[pandaman]

@AlamoVampire  I think in this case the word 'finishing' is referring to the particular release (1.1.) Not to KSP as whole.

[Wallygator]

We are not losing staff. We have grown and continue to grow talent.

Look at the great team that has since been assembled (and sourced from the community!) <--- JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!

Today KSP development and creative capability has evolved and attenuated itself to an evolving KSP product.

Move on people... Nothing to see here...

And best of luck to Dan - he's done great job and extended his capability and style in the process.

Personally, I like the naive stylishness in the early Kerbal animation, it just works!

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Wallygator

[AlamoVampire]

17 minutes ago, pandaman said:

@AlamoVampire  I think in this case the word 'finishing' is referring to the particular release (1.1.) Not to KSP as whole.

I hope you are right, I really do.

[pandaman]

1 minute ago, AlamoVampire said:

I hope you are right, I really do.

Nothing I have seen makes me think otherwise.

A new version release is a natural cut off point, and as convenient a time for staff to move on as possible, for everyone involved.

The leaver isn't bailing out at a very busy time and dropping their colleagues in it, and they themselves are at leaving knowing that their current tasks are tied up nicely . 

[regex]

1 hour ago, r4pt0r said:

Having just gotten into Dwarf Fortress, I hope Toady keeps working on that for a very long time.

Dwarf Fortress is so ambitious and unique that I doubt Toady will ever tire of it.  It's the holy grail of programming day jobs.

[Bill Phil]

9 hours ago, regex said:

Yeah, and after five years working on the same code base I'd want to move on too.

There's no reason* for straight up leaving. I can understand wanting to move on, but he could still offer some input to the game, while moving on from focusing on it.

*that I can see

Edited June 9, 2016 by Bill Phil

[Arsonide]

We actually have grown quite a bit over the last year, if you look at community developers like @NathanKell, @taniwha, @TriggerAu, and @Claw joining the fray.This tends to happen quietly over time, so the community loses track of how big the team really is. There are plenty of us.

[cantab]

Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Wait until a third long-time member leaves this month, then we can start talking conspiracies.

[John FX]

Not to be unkind but I remember dan arriving and now he has left and he was only the guy that did animations. Harvester on the other hand was a bigger deal but TBH I would be tired of looking at the same code by now and if he hasn`t got enough money to have 6 months off and to see the world something`s wrong.

Looking at it a different way, sometimes early members of a project can hold onto ideas they had when forming a product which don`t fit with the product after four years of development.

AFAIK when the game was conceived it was a smaller, simpler game, rocketry based on trial and error, no need to calculate interplanetary transfers for example, and now we have ISRU, docking, spaceplanes etc not including the expanded game available if you include mods (Thank you Squad for giving modders a decent API). There seems now to be an incompatibility between the original thoughts the game was based on and what it needs now to be a better game. I`m not saying Harvester was holding the game back, he`s done more to advance the game than anyone else IMO, but out of respect there would be a reluctance to take the game in a direction which did not fit with his original concept and when long term members of a project leave it can free up the remaining members to move into new areas to the benefit of the game.

Anyway, back on topic, this just seems like the natural point in the dev cycle where it would cause minimum disruption for staff to leave so it makes sense to have people leave in clumps. Nothing to worry about.

[Temeter]

I knew someone would make this kind of thread. It's silly.

1 hour ago, cantab said:

Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Wait until a third long-time member leaves this month, then we can start talking conspiracies.

What happens if 4 devs leave tho? :3

[klgraham1013]

18 minutes ago, Temeter said:

What happens if 4 devs leave tho? :3

The Kraken has found a way to manifest in this reality.  Prepare your offerings.

[Tw1]

People do sometimes leave in bunches. When one person leaves, another whose had in on their minds can also decide it's finally time.

Humans are social,relational beings after all.

 

We can either be negative about this, inferring that there's something wrong within Squad, or that the game will loose the original spirit as the directors change. 

 

Or be optimistic, many recenr additions to the devs have been forumers, with as we've discussed and debated, likely to be familiar with the thoughts of fans. New blood may bring fresh though, new ideas to places where the game is currently lacking. Some of these ideas may be improvements.