How did ksp start out?

[The Thyroid Man]

how did this game start out? Was it in the beginning just kerbin or something?

Edited June 21, 2016 by The Thyroid Man

[cubinator]

Do you mean "start out" as in the way the game was when it was first released, or as in how the idea came about in the first place? In case of the former, I'll direct you here:

In case of the latter, I'll direct you here:

 

[cantab]

The very first versions of the game were shown on a Squadcast many moons ago. That "game" bore more resemblance to Flappy Bird than to the KSP we know today, with 2D graphics and mindless tap-the-buttons controls.

The first release was KSP 0.7.3 in 2011, and by then KSP had developed into something we can recognise. Rocket design and flight was 3D, Kerbin was a sphere, and it had real orbital mechanics. Actually making orbit in 0.7.3 is rather difficult however, because there was no symmetry, no angle snap, no struts, and no stacking fuel tanks.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[KerikBalm]

1 hour ago, The Thyroid Man said:

 Was it in the beginning just kerbin or something?

Yes, the Sun was just a feature of the skybox... then they added Mun... not sure which version had it first, but it was in by .13, which you can download today and go try, there was a forum challenge:

I'm not sure when Minmus got added, but planets were there by .17

 

....

Ah, here:

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Version_history

v0.3 Not Released, The Mun was removed

v0.7.3 Kerbin is the only celestial object, does not rotate, and is a mirror reflection of the example planet from libnoise - The sun is a directional light source at infinite distance

v0.12 Re-added the Mun

v0.17 Many new planets and moons throughout the Kerbal Solar System.

v0.18.0 Much improved planets: Kerbin looks a lot better now, with hand-built terrain features. Moho and Eve also got major overhauls, and many others have also been improved.

v0.18.2 Solar System: Added a new icy planet called Eeloo, somewhere out past Jool.

[Aethon]

Some  of the results of my Harvester stalking over the years.

 

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=20494

 

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/position-of-ascending-and-descending-nodes.534665/

 

 

 

[Van Disaster]

It started with a thread on the Orbiter forums which was linked in Harvester's farewell thread somewhere.