Update the Demo, please.

[Whirligig Girl]

The demo version from 1.0 is the worst version of the game (aside from anything earlier than 0.9 or so), including other demo versions. It is especially bad as a demo. It is actually genuinely difficult to do much of anything with the 1.0 demo. The 0.18 demo, on the other hand, was quite nice to play with, as was the 0.13.3 demo. Here are a couple of things that are wrong with the 1.0 demo:

1. Early-1.0 aerodynamics.
2. No fairings. 
3. Very limited control options. (Static fins, ungimballed rocket engine, bulky radial RCS tank. All of this in 1.0's aero model.)
4. Lacking some major 1.1 features
   1. The KSPedia
   2. Plenty crashes
   3. Pretty G.U.I.
   4. Pretty sky
5. Lacking too much in part list.
6. The game is great, but the demo makes it look bad.
7. A good demo is crucial for a game as expensive as KSP has become.

 

My suggestion for a new demo:

• Overall
  • Updated to 1.2.
  • "Buy Full Game for...[features in full game]" tips in the loading screens.
• Other:
  • Show an uncontrollable Aeris 4A on the runway as a teaser for spaceplanes.
• Celestial Bodies:
  • Sun
  • Kerbin
  • Mun
  • Duna
  • Gilly, moved to orbit Duna.
  • Ghosts (can not be visited, but show up in the tracking station and map view) of the other planets. When clicked on to focus, the info-box shows a picture of the planet, and a link to buy the full version.
• Parts:
  • Don't show the ghosted pictures of the rest of the parts in the editor, because that adds too much clutter.
  • Command:
    • Mk1 Command Pod
    • Mk1 Lander Can
    • Probodobodyne OKTO
    • Stayputnik Mk1
  • Propellant:
    • FL-T200 Fuel Tank
    • FL-T400 Fuel Tank
    • FL-T800 Fuel Tank
    • ROUND-8 Torus Tank
    • FL-R10 RCS Tank
    • FL-R25 RCS Tank
    • FTX-2 External Fuel Duct
  • Engines:
    • LV-909 "Terrier"
    • LV-T45 "Swivel"
    • LV-T30 "Reliant"
    • LV-1 "Ant"
    • Sepratron I
    • BACC "Thumper" SRB
    • RT-10 "Hammer" SRB
    • RT-5 "Flea" SRB
  • Control:
    • Small Inline Reaction Wheel
    • Advanced Inline Stabilizer
    • RV-105 RCS Thruster Block
  • Structural and Aerodynamic:
    • TT-38K Decoupler (small radial)
    • TR-18A Stack Decoupler (1.25m)
    • TR-2V Stack Decoupler (0.625m)
    • Strut Connector
    • Cubic Octagonal Strut
    • Modular Girder Segment
    • Launch Clamps
    • Advanced Nose Cone - Type A (pointy nosecone)
    • Aerodynamic Nose Dome (the short and dumb nosecone)
    • Basic Fin
    • AV-T1 Winglet
    • AV-R8 Winglet
    • 1.25m Fairing
    • 2.5m Fairing
    • 1.25m Heatshield
    • 2.5m Heatshield
    • 1.25-1.25x3 Stack Tricoupler (for old time's sake. I remember the most characteristic thing from the 0.13 and 0.18 demo was when people would cluster rockets with many tricouplers. It was great.)
    • 2.5-1.25x4 Stack Quadcoupler (A single 2.5m part to go with the 2.5m heatshield and fairing)
  • Utility:
    • LY05 Steerable Small Landing Wheels (the one that looks like a duck)
    • Maybe, Clamp-O-Tron Jr. (OK, this one might be pushing it a little.)
    • Service Bay (1.25m)
    • Mk1 Crew Cabin
    • Z-1K Battery Bank (the 1.25m battery disc)
    • Z-100 Battery Pack (The AA-looking batteries)
    • OX-STAT solar panel (the static solar panel)
    • SP-L 1x6 Solar Panels (long covered deployable solar panels)
    • Pegasus I Mobility Enhancer
    • Telus Mobility Enhancer
    • Mk12-R Radial-Mount Drogue Chute
    • Mk16 Parachute (0.625m chute)
    • LT-1 Landing Strut
    • LT-05 Micro Landing Strut
  • Science:
    • Communotron 16 (the long sputniky antenna)
    • Mystery Goo
    • Materials Bay
    • 2Hot Thermometer
• Career Mode
  • Same as before, but with a new tech tree.

This may look like a lot of parts, but believe me, it leaves a lot of parts missing. And it's a heck of a lot more playable than the 1.0 Demo. It leaves out all of the 2.5m and 3.75m rocket parts, most of the probe parts, all of the aircraft parts, all rover wheels, and all mining parts. The addition of Duna and dun-Gilly provides two interplanetary targets (one hard and one easy) while still leaving you wanting more. I was going to suggest Eve and Gilly, but a return from Eve is so hard it's nearly impossible with the limited parts.

 

What do you all think? Should the demo be made more playable? Should it be more featured than what I've suggested? Less?

[Burning For New Frontiers]

Ouch man, that's waaaay too many parts. I'm a seasoned veteran of the 1.0 demo, being unfortunately, unable to buy the full game. But any way, I have successfully done a Mun landing, built a modular ship without docking ports, assembled a space station in orbit, constructed a Munar base, built goddamn rovers without wheels, and even successfully waged war with a trio of Frigates. I even managed to build a semi-flyable aircraft. The demo, with its reduced parts, allows me to build 1200 part monstrosities that can lug 100+ tons to orbit, with minimal lag on 2 GB of RAM. So no, the demo is quite enjoyable. 

 

 

 

But, on the other hand, a few extra parts would be nice. Perhaps the FLT 400 and 800 instead of the 100 and 200, retractable solar panels, and maybe the Terrier. Career mode could either be expanded a bit, or it could be replaced with science mode and a teaser for career. A bigger reaction wheel would be a nice idea too. They could possibly swap the current singlet for a AV R8.

I fully agree that the demo must be updated to 1.2. Especially with the Unity Update, and the cool underwater stuff.

 

 

 

One more thing. If someone built a KSP version that worked well on 1 GB of total RAM, with less parts and a lower price as a result, I would totally buy it.