AlphaMensae Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Well, I have some thoughts on what the first two exapansion packs could be: 1) There already is an officially-sanctioned ULA (United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture that launches the "legacy" US rockets, i.e Atlas V and Delta II/IV) mod pack in progress. The parts are apparently all done, and it's in ULA's hands, but no news of when it will be released. Something tells me it's because it's being set up as the first of these new KSP expansion packs, rather than be released as just another mod. 2) More speculative, but could a SpaceX partnership and expansion pack be next? All the Falcon9, Falcon Heavy and maybe even the BFR/MCT (or if you will, the ITS) parts you could imagine! Maybe this is why we haven't gotten stock large Falcon9-type landing legs yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabman Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 18 minutes ago, Laguna said: Well, I have some thoughts on what the first two exapansion packs could be: 1) There already is an officially-sanctioned ULA (United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture that launches the "legacy" US rockets, i.e Atlas V and Delta II/IV) mod pack in progress. The parts are apparently all done, and it's in ULA's hands, but no news of when it will be released. Something tells me it's because it's being set up as the first of these new KSP expansion packs, rather than be released as just another mod. 2) More speculative, but could a SpaceX partnership and expansion pack be next? All the Falcon9, Falcon Heavy and maybe even the BFR/MCT (or if you will, the ITS) parts you could imagine! Maybe this is why we haven't gotten stock large Falcon9-type landing legs yet. Parts could be copied as mods and added easily for free. I think DLC's can be either a story mode or another solar system with more details and singularities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbart Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 7 minutes ago, Crabman said: Parts could be copied as mods and added easily for free. I think DLC's can be either a story mode or another solar system with more details and singularities The game is unprotected yet a commercial success. I don't see why that would be different for DLC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty Tan Tu Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 After having read through all the comments. I am not sure what to say. I came here just recently from the Orbiter community. I got tired of waiting sometimes years for updates. I have no regrets. I like building space crafts, which is not so easy to do in Orbiter. It seems like programmers have left before. When Felipe Falanghe left in June Rock Paper Shotgun quoted him as saying: Quote This isn’t to say KSP’s development is complete, however. Far from it. Plans for KSP reach far into the future, and there are enough ideas to keep us all going for years. The console versions are coming up, there are new updates in development, the list goes on. For myself, however, I desperately need to have something new, to create more than one game in my life. “I need to make one thing perfectly clear: development on KSP will continue as always. No features, upgrades, bugfixes or anything of the sort are being discontinued because of my leaving. There is need for games like this that inspire kids, both boys and girls, to get excited about science and engineering, My hope is that there are "enough ideas to keep us all going for years" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legoclone09 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 If it does get abandoned (hopefully not), I think it would be good to make it open-source so it can always be continued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mycroft Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 @UomoCapra, you mentioned wanting to get together with fans more. Does this mean you will be attending PAX this next year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andem Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 5 hours ago, Crabman said: Sales of the same game goes down over time. How they would be still in profit with sales stabilizing? Well, products do tend to do that. You seriously don't expect KSP to be Squad's only project forever, right? Do you think that someone at microsoft is fretting over the fact that people have stopped buying Halo 1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mycroft Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 The title of this thread should read: "Kerbal Space Program 1.2: Loud & Clear release date and no more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainX Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 This updatenews has some serious bitter off-taste for me. So much crew leaving the ship, is it sinking or just getting refurbished? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mycroft Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 9 minutes ago, StainX said: This updatenews has some serious bitter off-taste for me. So much crew leaving the ship, is it sinking or just getting refurbished? That'd be sinking.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andem Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Seriously, this kind of nonchalantness is degrading. We only have two active devs right now! We will not be content with some vague "plans for the future" crap. Stop treating us like we're three years old and come with something concrete, dammit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey117 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 great to see they will be adding some dlc. really hope they add base modules as I feel the stock game is really lacking without these. just a shame us console players probably will have to wait until next year for it, judging by how long it took to implement one patch lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBOSHI Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 There might be lots of Kerbonauts who take thought for the future of KSP. Although I'm in ignorance of that they are smooth sailing, sinking or malfunction, 1.2 seems to be keeping itself interesting. Even if the development were leisurely, I hope it goes on bit by bit. as long as they don't bad mistake a course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdog357 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 4 hours ago, Andem said: Well, products do tend to do that. You seriously don't expect KSP to be Squad's only project forever, right? Do you think that someone at microsoft is fretting over the fact that people have stopped buying Halo 1? Halo hasn't been updated in 10 years, save for the remaster which was sold as another product. There have been 6 other FPS games and two RTS in the series to generate money. Squad must do something to generate income or they cease to exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balrog Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Industry events: I've lectured about, and demoed KSP at several Science Fiction conventions, I've even setup a couple KSP labs at them! I'm TRYING to introduce KSP to my contacts at the Global-hands-on Universe, and Galileo Teacher Training ProgramSTEM awareness & education: My wife and I are running an after-school club, featuring KSP and other space simulation apps. We're teching basic astronomy, space history, and I'm having the students recreate and fly missions from the early space age! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoboRay Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) 13 hours ago, Foxster said: Noticed how the Mechjeb mod development thread was closed by Sarbian who is now working for Squad? Fancy paying to use it again? Sarbian asked for the thread to be closed after people would not stop asking when MJ for 1.2 would be available. I wouldn't read much more into it than that, unless a month goes by without it being reopened. Edited October 5, 2016 by RoboRay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Iron Crown Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 2 minutes ago, RoboRay said: Sarbian asked for the thread to be closed after people would not stop asking when MJ for 1.2 would be available. I wouldn't read much more into it than that, unless a month goes by without it being reopened. For what it's worth, he also asked for the same thing when 1.1 was in prerelease. I don't think there's anything to be read into it, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerbMav Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 13 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said: For what it's worth, he also asked for the same thing when 1.1 was in prerelease. I don't think there's anything to be read into it, really. How a few words can untie a big knot. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemetal Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Once the pre-release dropped, the hype went up about as high as it could, then dropped. Now it is starting up again! Fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhereAmI Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 11 hours ago, Crabman said: Parts could be copied as mods and added easily for free. I think DLC's can be either a story mode or another solar system with more details and singularities How did Sims solve this problem? As far as I remember, EA released lots of addons with new clothes/pets/furniture/etc that could also be easily copied as mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
severedsolo Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) 15 minutes ago, WhereAmI said: How did Sims solve this problem? As far as I remember, EA released lots of addons with new clothes/pets/furniture/etc that could also be easily copied as mods. I used to be pretty heavily involved in the Sims 3 modding community, and I can tell you that most people on the official Sims forums regarded mods/Custom Content(CC) as the devils work/game breaking/able to blow up time and space itself. This was quietly encouraged by EA, and when a piece of CC emerged that was actually a virus, this pretty much sealed the deal for those people. On the other hand, most people on these forums use/encourage the use of mods. We don't have the same stigma, so I think the point stands, any DLC/Expansion packs are going to have to be freaking awesome to encourage anyone to part money. Of course Squad are modder friendly, whereas EA went to the Sims 2 modders and went "hey what do you like about modding this game, what makes it easy/hard etc." They responded in good faith, thinking EA were giving them proper modding tools... instead it was locked down in Sims 3. Edited October 5, 2016 by severedsolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabman Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 8 hours ago, Andem said: Well, products do tend to do that. You seriously don't expect KSP to be Squad's only project forever, right? Do you think that someone at microsoft is fretting over the fact that people have stopped buying Halo 1? Thats one reason why they stopped updating Halo 1, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjsnh Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 If you throw a few more celestial bodies in at some point (maybe an expansion pack?) I know a lot of us would LOVE that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerbMav Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, severedsolo said: I used to be pretty heavily involved in the Sims 3 modding community, and I can tell you that most people on the official Sims forums regarded mods/Custom Content(CC) as the devils work/game breaking/able to blow up time and space itself. This was quietly encouraged by EA, and when a piece of CC emerged that was actually a virus, this pretty much sealed the deal for those people. On the other hand, most people on these forums use/encourage the use of mods. We don't have the same stigma, so I think the point stands, any DLC/Expansion packs are going to have to be freaking awesome to encourage anyone to part money. Of course Squad are modder friendly, whereas EA went to the Sims 2 modders and went "hey what do you like about modding this game, what makes it easy/hard etc." They responded in good faith, thinking EA were giving them proper modding tools... instead it was locked down in Sims 3. I am currently listening to an audiobook read by Wil Wheaton and read this in his voice and pattern when he is at one of Scalzi's backstory anecdotes. Edited October 5, 2016 by KerbMav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbart Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 It's hard to make any sensible judgement of this right now. @SQUAD is not really communicating. They never do, but that doesn't make it acceptable. What do we know? 1.2 is completed. A tremendous amount of bugs have been fixed. Virtually all of the current team that rolled out 1.2 has quit. On their own choice? Forced? We don't know. Squad did link to the reddit post of the devs, and the reddit post of the devs was neutral in character. Squad has been looking for programmers in the vicinity of their headquarters. We can make assumptions but time will tell which ones are right: Assumption 1: The team revolted and threatened to quit. A retention bonus was offered for the delivery of 1.2, with a couple of conditions (no bad mouthing etc) to ensure delivery of 1.2; after that the team left, and in order to receive the bonus cannot reveal why and under what conditions Assumption 2: 1.2 is the true 1.0 version. The game is stable and feature complete. Of course there are bugs to fix but no longer at the rate of the past. Therefore, the team was let go. Likely they were told in advance this would happen, once again a retention bonus was offered to ensure completion of 1.2, and no badmouthing. Assumption 3: I can't think of one but I'm sure you guys can come up with a handful of other realistic scenarios. It is not unlikely to assume that sales are tapering off. The game has sold quite the volume and has been on the market for years by now. At one point, everyone who wants to pay for KSP has bought their copy. That moment might not be there yet, but projecting sales on current trends might show that moment will be there, say, within a year. If we want to continue enjoying our (free!) updates (and likely additionally minor content; I wouldn't write off porkjet's parts yet), then Squad has to find another income source. “A new game” is not a very sure solution, hit wonders like KSP and Minecraft (because we always compare to Mindcraft, no?) are hard to predict and have a very specific audience. Would you cater to that audience? Would you risk and try another? Selling expansion packs are offering less risks. They also offer less rewards; so if Squad goes down the expension pack path (which I think is extremely likely), be grateful that they decide to continue to invest in the KSP universe, and not bet the boat on something completely different. So, does paid-for expansion packs make Squad an evil EA/Zynga clone? I think it's in everyone's interest here if Squad continues to develop for KSP, and they can't do it for free. So I'm all for paid-for content, as long as: It doesn't remove or cripple existing functionality from the existing game (including the API's for mods) that has to be restored with an add-on It doesn't remove mods from the existing games (say, in 1.3 Mechjeb stops working but it's now available as the "Mechjeb addon pack") It's not required to enjoy the game I think obvious candidates for add-ons would be something like: gas giants/outer planets scenery packs (cities on Kerbin, working volcanoes on Duna, etc) extra space centers in different locations "Fixed" space stations in orbit, DS9/2001 style (something giant with tons of docking ports, repair facilities, even the ability to launch new ships) contract packs with exciting new missions and parts (like drills and containers for core samples, and contracts for it) Etc. Bring it on, Squad! Take my money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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