"There's no easy way to say this."

[worir4]

9 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Then I'll volunteer. Money is nothing compared to the honor of working on this.

Psst. I was joking. XD There will probably be vacancies after all these guys left. 

[Kertech]

I bet someone in the PR department is kicking themselves over the free content, and full expansions line

[Bomaye]

I read that all the people that left are from different continents than Squad, anyone know for sure?

[klgraham1013]

2 hours ago, Wallygator said:

I find it interesting that the reddit post occurred first (Based on my checking - could be wrong), followed an hour later by the announcement of 1.2 release date, then finally the reposting of the reddit onto the forums an hour after that.  Sounds fishy. (Note; If I got the timing wrong due to various systems in various time zones, etc, then I will correct this post - however, the lack of coordination still stands)

If this was an organised preplanned departure of a group of contractors, one possible better way to execute this would have been the 1.2 announcement first, followed quickly by the staff announcement which would have been slightly reworded to link very tightly.

It is what it is, but I do wonder why it was communicated like it was.

Frankly, if squad wants the community to stop wondering if things are screwed up, then they might start thinking about communicating it in a manner that clearly shows that it isn't.

You've been around long enough to know Squad isn't always the best at communicating.  (Odd for a company with a marketing side.)

2 hours ago, CobraA1 said:

I'm going to make a note here that RoverDude has been making the rounds on Reddit noting that he's been treated pretty fairly by Squad and has no problems with them. He just has a full time job elsewhere.

He also makes a passing mention to KSP being a contract situation, which leads me to think that most of the employees were hired under a temporary contract, and perhaps the contract ended. Maybe they were just temporary hires for 1.2?

Indeed, anyone on a contract is a temporary hire.  The question is, why weren't the contracts renewed?  The company or the employee?

33 minutes ago, Carraux said:

Usually artists go first and the last who are leaving are bug tracker/coder and the testing team.

Well, PorkJet was dropped from the Dev Notes quite a long time ago.  Who knows.

6 minutes ago, Bomaye said:

I read that all the people that left are from different continents than Squad, anyone know for sure?

I believe they were all remote workers, yes.

[Kerolyov]

47 minutes ago, klgraham1013 said:

48 minutes ago, Bomaye said:

I read that all the people that left are from different continents than Squad, anyone know for sure?

I believe they were all remote workers, yes.

As soon as I heard this and saw the names (who are all remote workers as far as I'm aware) combined with the requirements on being fluent in spanish to apply for the currently advertised jobs at the top of the forum makes me thing Squad are trying to centralise development of the new games/DLC going forward in Mexico..  I don't have any inside info but seems a reasonable conclusion. 

 

Whatever the reason it's really sad to see those really talented guys going but with 1.2 they have left KSP as a great and stable game.  Thanks for the hard work guys.

[katateochi]

In the fresh light of day, I'm feeling even more skeptical about all of this. If it is just a matter of contracts ending, then why doesn't someone on the staff confirm that. In fact why haven't we heard a single thing out of any staff or moderator on these threads? It just seems odd. And not a word from any of the devs who are mentioned. 

And then on the thread about the set release date for 1.2 there is this line;

12 hours ago, UomoCapra said:

If you’ve been following us closely, you must be aware that we’re growing and we’ve been looking for talent and great collaborators that help us build the next milestone of this franchise. New talents have enrolled in the past few months and they are just as excited as we are.

which just seems to be in contradiction with what's apparently happening re so many devs leaving.

Everything about this just seems to be deliberately vague or calculated to cause the most drama. Either this is some epic level trolling or Squad really needs to hire a PR company
One of my friends in the moderator group has told me that this isn't a hoax....but I'm still somewhat skeptical....or maybe that's just denial.

 

 

[Superfluous J]

3 minutes ago, katateochi said:

If it is just a matter of contracts ending, then why doesn't someone on the staff confirm that

2 things:

1. The announcement happened at right about closing time, and it's now getting close to opening time. Also, it's been less than a day. Most companies don't run on Internet Time where every 12 hours is like a month.
2. Squad very smartly does not comment on why these kinds of things happen. They haven't in the past and I don't expect them to in the future.

Also:

3. It's none of our business, really.

[Tarheel1999]

It seems prettty clear that the devs left for one, or a combination of the following reasons:

1) pay/working conditions;

2) disagreement with the current release date;

3) disagreement with Squad's vision for KSP. 

Leaving before the release and before the subsequent bug fixing/point releases is pretty much indicative that there was some substantial friction between the departing devs and Squad.

These devs have put a lot of blood and sweat into KSP over the years as both devs and modders. Thanks for all of your work and best of luck in future endeavors.

 

[LordFerret]

4 hours ago, manaiaK said:

"Management issues high up".

There's an old saying, older than me: you join a company, but leave a manager. I haven't found an exception yet.

Those who can, do; those who can't, manage / teach.

And then there's the Peter Principal. (an excellent book) {Edit: Also to mention, Founder's syndrome.}

 

4 hours ago, Wallygator said:

...

Frankly, if squad wants the community to stop wondering if things are screwed up, then they might start thinking about communicating it in a manner that clearly shows that it isn't.

 

1 hour ago, klgraham1013 said:

You've been around long enough to know Squad isn't always the best at communicating.  (Odd for a company with a marketing side.) ...

The issue of Squad's inability to communicate is a recurring theme and has been so for some time.

Edited October 5, 2016 by LordFerret
forgot to mention...

[Bomaye]

46 minutes ago, Kerolyov said:

As soon as I heard this and saw the names (who are all remote workers as far as I'm aware) combined with the requirements on being fluent in spanish to apply for the currently advertised jobs at the top of the forum makes me thing Squad are trying to centralise development of the new games/DLC going forward in Mexico..  I don't have any inside info but seems a reasonable conclusion. 

 

Whatever the reason it's really sad to see those really talented guys going but with 1.2 they have left KSP as a great and stable game.  Thanks for the hard work guys.

From management stand point it makes perfect sense, and I would guess there are some pretty strong economic incentives also. To say it straight, so would I.

For easy comparison look to other developers of games like "World of Tanks, War Thunder, EvE, The Withcer etc.

[StarStreak2109]

53 minutes ago, katateochi said:

In the fresh light of day, I'm feeling even more skeptical about all of this. If it is just a matter of contracts ending, then why doesn't someone on the staff confirm that. In fact why haven't we heard a single thing out of any staff or moderator on these threads? It just seems odd. And not a word from any of the devs who are mentioned. 

And then on the thread about the set release date for 1.2 there is this line;

which just seems to be in contradiction with what's apparently happening re so many devs leaving.

Everything about this just seems to be deliberately vague or calculated to cause the most drama. Either this is some epic level trolling or Squad really needs to hire a PR company
One of my friends in the moderator group has told me that this isn't a hoax....but I'm still somewhat skeptical....or maybe that's just denial.

 

 

Fact is, that the majority of the team has left. But fact is also, that Squad stated, that the development of KSP shall go on, with stuff planned and new devs hired. Fact is also, as @katateochi stated, this whole business of some Reddit posts and on this forum has been a PR desaster.

The rest of the stuff that has been discussed here is pure speculation or is there ANYBODY in this thread who is on the inside of Squad?

What I would really like is some comfort from the team, on how this ties into the post by @UomoCapra quoted above. This whole speculation and all this discussing back and forth does neither @SQUAD nor the community any good.

On a brighter side, I think we can look forward to the impending release of 1.2. Hopefully this release will be what we all hope for (and maybe then some). Apart from that, I also cannot stress enough that even if (repeat if) the develpment of KSP stopped right after the 1.2 release, this game would be far from over. I have rarely seen games with such an active community and while its userbase will surely not grow as much as it did since the first launch of KSP, it will be able to be enjoyed by many for many years to come.

Therefore, I once again, strongly urge @SQUAD and/or @UomoCapra to put out the fires by some clarification or comfort. I believe the community deserves this - especially since this came pretty much out of the blue!

Best wishes,

Sebastian

Edited October 5, 2016 by StarStreak2109
my own stupidity

[Bomaye]

26 minutes ago, LordFerret said:

The issue of Squad's inability to communicate is a recurring theme and has been so for some time.

I disagree, I think they are 9/10 in that. 

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

I'm... very upset by this. I understand the developers are people, and sometimes they don't want to work on the same project all the time. I get that. But I just wish development would continue.

I don't even know what I want in the game. I like it how it is. But without development of it, it feels very lonely. There's an amazing community, yeah, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it playing it from here on out, but playing a game that the developers have abandoned feels... empty. KSP is my favorite game of all time, and the first game I've been really invested in the development of. So now that it's over, that the game is going to stay largely the same, is a bad feeling.

I'm sure some development will continue, but nothing as amazing as these guys have done. I sincerely hope they go on to do great things, and I also hope Squad tries its hand at developing other games. I know it's not their specialty, but they are good at it.

Who all of the KSP team is still there?

[Superfluous J]

I just realized - rather sardonically - that after over 3 years on the forum this is my single most active thread ever.

[Tyko]

7 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

I just realized - rather sardonically - that after over 3 years on the forum this is my single most active thread ever.

LOL...I think major news sources learned a long time ago that there's nothing like a crisis to sell newspapers...

[goldenpsp]

32 minutes ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

I'm... very upset by this. I understand the developers are people, and sometimes they don't want to work on the same project all the time. I get that. But I just wish development would continue.

You should probably work on being better informed then.  There has already been an official announcement talking about future development of KSP.  In no way has development stopped.  Sheesh.

 

The ability for the internet Chicken Little "the sky is falling" attitude to prevail still amazes me.  I know it shouldn't at this point but it does.

[StarStreak2109]

16 minutes ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

I'm... very upset by this. I understand the developers are people, and sometimes they don't want to work on the same project all the time. I get that. But I just wish development would continue.

I don't even know what I want in the game. I like it how it is. But without development of it, it feels very lonely. There's an amazing community, yeah, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it playing it from here on out, but playing a game that the developers have abandoned feels... empty. KSP is my favorite game of all time, and the first game I've been really invested in the development of. So now that it's over, that the game is going to stay largely the same, is a bad feeling.

I'm sure some development will continue, but nothing as amazing as these guys have done. I sincerely hope they go on to do great things, and I also hope Squad tries its hand at developing other games. I know it's not their specialty, but they are good at it.

Who all of the KSP team is still there?

First of all, 95% of all games enter sales, after development has ended. Not all of them are finished - some far from it. Let me make a very good example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Train_Simulator

When this game was launched in 2001, it was rushed into sale, incomplete and full of bugs. Also it was written to support DX9, which was quickly  Nevertheless, it did generated a very active community, some very successful pay- and freeware addons and content is still being created some 15 years later. Nowadays an opensource replacement has been created and is still in development, which can read the original content with addition features.

http://openrails.org/

So, this is a perfect example, what can happen, if a project is being abandoned by the original developer(s).

But again, I know, what has happened here, has sparked a lot of confusion, apprehension as to the future of KSP and bitterness, as the news have been revealed on the same day as the final release day of KSP 1.2. But (!) please let us wait what happens, as I wrote above, I do hope, KSP sheds some more light on this. If not, let us see, what the future brings and lets enjoy KSP 1.2!

All this speculation does not help anyone, and we continue to fill page after page with no (!) new information.

 

[SelectHalfling0]

You gotta take this article with a grain of salt, because much of it's evidence is from 4chan, however it has some pretty serious revelations, especially from interviews with ex-employees.

https://www.destructoid.com/former-kerbal-space-program-developers-slam-studio-for-poor-pay-and-crunch-time-359507.phtml

[RX2000]

Having lived & worked in Mexico, I'm guessing that Squad doesnt pay its devs what most people in the developed world would consider a "good" wage. I have professional friends that live in Mexico who only make the equivalent of $500 a month or so. If its true that most of Squad's devs are spread out all over the world, I'm sure they must be doing that job as a side gig, as they almost certainly wouldnt be able to live in a developed country making Mexican wages.

[luizopiloto]

Where is the multiplayer mode Squad promised? ಠ_ಠ
 

[Ty Tan Tu]

I wonder if the focus isn't moving toward consoles, and KSP needs programmers with more experience with console programming...

[RX2000]

28 minutes ago, SelectHalfling0 said:

You gotta take this article with a grain of salt, because much of it's evidence is from 4chan, however it has some pretty serious revelations, especially from interviews with ex-employees.

https://www.destructoid.com/former-kerbal-space-program-developers-slam-studio-for-poor-pay-and-crunch-time-359507.phtml

Yea I can believe that article. $200 a month doesnt sound all that unreasonable for pay in Mexico, especially if its considered "contract" work & not full time.

[Superfluous J]

11 minutes ago, RX2000 said:

Yea I can believe that article. $200 a month doesnt sound all that unreasonable for pay in Mexico, especially if its considered "contract" work & not full time.

That still blows my mind. I can't even imagine what my company would do if someone asked for $24,000,000 a year because my country was 100x poorer than theirs.

[RW-1]

Spin is spin,looking forward to seeing how Squad continues to try to spin this into something good, might even be more entertaining than the General Election.

They had to announce 1.2 because the departing Dev's beat them to it with the departure notice, not that they didn't know about it or fathom it occurring with 1.2 set for release.

[Settles in for the two big shows]

 

[Bomaye]

6 minutes ago, RW-1 said:

Spin is spin,looking forward to seeing how Squad continues to try to spin this into something good, might even be more entertaining than the General Election.

They had to announce 1.2 because the departing Dev's beat them to it with the departure notice, not that they didn't know about it or fathom it occurring with 1.2 set for release.

[Settles in for the two big shows]

 

Sorry, they dont have to do anything, assuming that is just what it is, assumptions.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Bomaye