What Facts Do We Know About The Devs Leaving?

[regex]

3 minutes ago, Yakuzi said:

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Yes, Nathan is stepping down as well. Take a look at the list. It’s basically the people that really know space and know KSP. There’s a very… the people that are left aren’t anybody public. The most public person I can think of is Roverdude. I mean obviously you’ve got Andrea and Jose and they all know, or Joe sorry, they are the ones that are… you know Roverdude’s still developing mods and the other, you know, Andrea or Andy and Joe are doing their promotion stuff. The team that’s working on the console version they’re completely separate. So, ya 1.2 is… ya 1.2 could conceivably be the last version of KSP. […] As for a job, excuse me I already have two jobs plus a family. […]

This was the part that really drove it home for me. All the people who left really know space and KSP.

I, too, feel like 1.2 will be the last great version. Anything after this will be pretty minor in comparison. (Again, I highly suggest people hang on to a backup of 1.2.)

3 minutes ago, Yakuzi said:

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So that’s the other big concern I have. NathanKell specifically is one of the… you know, is very much involved in modding and maintains some very important mods and we don’t know whether he is so burned by his experience that he will just abandon what he’s been up to, or whether we will continue to get RSS updates, I’m not clear. I honestly think that if I were, you know, if I were the developers, what… well ok… If I was developers wanting to be nice to the community I would just basically stop future feature development and focus on making things that are easier for mod developers to work around. Because basically the new features and stuff just break mods all the time. […]

Fortunately NathanKell is just taking a well-deserved break, and even if he stops his mods will continue because of the RO community.

[monstah]

On 17/10/2016 at 3:55 PM, DoctorDavinci said:

This thread hasn't died yet? 

My thoughts.

[Wjolcz]

It's all very, very, very sad news, but I kind of had that feeling for a while now, and well, I could say I was right, but I won't because it's just depressing.

I can only hope that the guys team up again and create another awesome game (Kerbal Aircraft Program? Please?) though probably without Kerbals, because they are the property of SQUAD.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Veeltch

[pandaman]

I try to look at things in a balanced way. 

And as much as it is sad to see so many  familiar, and very skilled,  names go, and a bit of a shock to us all,  I find it hard to see this as 'the end of KSP' just yet.  Sure it's changing, as I said previously it has matured a lot over the last few releases, and I think that's the point.  It has grown up and is reaching a stage where it really feels like it's genuinely nearly 'feature complete' in it's stock form.  There are a few things I think will be added in the next few releases to finish it off, like a few submarine parts, and a simple life support system etc.  But even then I think there is still plenty of life in it.  Apart from DLC  I think there will still be several updates that add visual enhancements and balance tweaks etc. Even when all the features Squad want in stock are included. 

KSP gives all the signs of being a commercial success, and Squad won't kill it unless it ceases to be so, and DLC etc is a way of keeping it alive for longer than would otherwise be possible.

[bjbeardse]

I'm gonna pour LH2 on this fire by saying this. Things have not really worked well after the .24 version. So if 1.2 is the final major update big deal. This game has been broken badly since .25 came out specifically if you were using most of the real world mods. Even with the current version I cant get a lot of things to work correctly. So if this game dies, I will be really bummed out as it is the only one of its type out there. Why is the only space games have these problems???

[DoctorDavinci]

Wow ... so mods that you use aren't working correctly and this is Squads' fault?

Edited October 26, 2016 by DoctorDavinci

[Zaphod12]

Wait?

Are people still discussing this?

[Renegrade]

On 10/21/2016 at 0:36 PM, regex said:

I, too, feel like 1.2 will be the last great version. Anything after this will be pretty minor in comparison. (Again, I highly suggest people hang on to a backup of 1.2.)

That's wisdom even when there isn't odd goings-on in Squad.  I actually have a backup of every version I've ever played

[Curveball Anders]

2 hours ago, Renegrade said:

That's wisdom even when there isn't odd goings-on in Squad.  I actually have a backup of every version I've ever played

I always keep a copy of each download.

Then I have the latest version installed both as stock and modded (playing the latter).

When I migrate to a new version I keep the latest working one up, delete earlier stock installs (since I have the install files) and zip up the previous 'play' catalogs.

So right now I have 1.2_stock, 1.2_mod (active) and 1.1.3_mod on my gaming box with all earlier zipped on the server (and backed up).

Edited October 26, 2016 by Curveball Anders

[Wjolcz]

Who's actually left at this point?

[HoloYolo]

Just now, Veeltch said:

Who's actually left at this point?

I thought this died.

[Wjolcz]

3 minutes ago, HoloYolo said:

I thought this died.

Well, it's not locked.

EDIT: OK, maybe I should have read the updated OP. I thought there were like 3 people left working on the game and that got me worried.

Edited November 4, 2016 by Veeltch

[Curveball Anders]

11 minutes ago, Veeltch said:

Well, it's not locked.

EDIT: OK, maybe I should have read the updated OP. I thought there were like 3 people left working on the game and that got me worried.

So you think it's relevant to bring this on.

Despite the fact that KSP appears to be trudging on, the mods are getting updated and 1.2.1 is released.

(Is the issue really about the new devs not chatting on the forums?).

Mark Twain comes to mind, the rumour of KSP's demise seems quite premature.

[Mycroft]

In my personal opinion, I believe that the ten day fad of the dev departure is basically dead. However I have not requested that this forum thread be locked in case people have questions they want to post here. I see no reason to request a lock unless there is exceptionally rude behavior on this thread towards another user. Please do try to check the OP for changes that you might have missed, to check if your question was answered already, before posting here. If you have a more personal question, feel free to send me a message, and I will get back to you when I can. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, 

Mycroft, CEO of CMAU Incorporated

DISCLAIMER: A forum user who shall remain anonymous pointed out to me that this post could be interpreted as backseat moderating. I want to assure the community that this is not the case. I am merely attempting to take responsibility for the thread I created. Those criteria are the ones that will determine whether or not I petition a moderator to lock this thread. Once again, thank you for your time and understanding.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Mycroft

[Wallygator]

This thread remains alive because it still has life. KSP is not dead or dying, but still...

At first I was puzzled by how this thread managed to keep going, but now I understand the necessity of keeping it unlocked. 

"I thought this thread was dead" type of comments have never been helpful. If you are not interested in this thread then don't read it, or troll it.

Moving forward, as a reader, I greatly appreciate seeing new tidbits however small as and when new such "facts" come available - with expectation they should will posted here. Additionally, I appreciate this single thread for all this discussion rather than cluttering up the forum with multiples. 

For example, the transcription of the Manley video. Nice to be able to read the relevant bits without having to sit through the entire video not knowing what to expect. Thank you @Yakuzi and thank you @Veeltch. 

[stibbons]

They're not.

[Frybert]

Some overlapping threads have been merged.

[Jacksonion]

well does this mean that 8 devs left and there still might be some workers that are working on the game? if not iam going to be really sad because this game is awsome and people need to make it even better.

[wumpus]

1 hour ago, Jacksonion said:

well does this mean that 8 devs left and there still might be some workers that are working on the game? if not iam going to be really sad because this game is awsome and people need to make it even better.

I think the thread about 1.3 was deleted.  The catch is that pretty much everything to improve the sandbox is either tiny details or canceled (IMPORTANT NOTE: this simply refers to "stock KSP", expect awesome mods because they don't have to be for everybody).  And of course everything needs to be debugged on three [not counting Mac & Linux] platforms now.  The devs know they've  grabbed the low-hanging fruit and even the moderate level fruit, and aren't really sure if Squad is willing to pay to pick the whole tree.

Career mode is less nailed down.  I suspect that any replacement devs are much more likely to be lau game designers willing to fix career mode than those working on numerical simulations and physics bugs (consider how Harvester and co. slew the Kraken by re-mapping the coordinate system to center on the player, that was absolutely critical to making interplanetary exploration work, but don't expect any issue like that to be seen by the current crew). 

[Jacksonion]

3 hours ago, wumpus said:

I think the thread about 1.3 was deleted.  The catch is that pretty much everything to improve the sandbox is either tiny details or canceled (IMPORTANT NOTE: this simply refers to "stock KSP", expect awesome mods because they don't have to be for everybody).  And of course everything needs to be debugged on three [not counting Mac & Linux] platforms now.  The devs know they've  grabbed the low-hanging fruit and even the moderate level fruit, and aren't really sure if Squad is willing to pay to pick the whole tree.

Career mode is less nailed down.  I suspect that any replacement devs are much more likely to be lau game designers willing to fix career mode than those working on numerical simulations and physics bugs (consider how Harvester and co. slew the Kraken by re-mapping the coordinate system to center on the player, that was absolutely critical to making interplanetary exploration work, but don't expect any issue like that to be seen by the current crew). 

well i meant like better physics (not that their already good but improvment) and more parts etc oh yea and optimization

Edited November 20, 2016 by Jacksonion

[Nerfclasher]

The devnotes did say  someone did join the team

[wumpus]

16 hours ago, Jacksonion said:

well i meant like better physics (not that their already good but improvment) and more parts etc oh yea and optimization

It would be hard to imagine a part that doesn't already exist in the mods, and porkchop has made his parts available via mods.

Optimization sounds like an ongoing process, I suspect that consoles still need some (more like could use some.  Results I've seen imply that such really isn't the critical thing I expected when the idea of "KSP on Bobcat" was first floated).

[Mycroft]

16 hours ago, Nerfclasher said:

The devnotes did say  someone did join the team

Actually quite a few new developers joined the team. I believe it is in the OP.