What happened to the demo?

[wumpus]

I was busy plugging KSP on another site (it had suggestions about learning rocket science for sci-fi.  I pointed out KSP cranked up "rocket science" smarts faster than anything else.  I wanted to include a demo (for cheapskates or simply the chance to try before you buy), but it looks like the demo no longer exists on the Squad site nor Steam (I *think* Squad's demo was the ancient, pre-cost KSP with mods disabled, while Steam's was 1.0.0 based.  No idea why they were different).

I hope this isn't a 2k change, it was one of the last great demos out there (and KSP and demo should easily be great enough to sell the game, if other 2k demos can't sell the game that's their problem).

[I did search for "demo", but I don't think the responses were all that current.  I remember seeing a question about the demo in the hints discussion a few months ago.]

[PT]

A year and two days ago I requested demo, message had bunch of download links, torrents for Windows and Linux still works. (Win downloaded in few minutes, Penguin struggles at two seeds)

Quote

Hi,

The KSP demo has been carefully crafted to give you an accurate impression of what the full game plays like. If you like it, you’ll love Kerbal Space Program. If you're having issues with our direct downloads, please try using the Torrent link.

KSP Demo for Windows : 
- Direct download : https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kspstore/dp/demo/KSPDemoInstaller.exe
- Torrent : https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/files/KSP_demo_win.zip.torrent

KSP Demo for Mac OSX :
- Direct download : https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kspstore/dp/demo/KSPDemoInstaller.dmg
- Torrent : https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/files/KSP_demo_osx.zip.torrent

KSP Demo for Linux : 
- https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kspstore/dp/demo/KSP_demo_linux.zip
- Torrent : https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/files/KSP_demo_linux.zip.torrent

Here are instructions on how to open a .zip file without any extra software: http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-.Zip-File-Without-Winzip

Have fun,
-- The KSP Team

Edit: I managed to download demo for all three systems, so for time being at least one seed will have them all.

Edited July 31, 2017 by PT
links broke

[UmbralRaptor]

I ran into a similiar issue a few days ago, and emailed Squad, though haven't gotten a reply yet. The direct download links @PT posted should also work. Note that this demo is of 1.0.0, there are no engines with thrust vectoring, and the campaign missions end once you've reached orbit.

[Darth Badie]

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out after the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

[ThreePounds]

12 minutes ago, Badie said:

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out along with the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

Thank you! I originally bought the game after being convinced that's it's good by playing the demo. It's an uncommon but very welcome sight these days and should hopefully be worth the investment.

[PT]

54 minutes ago, UmbralRaptor said:

I ran into a similiar issue a few days ago, and emailed Squad, though haven't gotten a reply yet. The direct download links @PT posted should also work. Note that this demo is of 1.0.0, there are no engines with thrust vectoring, and the campaign missions end once you've reached orbit.

I get 302 Moved Temporarily redirect to home page on all three of direct downloads.

[Tex_NL]

50 minutes ago, Badie said:

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out along with the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

That might all be fine and dandy but that does not explain why a perfectly fine and working demo is not available. What's wrong with leaving the current demo up for download and only replace it when the new version is ready?

[Scarecrow]

49 minutes ago, Tex_NL said:

That might all be fine and dandy but that does not explain why a perfectly fine and working demo is not available. What's wrong with leaving the current demo up for download and only replace it when the new version is ready?

Maybe because the original demo is so far behind the current game that it no longer represents in any meaningful fashion what KSP is now about.  Whilst it may give a glimpse of what Kerbal Space Program is, there are loads of videos on Youtube that do that, and the gameplay in the demo now appears rather simplistic when compared to the latest offering.

[Curveball Anders]

4 hours ago, Scarecrow said:

Maybe because the original demo is so far behind the current game that it no longer represents in any meaningful fashion what KSP is now about.  Whilst it may give a glimpse of what Kerbal Space Program is, there are loads of videos on Youtube that do that, and the gameplay in the demo now appears rather simplistic when compared to the latest offering.

Most likely.

I tried the demo (way back) and got very interested and but also extremely frustrated due to serious changes between the (then) demo and the (then) current game. (Changes to SAS I think).

The only reason I decided to actually buy the game was that my interest managed to overpower my frustration.

Too big difference between demo and current game can actually do more harm than good.

[DunaManiac]

I think that the 0.18 demo was the best. In 1.0 you can't even have the large 1.25 meter tank!

[Tex_NL]

17 hours ago, Scarecrow said:

Maybe because the original demo is so far behind the current game that it no longer represents in any meaningful fashion what KSP is now about.  Whilst it may give a glimpse of what Kerbal Space Program is, there are loads of videos on Youtube that do that, and the gameplay in the demo now appears rather simplistic when compared to the latest offering.

Then you add a big fat disclaimer making it very clear the demo is old, outdated and a new demo is under development. Now there is nothing.
It's not like the old demo was a bug ridden piece of filth like the console port. The demo worked, the console port did not. And yet that insulting console travesty was kept available for nearly a year.

[Curveball Anders]

29 minutes ago, Tex_NL said:

Then you add a big fat disclaimer making it very clear the demo is old, outdated and a new demo is under development. Now there is nothing.
 

I agree with the principle.

I'm a bit cynic when it comes to peoples' ability to read and understand disclaimers so I'd add one extra warning when people chose to download the old (but functional) demo.

Something pointing out the differences in core game play and an extra warning that following examples on youtube might be very confusing.

But with that said, yes an old but functional demo is better than a broken link.

 

[JonathanPerregaux]

I played the crap out of the demo. I found the sparse collection of parts perfect, as it allowed me to focus on the basic science of rocketry. I didn't know a periapsis from my posterior, so the demo laid a lot of track in my head. So many myths shattered! So much insight gained! So many exploding things!

Once I built a functional sun-skimmer using my new-found skills and knowledge, I bought the full game and went bananas.

[AVaughan]

On 01/08/2017 at 4:52 AM, Darth Badie said:

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out after the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

So an word on an updated demo yet?

[Robus]

On 7/31/2017 at 9:52 PM, Darth Badie said:

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out after the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

Any news on the new demo?

[pandaman]

1 hour ago, Robus said:

Any news on the new demo?

We can hope that, with 1.4  giving a unity upgrade and various other changes they thought it best to just wait and release a 1.4 demo at the same time as the update.

Probably not, unfortunately, but.........

[klesh]

On 7/31/2017 at 2:52 PM, Darth Badie said:

We are working on an updated version of the demo, which will roll out after the 1.3.1 update of the full game. We don't have and ETA for this at the moment  

We will let you know 

 

Nearly a year later, still no demo?  What could possibly take this long?

[SiriusRocketry]

Probs they're reprogramming it to work with 1.4.x

[69superman]

https://steamdb.info/app/231410/ And click the cloud that says free, it takes you to the steam app and downloads it from there. (The demo, of course)

Edited July 28, 2018 by 69superman
Looked sketch without (The demo)

[SiriusRocketry]

Well, over a year, still nothing. 

@SQUAD? Anything on this?

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Also, they're still claiming that pre-0.25 screenshots are from the latest version of KSP. And sort of implying that scatterer + SVE (or other cloud and visual enhancement mod) are stock.

And they're still using images from the Modular Rocket Systems mod as the background for the blog post link tiles.

I would say that Squad is not really bothering with keeping their website updated, and likely Take 2 doesn't care about demos since their flagship game, Grand Theft Auto, doesn't have a demo. 

[jkeller098]

news on demo anyone?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

On 11/9/2018 at 5:19 PM, jkeller098 said:

news on demo anyone?

Welcome to the forums!

Nothing has changed, the old demo is still available on 3rd party sites, and a new demo is supposedly in the works.

Although the more I think about it lately, do we really need a demo for a game this old? Most people know what the game is just by word of mouth and reputation now. Plenty of YouTube videos to reference as well for gameplay. Let's face it, the day of the demo is receding into the background in video gaming culture as a whole. Now we buy into EA instead of trying a demo. (For better or worse.)

Edited November 10, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Deddly]

We get lots of requests for the demo from new users in the IRC channel. I think a demo is very important. 

[Chel]

21 minutes ago, Deddly said:

We get lots of requests for the demo from new users in the IRC channel. I think a demo is very important. 

I agree. It lets people know what KSP will be like before they buy it or not