What kind of game will KSP become in the end?

[Szkeptik]

Even right now, with just the two moons to fly to without any real purpose, I've had many fun hours with the game, but I find, after having landed a couple of times on Minmus, you just run out of things to do.

That got me thinking. What will the game play like when it's complete? I'm sure the dev team have a clean idea of what they want with the game. Will it be a space tycoon like game where you get contracts to put satellites into orbit, establish colonies, mines on other planets, take supplies to space stations etc? Go prospecting yourself for good mining areas on planets (great use for EVAs btw.) or find good tourist locations to build your space stations.

The pacing of the game allows for control of many different rockets at the same time, since it takes days for a craft to get into the desired spot you have all the time in the world to keep switching between dozens of different crafts if need be, so running a large scale space tycoon can be accomplished.

I think since pilots can level up, some skills could exist that - when unlocked - allow them to pilot simple missions themselves. Such as ferrying resources to orbit, or shipping supplies to space stations. For example, Bob Kerman has "dock at station" and "land on Mun" skills unlocked, and he can get supplies from a space station to a Mun base. This could eliminate the need for personally running repetitive missions all the time.

Since research is planned, there could be some special materials you have to mine that are needed for more advanced parts. There could be like 5-6 of these and of course none of them can be found on Kerbin.

Well, just some ideas I think can make the game deeper and more fun.

Do you have any ideas/wishes about how the final game should look? Maybe the devs will like a few of them.

[simplemunrockets]

The devs have said that Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space is an inspiration, so you might want to play it and see how it feels.

NOTE: "inspiration", not "clone". So don't bug out if it's not really your style.

[Asmosdeus]

Only the dev's have any idea of what the final game (if they ever finalise it) will be like.

That's why I'm coming along for the ride to see for myself.

[Vostok]

This game was also an inspiration for KSP. In fact, the first few design iterations I believe were 2D, just like this game. http://www.topgear.com/au/games/rocket-robin

Also, Harvester once said that if a shuttle is ever in KSP it should look like that robin reliant. I totally back this up.

[spikeyhat09]

I'm really hoping that the kerbolsystem(s) will be randomly generated, minus kerbin which should always be the starting point. the planets, distances from their star, and the star itself would be cool if it was random.

just think, if two moons provide hours and hours of entertainment, imagine a multi planetary system and possibly multiple solar systems! the limit is literally beyond the sky!

[softweir]

During: Kurt's FLoBathon Day 1; the devs mentioned that they wanted the Kerbal home system to be non-random. (Other systems may be procedural.)

There are a number of advantages:

• Everybody has the same playground, so advice is applicable to everybody. The rule of thumb "start your TmI just as the upper limb appears above Kerbin's horizon" only applies if Mun is in its current orbit. If Mun is further out or further in or has an elliptical orbit then that advice doesn't work, and an easy step for beginners suddenly becomes much harder.
  
• It becomes easier to share craft designed for particular purposes. A craft designed to reach Mun in my game may not get there in your game, so what's the point of sharing it?
  
• And finally, boasting rights mean something if you are boasting about the same achievement! No good boasting about getting to the lava world in my game if it takes half the I_sp to get there compared to anybody else's game!
  

I do, however, like the idea that has been floated of procedural exo-systems. That adds scope to the game!

[vexx32]

I was thinking having it procedurally generated, but with the same seed, so that everyone's game is the same. Thus, the "galaxy" could in the end be theoretically unlimited, but the boasting rights are still meaningful, as it is the same for everyone.

[Tigga]

I'd imagine that currently all the terrain on each body is procedural. There's not much point for something as simple as a single solar system, but if they were to make multiple systems it'd procedural. There's nothing about procedural generation that means it has to be different for each player. As vexx says, if you base it on the same seed for each player you'll get the same results.

[cuddlyogre]

I hope it winds up being a mix between Spore (what it was meant to be), the Sims (interior decoration and livable ships), Simcity, the X series, Freelancer, and Eve. That is the game that I have always wanted to play.

[rkman]

I'd imagine that currently all the terrain on each body is procedural.

Yes, KSP terrain is procedural (and indeed, procedural is not the same as random);

Interview with HarvesteR: Part 2 - Reloaded

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/16122-Interview-with-HarvesteR-Part-2-Reloaded?highlight=interview

[ping111]

Hold on! Call this a cheap Minecraft skim-off, but what if you could have universe seeds/codes, or just a universe.sfs? Got a cool planet right off Minmus? Send the code/file to your friends, along with your persistence.sfs!