DLC Idea: Universe Editor

[Red Thought]

What does the community think about a universe editor that would allows players to tweak the solar system, by changing distances and sizes, as well as adding in several new stock planets, moons and one star?  Perhaps further down the road a planet and star creator could be added in too that would allow players to create their own new planets and stars easily without having to mod.   All of this could be packed into a fairly expensive DCL ~25$   I personally love tweaking aspects of a universe in other games to my own liking.  This could be a little pie in the sky, on my part, but perhaps not.

[DAL59]

25 minutes ago, Red Thought said:

What does the community think about a universe editor that would allows players to tweak the solar system, by changing distances and sizes, as well as adding in several new stock planets, moons and one star?  Perhaps further down the road a planet and star creator could be added in too that would allow players to create their own new planets and stars easily without having to mod.   All of this could be packed into a fairly expensive DCL ~25$   I personally love tweaking aspects of a universe in other games to my own liking.  This could be a little pie in the sky, on my part, but perhaps not.

You can do this for free using Kopernicus.  

[Red Thought]

1 hour ago, DAL59 said:

You can do this for free using Kopernicus.  

Um, no you cant, at least not easily, if you want to spend 50+ hours learning how to do it the complicated way, and then come out with some garblde goo then sure, by all means.   There are great universe altering mods out there that use Kopernicus.   But nothing like an easy to use built in universe tweaker that would allow you to put Kerbin as the closest planet to the sun.  Using only 4 mouse clicks.  

1 hour ago, DAL59 said:

You can do this for free using Kopernicus.  

So many negative people on here,  all I hear is, a mod did it, don't say another word noob.   KSP development is dead and modders will take it from here.    Well I have never seen a publicly made game ever......   Modders can't do it all. obviously.  Not that modding a game like this, isn't grand, but.....

[passinglurker]

34 minutes ago, Red Thought said:

So many negative people on here,  all I hear is, a mod did it, don't say another word noob.   KSP development is dead and modders will take it from here.    Well I have never seen a publicly made game ever......   Modders can't do it all. obviously.  Not that modding a game like this, isn't grand, but.....

If KSP development finally froze they could literally hack in patches themselves. A community patch for a small game with a modding community isn't unheard of even for games that don't have official modding tools so it's be no more difficult for ksp.

Also after the bugs we got from MH whats the point in getting something from squad? Squad makes stuff with less polish, less integration, and less reliability than many modders works it would seem to me your money is better spent throwing it at modder patreons than squad dlc

[Red Thought]

3 minutes ago, passinglurker said:

43 minutes ago, Red Thought said:

So many negative people on here,  all I hear is, a mod did it, don't say another word noob.   KSP development is dead and modders will take it from here.    Well I have never seen a publicly made game ever......   Modders can't do it all. obviously.  Not that modding a game like this, isn't grand, but.....

If KSP development finally froze they could literally hack in patches themselves. A community patch for a small game with a modding community isn't unheard of even for games that don't have official modding tools so it's be no more difficult for ksp.

Also after the bugs we got from MH whats the point in getting something from squad? Squad makes stuff with less polish, less integration, and less reliability than many modders works it would seem to me your money is better spent throwing it at modder patreons than squad dlc

I have this feeling sometimes too about game developers in general.  I was around for the inception of WOW and EVE online.   I have waited over a decade now, with no luck to find a game company improve upon what was done 12 years ago.   

[passinglurker]

Just now, Red Thought said:

I have this feeling sometimes too about game developers in general.  I was around for the inception of WOW and EVE online.   I have waited over a decade now, with no luck to find a game company improve upon what was done 12 years ago.   

it's the natural order of things the game is made, hopefully completed, the devs move on to the next title, and if its loved the fans keep it going out of love. Squad's just being an odd ball trying to one trick pony with ksp for so long.

[The Aziz]

You can move planets with HyperEdit I think.

But creating new is not something you can do with few clicks. There is just too many variables, even if there was actual visual UI to use. Diameter, orbit, sphere of influence, sure, doable. But possible atmosphere, pressure, temperatures (mind you, there is a termosphere so it's not just 300K to 2K from sea level to space). Then, there is terrain. Sure you can make it full procedural, but it would be as boring as the Mun, or even worse. Textures? Because possible ice caps would not look the same way as hills or plains. Where are you gonna use mentioned textures? What if you're gonna create some advanced terrain features, like huge crater or canyon? Where it should be? How should it look like?

Too. Many. Variables.

Be happy that such thing as Kopernicus exists, otherwise we wouldn't have so many beautiful planet packs as we have now.

[Gargamel]

6 hours ago, Red Thought said:

Um, no you cant, at least not easily, if you want to spend 50+ hours learning how to do it the complicated way, and then come out with some garblde goo then sure, by all means.   There are great universe altering mods out there that use Kopernicus.   But nothing like an easy to use built in universe tweaker that would allow you to put Kerbin as the closest planet to the sun.  Using only 4 mouse clicks. 

I can move that planet in 3 mouse clicks using hyper edit. 

 

Squad/TT has ZERO interest in building a DLC that is available for free as a mod.  There would be zero sales. 

If people want to contribute ideas for the next DLC, then it has to be something they will actually make.  There's a whole 'nother thread on this. 

[klesh]

Squad now has a significant user base to which “use a mod” isn’t a reasonable answer because they legitimately cannot use them.   

[demibear]

Kopernicus also stops working at each version. It would be nice if Squad had a way for people increase the difficulty/realism in-game. Modders could enjoy the silence.

[Geonovast]

I for one would love a stock "solar system builder" that lets you create your own solar system from a pool of planets and moons.  It is a good idea.  It would be fantastic for a point-and-click system to do this.  They're just trying to tell you to not get your hopes up, because, from a business standpoint, it would likely lose money.

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Dman979
Removed reference to deleted content.

[capran]

I'd like to dream of a KSP 2.0.0 where the physics engine has been replaced with something way better, less buggy and Kraken-y, more flexible (planets with axes that are not all in the same direction and perpendicular to their inclination! I'm looking at you, Earth and Uranus!), that would also allow for easy, in-game, user customization of the planets and star(s). It'd be awesome if it could be something like Universe Sandbox. 

Maybe someday...

[HebaruSan]

Maybe after there are stock tools for going to other planets. If you sold this DLC now, most players who bought it would not be able to visit their creations.

[passinglurker]

4 hours ago, klesh said:

Squad now has a significant user base to which “use a mod” isn’t a reasonable answer because they legitimately cannot use them.   

meh squad already burned and drove off the console community they basically gotta give them all thier DLC ports or free at this point to fix the rep of money grubbing they made for themselves by rushing release, selling a broken version, and keeping it on the store for so long after it was clear it wasn't gonna be fixed any time soon...

So in the end you can't sell pc players mod clones because they can't match quality to justify the extra cost (freely integrating into the base game is still sorta ethical though) and you can't sell dlc to console players at all because they burned them for a year or two after launch. Their only options are to try to be original or start working on a new game entirely.

[Kerbart]

Bad idea. Kopernicus offers it for free.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Kerbart
The mods want a more meaningful response

[Dman979]

Personal attacks are not acceptable on this forum. Some posts have been edited or removed.

 

[pandaman]

I like the idea of an official (DLC?) solar system customizer, giving options for different scales etc as well as varieties of planets.

Would most likely have to be configured from pre-made planets though, with a few 'tweakable' options; but as an idea its not a bad one.

[Red Thought]

2 hours ago, passinglurker said:

meh squad already burned and drove off the console community they basically gotta give them all thier DLC ports or free at this point to fix the rep of money grubbing they made for themselves by rushing release, selling a broken version, and keeping it on the store for so long after it was clear it wasn't gonna be fixed any time soon...

So in the end you can't sell pc players mod clones because they can't match quality to justify the extra cost (freely integrating into the base game is still sorta ethical though) and you can't sell dlc to console players at all because they burned them for a year or two after launch. Their only options are to try to be original or start working on a new game entirely.

I think a few well thought out and fully vetted dlc can drastically improve a game, I know a lot of people disagree, but Paradox Interactive, dramatically improved its game with its first several DLC.  I personally will have no problem buying any decent DLC from KSP.   I will play this game untill something better comes out, which may be a while.   So 20$ every 6 months to improve my favorite game, in a meaningful way, is a fantastic deal to me.   Paradox did plenty wrong with its DLC policy, but that's the thing about human innovation.   Examine what was good and bad about a specific policy and use that insight to do something better.   

Meant for the following to be on a different post:

Also, I don't think a DLC like this, in anyway, would take any of the fantastic planet packs that are out there or are being developed.  In fact if this was integrated into game, i personally think it would encourage the average player to look into the planet packs available.  Once their interest is peaked into the direction of altering the standard Kerban system, it seems likely that a person would then at least investigate the various planet packs available out there.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Red Thought
Clarification

[Red Thought]

2 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Bad idea. Kopernicus offers it for free.

Just.....  lol

[Spricigo]

The specifications of the stock system are there for a reason.  It's part of the game balance set by the game designers.

The devs are ok if you use a mod to change those specifics but that is far from willing to provide the tools themselves.*

 

*which  in part they did, with the support for mods

[Gargamel]

11 hours ago, Red Thought said:

 So 20$ every 6 months to improve my favorite game, in a meaningful way, is a fantastic deal to me.

Or.... You could pay $0 a couple days after each stock update and wait for a mod to add the features you want.

As I've said, it's makes NO SENSE at all for Squad/TT to attempt to make a DLC that mimics the functionality of a mod already in existence.   The sales of that DLC would not come close to the development costs. 

The recent DLC is a good thing, as it added a gameplay mechanic that was not available through mods.   That's what we need to be asking for, game play mechanics that aren't available through free mods. 

I've been playing KSp for almost 6 years now.  $40 base, +$40 a year... hmm... $260 so far for a game I love?  I don't love it that much, and that is in no way a fantastic deal.    I'm ok with DLC being a rare event, as long as it's a well built (ahem SQUAD!) and improvement on the base game. 

11 hours ago, Red Thought said:

Just.....  lol

Not Lol, it's the whole point of DLC. 

[demibear]

17 hours ago, Spricigo said:

The specifications of the stock system are there for a reason.  It's part of the game balance set by the game designers.

The devs are ok if you use a mod to change those specifics but that is far from willing to provide the tools themselves.*

 

*which  in part they did, with the support for mods

Allowing mods is not the same as support for mods. Now I am curious what gimmick Squad will come up with next.

Edited March 26, 2018 by demibear

[Superfluous J]

Would this editor be as easy to use and as bug free as the mission editor?

Because of so, no thanks.

[Red Thought]

3 hours ago, Gargamel said:

The recent DLC is a good thing, as it added a gameplay mechanic that was not available through mods.   That's what we need to be asking for, game play mechanics that aren't available through free mods. 

I bought dlc hour 1 and have not even clicked on the mission button.   I do like the parts that the DLC added.

[mattinoz]

16 hours ago, pandaman said:

I like the idea of an official (DLC?) solar system customizer, giving options for different scales etc as well as varieties of planets.

Would most likely have to be configured from pre-made planets though, with a few 'tweakable' options; but as an idea its not a bad one.

Or procedural planets that have a theme but seeded terrain generation. So even in the stock verse you’d need exploration sensors to scan the planets. Or at least send kerbal to look out the window.