Should there be achievements in ksp?

[KerbalChamp2006]

should there be achievements for doing stuff for the 1st time in ksp? (i.e. getting to orbit, landing on the mün, etc.) I mean i know there are achievements in the console edition, but i think it would be more satisfactory to have achivements across all platforms. And i mean, c'mon, who even plays console edition anyways?

[Snark]

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

Moving to Suggestions, since this isn't actually a challenge itself.

6 minutes ago, KerbalChamp2006 said:

I think it would be more satisfactory to have achivements across all platforms.

Depends whom you talk to, I suppose.  Not everyone would want them (I would prefer not, myself, for example, for various reasons).  Also, even if one weren't opposed to the idea itself... nothing's free.  Implementing one feature means giving up another one, and Squad would have to decide how to prioritize such a feature against other development work.  And I definitely would prefer Squad focus on other features (e.g. involving designing and flying spaceships) rather than on "game-like" features like trying to put some sort of scoring or "achievements" system in place.

My guess as to why achievements would be present in the console edition is that it's likely a market requirement-- I'm not a console player myself, of anything, but I gather that pretty much all console games have achievements in them, and it's the kind of thing that a console audience would expect.

 

10 minutes ago, KerbalChamp2006 said:

And i mean, c'mon, who even plays console edition anyways?

Lots and lots of people.  Their voices are just as important as PC players', and they have to deal with a lot of frustrations that PC players don't.  So I do hope we can respect them the way we do all our fellow players, and not belittle their existence. 

[KerbalChamp2006]

6 minutes ago, Snark said:

Hello, and welcome to the forums! 

Moving to Suggestions, since this isn't actually a challenge itself.

Depends whom you talk to, I suppose.  Not everyone would want them (I would prefer not, myself, for example, for various reasons).  Also, even if one weren't opposed to the idea itself... nothing's free.  Implementing one feature means giving up another one, and Squad would have to decide how to prioritize such a feature against other development work.  And I definitely would prefer Squad focus on other features (e.g. involving designing and flying spaceships) rather than on "game-like" features like trying to put some sort of scoring or "achievements" system in place.

My guess as to why achievements would be present in the console edition is that it's likely a market requirement-- I'm not a console player myself, of anything, but I gather that pretty much all console games have achievements in them, and it's the kind of thing that a console audience would expect.

 

Lots and lots of people.  Their voices are just as important as PC players', and they have to deal with a lot of frustrations that PC players don't.  So I do hope we can respect them the way we do all our fellow players, and not belittle their existence. 

Lol true i used to play console, and i get your point, ksp is more of a simulation game rather than a "game" game. And im pretty sure people get alot of self-satisfaction with doing stuff in ksp. And after all, the apollo astronauts didnt get an achivement.

[katateochi]

1 hour ago, KerbalChamp2006 said:

i think it would be more satisfactory to have achivements across all platforms

As @Snark said, not everyone would be for it and if it was a case of achievements vs some other feature/fix, I think most here would favour the other feature or fix.

I'm really against having set "achievements" in KSP.  It seems so counter to the ethos of KSP of setting you own goals that are satisfying/challenging to you (and that's something that varies a lot from player to player).  The satisfaction that people get from managing to do something is already so strong in the game that years on people still talk about their first Mun landing or first docking, the game doesn't need to pat you on the back any more.  

I also think that it would diminish the sense of being a space pioneer. That first time you land on another planet, there's a sense of wonder and isolation, and you really feel like you're the first to land here. Having a little message pop up saying "well done" would break the immersion of the experience and detract from that pioneer feeling as the game is basically saying "yeah it's nothing special, you landing here is so predictable we scripted a little welcome note".

[KerbalChamp2006]

Ok i get it now. I was just wondering since the console edition has achievements.

Edited July 16, 2018 by KerbalChamp2006
Typo

[adsii1970]

NO, I hope they do not ever add achievements. But with that said, there are several mods that do add achievements for those looking for such thrills.

I'd just be happy with a refined stock tech tree which made some sort of sense...

[klesh]

It depends. 

 

If I were in charge of developing KSP and ensuring it continued to sell, I would put them in.  People love achievements, people have money.  They would be a no-brainer on the Steam platform.

[adsii1970]

1 minute ago, klesh said:

It depends. 

 

If I were in charge of developing KSP and ensuring it continued to sell, I would put them in.  People love achievements, people have money.  They would be a no-brainer on the Steam platform.

Unless you apply them in such a way where they are platform-wide. I can see putting them in everything but Sandbox mode. But if they become universal...

I began playing KSP before there was anything other than sandbox mode...

[katateochi]

46 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I began playing KSP before there was anything other than sandbox mode...

Same here. I even feel like career mode is too much on the side of giving points for set tasks that someone else thought up (which is why I take a very modified approach to career, so it's basically just sandbox with a few contracts that align with my own goals). 

1 hour ago, klesh said:

They would be a no-brainer on the Steam platform.

Well you say that, and for the "normal" things like orbiting X, landing on Y, docking with Z it would be pretty straight forward, but the "normal" things only goes as deep as the box art, what really is in KSP is the abnormal and totally insane things that people get up to.  Would there be an achievement for greatest distance a Kerbal has been launched by a catapult for example?....ah that was a fun afternoon.

[klesh]

29 minutes ago, katateochi said:

  Would there be an achievement for greatest distance a Kerbal has been launched by a catapult for example?....ah that was a fun afternoon. 

 

If that were the criterion, wouldn't you be awarded it on your very first catapulting?

[katateochi]

1 hour ago, klesh said:

If that were the criterion, wouldn't you be awarded it on your very first catapulting?

my point is, how would you detect a catapulting event? There's a ton of ways you could build a catapult and that's just 1 of a nearly infinite number of off-the-wall things KSP players do. The implementation of an achievement system to detect anything aside from the most basic/standard events would be horrifically complex and add a load of overhead to a program that already  suffers performance issues. 

[klesh]

3 minutes ago, katateochi said:

my point is, how would you detect a catapulting event? There's a ton of ways you could build a catapult and that's just 1 of a nearly infinite number of off-the-wall things KSP players do. The implementation of an achievement system to detect anything aside from the most basic/standard events would be horrifically complex and add a load of overhead to a program that already  suffers performance issues. 

Oh, right!  Which is why the ones on the console edition are pretty much Flyby and Land achievements, with a couple extras thrown in as well.  They're open ended enough to complete as you see fit, with a catapult, trebuchet, plane, or rocket.

 

https://www.trueachievements.com/game/Kerbal-Space-Program/achievements

[flart]

On 7/16/2018 at 11:36 PM, klesh said:

https://www.trueachievements.com/game/Kerbal-Space-Program/achievements

Can I use this for Win10 Steam KSP or it is pure XBox service?

[KSK]

Call me curmudgeonly, but I'm not a fan of achievements in any game to be honest. To me, they turn something that's supposed to be fun for it's own sake into a checklist of things to do. More generally, I dislike the notion that fun has to be quantified and packaged up into a little set of milestones.

I've also never seen a set of achievements that I really liked.

In my (admittedly limited) experience they tend to be lists of 'well duh' moments through the game (why do I need a little achievement badge to tell me about this obvious milestone I've reached?), or horribly gimmicky 'well you could play the game the normal, sensible way..... but if you play it in a ridiculously contrived way, you'll get a shiny badge. Don't forget to collect all the other shiny badges on the list so you can measure exactly how much fun you've had playing this game.

Which just feels like a very cheap way of adding 'replayability' to a game.

But others clearly do like achievements, so each to their own.

Edited July 18, 2018 by KSK

[razark]

7 hours ago, KSK said:

I've also never seen a set of achievements that I really liked.

I use the Final Frontier mod.  It's  as close to an achievement system as I want to see in the game, and it fits into the game and rewards you for what you do, rather than feeling like an external thing that gives you a list of boxes to check off.

[adsii1970]

11 minutes ago, razark said:

I use the Final Frontier mod.  It's  as close to an achievement system as I want to see in the game, and it fits into the game and rewards you for what you do, rather than feeling like an external thing that gives you a list of boxes to check off.

Yup, I agree. And Final Frontier is easily modified to add more awards for your Kermen to earn, should you desire to do that.

 

[Xd the great]

There is a ribbon mod that adds ribvons to your crew. Is that what you want?

If not, i would like to order a set of special achievements on killing 10, 100, 1000 kerbals.

[Dark Lion]

Erm... yes. Milestones = Achievements, right?

I haven't played career mode lately, but I thought there already were a list of achievements, only they're called Milestones...  and hidden until completed. IIRC, you even get a small bit of kerbal currency for each one. Maybe a bit of science too, for some or all, but I don't honestly remember.

I'd like to see those remain which are already in career modes, but I wouldn't think they're really necessary. I aim to just go for it in the sandbox, so achievements are  definitely useless to me without some kind of challenge to overcome.

Uh... ahem.... besides Eve. Can't forget her. She's mean.  I really don't care if the game rewards me for that as long as my kerbals return safely to Kerbin from Eve. I'll celebrate in my own way on that one.