New Platforms

[TheMiningTeamYT]

Hello everyone! This place is a place for discussing ideas for new platforms KSP could be ported to in the near future. Have fun!

Edited October 14, 2018 by TheMiningTeamYT

[Gargamel]

2 hours ago, TheMiningTeamYT said:

Hello everyone! This place is a place for discussing ideas for new platforms KSP could be ported to in the near future. Have fun!

What else is out there?  They have the major consoles (Xbox and PS), and I believe they have stated Wii/Switch/Etc isn't going to happen.   Mobile devices are pretty much a no go since the processing power there is still lacking, and the control interface would be horrendous.     Pretty sure this all has been discussed ad naseum in other threads....

Edited October 15, 2018 by Gargamel
typos

[sumghai]

I concur with @Gargamel.

Even with concessions like stripping down the scope of the mobile app to just craft building and maneuver planning, that's still a fair amount of developer time and resources that would be better spent improving and maintaining releases on the core PC and major console platforms, where there's a larger audience (and a better return on investment).

[Chel]

Lemme think...

What about a version of KSP for the Nintendo 64? Superman worked fine on it, so could KSP!

[klgraham1013]

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

What else is out there?  The have the major consoles

Some might argue we still don't have those yet.

[TheMiningTeamYT]

My created this topic because for a long time I have wanted a KSP mobile app, and I mean that casually. On a related note, KSP is made in Unity, and Unity allows you to export games to mobile devices. Also, while phones are the main mobile device, tablets do still exist. You could just design the app for tablets. I do admit the UI breaks down on phones, and would require a decent amount of change to reasonably work on phones. But, on tablets, the UI holds up.

Edited October 15, 2018 by TheMiningTeamYT

[Dunbaratu]

2 hours ago, TheMiningTeamYT said:

My created this topic because for a long time I have wanted a KSP mobile app, and I mean that casually. On a related note, KSP is made in Unity, and Unity allows you to export games to mobile devices. Also, while phones are the main mobile device, tablets do still exist. You could just design the app for tablets. I do admit the UI breaks down on phones, and would require a decent amount of change to reasonably work on phones. But, on tablets, the UI holds up.

The UI isn't the issue.  The CPU speed and RAM are the issue.  KSP is a CPU-bound program.  (i.e. if you are getting poor frame rates, the thing most likely causing slow FPS is the CPU usage rather than the video card or anything else.)

Tablets are generally slower than full computers, and for very good reason:  Higher CPU speeds draw more power, meaning shorter battery life.  When the entire appeal of a tablet is the portability, the short battery life that would come from having a faster CPU is hard to justify when most people are just using the tablet for mail, browsing, and 2-D video watching.

 

[RealKerbal3x]

2 minutes ago, Steven Mading said:

The UI isn't the issue.  The CPU speed and RAM are the issue.  KSP is a CPU-bound program.  (i.e. if you are getting poor frame rates, the thing most likely causing slow FPS is the CPU usage rather than the video card or anything else.)

 Tablets are generally slower than full computers, and for very good reason:  Higher CPU speeds draw more power, meaning shorter battery life.  When the entire appeal of a tablet is the portability, the short battery life that would come from having a faster CPU is hard to justify when most people are just using the tablet for mail, browsing, and 2-D video watching.

  

Another issue is controlling the game. There are a ton of keys on a keyboard, which is good for a game like KSP which has a lot of keybindings. You couldn't fit every control on a touchscreen, so players would probably need a controller. However, as shown on the KSP console edition, controllers don't really have enough buttons anyway. The only possible platform KSP could be ported to is probably tablets, and even then it'd have to be dumbed down to a mobile VAB or manoeuvre node editor.

[swjr-swis]

Came to this thread to voice my support for mobile land or sea launch platforms.

Left disappointed.

[Ruedii]

I doubt there are too many more computing platforms out there.

PC, Mac and Linux cover that.

Mobile Android and ChromeOS are no where near ready in compute capability.  Companion apps might be able to be developed, but Squad still has a lot to get done before then: Remastering all the old parts, adding new missions to Making History, as well as new parameters to the mission maker (which feels a little incomplete at this point in time by my book, which is why I haven't made any making history missions yet to publish to SteamWorks and *** malicious site we no longer use ***.)