KSP 2 is going next level, and I don't think that was initially planned.

[Guest]

After seeing the Mun revamp in KSP. We saw that they went next level for KSP 2. Earlier a few months ago, Mun looked very similar to what it did in the past, but recently with the new change, it looks like they are putting more quality into their planets. Which makes me think the initial delays where for this reason, that KSP 2 was going to be originally more in common with the KSP 1 game. Do you agree or disagree?

[Dr. Kerbal]

I agree with this This does make sense. 

[Minmus Taster]

So we have to wait longer and out computers will be slower, amazing game plan...

I'm joking this is amazing, I'm so happy that KSP 2 is being developed by these talented people.

[Spaceman.Spiff]

21 minutes ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

After seeing the Mun revamp in KSP. We saw that they went next level for KSP 2. Earlier a few months ago, Mun looked very similar to what it did in the past, but recently with the new change, it looks like they are putting more quality into their planets. Which makes me think the initial delays where for this reason, that KSP 2 was going to be originally more in common with the KSP 1 game. Do you agree or disagree?

I'm not sure if it's the reason for delays. The things that we'd seen earlier were VERY early development shots, and may have just been mockups.

[Admiral Fluffy]

37 minutes ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

it looks like they are putting more quality into their planets.

I think they are too.

[Guest]

Sure looks like it!

[PlutoISaPlanet]

I agree, but do not forget the studio change and shakeup that definitely had some effect.

[Dientus]

I don't think it would cause the delay for both postponements, but it does seem plausible to have played a role in one of them.

 

Something I have seen in the states is the severe lack of employees across the board in all fields of work. I can't help but Wonder if  @Intercept Games has lost any devs/support personnel during this which may have also affected deployment.

[Nirgal]

The first delay was due to the studio change of course, since then I gather there has been some feature creep too (can't really complain to be honest). 

And of course you know what has prevented people from interacting face to face, this probably delays development much more than people imagine.

With that said, what we've seen so far is boggling my mind. The work looks amazing and I cannot wait for release

 

[Kernel Kraken]

Or, hear me out, the old Mün texture was a placeholder so they could make a few small reveals with it and shoot a trailer. There's delays because it's a modern AAA game, of course there's gonna be delays.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Kernel Kraken

[jimmymcgoochie]

You seem to think that the old textures were the “planned” versions, rather than being what they had developed at that point with every intention of improving on in future. Software development is iterative these days and sometimes it can be months (or even years!) between when something first gets made and when it gets polished up and improved to its “final” state.

[shdwlrd]

30 minutes ago, Kernel Kraken said:

Or, hear me out, the old Mün texture was a placeholder so they could make a few small reveals with it and shoot a trailer.

That would make sense. We do know that the devs used Sqaud's assets for the revel trailer. More than likely still using them for internal development and testing.

[K^2]

On 5/5/2021 at 9:30 AM, The Doodling Astronaut said:

After seeing the Mun revamp in KSP. We saw that they went next level for KSP 2. Earlier a few months ago, Mun looked very similar to what it did in the past, but recently with the new change, it looks like they are putting more quality into their planets. Which makes me think the initial delays where for this reason, that KSP 2 was going to be originally more in common with the KSP 1 game. Do you agree or disagree?

Quality of planetary bodies was always on the list of improvements, but they seem to have pulled out all stops. Having worked on similar tech for a different game, I can say that Intercept is currently building their planet tech along the lines of modern standard for open world games. That includes the way LoD tiles work, texturing, materials, and vegetation (from some of the Kerbin screenshots.) There is clearly some work left to be done, especially on vegetation LoDs, but I'm happy with current trajectory. I don't think the original (2019) schedule included time for this. And while I don't think going extra on planet quality was part of the reason for delay, even though the reason did have to do with increased scope, once the studio got extra time, it basically allowed the teams responsible for planets to put in the necessary work.

This is not unusual in games. While there is some flexibility, generally, teams are not interchangeable. If your gameplay team has to work twice as long because you came up with more ideas for them to do, you better find something for your tech art to develop as well. So when you have expansion of scope in one area of the game, it necessarily leads to scope expansion in other areas. I believe, the critical scope expansion had to do primarily with colonies and game progression, but it lead to extra time for improvements in everything else.

Edit:

3 hours ago, Kernel Kraken said:

Or, hear me out, the old Mün texture was a placeholder so they could make a few small reveals with it and shoot a trailer.

This is also true. I don't think there was ever any plan for the textures we saw originally to be final. They were place holders.

Edited May 6, 2021 by K^2

[Starman4308]

Revamped art doesn't sound to me like something that would delay release of an already-way-behind-schedule game like KSP 2, especially when the planets already looked good enough. As such, I suspect the art team is just taking advantage of delays elsewhere to really polish up their work.