An AI's "honest" review of KSP!

[RocketFire9]

This is an AI's "honest" review of KSP. It was generated in the InfoKit web demo. (https://app.inferkit.com/demo)

So here it is!

Kerbal Space Program Review

 

Robot space games are becoming something of a specialty. I loved RimWorld, which was very much a simpler, more agile take on this same genre. This year we’ve seen Stellaris and Kerbal Space Program, both more complex, but also genuinely enjoyable.

 

We set out to play Kerbal Space Program, a fresh take on a very familiar formula, but we also expected it to be different. What we didn’t expect was how thoroughly enjoyable it’d be to play. What we did expect was how uninteresting it’d be to play.

 

I mean, have you played Kerbal Space Program before? Didn’t think so. This is still more space sim than other space sims, but it’s different enough to give it a fresh take. It also happens to be very charming.

 

Sitting at a desk, with two computers and my feet up, I’m not the most mobile man in the world. But I can still imagine myself floating in space, punching buttons with a realistic frustration at trying to get control of a tiny rocket.

 

Our in-depth review of Kerbal Space Program will tell you more about its mechanics, but the easiest way to understand Kerbal Space Program is by seeing it from the perspective of a game jam over the weekend. You can probably guess what sort of jam that was, given how many brilliant indie games crop up.

 

On the first day, we ended up with a space game and the beginning of a story. It was something that felt like the sort of thing I’d want to play as a kid, and not have to fight with crummy controls, crummy difficulty, or terrible politics. It was set in the Kerbal universe, with a persistent world where you can build ships, launch them into space and maybe become a space pirate or something.

 

But the design team didn’t want to stick to a sci-fi trope and came up with a hero with the voice of Darth Vader. They wanted someone who was… well, more relatable.

 

As I played through the weekend, more and more elements of the game started to present themselves. Character creation is as easy as opening the character creation window. You choose your name, and all the fields are treated with the sort of care you expect from small development teams. Your name can be anything you want, and it's fully customizable. I chose Aeroblaze since it sounded like an alien name. 

At this point, the game boots up and loads some asteroids, and you can either do some outpost building or play around in the planet-building or factory sim or rocket sim. However, when you create an asteroid, you can launch a spaceship and launch a rocket in space. It is this surreal moment that, as KSP’s raison d’etre is purely for exploring, has the potential to encourage exploration through experimentation and discovery.

All of which help foster a community. KSP is free to play – it’s all there for you, from the moment you download the game. There are no DLCs or even map packs. There’s an activity park to work out how many hits of floating bananas you can get your KSP pilot to churn off before they turn into a deadly sugar crash. There’s a competitive community where players achieve high scores on various orbital exploits. The creators have attempted to keep a level of community spirit alive despite its many flaws. They made a message board, and people dedicated their time to keeping people’s ships in working order so that they can do it all again another time.

This is the sort of community that has been built around its two most popular maps – Vacant_1, a vast science base now being developed by other fans, and Farstar_2, a slightly less mysterious, more populated corner of space. It has, however, in the past (see: a clash with the military) been difficult to be a Kerbal on these maps. For a while, you needed a license to play and got banned if there was anything non-standard in the writing. 

Hopefully more to follow!

(Just a note, I did tweak the settings a little to get it a bit more realistic. I had "Start at beginning" on, and I also had "Nucleus sampling top p" all the way up.)

Edited April 30, 2022 by RocketFire9
Combining my later post with this one.

[cantab]

I don't think we need to worry about Skynet any time soon.

[Jcklemme]

On 4/14/2022 at 2:36 PM, RocketFire9 said:

Sitting at a desk, with two computers and my feet up, I’m not the most mobile man in the world.

Hilarious.

[Kerb24]

With the hilarious results in the original post, I asked this AI what Kerbal Space Program is, and it gave me this. 

 

Kerbal Space Program is a sandbox exploration and rocketry simulation game developed and published by Squad, the team behind the 2013 multiplayer shooter," the team stated on its Steam store page.

 

The game allows players to start out with little more than some crates and a few raw materials, and according to the game's Steam store page, "you can create and fly the first in-game spacecraft, the Kerbals Space Vehicle, to become a planetary hero."

 

The project is the brainchild of Squad, the independent game studio behind "". The game is currently available for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

 

IT Director Chris Lye posted on the company's blog that Kerbal Space Program has some processing demands that may make it too intensive for some older devices, and urged developers to test their games on as many devices as possible.

 

Lye also pointed out that such a high-intensity game like this will be running in the background on users' devices, and could be running for a long time without them noticing.

 

He then reiterated his company's stance that there was no way around it, urging developers to test their games on as many devices as possible to reduce the device impact.

 

"We strongly urge developers to think through and try testing as many devices as they can for performance and battery life," Lye wrote. "Test on multiple platforms and multiple device models. We live in an age where devices are so interconnected we have no idea how the end user will be using it. Always test on multiple devices with their own sets of hardware and OS/driver combinations to ensure the best experience possible.

 

 

[RocketFire9]

25 minutes ago, Kerb24 said:

 

Kerbal Space Program is a sandbox exploration and rocketry simulation game developed and published by Squad, the team behind the 2013 multiplayer shooter," 

The project is the brainchild of Squad, the independent game studio behind "".

Apparently the AI had a but of trouble finding another game Squad has made!
(That or it confused the company with the game Squad, or the genre.)

Edited April 16, 2022 by RocketFire9

[Admiral Fluffy]

This is what I got.

Kerbal Space Program, formerly known as Shipyard and has also been the name of a space-based rocket game developed by Squad, was featured as one of the “ups & downs” of the company’s success in an interview with, founder and CEO, Squad executive producer, and producer, Alex Cincinnati, did with Eurogamer. He talks about how it was through the hard work of the passionate player base that Squad was able to make that jump from Kickstarter darling to success and profitability.

 

When talking about the decision to bring the game back from the dead, Squad leader, Squad’s executive producer, Alex Cincinnati, revealed that it was not an easy task:

 

“Back in 2012, we had decided that Shipyard was done and that we wanted to take some time and concentrate on development for Squad. “What changed was that Squad was constantly posting to Twitter about all of the community contributions we had received and all of the fantastic reviews we had been getting for the game. The players wanted us to keep Shipyard alive.”

 

After some looking into the numbers, it was very apparent that bringing Shipyard back was feasible.

 

“Back then, we were a team of four working part-time. We were doing it just to have fun. But we couldn’t stop the fans’ requests, and we didn’t want to disappoint them by letting Shipyard die. So we took the leap. “We gave Shipyard a brief due to a complete lack of any real marketing plan. There wasn’t even an update on our website. “We then launched a 3D prototype version on the Chinese fan site, KSP777. It was awful and it showed. “

[RocketFire9]

So maybe we do need to worry about Skynet...

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by RocketFire9
See top post

[Jcklemme]

Will Kerbal Space Program 2 ever come out? It’s complicated.

Well, in late 2013 the Kerbal Space Program fans found a clue buried in the official rules of the game’s Create-a-Spaceflight module. The rule states that a "follow-up video" is required, but while Kerbal Space Program (KSP) director and noted game developer, Peter Molyneux, doesn’t seem to object, Molyneux won’t be able to post one himself.

"After developing Kerbal Space Program I don’t think I have much to add to what the modder wrote himself, so I’m just going to leave it," Molyneux wrote on Twitter.

Well, what’s this have to do with Kerbal Space Program 2? Well, the rules were originally posted when Molyneux was working as a contractor for Microsoft. Molyneux is now working with Valve on the new Half-Life for Steam (it's expected to be released in the fall), which has left a trail of crossed fingers and wondering for fans of Kerbal Space Program.

"I have to admit I do miss Kerbal Space Program," Molyneux added in a follow-up Tweet. "It’s probably not the best course of action for both studios to end up having their names linked together after such a long and profitable association, but there you go."

[Admiral Fluffy]

2 minutes ago, Jcklemme said:

Half-Life for Steam

Half-Life 3 confirmed

[RocketFire9]

So maybe it'll come out before KSP2?

(Just a note, I did tweak the settings a little to get it a bit more realistic. I had "Start at beginning" on, and I also had "Nucleus sampling top p" all the way up.)

Edited April 16, 2022 by RocketFire9

[darthgently]

13 minutes ago, RocketFire9 said:

At this point, the game boots up and loads some asteroids

Well, I'm excited, don't know about your guys

[RocketFire9]

When will Kerbal Space program 2 come out?

"Last time I spoke exclusively with the Devs I was expecting to meet them at Gamescom in August/September 2017 here in Cologne. Even though the team has definitely been hard at work delivering KSP 2, things keep moving around so much... i have to admit, I still set even my most optimistic dates too low and even I’ve been having a hard time of it. We’re so very close now but still out of touch. Sorry. Please don’t get all baking punk on me. I know we are all as frazzled as those two kerbals in the rocket from the original. Back with our regular scheduled updates, I’m going to make you wait just a little bit longer so as not to disappoint you guys. We know you’ll understand. While you wait I’m pleased to announce that the KSP 2 cloud map viewer is available today as a standalone installer. So you can run Kerbin’s cloud map viewer alongside the standard visualization toolkit without having to install the visualization suite separately from the cloud map viewer."

"After a lengthy development, the hardcore sci-fi simulation game Kerbal Space Program 2 (KSP2) will be coming out this year. According to Chris Sawyer, the game's maverick creator, the second part of the space simulator will be released sometime in 2028. How upon release? That hasn't been focused out yet, however to very little surprise Chris didn't say how soon after launch stretch goals will be unlocked. With that said, Sawyer indicated to the official KSP blog that some tiers even which aren't out yet:

 

Missions include pushing things, beating devices, and messing with stuff. Things like engines. ... You can guide your ship with the mouse, and really mess with stuff in your garage in an interactive way with the left click and drag. Learn more on the official site! And watch the trailer.

 

Kerbal Space Program, the emergent military sci-fi simulator where you can build and fly rockets into space for fun and profit, is set to launch expansions on July 19, 2023."

"KSP2 isn't an update, it's a new edition of the game, focusing on major changes to speed, controls, and physics, adding such new engines as the Hammerhead and Eliminator. Some of the quote, unquote "balancing adjustments" (as opposed to balance tweaks) include a shift in how the ship matrix works (the general population hasn't used it, and all newcomers start learning it all at once), tweaks to laser tag control and effects, and changes to how the game handles orbital mechanics (instead of moving towards the center of the planet, characters can change direction by shifting the planet edge itself). It was developed by Squad and is said to have about four times as much content as the hit game that came out two years ago."

Edited May 3, 2022 by RocketFire9