Developer Insights #16 - Kerbal Community Program

[Intercept Games]

Hello Kerbonauts! My name is Virginia, but you all know me as Ghostii-Space on the forums, and I am one of the Community Managers for Kerbal Space Program. I am responsible for many of the social posts to our accounts, and for reading and responding to many of your comments.  

Now, you may be asking yourself, why are they doing a Dev Diary for the Community team? I am glad you asked! The community team is the main liaison between the community and the devs. This means that throughout Early Access, we will be instrumental in relaying your feedback to the development team. We also help the development team communicate with the community, such as facilitating Dev Diaries, Show and Tells, and sneak peeks into KSP2. During KSP2’s Early Access we want to make sure to highlight all the awesome experiences you have!  

So, what does a day in the life of a community manager look like? Well, I wake up 30 minutes before work starts and brew a cup of coffee while I review my emails and warm up my scrolling thumb by deleting the hundred promotional emails I get daily. My workday starts with reading comments and questions from our social media accounts and responding to my work emails. After that I usually scroll through twitter or reddit for news and memes. Then, I attend some meetings and create content for our social media accounts. Finally, I finish off with more work emails and responding to more comments/questions. Occasionally I flounder around our office to film TikToks with local celebrity Jeb Kerman.  

Glamorous, I know. So how did I get here? Well, I took a super roundabout route and started with a degree in Anthropology and Museum Studies. There I was, all bright eyed and ready to spend the rest of my life in a dusty museum storage room. But I happened to be unemployed and came across a role open for an Assistant Community Manager for Kerbal Space Program. Figuring I was not going to be able to make a living as a professional Final Fantasy XIV player (which I was obsessed with at the time), I applied for the role fully expecting to get ghosted because I barely had any experience in social media other than personal use. But fortunately, I play a lot of simulation titles such as Oxygen Not Included, Satisfactory, and Astroneer. I also have a lot of outside skills thanks to my years in customer service and my degree in Anthropology that relate to being a community manager! Anthropology is a huge part of what I do daily, as I am constantly gathering information for our community and from the internet as a whole!  

So, what does this have to do with Kerbal Space Program 2? Well, I have to say, this is one of the best communities I have ever seen, and I am passionate about supporting this community as it continues to grow with Kerbal Space Program 2. Working with all of you during Early Access is going to be a wonderful journey that I am glad we get to launch together. We appreciate all of you and want to make KSP2 the best game it can be!!  

So happy launching and don’t forget your parachutes!  

Edited November 23, 2022 by Intercept Games

[Caerfinon]

1 minute ago, Intercept Games said:

up 30 minutes before work starts and brew a cup of coffee

It's important to start the day right.  Looking forward to the KSP2 fun as well. Fly safe. 

[whatsEJstandfor]

I wasn't expecting any new Dev Insights this close to a holiday, so this is a fabulous surprise! Thank you @Ghostii_Space! I'm glad we now know who exactly was helping Jeb uncover the release date, so thank you for your service o7

And I love that you, too, play Oxygen Not Included and Astroneer; I have hundreds of hours in the former, and the latter I just discovered last week and have sunk a dozen or so hours into. Seems like KSP attracts people with a very specific taste in games.

Edited November 23, 2022 by whatsEJstandfor

[LezRowl]

Parachutes, is that where snacks are stored? Regardless, this is a very welcome dev insight to have; how else would I know if my feedback were to be of any value? When I could just let a popular Youtuber do that work for me. 

[Pesterenan]

Hi Virginia! Another fellow player of Oxygen Not Included! I see you're a woman of culture as well... hahaha KSP is my favorite game, with ONI coming in close second!

[Zaffre]

1 hour ago, Intercept Games said:

My workday starts with reading comments from our social media accounts

I know it's quite literally your job, but yikes that does not tend to be a great way to start a day.

[Clayel]

Does the KSP team plan to continue using twitter after all of the recent controversy surrounding it?

[Ghostii_Space]

3 minutes ago, Zaffre said:

I know it's quite literally your job, but yikes that does not tend to be a great way to start a day.

Since our community is pretty awesome and chill, it's not a bad way to start the day! It's usually hype, or questions and suggestions about KSP2. 

1 minute ago, Clayel said:

Does the KSP team plan to continue using twitter after all of the recent controversy surrounding it?

Since Twitter is where the majority of our community follow us for news and updates about KSP2, we will continue to use the platform. 

 

[Majorjim!]

Hi Ghostii-Space! Ok bye. 

[Navoan]

So you're the Ghostcrawler of 2022! Nice. 

Hope you continue enjoying what you do! 

[Anth]

@Ghostii_Space

Good Dev Diary to see.

I look forward to the early access process and the back and forth between us the community and yourself and Intercept Games.

It will be fun.

I have two questions

1. Will we have a bug tracker for the early access process? I did quite a few bug reports but also interacted with others bug reports to figure out (confirm) problems. It was a fun experience.
2. The feedback system that is talked about being connected to the launcher, do we the community get to interact with others feedback like a public forum or will the feedback be one way?

[Nirgal]

Question timeeeeee

*clicks slender, nerdy fingers and adjusts spectacles*

1. Can you confirm if we will be getting water/liquid based vehicular capability, colony construction, and whether these will be possible underwater too?

2. I've heard rumours there will be no electronic propeller parts in KSP2, is this true? If so, do you think there's a chance they'll be added in future? (base game, not mods)

3. Is Jebediah Kerman a secret majority shareholder of Intercept Games? If so, what is he like to work for?

[机械主教71号]

Can't wait to play KSP2 XD.

[kerballs]

Thanks so much for your hard work! I love hearing about peoples' journeys through higher education and into jobs they didn't expect. Museum Studies sounds like a really fun major. I've been playing KSP for years but have never been active on the forums - I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to contributing to the evolution of KSP2.

[Cpt72Bug]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:58 AM, Intercept Games said:

Anthropology that relate to being a community manager! Anthropology is a huge part of what I do daily, as I am constantly gathering information for our community and from the internet as a whole!  

Ah yes cultural anthropology. Glad to meet you! KSP is much better than curating mammoth bones

[Ghostii_Space]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:11 PM, Anth12 said:

@Ghostii_Space

Good Dev Diary to see.

I look forward to the early access process and the back and forth between us the community and yourself and Intercept Games.

It will be fun.

I have two questions

1. Will we have a bug tracker for the early access process? I did quite a few bug reports but also interacted with others bug reports to figure out (confirm) problems. It was a fun experience.
2. The feedback system that is talked about being connected to the launcher, do we the community get to interact with others feedback like a public forum or will the feedback be one way?

Hii! 

Yes, there will be a bug report/feedback system set up through the launcher. 

The reports will get sent back to the dev team to find, replicate, and squash bugs as needed. The feedback submitted through the launcher will be only one way, but we plan on calling out which features are added because of the community's requests during Early Access. As always, you can also post via here on the forums if you want the community to interact with your feedback. If you tag me in it, I can make sure it gets passed along to the dev team   

12 hours ago, Cpt72Bug said:

Ah yes cultural anthropology. Glad to meet you! KSP is much better than curating mammoth bones

Depends on the mammoth bones, they don't tend to get in arguments with each other over the forums  

[Ghostii_Space]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:53 PM, Nirgal said:

Question timeeeeee

*clicks slender, nerdy fingers and adjusts spectacles*

1. Can you confirm if we will be getting water/liquid based vehicular capability, colony construction, and whether these will be possible underwater too?

2. I've heard rumours there will be no electronic propeller parts in KSP2, is this true? If so, do you think there's a chance they'll be added in future? (base game, not mods)

3. Is Jebediah Kerman a secret majority shareholder of Intercept Games? If so, what is he like to work for?

1. I cannot confirm at this time, but I will pass your request on the dev team so they can consider it! 
2.  I think we might have them in the future, but they are not going to be on day 1 early access launch. 
3. Jeb is more like the elf on the shelf watching over our shoulders, every move we make. His rise to fame on TikTok has only perpetuated his ego. 

 

[Pthigrivi]

Aw dang I missed this! Hey @Ghostii_Space! The tiktoks are super fun. Weirdly I've never played ONI... been on a bit of a Factorio kick for the last few months. 

Okay couple of questions:

1) Do you think we'll see another dev video before release? 
2) When do you think we'll know more specifics about things like science, colonies, exploration mode, resources, etc? Before the EA release or before each relevant update?
3) Nate mentioned you've all been sharing your creations via slack. Maybe you could show some off? 
4) Whats your favorite ancient civilization?

Edited November 28, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[Ghostii_Space]

22 minutes ago, Pthigrivi said:

Aw dang I missed this! Hey @Ghostii_Space! The tiktoks are super fun. Weirdly I've never played ONI... been on a bit of a Factorio kick for the last few months. 

Okay couple of questions:

1) Do you think we'll see another dev video before release? 
2) When do you think we'll know more specifics about things like science, colonies, exploration mode, resources, etc? Before the EA release or before each relevant update?
3) Nate mentioned you've all been sharing your creations via slack. Maybe you could show some off? 
4) Whats your favorite ancient civilization?

1. Yes there will definitely be another Dev video before release, but I cannot say when 
2. Each update will have detailed patch notes about the specifics, but we will hopefully have more bits of information we can share before each of those updates release. Basically, in between each update, we will have more teasers of information, then a big review once the update is released. 
3. I'll see if we can share some more of them! Some of them are really funny. 
4. It's so hard to choose just one! The one I know the most about is medieval Europe and Greek/roman myths/culture, because I was obsessed with them when I was a kid. But overall I love all of them, they all have their own fascinating details and quirks. I would never not take the time to learn about an ancient civilization. 

[Strawberry]

This was a dev insight I didnt expect to see but was pleasantly surprised, It's nice to see this type of work represented. All of the community stuff is super fun and great to watch. 

Anyways just a few questions:

1) Is there a formal process for bringing ideas you see to the developers or is it more casual? Is it something that there's specific things youre looking for and try to bring up during a specific time at group meeting, or is it just bringing up things that stick out and something that comes up in casual conversation. 

2) Since I assume some of the devs read the forums, do/will you try to focus your feedback collection on other social media websites such as twitter as it will be less looked at by developers? 

3) What type of new parts can we expect to see/not see on initial release? Will we get some/most torchships upon initial release, parts that are expected to be unlocked before you go interstellar, or a mish mash of new parts from various tech levels?

4) What is your favorite soup that intercept has served?

Edited November 28, 2022 by Strawberry

[Anth]

5 hours ago, Ghostii_Space said:

Hii! 

Yes, there will be a bug report/feedback system set up through the launcher. 

The reports will get sent back to the dev team to find, replicate, and squash bugs as needed. The feedback submitted through the launcher will be only one way, but we plan on calling out which features are added because of the community's requests during Early Access. As always, you can also post via here on the forums if you want the community to interact with your feedback. If you tag me in it, I can make sure it gets passed along to the dev team   

Sweet thank you.

[poopslayer78]

23 hours ago, Ghostii_Space said:

Yes, there will be a bug report/feedback system set up through the launcher. 

The reports will get sent back to the dev team to find, replicate, and squash bugs as needed. The feedback submitted through the launcher will be only one way, but we plan on calling out which features are added because of the community's requests during Early Access.

This is great, glad so see you have a proper bug reporting system.  I also greatly enjoy Satisfactory like you, but don't like the way they have players report bugs as forum posts mixed in with everything else, and then the posts  get auto-hidden after 3 days.

See also this post specifically about bug reporting systems:

 

[Ghostii_Space]

18 hours ago, Strawberry said:

This was a dev insight I didnt expect to see but was pleasantly surprised, It's nice to see this type of work represented. All of the community stuff is super fun and great to watch. 

Anyways just a few questions:

1) Is there a formal process for bringing ideas you see to the developers or is it more casual? Is it something that there's specific things youre looking for and try to bring up during a specific time at group meeting, or is it just bringing up things that stick out and something that comes up in casual conversation. 

2) Since I assume some of the devs read the forums, do/will you try to focus your feedback collection on other social media websites such as twitter as it will be less looked at by developers? 

3) What type of new parts can we expect to see/not see on initial release? Will we get some/most torchships upon initial release, parts that are expected to be unlocked before you go interstellar, or a mish mash of new parts from various tech levels?

4) What is your favorite soup that intercept has served?

Thank you! I love making them, it is lot of fun. 

1. It depends on the idea, and how much perceived work it would be to implement. I have a list I keep of ideas I get suggested to us on social, and bring it up when appropriate. Right now the big push is to get ready for Early Access launch, so we're not adding a bunch of new features so that we can focus on bug squashing and polishing the existing features. Beyond that, we will probably have a regular review of feedback from players. 
2. Yes, the community team gathers feedback from all our social platforms to refer back to the devs. 
3. Spoilers  
4. Probably the chicken and wild rice? We haven't had a lot of soup, but now that its winter time I am looking forward to more opportunities. Personally my overall favorite soup is probably Tortilla soup. 

[poopslayer78]

21 hours ago, Pthigrivi said:

3) Nate mentioned you've all been sharing your creations via slack. Maybe you could show some off? 

I remember someone (Nate?) mentioning how the KSP2 team was using procedural wings to create racecars and later we actually got to see one such creation in the 2022 PC Gamer interview.  This was nice.

[Zhetaan]

@Ghostii_Space:

It does seem that Oxygen Not Included, Astroneer, Satisfactory, and KSP all share a certain type.   Of course, now that you've admitted it, you're pretty much stuck here.  Committed, even, as the nice men in the white scrubs might say while they help you put on a special jacket.

One of us!  One of us!  One of us!

*Ahem*  I have two questions for you:

1. You are the most recent in a long line of community managers, leads, moderators, developers, and pretty much anyone else who has had a stake in this forum to say that this is among the very best of on-line communities.  I was wondering, since you're the first one I know of who has credentials in anthropology, whether you had any special insights into just why that is, or whether there's any kind of objective criterion that informs that assessment.  Not to put you on the spot, of course, and not to suggest that I disagree (I keep coming back, after all), but is there something repeatable in that, or is this a group that managed to turn lead into gold by accident and never wrote down the formula?
2. Who made that fantastic Kerbalised portrait, and is it the same person who does the forum avatars?  Either way, there should be an offering of fruit baskets and possibly small, fuzzy animals.