KSP on Xbox One?

[Anton P. Nym]

Given that Unity will work on multiple platforms, including the upcoming Xbox One, has there been any discussion of the release version of KSP for that platform? In some ways it'd be an excellent fit; the controller, for instance, would be brilliant for both flight and assembly, and the built-in video/screen-capture function is well suited for fostering the community spirit that's a big part of KSP. In other ways, well, less so: I gather mods wouldn't make it onto Xbox Live given MS's absolute (and justifiable) paranoia about security of the platform. (Though maybe not, given the new emphasis that every console can act as a dev-kit.)

I'd love to play KSP on my big screen, so I'd be all for it and I'd even buy a second copy if I could.

-- Steve

[Tex_NL]

There have been MANY discussion just like this in the past for pretty much every console. All led to the same conclusion: Don't count on it. It will definitely not happen before KSP 1.0 on PC.

It is easy to link a modern digital TV screen to a PC as a second screen, I've done it too. And I know people do play KSP with Xbox/Playstation controllers. Problem solved I'd say.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Tex_NL

[MrKicker]

Honestly, the ksp construction system is desinged for mouse. I dont think it will port over well to consoles. Sorry, but a no from me.

[Anton P. Nym]

There have been MANY discussion just like this in the past for pretty much every console. All led to the same conclusion: Don't count on it. It will definitely not happen before KSP 1.0 on PC.

It is easy to link a modern digital TV screen to a PC as a second screen, I've done it too. And I know people do play KSP with Xbox/Playstation controllers. Problem solved I'd say.

Of course the PC (and Mac and Linux) versions would have to be complete before jumping to yet another platform; I'd expect that. The tantalising part, though, is that X1 is built to support Unity so hopefully the leap wouldn't be too big.

As for the monitor thing, well, I know it's possible but it's just not feasible for my living space. The building was put up when TVs were giant blocks of glass and a computer was something those pocket-protector guys built for IBM, so wiring the TV to my computer would involve stringing cable through doors and under carpets. (It was hard enough to get my old Xbox to talk to my router in the days before there was such a thing as native WiFi.) And the whole idea for this post came from mentions of people using Xbox 360 controllers on their computers; I must try that some day, as I find I'm terribly clumsy flying spaceplanes with WASD controls.

-- Steve

edited to add:

Honestly, the ksp construction system is desinged for mouse. I dont think it will port over well to consoles. Sorry, but a no from me.

One thumbstick to rotate the view about the craft, the other to place parts, D-pad and shoulder buttons for part rotation, triggers for zoom in/out, dedicated buttons for locking and symmetry... I could see a lot of ways to use the controller in the VAB/SPH to great effect.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Anton P. Nym
responding to 2nd party

[SuperWeegee4000]

*looks at thread title* NO. JUST NO.

What you don't realize is that Microsoft is doing us a favor by releasing the Xbox One. A while ago, Microsoft Corporation was contacted by an unknown governmental branch and instructed to release a new console that would use the Kinect sensor to spy on every home. Microsoft got to work. Then, as the design stage was nearing completion, one last vestige of good manifested itself in Microsoft's cold, steel core. Realizing that it couldn't let this happen and had to sacrifice its profit for the good of humanity, Microsoft made dozens of design changes for the worse, so that nobody would buy the Xbox One.

[allmappedout]

I really, really hate to thread jack, but...I raised a thread earlier about repeating suggestions which have already been made, and I made a thread only a month ago about this exact same thing...

My original thread

and, whilst I know it's terribly rude and naughty of me to promote ad nauseum, here is the thread where I proposed my solution to dealing with repeated suggestions...

Suggestion review system.

Again, apologies, but I feel that the two are linked (and I raised it because I raised the previous suggestion, hence how I was so certain it had already been suggested...)

[Guest]

Idea: if a feature could be added to KSP, to export, then I think you might be going somewhere. We have a 360 which I myself don't use much at all, but I know it has the capability to download games off the internet.

There are a lot of potential offshoots from what we know Kerbal to be today. Combat is a concept the game has massive potential for, and I think there could be some revenue there, if properly executed.

People could upload their Kerbal creations to a game server from their computer, then from the game platform, download the craft from the server, and then enter a MMO environment. You could have peaceful exploratory environment, and a war one. Others too, like certain types of craft or people with the same interests.

The social aspect has not been integrated into Kerbal yet, and I think that would make the game really successful.

[Alex_Leonardo]

I don't want to have it on Xbox.

I think it would end up like Minecraft on Xbox. It sucked, and I wasted my money.

It's just the Xbox isn't meant for kerbal, or any other type of design and build games, and It probably never will.

Also the xbox controller woud be a bit hard to get used to.

But it does have some hope if they make some KSP spinoff like this: KMP (Kerbal Military Program)

Because I know at least 95% of Xbox players will be bored with KSP if they play call of duty, or any other violent game like that.

If I am being agnostic, please tell me. I'm 50% Sure my data is correct.

[Guest]

Yeah, I have always stayed away form the consoles, due to lack of joystick.

[SuperWeegee4000]

I could never get used to a joystick.

[zekes]

KSP is too complex to be played on a console... sorry it would have to be dumbed down to work.

[allmappedout]

KSP is too complex to be played on a console... sorry it would have to be dumbed down to work.

Just because you think it is impossible, doesn't mean it couldn't be done. cf. Xcom: Enemy Unknown, Steam Big Picture, etc etc. The flight section of KSP fits perfectly with a controller, and the building section, as someone pointed out above, could quite easily work. The action groups could be assigned to a simple d-pad menu, or a radial, for example.

[DMagic]

Unless there are significant changes to the way physics works in KSP it would never work well on an X1/PS4. Both consoles are very powerful, but their CPU's are not at all suited to this game. They are basically low end mobile/tablet parts (similar to Intel's Atom CPUs). So the single-threaded physics performance would be terrible. And I don't see how altering KSP's physics for the Xbox1 would be any easier than doing it for the PC, so I wouldn't expect this to happen any time soon.

[Anton P. Nym]

Unless there are significant changes to the way physics works in KSP it would never work well on an X1/PS4. Both consoles are very powerful, but their CPU's are not at all suited to this game. They are basically low end mobile/tablet parts (similar to Intel's Atom CPUs). So the single-threaded physics performance would be terrible. And I don't see how altering KSP's physics for the Xbox1 would be any easier than doing it for the PC, so I wouldn't expect this to happen any time soon.

Well, it's driven by a customised 8-core variant of the Jaguar; no clock rate cited that I can find (beyond the GPU being uprated from 800MHz to to 853MHz announced recently) but I guess the current 2GHz is probably close. I know the current version of PhysX makes 7 of those cores moot, but then again console OSes are optomised and can get better performance out of the hardware than general-purpose PCs can. Now, I am neither a coder (and especially not a bare-metal type) nor a hardware guy so perhaps I'm wrong... but I can get KSP to run on my Surface Pro for the lighter-weight rockets anyway, which certainly has less horsepower.

(Here's hoping the console integration will push the Unity guys to supporting multi-core systems better...)

-- Steve

[DMagic]

but I can get KSP to run on my Surface Pro for the lighter-weight rockets anyway, which certainly has less horsepower.

(Here's hoping the console integration will push the Unity guys to supporting multi-core systems better...)

-- Steve

How do you like your Surface Pro? It sounds like they might be getting ready to release the next version (discounts to clear out inventory), and I'm thinking about getting one.

That said, the Surface Pro uses a Core i5, which, even in low power forms, is way more powerful than the Atom/Kabini level of CPU in the Xbox One. Obviously there's no good direct comparison, but laptops with these CPUs have been released and single-threaded performance (and performance in general) is much lower than Intel Core CPUs or Trinities: http://anandtech.com/show/6974/amd-kabini-review/5.

[Anton P. Nym]

I love my Surface Pro, but be advised the normally decent battery life (~6-8hrs web/email/photo-retouching) becomes abysmal (<2hrs) when playing games and it does warm up a bit on KSP.

As for the i5 CPU, yeah, my bad, in my head I was thinking of the Atom-based Surface RTs which are considerably weaker. Still, I"m not ready to say that X1 is too underpowered to run KSP yet.

-- Steve

[Abram730]

I'd say get it working on PC and pitch the idea to MS of a game that almost requires Microsoft surface. It would get you more up front funding as they want to push that. That is you build ships on surface and control them on Xbox.

Also there are some great systems I'd love to see in this game that would be prohibitively expensive to develop, but could be developed as middleware so long as they could be pitched as cloud services. Physics simulations that can be simplified and exported. For example if you did a flow simulation at a few speeds to determine aerodynamics and then simplified that to input vectors of force relative to velocity and atmospheric density. Well that system could be used as a cloud service for other games and thus adds value and that value is funding leverage. Partner up with others to add applications like animated exports of real physics simulations. A client server model for consoles. Could be adapted for pathfinding for large mobs. There are ways to grow with reduced capital risk.

That is spread dev costs of systems across other games and on the $ of others with more $. Publishers are basically umbrellas in a digital age. They want exclusive tools that give all their devs a competitive advantage. Heck you could pitch the game to NASA as a way to build interest in a space program and get some help. It wouldn't be hard to get tens of millions without offering any share in your game.

[jwenting]

Just because you think it is impossible, doesn't mean it couldn't be done. cf. Xcom: Enemy Unknown, Steam Big Picture, etc etc. The flight section of KSP fits perfectly with a controller, and the building section, as someone pointed out above, could quite easily work. The action groups could be assigned to a simple d-pad menu, or a radial, for example.

it needs to be dumbed down to fit the console audience, not the technology per se.

[Anton P. Nym]

it needs to be dumbed down to fit the console audience, not the technology per se.

Giant, colossal myth, left over from the mistaken "NES is for kids" days. PC gamers are no better, in my rather extensive experience, at puzzling out sophisticated games than console gamers. (And they're certainly no better behaved.)

-- Steve

[allmappedout]

it needs to be dumbed down to fit the console audience, not the technology per se.

It really doesn't. Yes, you'll have your whiny children on Call of Duty, but by the same token, you will have whiny children on World of Warcraft.

PC Gamers are more diverse, simply because there are more games out there, but (xcom being a prime example) you can have games that are identical on PC and console without any change in gameplay, except for control mappings. Even things like Assassin's Creed, or Skyrim are happy on both. Yes, one may look better as you get higher spec, but the game itself is the same.

In the same way that my rubbish macbook pro plays KSP on low settings, there's no reason why the game can't scale dependent on system. Moreover, if the X1 does ever get it, it will be in several iterations (at or near 1.0), when optimisation and (potentially) a switch to a multi-threading Unity engine, etc.

[Guest]

my son is the same, might be a generation thing

[Guest]

http://www.discountofficeitems.com/technology/peripherals-memory/gaming/gaming-controllers/catz-ccb473250m02-cyborg-gaming-joystick/p176594.html?ref=pla&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&cid=ad-pla-non-brand+&gclid=CN7k2sq777gCFcZj7Aod-EkA6A

Saw this

[Sapphire]

Seeing as Microsoft seems to really hate indie devs these days, I doubt it. And I don't claim to be a hardware expert (disclaimer: I'm pretty dumb), but aren't console CPUs far weaker than PC ones?

[manskal]

Consoles = no mods

KSP = no mods = no fun

Some equations I came up with. Sorry lads, I don't think KSP is one for the consoles. Why? Because PCMASTERRACEHERPDURP

[Deejay2000]

Consoles = no mods

KSP = no mods = no fun

Some equations I came up with. Sorry lads, I don't think KSP is one for the consoles. Why? Because PCMASTERRACEHERPDURP

Well, with KSP 1.0, no mods might be fun, but mods will still make it better. Personally, I would stick with the PC. Why? Because PCMASTERRACEHERPDURP.

-Deejay