Thirteen years.

[Torham234]

I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about hordes of fanboys blindly repeating "it's an alpha" as some kind of shield against any kind of suggestion that doesn't fit into their view of the game. Surely you have seen those all over the Minecraft forums, and I can see some signs of this happening here as well (though not on the same scale.. yet).

This is sounding a little bit generalized. The way I see it there are two types of complaints and two types of answer. One of each is wrong.

Example 1:

Oh no, the new update broke my save! I do not like the tech tree, I do not care about career mode!

- this is clearly a complaint from someone who does not comprehend that the game is in development. Save breaking is a non issue from the devs point, since the game is incomplete and anyone who invests a lot of time building up their save is doing that at their own risk. Also, the tech tree or the career mode are meant to be a CORE part of the game, the fact that they have not been implemented before has no bearing on the future development. The person is not realizing that they are playing an incomplete game.

Example 2:

The new SAS functionality is making it very hard to control your craft with a joystick. Maybe it needs adjusting?

- I would consider this a valid feedback to a new feature that may not work as intended. It is fine to have a dialogue of forums about something like this. If majority of the players decide that they are not using joystick to play KSP and the new SAS is fine, that is also acceptable, because more players like it than not. Devs cannot make everyone happy, they can just try to make most of the players happy.

- Responding to this type of complaint with comments like: "The devs know what they are doing!" or "The game is in Alpha, stop complaining!" is counter productive. The person raising the issue is not complaining as such, merely raising a potential issue with a freshly implemented feature. The devs are not omniscient and cannot possibly test everything in every possible scenario, bugs and quirks in the engine are inevitable.

[AlamoVampire]

Technically, KSP is still in Alpha. Presumably, alpha will end at 1.0. Since KSP has thus far incremented one hundredth of a decimal at a time, and it has been an average of 2 months between updates, when will KSP be completed?

100-22 = 78 updates to go

78 * 2 = 156 months to completion

156/12 = 13 years to completion.

Remind me again why we should consider KSP an early alpha?

Okay.... No.

1. We leave ALPHA when they decide they have added in all the stuff they want and are close enough to consider it nearly finished. at that point we enter BETA.

2. not necessary for SQUAD to go all the way to 1.00 to call us from ALPHA to BETA, NOR is it necessary for them to go .23, .24 and so on.

3. We are in ALPHA because A. Squad SAYS SO, B. we lack MAJOR features that are being added in all the time, so, by that alone, we are STILL in ALPHA.

4. Chill out, enjoy the game.

[dlrk]

If you're selling, its a finished product. Period.

[stupid_chris]

If you're selling, its a finished product. Period.

No it's not. When yo bought it it was clearly said you were buying a non finished product and all the updates until it's complete. you can view the full terms that you were agreeing to upon purchase here.

Notably:

The Software is made available as-is, and may contain bugs and/or manifest undesirable behaviour. Squad does not guarantee any level of stability or performance for the Software, and takes no responsibility in the event of data loss or damage ocurred as a direct or indirect result of using the software. Use at your own risk.

Edited October 23, 2013 by stupid_chris

[Corw]

If you're selling, its a finished product. Period.

You are either trolling or being stupid. I have decided that I'll be nice today so I'll say the former. Feel free to prove me wrong

[Torham234]

If you're selling, its a finished product. Period.

Say that to all the stock market mega companies trading in Futures Contracts

[kiwi1960]

I doubt the game will EVER be "done" because the Universe in infinite, so are the possibilities as far as KSP is concerned.

Consider my dream... DLC's which add new sectors to space.... an entire new solar system to explore, complete with friendly or hostile aliens....

as I said.... its endless. I doubt the game will be "done" at 1.0 or even 100.0

it will never be done.

[Maxander]

I doubt the game will EVER be "done" because the Universe in infinite, so are the possibilities as far as KSP is concerned.

Consider my dream... DLC's which add new sectors to space.... an entire new solar system to explore, complete with friendly or hostile aliens....

as I said.... its endless. I doubt the game will be "done" at 1.0 or even 100.0

it will never be done.

I want this to be true. If it takes 13 years with the content we get in each release then i wont complain as long at they can support themself and the game for 13 years with no further income from old players.

[allmappedout]

I am amazed that this thread got to 4 pages long. This just smelt of post baiting to me; the game is clearly not going to take 13 years to complete, as so many people have pointed out, that's not how software works.

But even if it did, you paid for it, knowing full well that every version could be the last. Squad could stop making the game tomorrow and there's nothing you can do about it. That Terms and Conditions thing that noone reads? It's written so that people who complain about things that they didn't read or can't grasp can't make litigious and fanciful condemnations or complaints, either in a court of law or just on the forums.

KSP will be done when it's done, and not a moment sooner (or later!).

[Umlüx]

and because 0.100 follows on 0.99 the game will never be completed

[Winter Man]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We need a sticky explaining how software version numbers work. Too many threads like this over the years. For the benefit of the OP (and anyone else who doesn't understand), they are not decimals and work as follows: 0.1 is the first alpha release. 0 denoting alpha, 1 denoting first release. 0.1.1 would be the first hotfix update for the first alpha release. 0.1 is not the same as 0.10, as 0.10 is the tenth release, 0.100 being the hundredth, etc. We had this confusion when 0.10 followed 0.9, and to be honest it really does need explaining because it's not a numbering system encountered in everyday life.

[Dunbaratu]

Software version numbers just arbitrarily mean whatever the developers want them to mean. There's no such thing as the international standards body to decide how major a change has to be for it to affect the major version number instead of the minor version number, for example. It's whatever the software company decided to use as its own personal heuristic. Whether a thing is a minor bug fix or a major new feature really is too subjective to pretend there is any such thing as a standard rule for what a version number increment means.

But one thing it FOR SURE does not mean is it is not a percentage of progress toward a goal.

0.22 does not mean 22 % done. It just means "there's been 22 versions so far that we considered major enough to bump the number up.".

Extrapolating how long it will take to finish as if 0.22 meant "22% done" is ridiculous.

[Comrade Jenkens]

If this game keeps getting developed and updated for 13 years, then i'm not complaining

[UbioZur]

Let's take a few example of version history:

Minecraft (since everyone knows it and also was release in alpha and beta) wents from

- alpha 1.2.6 to beta 1.0

- beta 1.8.1 to release 1.0

Starcraft 2 went from 1.5 to 2.0.4

Same goes for the software, including OS (windows 8 didn't go after 7.9, etc...)

Usualy a version number is as follow x.y.z

x: Major update (when they release a milestones in the feature they want in the game)

y: Minor update (bug fix, tweak etc)

z: build number (game breaking bu fix)

but then again every developer name their version number the way they wants.

Back to KSP, to my opinion, it will be able to enter beta once career mode will be full and functional, so all the major confirmed feature will be implemented. Beta will be for tweaking, bug fix and minor features/suggestion.

[Amram]

Technically, KSP is still in Alpha. Presumably, alpha will end at 1.0. Since KSP has thus far incremented one hundredth of a decimal at a time

Correct

Correct

technically False.

KSP has not progressed at one hundredth of a decimal. it has progressed one version at a time. All that indicates is that there have been 22 MAJOR releases, not that there will be 88, 70, or even 40 major releases to go. For all we know KSP will be completely finished by the 30th, I doubt it, but we won't know for certain until that day comes.

You are reading 0.22 as 22%, it is not. 0.xx is incomplete release numbered XX. This is essentially alpha 22. if it were truly decimal, why bother with release versions titled like 0.21.2 when you could simply put 0.212?

Edited October 23, 2013 by Amram

[kiwi1960]

This topic has evolved from how long aka version numbers to when...

the argument now is.... when, if ever.

I say, never. Those that say it will be done when its done are giving a way too simplistic answer, even if their answer implies "never"....

[DevoidLight]

Version numbers aren't decimals.

[LongHairedHuman]

I like how everyone is saying the same thing for 5 pages.

But I have to disagree with OP, the game will never be truly done, as there will always be things to add, change, or take away. Therefore, I suggest we give releases names, such as release Larry, and release Sarah.

I can't wait for release Humphrey.

[AlamoVampire]

Squad has stated, they have a point they are aiming at to call it released, and strip it of ALPHA/BETA monikers. Will it be done then? probably not, but will it be 'released' yup, sorta is now and sorta is not, as we are lacking huge features. point is: enjoy what we have, for we at fates whim, may not see a next version.