Thirteen years.

[dlrk]

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?

[blizzy78]

Ehm, there is no reason to go all up 0.99, then make it 1.0. That's not how version numbers work.

[JebidiahsBigSister]

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

Probably because no one would be silly enough to assume that one couldn't go from version .2x to .9x in one single leap. It;s not a law you know.

How's that for a reason?

[TelluriumCrystal]

I dunno... I'll actually be kinda sad when KSP is finally finished. For some reason a game that gets updated every several months is extremely appealing to me (even if it is extremely buggy sometimes).

[blizzy78]

There's no reason to stop when 1.0 is released. Also, there are always the mods.

[dlrk]

Thus far, KSP has incremented .01 at a time. I don't see why that will change.

Thrfoot, I like games that get updated as much as you. I don't like the word "alpha" being used to say "No complaining!" (about the memory management, tech tree, etc)

[Rockhem]

Thus far, KSP has incremented .01 at a time. I don't see why that will change.

Thrfoot, I like games that get updated as much as you. I don't like the word "alpha" being used to say "No complaining!" (about the memory management, tech tree, etc)

It will probably increment by .1 until the devs decide it is finished, then they will hike it up to 1.0. Like how in 0.21 they didn't have to do 0.21.1, 0.21.2,0.21.3..... they just went for 0.21.2 (i think) straight to 0.22.

[JebidiahsBigSister]

Thus far, KSP has incremented .01 at a time. I don't see why that will change.

Seriously, dirk ?????? So when Microsoft Windows went from version 3.1 to 95 then you figure there must have been 91.9 previous versions in between ??

Thrfoot, I like games that get updated as much as you. I don't like the word "alpha" being used to say "No complaining!" (about the memory management, tech tree, etc)

Perhaps you didn't understand what an alpha release meant prior to purchasing the game? It means that you are a tester. It means that you and I actually paid money to be testers of this game (which I not only find to be an amazing business model but, in this case at least, a really fun and enjoyable opportunity) to make it better for the other players down the road. What we get in return is hours( errr... days??? months ???) of enjoyment as well as plenty of bugs and changes.

It's understandable that you would be disappointed if you didn't actually understand what an 'alpha' release was but that's hardly the developer's fault as it was clearly stated.

Edited October 23, 2013 by JebidiahsBigSister

[Dangerous_Beans]

Thus far, KSP has incremented .01 at a time. I don't see why that will change.

my kitten has doubled in size every year (for the past year). i don't see why that will change.

so in 5 years he will weigh ~300kgs! we'll have to rename him Clifford!

@JebidiahsBigSister, i think it's more that we have paid for a license and get access to the current development version, rather than paid to be testers. i have played a lot of KSP, i haven't done any testing.

[NeMeSiS]

Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/605/

[dlrk]

In all honesty, I understand alpha in this context to mean "We want to make money, but hate accountability"

[JebidiahsBigSister]

i have played a lot of KSP, i haven't done any testing.

@Dangerous_Bean - Did you uncheck the option in your game that sends anonymous info to Squad? No? Then you've done testing. Also any of your sixty-some some posts that described something that went wrong with your game or something that you liked - contributed to the testing effort.

@dirk - your "understanding" is the actual problem , not squad's efforts or marketing. Good luck to you anyways though.

Edited October 23, 2013 by JebidiahsBigSister

[Dangerous_Beans]

@Dangerous_Bean - Did you uncheck the option in your game that sends anonymous info to Squad? No? Then you've done testing. Also any of your sixty-some some posts that described something that went wrong with your game or something that you liked - contributed to the testing effort.

compared to the actual software testing i have done at work, i have done nothing. plus i was under no obligation to send or tell them anything.

so while our feedback is probably useful, calling us testers is a stretch.

[Merinsan]

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?

You clearly have no understanding of software development.

The minor version number increases until you want to make a major version number change. There is nothing saying it must go to 0.99, in fact if squad wanted to, they could go past 0.99, to say 0.100.

A product I work on is currently on version 5.1.237.53, so what does that mean?

Also if this game is in development for 13 years and we get an update every 2 months, I'm going to be pretty happy with that. New content for 13 years continuously after spending about $20 is a good deal as far as I am concerned. But there is no way Squad wants to be working on the game for 13 years, they can't keep making money on it for that long, unless they found a completely untapped market say on another planet.

Squad wants to get this game into full release so they can bump up the price and make a decent amount of money on it. At the moment they don't make a lot of money because they are using the money for development. Once they release it, it's full on profit, and they can develop other games which can bring in more money for them.

[FlamedSteak]

Just because the version is 0.22 doesn't mean it's 22% complete.

I'd probably say, if they keep going the way they have been, 0.3-0.4 will be the end of alpha.

I'd also expect the beta to run for a very short time, since the community has been doing round the clock testing on the alpha version(s)

[Ernest3.14]

http://semver.org/

You're welcome.

[spikeyhat09]

i know its been beaten into the ground by my predecessors here, but i can't help myself

its not version 0.22 as in its 22% of the way to 1.0, its 0.22 as in there have been 22 major alpha builds of the game. it could just straight from 0.25.0 to 1.0, or 0.35.0. basically whenever the devs decide its a full title.

like minecraft. it went from beta 1.9 to 1.0 full release. its not a decimal, its a notation.

[SaturnV]

If ksp is still on alpha, we will get 0.100 and 0.101 instead of 1.0 after 0.99; But if dev feels good, we‘ll get 1.0 after 0.23

[Dodecadevin]

This thread is a joke, right?

...right?

[stupid_chris]

If ksp is still on alpha, we will get 0.100 and 0.101 instead of 1.0 after 0.99; But if dev feels good, we‘ll get 1.0 after 0.23

I agree with the first part, but 1.0 after .23? I think you're being overly optimist there, the game is far from being anything you could call finished. I wouldn't expect 1.0 before ~0.34

[Bacterius]

Thrfoot, I like games that get updated as much as you. I don't like the word "alpha" being used to say "No complaining!" (about the memory management, tech tree, etc)

This is however true, and I see it all too often.

[Kialar]

/witchcraft mode on - so don't take it to serious. IT project management is not an exact thing.

Let us assume a development cycle of 8 to 12 Weeks. After this cycle, a clever config manager does a baseline and increases the version number, like from 0.21 to 0.22.

Given the feature list, the amount of "content" in the last 2 releases and the increasing development performance in the last 4 releases, I will be courageous and predict at least 6 more release cycles in a best case scenario and 9 release cycles including hard to accomplish technical stuff (e.g. Unity issues).

Taking 9 cycles, 12 weeks each we will touch down in roughly 2 years from now on. If we take in account even more increasing performance and the very broad and good testing base, I think we will see KSP 1.0 mid 2015.

/witchcraft mode off.

[stupid_chris]

This is however true, and I see it all too often.

That's because you guys don't understand what "an alpha game" means. It literally means that this game is not complete, in development, contains an unknown amount of bugs, and may crash. Because it's not complete. Alpha stage consists of adding features to a game and bringing it closer to a complete state. Once you have nearly all the features added in, you switch to beta state, and that's where you start doing some heavy bugfixing, optimization, and give the final touches to the game.

Saying KSP is in alpha isn't an excuse, it's a statement.

[Bacterius]

That's because you guys don't understand what "an alpha game" means. It literally means that this game is not complete, in development, contains an unknown amount of bugs, and may crash. Because it's not complete. Alpha stage consists of adding features to a game and bringing it closer to a complete state. Once you have nearly all the features added in, you switch to beta state, and that's where you start doing some heavy bugfixing, optimization, and give the final touches to the game.

Saying KSP is in alpha isn't an excuse, it's a statement.

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).

[stupid_chris]

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. 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).

As a shield to suggestions? I haven't seen that being pulled to someone suggesting a new feature. But I have seen people mention it to people complaining about low performance.

I have never dared the Minecraft forums to be honest. I just content to play the game and disregard that place.