Career mode endgame speculation / discussion

[konokono]

Post your thoughts and ideas about endgame content for career mode here.

Personally, I'd like to see a static Kerbol system with a procedurally generated galaxy and interstellar travel for the end-game. I don't have any strong opinions about how to implement or the feasibility of it, but that's what I'd like to see.

Anyone else have thoughts about how to extend the life of career mode once the solar system has been fully explored?

[Hanoj]

I honestly think there should be no endgame. It is a sandbox game.

[SunJumper]

Honestly, I like the idea of procedural asteroids...

[Tw1]

Fully explored should take years. Seen Brotoro's long term laythe mission? And more planets, something more things do, and the fact that you can build anything you can come up with, and I'm not sure it needs an "end game".

Though procedural generation, for either systems is a fairly frequent suggestion.

[Mirimus]

Interesting thread ...

I kind of agree with Hanoj, but it depends how far they go with the game. If they did ever bring in other star systems into the fold and had a whole galaxy conquest to boldly go style thing happening, it would be awesome if the suns grew and imploded over time .. this would obviously not be to a real timescale because .. well obvious reasons.

That way you could have a more open ended endgame that could, if designed with numerous different solar lifespan seeds for the different systems, end differently every time you played it.

That in my opinion would be beyond epic and i think we are a looooong way off ever seeing this come to fruition ... maybe for Kerbal II

[DevoidLight]

I honestly think there should be no endgame. It is a sandbox game.

That's what sandbox mode is for.

[AlamoVampire]

That's what sandbox mode is for.

and career mode turns into sandbox mode once you unlock either A. all the parts YOU normally use or B. the entire tech tree, which sometimes is needed to achieve A. either way, career turns to sandbox, which needs to address the potential for endgame content.

Should also note, that ENDGAME does not need to mean what it sounds like. It COULD mean: Well, now KSP Player, you have finished the tech tree, and gathered all you have desired in terms of information about your home system, lets see what that final frontier beyond your star system has to offer!

just a thought

[Pulstar]

As a goal to have credits rolling and a "the end, thanks for playing" appear (after which you can still fool around)? Sending a ship to another star perhaps? The question is how to handle that from a gameplay perspective, what would the requirements for such a ship be etc. Maybe HarvesteR's old idea of going around the system, recovering "alien" artifacts, studying them and building an FTL device using that knowledge. Have the device require lots of power. Alternatively you could pull a "contact" and have to set up relays around the system to intercepts and decipher all of a signal with the details of such a device. If even hinting at off-screen aliens is too much, you could always say that Kerbal's came to Kerbin from elsewhere and forgot about it (the BSG maneuver).

Still if there is to be an endgame goal other than accumulating prestige for your space program I figure it should:

- be achievable via extensive exploration of the system both on the ground, in the air and in orbit, this is a game about space exploration after all

- have a non-linear open way of achieving it

- require SCIENCE in some way

- require significant effort from the player or at least a practical understanding and usage of concepts like orbital mechanics, rendezvous, landing&return from different bodies, spacecraft design and the resource system. Not on a Scott Manley level of course.

I have to say it is easier to think of endgame content than actual endgame mechanics.

[Person012345]

There will be no "you are winner" screen. There is no "end game". Or at least, this has been the plan from what I've heard. There will always be a limit to content though obviously.

[konokono]

To be clear, I don't mean how career mode should end. I mean what should the content be after youv'e unlocked the whole tech tree and explored most of the solar system?

I just like the idea of having some kind of procedurally generated content in order to keep the feeling of progress and discovery.

[Sirrobert]

That's what sandbox mode is for.

The career mode is a sandbox with some restrictions. It doesn't magicly turn into a liniar story with the addition of science

[Kasuha]

The question is, what is endgame in career? Based on the tech tree, endgame starts when you gained access to all parts. But at that point there's still plenty to explore, usually.

[Papa_Joe]

Interesting question.

I suspect the mod community will have something to say in this arena.

With mods like kerbcity and procedural this and that, I can foresee a complete transformation of the game, as if it was an engine. Imagine the possibilities.

I like the idea of a galaxy, however small. It would be almost endless in it's possibilities.

Even it it was say 1 star system at a time. Science unlocks the next and the next, etc. That would make science continue to have value, and mods to overcome each challange associated with travel at that scale would be easily incorporated into the tech tree.

I can even foresee a "standardized" tech tree agreed upon amongst the community for those that would like be part of such a group, that includes all the mods that desire to participate . I can see that tech tree evolving, even as we see it in the development threads. I can even see mod makers using this "standard" as part of their development basis...

Mod makers could then collaborate with each others projects using a common group and tech tree basis. Mods could get pretty powerful this way. We are already beginning to see this kind of communication as the more popular mods are facing compatibility issues with each other...

Edited November 1, 2013 by Papa_Joe