KSP committed to multiplayer career and sandbox modes

[chaos_forge]

They already have.

Source? (for the skeptically-minded)

[Whirligig Girl]

I really hope this is fake. I wanted it to be a surprise. My Christmas is ruined.

[FlamedSteak]

I really hope they don't do multiplayer unless they have proven market rresearch it's going to directly translate to sales which will allow them to add other stuff.

I'd hate to see other features cut so 12 year olds can ram solid boosters with a probe core on top into other players space stations.

[Lazro]

I really hope they don't do multiplayer unless they have proven market rresearch it's going to directly translate to sales which will allow them to add other stuff.

I'd hate to see other features cut so 12 year olds can ram solid boosters with a probe core on top into other players space stations.

If a 12-year old has the patience or skills to accurately rendezvous with a space station, aim the srb accurately at it, and manage to hit it, I would be very, very surprised.

[CalculusWarrior]

Aye. For the longest time it was generally accepted that multiplayer would be so damn difficult to figure out that it was simply not on the table. There's no shame in recognising now that it is in fact possible (albeit with some interesting caveats) and following suit or possibly even getting the plugin developer on board to help out with things. The world is built on ideas, both stolen and shared. If everyone hoards their ideas and prevents others from using them, nothing gets anywhere.

Indeed. I believe it took the guy who built the multiplayer mod something like five or six months to figure it out, and he extended it from a preexisting mod, Kerbal LiveFeed. If the devs had just decided to build multiplayer from scratch we might have had to put up with no updates for several months while they figured it out. It likely wasn't thought to be a good use of their time.

[FlamedSteak]

If a 12-year old has the patience or skills to accurately rendezvous with a space station, aim the srb accurately at it, and manage to hit it, I would be very, very surprised.

I wouldn't, 12 year olds can go to extraordinary lengths to act like jerks.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Scumbag Steve. His five-day mission: to build ridiculously overpowered rockets, seek out serious players with meticulously maintained space stations, ram a well aimed SRB right into it's core and then call him a giant homo."

Edited December 13, 2013 by FlamedSteak

[Firov]

I wouldn't, 12 year olds can go to extraordinary lengths to act like jerks.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Scumbag Steve. His five-day mission: to build ridiculously overpowered rockets, seek out serious players with meticulously maintained space stations, ram a well aimed SRB right into it's core and scream profanities at him."

I seriously doubt that is going to be a problem. I don't think KSP is going to turn into an MMO, instead, I suspect, much like the KSP Multiplayer mod, it's mostly going to consist of private servers where you join in with your friends.

So if you are attacked by 12 year olds with guided SRBs, then it's going to be because you made a conscious decision to join a suspect server.

[regex]

I wouldn't, 12 year olds can go to extraordinary lengths to act like jerks.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Scumbag Steve. His five-day mission: to build ridiculously overpowered rockets, seek out serious players with meticulously maintained space stations, ram a well aimed SRB right into it's core and then call him a giant homo."

I'll be playing the part of Scumbag Steve (sans homophobic language, no reason for that) if people are stupid enough willing to open public servers. A little "PvP" never hurt anyone.

[Jr6150x]

If a 12-year old has the patience or skills to accurately rendezvous with a space station, aim the srb accurately at it, and manage to hit it, I would be very, very surprised.

Course, Not like I've EVER Rendezvoused.

Some "12 year olds" DO have the skill and Patience to learn rocket science. Trust me, if it's your dream, you can achieve it.

Of course, it might not be the best, but its PRETTY good considering I built it when I was 11.

Note the off center RCS Ports. That took hours to line up because of my mistake. But it still did it. Patience is not only for the more "Mature"

Not trying to be mean or anything, just wanted to let you guys know there are people out there who can take the time to learn if they set their mind to it.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Jr6150x

[Jean Deaux]

Wait, what? I thought "multi-player" was a banned topic in the forums?

[jwenting]

I wouldn't, 12 year olds can go to extraordinary lengths to act like jerks.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Scumbag Steve. His five-day mission: to build ridiculously overpowered rockets, seek out serious players with meticulously maintained space stations, ram a well aimed SRB right into it's core and then call him a giant homo."

which is why multiplayer will be a disaster. If it's forced (aka turning KSP into an mmo) that's the end of it for me. The vast majority of threads screaming for it that I see seem to include the same people who want weapons, warfare, and stuff like that as well.

Which is telling...

[chaos_forge]

Before this devolves into a massive argument, do we have an actual confirmation from Squad (not a third-party source) that multiplayer will be supported?

[LethalDose]

Wait, what? I thought "multi-player" was a banned topic in the forums?

I think *asking* for multiplayer is frowned upon, and on the do-not-request list. The reason many of those topics are on the list is that posters would endlessly whine and request it, so its easier to shut them down early.

[Whackjob]

I would crash whole servers by simply putting one of my rockets on the pad.

[vexx32]

Well, it was... until it was a) proven possible via KMP mod, and announced to be a future goal... so, yeah.

[LethalDose]

I wouldn't, 12 year olds can go to extraordinary lengths to act like jerks.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of Scumbag Steve. His five-day mission: to build ridiculously overpowered rockets, seek out serious players with meticulously maintained space stations, ram a well aimed SRB right into it's core and then call him a giant homo."

I'll be playing the part of Scumbag Steve (sans homophobic language, no reason for that) if people are stupid enough willing to open public servers. A little "PvP" never hurt anyone.

FlamedSteak was pretty clearly describing griefing behavior, which isn't appropriate and it's pretty difficult to justify, even on public servers.

It's even more inappropriate in a creative/constructive game like KSP.

[Sandworm]

Forget about the grieffers. Be more afraid of the "serious" players flying 400+ part leviathans. Each will be surrounded in a 4km-wide sphere o' lag. Enough of these would create a Kessler-type situation where only those with twin-titan cards will be able to operate anywhere near kerbin.

[Jr6150x]

Personally, I see this announcement as a "get it out!" type of thing, meaning its basically saying this might happen. I also think they are referring to Multiplayer as small 4-5 player servers for friends, which would lessen the chance of all that badness happening.

[regex]

FlamedSteak was pretty clearly describing griefing behavior, which isn't appropriate and it's pretty difficult to justify, even on public servers.

It's even more inappropriate in a creative/constructive game like KSP.

I think it's hilarious that people get so bunched about that sort of thing.

[NovaSilisko]

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how it could be pulled off in a way that works smoothly, efficiently, and reliably. Given the tremendous mountain of code that already exists, going back down and sticking stuff back underneath it probably would go as well as playing jenga with mittens... KMP sort of accomplishes it but it's forced to tack stuff up on top, and is not without its issues as a result.

The way I remember hearing it way back (before I was on the team, even, people have been asking for this forever ) when was if multiplayer were ever to be considered, it would definitely have to be for a new game, designed from the beginning to support multiplayer, otherwise it would take so much effort to do properly that it wouldn't be worth doing.

We'll see how it goes, though. Would be great to see this happen... especially if there's an in-ship or mission control mode (one player in IVA, one player on map view with ship telemetry). And here's hoping the idea doesn't simply recede back into the ether after a while.

Regarding all the possibilities of griefing and what not... presumably there would be some means to host a private server just to play with friends, and some means of administrating a server - and thus, the ability to avoid or kick griefers. I don't see it being an issue. A debris cleanup tool for use by admins would be an excellent feature as well, if the game's getting too cluttered.

[regex]

Regarding all the possibilities of griefing and what not... presumably there would be some means to host a private server just to play with friends, and some means of administrating a server - and thus, the ability to avoid or kick griefers. I don't see it being an issue. A debris cleanup tool for use by admins would be an excellent feature as well, if the game's getting too cluttered.

Those features are pretty much mandatory.

[Katve]

Could devs promise that there will never be multiplayer-only features? I have nothing against multiplayer, but I prefer single player and I would like to have same features in it.

[Madrias]

I see nothing wrong with a little PvP, but there needs to be servers set dedicated for PvP and servers for those who want to be constructive if they do multiplayer. That way you don't have to worry about the SSTO loaded with sepratron missiles tearing your station apart, or the jerk with the SRB mounted on a probe core.

Anyway, if I were to grief, I'd do it with a bit of a personal art. Probe Cored Kessler Bombs. And I'd only ever cast 'em up on PvP set servers. Otherwise, any damage is accidental, and let's face it, KSP is full of accidents.

The thing that has me worried about multiplayer is this: what does the game do if 2 people launch a ship at the same time. Not the clean scenario of an SSTO on the runway and a rocket on the pad, but 2 Spaceplanes, or 2 rockets at the same time.

[Garek]

The thing that has me worried about multiplayer is this: what does the game do if 2 people launch a ship at the same time. Not the clean scenario of an SSTO on the runway and a rocket on the pad, but 2 Spaceplanes, or 2 rockets at the same time.

I think it would be awesome if every player got there own KSC. Assignment would be an issue, but is solvable. The bigger problem is, that a planet with only a crowd of KSCs is even more absurd than a planet with nothing but the KSC.

[Hyomoto]

We'll see how it goes, though. Would be great to see this happen... especially if there's an in-ship or mission control mode (one player in IVA, one player on map view with ship telemetry). And here's hoping the idea doesn't simply recede back into the ether after a while.

You made me glad I stuck through and read all five pages. Thank you for some serious discussion. I'd really like to dig in but I'm honestly shocked at how much credit KMP is being given (and Squad how little). Yes, it proves that it can be done ... with stipulations. And that, to me, is a card in Squad's hat. It shows just how much doesn't work in the current model. KSP is, at it's core, a single-player game. That is the vision it was built with, or at least the technology it was built with. And while everyone has thought about docking ships with their friends, without a persistent, concurrent universe, its little more than novelty (not to insult the hard work that has gone into KMP).

This sort of demonstrates the strength and weakness of alpha involvement. The division between what players think the game ought to be. We're not all unanimous on this, and frankly I think KMP is better suited as a mod (seems to be doing fine as is). Something being taken for granted is what Squad wants to do. Yeah, you invested in their product but it's still a creative effort and if it is not a feature they are interested in, what's with the righteous indignation? "SEE SQUAD, WE CAN HAZ MULTIPLAYER" Why not just distill what KMP is? Instanced situations where players can interact with one another in peer-to-peer networks, using a middleman to help find ships nearby; a byproduct of Squad knowing players will want things they may not provide, and opening their game up to modding very early. They could have obfuscated everything and released part pack DLC's. So ease up. At the end of the day, ANY of this exists because they made this game. No mod deserves more credit than the base product.