What was ksp like when it first came out

[kidolvski]

I can remember using canards on decouplers as landing legs when landing on the moon.

[zarakon]

I started in 0.8.5 I think (that's the earliest backup folder I have). There was nowhere to go but orbit or escape, since the Mun didn't get added until several versions later. The atmosphere ended around 35km, but was much thicker. There was no map view, so you had to do math or check your speed on a lookup table to see whether you were even in orbit.

There were a total of only 11 parts in the VAB. For propulsion there were only 3: fuel tank, LV-T30 engine, and RT-10 solid booster. There were NO STRUTS and no fuel lines. Fuel tanks couldn't be placed radially, only solid boosters. Getting to orbit was actually quite hard. I can do it in my sleep in the current version, but I just tried in 0.8.5 and failed miserably.

The terrain looked like ass, and the water was just a hard surface with some kind of pixel shader to make a ripple effect. Up close the water actually looks quite nice!

[phoenix_ca]

SEE? Incomplete game = more challenge = more fun. Clearly.

I think the next version of KSP should remove all engines entirely, so we can only get to space with huge controlled explosions.

[zarakon]

But the engines are what allow the explosions to be controlled...

[phoenix_ca]

NONSENSE! Those aren't real explosions! Real explosions are when you stack a thousand orange tanks and they collapse and explode.

[zarakon]

There were no orange tanks!

[phoenix_ca]

There were no orange tanks!

Heretic! There were always orange tanks! Truth will not dissuade me! Everything is cheating, I say!

*Plods off to play with KSPI and B9.*

[Javster]

I started at 0.19, and even in this time the game has changed: the buildings have become greyer, there are yet more parts, I saw the addition of an extra rover wheel, seat, flags, a better Mun, SCIENCE, and some other stuff.

[SpenSpaceCorp]

All I can say is... I'm glad that launch tower is gone! That was a day worth celebrating!

[SkyRender]

The first version of KSP I played was 0.11, and while the game did undergo some pretty big changes between 0.7.3 and 0.11...

At the same time, the early builds all have a lot in common visually.

[Franklin]

Is it me, or does the water look better in this older version?

[Jon Tash]

Yes, it "looks" better but doesn't "feel" better. It's just a texture/shader and it's hard as a rock.

[HafCoJoe]

I found it pretty neat. It took me a while to figure out how to fly properly, but it was love at first sight.

Here are two pictures from the old VAB.

http://i.imgur.com/FMMhrIW.png

http://i.imgur.com/1Oximx5.png

And here is a picture of a rocket on the old launch pad. Note the noticeable absence of trees.

http://i.imgur.com/gScyqnC.png

I didn't realize just how old those 3 pieces where (all the more reason to add internals now)! I didn't get the game until last summer, but I played in .13 when it was only a demo. Wish I signed up then and didn't have to pay xD. I remember getting an engine called "big betty" or something like that and it didn't fit around the launch tower...

[WhiteWeasel]

Is it me, or does the water look better in this older version?

That water really does look much better, why did they change it?

[softweir]

Trolling, right?

Not trolling, but displaying a keen sense of dry irony. It's funny to those who have black-belt abilities in ironic humour.

In truth, he appreciates and approves of all those advances.

[Jon144]

Well, Parts were smaller... Everything was lower res... Explosions were bigger, less planets.... It really sucked compared to how things are now. But that never impacts the nostalgia

[samstarman5]

That water really does look much better, why did they change it?

So it would actually look more realistic, adding in the transparency of water. IRL, from above, you can actually see pretty deep through seawater on a good day. There have been plans to continue adding more detail to Kerbin, giving it more life. So having flat water that looks like it is only a foot deep or completely filled with silt would not be a step in the right direction.

[sal_vager]

I miss the simplicity of the old versions, thanks for bringing back memories guys, awsomejwags, you've been stickied

[chaos_forge]

oh man . . . I started playing in .8.4, and let me tell you, this game has changed a lot. No struts, no larger parts, no map view, no persitence. The very first thing I did was make a massive pancake of SRBs and see how big I could make it before it started overheating. I think I actually managed to get in orbit a few days later, but since there was no map view i just watched my ship orbit for 45 minutes. I tried to reach escape velocity, but the only could tell would have been leaving the game running for several nights. I left it 8 hours, and then shut it down when I saw that my altitude was still increasing after I woke up the next morning.

[The Destroyer]

Started in 0.13, (0.14 was the current version)

I remember the pink nodes, the old VAB, the old rocket parts. It was

SO

UGLY

But I loved it!

[awsomejwags]

OH MY KERBAL! Thank you for making this sticky I am so proud!

[droxmax]

when i started back at .13 there was no space plane hanger, or the mun, or any other celestial bodies except for the sun. It was basically, strap a crap-ton of ordinance to ur kerbals seat and try to get to space. Oh and there also was no eva or iva

[tygoo7]

Ah, those were the days. I started playing with the 0.13 demo and bought it in 0.16. I do miss the old water though, it was pretty.

[Blue]

I can remember using canards on decouplers as landing legs when landing on the moon.

I must've done this at least 50 times...

[diegzumillo]

The experience of reaching orbit for the first time was absolutely fantastic. It didn't even have map view so we had to calculate the correct velocities for the corresponding altitude (I remember using a table of values someone made). In order to see if I really did achieved orbit I left the game on for hours, staring at an ugly rocket follow an extremely elliptic orbit, until I could recognize some part of the terrain and say "yep! I've seen that before, it truly is orbiting the planet!". Just an awesome feeling...

edit: I don't know which version was that though. It didn't have a mun nor a map view, I remember.

Edited June 12, 2014 by diegzumillo