Will KSP be 'immortal'?

[mangekyou-sama]

Through the years we've seen games stand the test of time. Some of them are decades old yet they carry with them some sort of distinction, like when someone says Zelda and it always rings a bell. We've seen games like Counter-Strike, DoTA and many more games that have gained significant following for many years - something that has led to new versions/remakes (e.g. CS: Source, CS: GO, DoTA 2). I'm not comparing genres here. KSP is way too different from CS and DoTA. I just want to know your opinion on whether KSP has the 'material' to stay alive for many more years to come. What are the chances that future generations will like the game (and possibly improve it, maybe even remake it! *no offense Squad*) and won't just let it fade into obscurity? I'm very eager to read your thoughts on this one so post away!

Edited August 26, 2014 by mangekyou-sama

[Stargate525]

Nope.

It doesn't have the art style, or the mass appeal, to be anything more than a temporarily fun, niche game. Once development stops, I'm betting the shelf life of the game in popularity will be about five years.

[r4pt0r]

every game has its permanent niche my friend. Even Jazz Jackrabbit has active forums, technically speaking lol

I still boot up Battlefield 1942 occasionally. Sometimes Ill even set up my NES or my SNES for a while.

[Frank_G]

Cartoon style graphics are probably the most timeless of all. The looks of a kerbal wont loose anything over time. And as the game appeals to creativity of the user... i bet we will see this game for more than a few years. And after 1.0... well there is place for DLCs en masse. Interstellar capabilities for example... and the planned and upcoming multiplayer functionality will push the game even further.

[Scotius]

Nope.

It doesn't have the art style, or the mass appeal, to be anything more than a temporarily fun, niche game. Once development stops, I'm betting the shelf life of the game in popularity will be about five years.

Look at the "Orbiter" - still alive and kicking, with many dedicated fans. Simply because there is not many other games in this genre. Same with KSP - there is no better (or even comparable) game that lets you explore entire star system with hand-built rockets. I predict KSP going strong for years - until someone creates something bigger and better. It's a sad state of affairs for all space exploration fans - but it's the way cookie crumbles

[DocMoriarty]

Being in best games ever lists KSP will certainly not vanish. Best case remade. Even Elite (Elite: Dangerous) is remade these days, finally after 18 years.

[WWEdeadman]

Definitely. Minecraft has been around for years now, and people are still crazy about it, so why notthe same for KSP? With the endless possibilities mods add to KSP I have no doubt we'll still be playing it years from now. In fact maybe years after squad has stopped development.

[Jesrad]

I've been playing UnrealTournament (1998), Marathon trilogy (through Aleph One) and the entire Myst series as recently as few months ago.

Your growing-up, character-defining experiences will always live on through you, so you can fully expect KSP to be around until the last one of us finally dies of old age in the early 22nd century (unless aging gets defeated before that).

[mythic_fci]

If KSP evolves well enough, sure!

[Volcanix]

Definitely. Minecraft has been around for years now, and people are still crazy about it, so why notthe same for KSP? With the endless possibilities mods add to KSP I have no doubt we'll still be playing it years from now. In fact maybe years after squad has stopped development.

Exactly this.

Currently (for me) KSP is the best in his genre, and AFAIK it's the only one that offers that much possibilities. With a lot of mods and an active community like this KSP will be played for years. The important thing for SQUAD is to improve the graphics to match with better computers and make more content for it, not forgetting that it's important to make cinematics to get people to buy the game.

[Red Iron Crown]

I still play Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri occasionally even though it's almost 15 years old now, IMO it has yet to be surpassed in turn-based 4x strategy games by anything since (except graphically, of course). I fully expect to still be blowing up rockets in KSP in the 2020s. I've been hoarding install zips and mods in case they ever stop being hosted.

[Renegrade]

Being in best games ever lists KSP will certainly not vanish. Best case remade. Even Elite (Elite: Dangerous) is remade these days, finally after 18 years.

It wasn't been 18 years since Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III). That was just recently, in '95.

Oh crap. '95 was like.. 19 years ago. /feels_old. dammit.

That reminds me how Frontier: Elite II basically uses the SOI system... My very first (aside from Spacewars) orbital experience

[timsfitz]

Well I guess if Unity keeps getting updated than fans will continue updating KSP when Squad eventually moves on. The community will shrink over the next 5 years for sure, but the game will probably survive a long time.

[r4pt0r]

assuming the pre-access thing isnt actually a curse, the user base should grow when V1.0 releases.

Normally launch dates are when sales begin though, so having early-access kinda takes away from that. Even going to v1.0 will be "just another update" so theres really nothing to hype or publicize that they wouldnt have done already with the previous updates.

Thats one big issue with early access. you saturate the market long before the game is done, and by the time it is, everyone who was interested already has it, and everyone who doesnt have it is tired of having heard of it for the past ___ years.

[TythosEternal]

Between the extensive sandbox nature of the game, it's educational nature, and whimsical character and art style, I think KSP is going to be around for years. It's already in a place where Sqiad's role is an implementer of official content; if (say) they dropped off the face of the earth, the player and mod communities would still be going just as strong. We might have to relocate the forum, but that's about it.

[Mister Spock]

Cartoon graphics can actually enhance the life of a game. First, they can make the game accessible to a wider variety of computers, not just people with top-of-the-line machines. Second, cartoons avoid uncanny-valley problems: it's a cartoon, and the user understands it's not supposed to be realistic. Witness World of Warcraft: that game runs on almost any computer, and the cartoony graphics mostly avoid the uncanny violation.

Plus, as others have said, KSP has compelling gameplay for a certain type of gamer, and it's very moddable. It won't ever be a mass-market AAA title like Call of Duty, but it will have an audience for much more than five years, in my view.

[95tiger59]

good games are remembered so time after their time. Unique games are remembered for eternity

[Sirrobert]

I expect that, 20 years from now, you'll be able to find this game in the GoG equivilant off the time yes

[problemecium]

It isn't immortal yet. If development stopped now, I agree that it'd be all but forgotten in a few years.

But if the community continues to grow and KSP continues to gather more attention, it could easily become a game capable of being immortal.

[sedativechunk]

+1 on the Minecraft discussion. That game is alive and well despite getting near half a decade old now. I think I bought that game around 2010. I prefer KSP over that game but it is still a blast.

I think KSP will life for a very long time as long as SQUAD keeps it alive and it has this very strong forum and fanbase. No other game like it exist and I don't think anything will come close to it. It has public support from NASA and it is something I feel we need in today's world. Nothing against Minecraft, but kids should be inspired to get into science and engineering. Where Minecraft is more of an artistic time killer, KSP has a bit more of a purpose. It teaches real concepts behind physics and has more of a sense of accomplishment when you land a kerbal on another planet or moon.

One of you did mention it would be nice to have another KSP or a game like it that is more stable/better graphics from a bigger studio. That would be awesome, although somehow the "kerbals" are what make the game interesting. These little green men you get to fly from planet to planet.

[NFUN]

Cartoon graphics can actually enhance the life of a game. First, they can make the game accessible to a wider variety of computers, not just people with top-of-the-line machines. Second, cartoons avoid uncanny-valley problems: it's a cartoon, and the user understands it's not supposed to be realistic. Witness World of Warcraft: that game runs on almost any computer, and the cartoony graphics mostly avoid the uncanny violation.

Plus, as others have said, KSP has compelling gameplay for a certain type of gamer, and it's very moddable. It won't ever be a mass-market AAA title like Call of Duty, but it will have an audience for much more than five years, in my view.

Don't forget that they won't look cheesy in a decade's time (probably more at this point though, Law of Diminishing Returns and all) where games that try to look realistic fall off.

[Stargate525]

You can't compare minecraft to this game. MC has an active, massive video community, and is in constant development. It doesn't sound like that's the model KSP is going with. So once they hit 1.0, development on the main title stops.

Very few games are actually immortal, and almost all of the ones that come close are franchises backed by major developers. Let's dump the rose-tinted goggles here; unless Squad gets major popularity and a decent game track record, the best this game will have is a cult following.

[undercoveryankee]

Immortality for a game isn't found in continued releases by the developer. As far as I'm concerned, immortality means having a community that will still find ways to play the game even if the last update is 15 or 20 years old. People were finding ways to play X-COM and making fan remakes for that long, even though the official sequels for most of that time were nowhere near as popular.

20 years from now, the space sim community may not be playing "Kerbal Space Program," but they will find that they can't talk about the history of their genre without mentioning KSP. That's immortality.

[Dat_Spacewaffle]

if it happened to Transport Tycoon Deluxe (openTTD), there's no sense in thinking a few highly dedicated fans would create an OpenKSP in the future, but that depends on the developers not renewing the licence to the game after 10-15 years.

[r_rolo1]

TBH I woul prefer that KSP would not become immortal, simply because it would mean that the game had no sequels or no sequels of worth bigger than the original. Don't get me wrong, I like KSP, but the game, due to it's indie-ish start, is tied to a game engine that limits it greatly ( and we can even say that a pretty decent part of the Unity engine evolution in the last years was forced by KSP needs ). I would definitely love to see a KSP in a game engine that is more suited for it, but that will not happen in this version of KSP ...

Edited August 25, 2014 by r_rolo1