Devnote Tuesdays: The "Progress is Progressing Progressively" Edition

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Is no one going to comment on "Marco (Samssonart): Other than that I’m improving mouse hit detection for this feature."? I think this will be EVA in IVA.

[Endersmens]

Is no one going to comment on "Marco (Samssonart): Other than that I’m improving mouse hit detection for this feature."? I think this will be EVA in IVA.

I did think that when i read it, but i figured i might be crazy and didn't say anything.

[Brucey]

Like I said, it isn't always going to be chock full of activity, but we're definitely on a better, regular road. I'll tell you that much, though. If it's meatiness you require, step one is listening to Kerbalcast. Step two is seeing what Max and HarvesteR worked on later in the week

I just listened to that podcast. Agreed there's lots of additional information about what's coming in .25, and they talk about it right at the beginning. (I won't spoil it here). I like where ksp is headed. Keep up the good work, guys.

[Superfluous J]

I would spoil it here but I listen to podcasts while driving and can't take notes. But the Admin building is essentially a resource converter and there are a couple other aspects to it that they didn't mention. And yeah, lots of spaceplane parts.

There is apparently a part 2 to the interview that I haven't gotten to yet, and probably won't until much later tonight. I won't have a proper list of that one either

[Mesons]

Awesome, I hope the difficulty panel also has a 'stock' switch so that, even though I have a bunch of mods installed, I can still run a totally stock game without needing a separate install

Further refined, a fine grained approach where we could yes/no mods per save (This one has FAR, this one uses TAC-LS, don't want to use RemoteTech2 for this one etc)would be awesome

I don't think it's possible to agree with this more.

Sounds a lot like KSP Mod Admin to me, which sadly supports only Windows. I'd love a feature like that which was cross-platform, but I think the way mods are loaded would need to be changed around for that to be viable. This also seems like something that could be done readily with another mod...

[Superfluous J]

Sounds a lot like KSP Mod Admin to me, which sadly supports only Windows. I'd love a feature like that which was cross-platform, but I think the way mods are loaded would need to be changed around for that to be viable. This also seems like something that could be done readily with another mod...

KSP Mod Admin is one of the few things I've ever vowed to never touch again. Granted, it was about a year ago but I ended up having to just start over with KSP. Uninstall everything and start from scratch, without the mod.

[acrain116]

Nice bump for Kerbalcast guys. I haven't quite gotten caught up with their current episode, but I love listening to them. Buzz with the experience and Nos with the... umm... "noobishness" make a good combo.

[Mesons]

KSP Mod Admin is one of the few things I've ever vowed to never touch again. Granted, it was about a year ago but I ended up having to just start over with KSP. Uninstall everything and start from scratch, without the mod.

Good to know, all the more reason to encourage somebody (you?!) to make a cross-platform mod that works well with all the features you described.

[NathanKell]

A great read! Definitely looking forward to .25.

On the hit detection, I read it as better hit detection is required for crew transfer (the feature that, y'know, he was working on).

On the difficulty panel: There is literally no way, short of basically forcing KSP to load again (in which case you might as well quit and reload, it'll take the same amount of time and be cleaner), to have a "revert to stock" button in KSP. And even that won't work if the very files in the Squad or NASA folders have been changed.

Well, they could rewrite the plugin loader and asset loader from scratch in order to support such a feature....but that's about what it would take.

The only reasonable way to implement what you ask for is to drastically cut down on KSP's moddability. I for one would rather that not happen.

[Rainbowtrout]

Two info-filled devnotes in a row! Can't wait until the testing beans, the new guys will have some work to do!

[The Destroyer]

Audio podcast that nobody has made notes of?

*grumble grumble*

Fine, I'll play more ETS2 and listen to it!

[blizzy78]

Audio podcast that nobody has made notes of?

Yeah. I'd also like a transcript of the interview, that would be really nice.

[CaptRobau]

This will cause a website outage (KSP Site and Wiki will be affected, maybe KSP Forums too) for at least 10 hours, maybe more.

This needs to be a separate announcement as well.

[Capt Snuggler]

Also I’ve doing a lot of research on video game warehouse design, lighting styles

can you expand on this? what does that mean?

[Daishi]

can you expand on this? what does that mean?

Be neat if it was a stockroom you could purchase set amounts of parts from - unlock what you want in the tech tree, but only buy what you need for a mission. Will really cut down on the part lists in the VAB.

Imagine that though, supply and demand on rocket parts, accessible through the admin building. Rockomax has suddenly discovered a crack in their 2.5m engine bells, and recalls all Mainsails and Skippers. Suddenly your tried and tested designs are shelved until they're back in stock, and you need to make do with LV-1's in the meantime.

Keeps you on your toes design wise, and stops veteran players from getting complacent with their tried and true lifters. Might take the edge off the overpowered Kerbodyne parts too - if they are hardly available and in hot demand on the market.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Daishi

[Ikaneko]

Hypeplane has got early update before it's even left the ground!!!! Forget 737, this baby's an A320!!!

[KerbMav]

<p><strong>Felipe (HarvesteR)</strong>Essentially completed the stuff I was working on last week, which is still not discussable I’m afraid</p>

*gnaw*

<p><strong>Mike (Mu):</strong><span><strong>:</strong> I’ve been implementing the new logging system, FlightLog, for vessels and kerbals. The latter having both a career log and a current flight log. FlightLog paves the way for future improvements to kerbal career prospects, advancement, and gives us better reporting on where things have been and what they’ve been up to. Of course the whole system is moddable, allowing custom events and entries, so mod-makers can use and abuse it as they see fit.</span></p>

Yay!

This was my guess for the Admin-Building, but looks more like something for .26 right now? Or maybe ...

<p><strong>Max (Maxmaps): </strong><span>Had a pretty fun interview with the guys over at <a href="http://kerbalpodcast.libsyn.com/"><strong>KERBALCAST</strong></a>, who everyone should listen to regardless of any Squad presence because they’re hilarious and quite entertaining. You really, really should listen to this week’s episode though. I explained a bit on what the admin building is for. Other than that, I’ve been lending a hand with direction regarding the huge art project Roy and Dan are neck deep into and seeing it progress nicely. With the help of HarvesteR, I also wrote an article you guys will get to read later in the week regarding everything that’s coming in 0.25. The push for getting this baby into QA is real.</span></p>

But the Admin building is essentially a resource converter and there are a couple other aspects to it that they didn't mention.

?!

Type faster, Max!!

I just listened to that podcast. (I won't spoil it here).

Go and make a new post, put a spoiler warning up, give me my KSP chow!

<p><strong>Daniel (danRosas)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> Moving on in the assets modeling list. Right now, we’re in about 10% of the 64 assets on the list. We also planned the full schedule, and it’s extremely tight, but not impossible. It’s been interesting to merge the style and aesthetics of the three artists, in order to give the most inside the Universe of the game. </span></p>

<p><strong>Rogelio (Roger):</strong><p> Still Modeling new assets and experimenting with textures trying to get to a better result for the art style planned between Nick, Dan and me. It’s been hard to unify it because each one of us has a defined art style but we’re getting there and each day is easier to get to the same point.</p>

64 assets ... quick, of what do we have 64?

And still do not know: Who is Nick?

I am not certain that it applies here, but ADA law is setup specifically to try and make those with disabilities have equal opportunity to those without.

Not being a lawyer (the common acronym for this sounds funny btw.), I think it being an US (not Mexican) law and only compelling employers, public entities, accommodation/commercial facilities and telecommunication companies, the letter of the law might not be applicable, but maybe the spirit of the law nonetheless.

Though I too like to read rather than listen/watch new information, as I can do so in my breaks at work.

And: As long as every information finds its way to the forums/articles, I have no quarrel with interviews on third party sites.

can you expand on this? what does that mean?

I think he means "how other games make warehouses" to base his designs on it somehow.

Edited August 27, 2014 by KerbMav

[Superfluous J]

But the Admin building is essentially a resource converter

?!

Sorry. I didn't mean resources like kethane. I meant ... whatever funds, science, and rep are called as a group. Resoursish type things. It's a building to magically turn funds into science, or science into reputation, or whatever. But that's not all it's going to be, and he didn't mention what else it would be.

[Linear]

Its a shame I had to wake my family up as I wanted to listen to this.

Its also a shame I'm deaf, but ksp is more interesting.

[KerbMav]

Sorry. I didn't mean resources like kethane. I meant ... whatever funds, science, and rep are called as a group. Resoursish type things. It's a building to magically turn funds into science, or science into reputation, or whatever. But that's not all it's going to be, and he didn't mention what else it would be.

Only was referring to the other aspects Maxmaps still has to tell us about.

But while we are at it:

Options:

a) using influence to collect external funds (sic!), garnering a reputation for perceived wasteful spending

using influence to gain access to scientific data, reputation drops for perceived inability to do my own research

c) starting a marketing campaign, investing money to up my reputation

d) paying someone money to do research

e) selling scientific data for money

f) going public with scientific discoveries to gain fame

Thoughts:

b+d) As long as I am paying for the data I at least seem to be somewhat competent to lead a space program?

e+f) Am I loosing some kind of exclusive rights or why can I not use the data myself (for the tech tree)?

I know it is a game, but still ...

Brings up the thought if things should be handled differently:

Maybe we should have to sell science in general, science being the reward for doing experiments on missions for which we do not have a contract and contracts no longer giving science, as well as certain goals paying out reputation (like the first Kerbal on the Mun, to be combined with the upcoming flight log).

So we would be getting funds and reputation for doing contracts, science collected during missions would be exclusively sold for funds or publicized for reputation, additional reputation is gathered by achieving certain goals.

The tech tree would be unlocked not with science, but with funds, resolving the old discussion why science from gathering rocks on Duna leads to better engines being constructed.

Conversion for the three currencies would come down to: science -> funds, science -> reputation, funds -> reputation, reputation -> funds.

Players enjoying contracts gather funds and reputation that way, players with their own mind set gather science and exchange it for the other two.

Now, reputation would still need a purpose above making certain contracts available?

[Wjolcz]

-Nevermind this post-

I thought it was to the Mun not Minmus :I

On other note: Good read. I hope we're getting the Mk1-2 pod redesigned. Apart from old Mk3 plane parts this one keeps bugging me.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Veeltch

[Javster]

Forget the other Daily Kerbal articles. Can we just have devnotes all week long?

I don't watch streams or videos usually, and 9/10 mods featured are the ones so essential I've been using them for a while. Fridays (I think) and weekends are the only days with no schedule. I don't know how timezones affect Mexico, but I NEVER see Tuesday's stuff on Tuesday. It's far too close to Wednesday to be considered Tuesday, IMHO.

[OrbitusII]

Be neat if it was a stockroom you could purchase set amounts of parts from - unlock what you want in the tech tree, but only buy what you need for a mission. Will really cut down on the part lists in the VAB.

That would be very nice, I remember seeing the "in stock" number on parts in the VAB and thinking that it would be cool to have to stock up the parts you need. If that's going to be in 0.25 I will be ecstatic.

[seb-eisdrache]

is there a possibilty to build in something like FAR oder Deadly reentry with the difficulty panel in the future?

[Daishi]

That would be very nice, I remember seeing the "in stock" number on parts in the VAB and thinking that it would be cool to have to stock up the parts you need. If that's going to be in 0.25 I will be ecstatic.

It would make part re-usability quite meaningful too. So instead of the outright cost of the recovered parts, you get your limited-edition LV-909 back to refurbish, and don't have to spend money to use it in the next mission (barring a small cost for repair or something).

Doing it this way also puts concious decisions behind the strategy of every launch - if there is a heavy surplus of Mainsails and I'm in the green financially, I can make an investment for the future and buy them in bulk. Thus I can afford to lose my booster stages on a few launches (potentially recovering them as scrap) and save my precious supply of parachutes for the more important recoverables (the trained, expensive crew).

Reusing rare parts would make re-servicable\re-fuelable ships quite attractive too - imagine all the cheap interplanetary contracts you could grab off the other (hypothetical) space agencies if you owned the only set of LV-N's during a manufacturing freeze on Kerbin.

Making a game economy work this way takes away the monotony of hoarding cash (which seems to be a little too easy to do) and introduces some limits as to what you can buy and (for those who love flavor text) why there's a shortage in the first place

Edited August 27, 2014 by Daishi