SQUAD, please don't do this to us.

[OrbitusII]

Seriously, get over Minecraft, there's other ways to make games

And thank God that there are! I can't imagine what it would be like if KSP was developed similar to Minecraft... Squad might not be doing a perfect job, but I'll be darned if they haven't done a phenomenal job up to this point.

[Red Iron Crown]

Take as long as you need with your updates Squad, just make them worth the wait.

[Ted]

Take as long as you need with your updates Squad, just make them worth the wait.

No pressure or anything, aye?

[Red Iron Crown]

No pressure or anything, aye?

Squad shouldn't set the development pace based on concern for your hairline.

[Ted]

Haha definitely not. After all, I'll have the beard to keep me warm if the hair goes.

Back on topic though. If anything, update cycles would ideally become shorter after significant development milestones such as scope completion or '1.0ness' (though we should all keep in mind that each update is a special snowflake and thus the feature-set for it can increase the amount of time that it takes overall.).

[Eric S]

And everyone running a 64-bit system already has that.

Keep up

Alright, it might be unstable and cause problems for some people, but it exists

Unless you're a Mac user, there isn't a 64-bit version of KSP for OSX at this time.

[Starwhip]

I feel as if nobody read this...

But as it is, so much of the game just falls flat. As I'm descending over Eve, half the fun can only come from imagining dense, impenetrable clouds, volatile weather, volcanic activity, and risks to my craft from pressure and heat. God knows I don't build my bases for the text-box "science" we can do, but right now because of the imagined I.S.R.U, colonisation, base-building, life support and such. That's why I live for the updates, because (at least in theory but I bloody hope in practice to at this rate) they each inch me closer to not having to imagine these things. Legally, yadda yadda yadda but the potential it had for these things, stock, is why I bought the game at all.

Pretty much what I meant: I play to the best of my ability and to the limits of imagination, but I have been doing so since I became a good pilot. It is starting to get old, and new features and objectives (Like the contracts in First Contract) are welcome in my book. I don't have to play "by myself" anymore, but instead, there is some kind of storyline for me to follow.

I like instruction. The total freedom of "Sandbox" mode in KSP and Minecraft are wonderful in their own respects, but eventually you will run out of ideas on your own.

And the only thing I was trying to convey was the fact that I would hate for Soon^tm to ever mean 312 days, unless there is a good reason.

And now I feel awkward, as I see that this thread has advanced 1.5 pages since I refreshed...

[Vanamonde]

Isn't it a little early to worry/get angry about things that won't happen for a couple of years, assuming they happen at all?

[OrbitusII]

Isn't it a little early to worry/get angry about things that won't happen for a couple of years, assuming they happen at all?

Yeah. I try not to stress too much about the future. I'd like to work for SpaceX after I finish college, but that's 5 years away and so I'll deal with it as I get closer to that point. It's best to just work on the things that you have to deal with now while keeping your long term goal in mind as you do things. I won't be able to go into an Aerospace career if I change my major to English, heaven forbid.

Edited September 7, 2014 by OrbitusII

[Jon Tash]

Isn't it a little early to worry/get angry about things that won't happen for a couple of years, assuming they happen at all?

Indeed, I like to keep an open mind about the future of KSP, as a long timer player here I keep reminding myself that the development is still not over (and hope that it will never be after the mythic 1.0). Good thing that there is a lot of possibilities with all the mods out there already.

[Relaxynaut]

In its current state KSP is worth every penny I paid for it. It gave me the most fun per dollar Of all games I bought and I bought a lot. So every update feels like a bonus for me, still im curious what the timeline for final product implementation is, 2015?

[Red Iron Crown]

In its current state KSP is worth every penny I paid for it. It gave me the most fun per dollar Of all games I bought and I bought a lot. So every update feels like a bonus for me, still im curious what the timeline for final product implementation is, 2015?

There is no such timeline released to the public. Squad is notoriously reticent about release dates even for the next update, let alone the projected time for 1.0.

[KingPhantom]

Here's an excerpt from the Minecraft Wiki of Version 1.8:

312 days between major updates... I know that Minecraft is post-release now, but still, that's a long time.

When KSP goes 1.0, I'd allow longer and longer update times, given an environment that differs every time I play. But if the game still resembles what it does now at 1.0, 312 days would make me lose interest entirely. I live for the updates, because I finish all I want to finish well before the next edition.

mojang releases weekly snapshots... normaly there are weekly updates. so this span of 312 days isn't "correct"

[Alshain]

Unless you're a Mac user, there isn't a 64-bit version of KSP for OSX at this time.

Or a Windows user, because there isn't a usable 64-bit version for Windows at this time. Oh, and the Linux version won't even launch for me. So yeah, there really isn't 64-bit support at all.

[Sky_walker]

Or a Windows user, because there isn't a usable 64-bit version for Windows at this time. Oh, and the Linux version won't even launch for me. So yeah, there really isn't 64-bit support at all.

Fact that it doesn't work well for you doesn't meant that everyone got issues.

[problemecium]

I have the opposite problem from OP: While getting updates every few months is plenty exciting, I never manage to "finish" my space program in time, and when the whole Career mode gets overhauled as it did in the last few updates I feel a need to start fresh for the full experience. And then by the time the next one came out I hadn't yet finished my giant mothership, gone to Jool, or whatever I had planned. In between 0.22 and 0.23 I didn't even get to finish clearing the Tech Tree.

[Alshain]

Fact that it doesn't work well for you doesn't meant that everyone got issues.

Except enough people do to say it's not working. You have a lucky few that get it to work but a large number can't. It's not just me. bac9, K3, and Tevarius(sp?) won't even support it for the latest B9 because it's so unreliable. I'm certain it will get better in time, but an earlier post claimed (paraphrase) "everyone had it" which without any concrete numbers, I find it unlikely more than 50% of players with qualified machines (including all 3 OS) have gotten it to be reliable.

[Sky_walker]

Except enough people do to say it's not working. You have a lucky few that get it to work but a large number can't. It's not just me. bac9, K3, and Tevarius(sp?) won't even support it for the latest B9 because it's so unreliable. I'm certain it will get better in time, but an earlier post claimed (paraphrase) "everyone had it" which without any concrete numbers, I find it unlikely more than 50% of players with qualified machines (including all 3 OS) have gotten it to be reliable.

Mods=/=community. You&your friends=/=community.

Also note that majority of people who got everything working fine never visit the forum.

So don't try to play number games, it's rather foolish to do that with no concrete numbers to speak of and looking on a case through your personal negative expirience.

[cantab]

I have the opposite problem from OP: While getting updates every few months is plenty exciting, I never manage to "finish" my space program in time, and when the whole Career mode gets overhauled as it did in the last few updates I feel a need to start fresh for the full experience. And then by the time the next one came out I hadn't yet finished my giant mothership, gone to Jool, or whatever I had planned. In between 0.22 and 0.23 I didn't even get to finish clearing the Tech Tree.

I got round this by simply not updating. Still playing .23.5 and proud of it.

[Vanamonde]

Some people experience certain bugs, and other people experience other bugs. There's no need to get into an argument about it, guys.

[Aragosnat]

Can we have bannana?

[NathanKell]

Sky_walker: after rigorous testing (i.e. custom made testing mods) it is *very* evident that the Windows x64 version of KSP does not play nice with exceptions and high memory usage. The people who report it working for them either (a) don't run it with high enough heap and stack usage to trigger the issues, and/or ( don't often get exceptions thrown, which (since the catching either fails or itself crashes) is what causes the CTDs.

This stuff can be (and was) tested; it can be (and I dearly hope will be) fixed.

[nine_iron]

As long as Squad keep pumping out the updates towards 1.0 players of the game in its pre-finished state need to keep attracting new customers.

That as far as I can see is going pretty well, I would assume this is a big part of this game producing model, in lieu of a closed alpha/beta based on investors and alike.

[Clockwork_werewolf]

Squad are doing a very good job and I feel no need to tell them what to do. I do however think it is worth looking at Minecraft as an important learning tool about game development.

Although I can't say I was playing minecraft at the start (who but notch can) I did get into it early at about the 120,000 mark rather than the present 100,000,000 (as of Feb 2014). I got in at the Indev stage about Feb 2010. At this point it was worked on by just notch and had updates very often, sometimes one a day (though mostly bug fixes) and often one a week with proper new features. The game was a bit buggy but it had the feeling of a quickly updating game.

Updates did slow down as time went on even when it was just notch working on it, this is an important point to understand for game development. As a project grows, the code get larger, errors get more common and development time increases (even without trying to squash all the bugs each update).

The obvious thing to do (and necessary past a certain point) is to add more developers, but this doesn't always help as much as you would like. One man on his own doesn't need to talk out how to implement ideas, he knows all of his code (mostly), he does things in a certain way. Each new person added to the team has to learn the old code, they have to talk to the other developers, and make their code work with others. Each new developer helps in development but two developers are not twice as fast as one. This famous and now almost 40 year old book talks about this kind of concept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month.

Mojang Compounded this problem though. While having a team about the size of Squad they decided to start whole new projects (which no one cares about), and start developing for other platforms. I can't fault them on the platform development, it seems to be their biggest money stream and from a financial point was a very good idea BUT it pretty much stalled the PC development. Notch also left development to work on his own game which quickly became vaporware.

There are lessons form this:

A: Add in new developers earlier rather than later. Squad has got this right and seems to be at an optimal number(ish, I trust their judgement) for the project size.

B: Don't start other game projects if it will take time or people from your flagship project. Maybe in 5 years time it would be interesting to see what squad does but I hope they don't star making digital card games with turn based board game mechanics and I don't want them to work on anything until KSP is FAR past its 1.0 completion.

C: Don't take present developers away from developing new content to work on other platform developments. If you feel you need to develop for other platforms then hire new people just for those projects. I don't feel like squad has any plans for develop for other platforms (but I'm not in the team meetings) and unity makes this hard but if they do then please PLEASE hire new people and don't use present staff.