Devnote Tuesdays: The Calm Before the Storm Edition

[SQUAD]

<p><img src="https://31.media.tumblr.com/0ff9377afa68dc3ad3fe6844aaf1bd38/tumblr_inline_ncqms2kRwa1rr2wit.jpg"/></p>

<p><strong>Felipe (HarvesteR)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> Experimentals continue at a solid pace, bugs are being squashed left and right, and things are moving along nicely. I’ve added two new Strategies after the first initial 6, so we now have 4 departments and 8 strategies. The two new strategies are: Aggressive Negotiations - lowers the cost of new missions at the cost of a reputation hit on each ‘discount’, and Recovery Transponder Fitting - Increases launch costs, but also boosts the recovery factor for vessels landed far from KSC. These are offered under the Operations dept, headed by Gus Kerman. </span></p>

<p><span>Other than that, I’ve mostly been working on bugfixing, but added a couple of features as well, and a couple of new stock vessels: The Learstar A1, a shuttle-like vessel that does, well, whatever a shuttle does; and the Stearwing D45, a two-stage, twin-engine spaceplane. I have to say, our flight model may not be the nicest piece of code in the game, but the revised tuning on the new SP parts does make a huge difference. Flying is a whole new level of fun now.</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Alex (aLeXmOrA):</strong> </span><span>Still working on the last test to the KSP Store website changes. That should be done by this week.</span></p>

<p><strong>Mike (Mu):</strong><span> Its been a long week of fixing various bugs and implementing a few last-minute requests.</span></p>

<p><span><strong>Marco (Samssonart):</strong> </span><span>The experimentals phase for 0.25 is going well, and since the amount of bugs and feedback for the really important stuff is starting to run lower I think we’re close, so yeah, 0.25 is not too far away everyone, cheers!</span></p>

<p><strong>Daniel (danRosas)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> After that Kerbal break from last week, I’m back into modeling and texturing. I can happily say that we’re nearing 50% of production, and we’re starting to see results! It’s been an interesting ride, since we’re three artists, with different techniques working on the task at hand, but we’re getting to good places.</span></p>

<p><strong>Jim (Romfarer)</strong><span><strong>:</strong> This week, I have been concentrating on implementing input locks for all of our GUI elements and for that matter everything that can be controlled in the game. The way this work started up was due to a request to make the debug toolbar non-clickthrough. I quickly realized that this is a pretty big task and a few tests revealed that we have overlapping input locks. So when components start to listen to, and using these locks, unforeseen things happen. In the end i had to make a hard decision to stop locking down the debug toolbar awaiting the next release. However, it is a lot less click-through than it was.</span></p>

<p><span>Another side effect of this job was that i needed a reference from the EzGUI UIManager to the InputLockManager. The only way to do this was to move everything EzGUI over to our main library. If you are a modder, this means you don’t have to reference the firstpass library anymore.</span></p>

<p><strong>Max (Maxmaps): </strong><span>Working on the by now traditional update features video. Should be done pretty soon. Also helping organize the media and stream groups for our usual preview vids. Happy to see things wrapping up in experimentals, even if there’s still a bit of work left to get through.</span></p>

<p><strong>Bob (Calisker):</strong><span> While the development team keeps plugging away at 0.25, we’re working on getting the word out on this exciting update. Max revealed the danger Kerbals are now to their space center and we’re working on the finishing touches to what we’ll want to share in terms of details and content for 0.25 before it goes live (Soon™). </span></p>

<p><strong>Ted (Ted):</strong><span> So over the past week we’ve been tidying things up for the Experimentals big push of bug fixing, feature refinement and all around polishing. Things are going really well and we’ve already had some great tuning done of the strategies feature. Not to mention the SP parts getting a fantastic amount of playtesting and feedback to ensure the fit seamlessly into the game. I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve spent a fair while of downtime playing with them and the now not-so-secret feature!</span></p>

<p><span>Overall, the improved experimental team have really being proving their worth with the sheer amount of bug tracker content they’re producing and the meticulousness with which they’re applying themselves to the features in 0.25.</span></p>

<p><strong>Anthony (Rowsdower): </strong><span>I don’t know if you can tell, but things seem to be winding down on the 0.25 development front. Everyone’s got a few less rabbits to pull out of their hats this week. Let me see if I can find a few…oh, yes! How about an onslaught of 0.25 media? Get set for some of your favorite KSP Youtubers to unleash havoc on 0.25 this Saturday, October 4. If that’s not enough, <a href="http://bit.ly/1knMaSg"><strong>KSP-TV</strong></a>’s going to be playing 0.25 live for you all weekend. Make sure to keep up with our programming <a href="http://bit.ly/1oIZcNz"><strong>SCHEDULE</strong></a> as it comes together.</span></p>

<p><span>While we’re at it, I must confess something to you all. As has been the standard with the last few updates, we’ve been thinking of a clever title to attach to 0.25. Problem is, we’re a bit stuck on what to call it. We already came up with several pages of names that we weren’t too thrilled with at the end of the day. We’ve come up with a little type-in <a href="http://svy.mk/YJjz30"><strong>SURVEY</strong></a> to hear your ideas on what nickname we should give to 0.25.</span></p>

<p><span>Before I go, what do you think of <a href="http://i.imgur.com/Yo2Dkgu.png"><strong>THIS PIC</strong></a> submitted by KasperVld?</span></p>

<p><strong>Rogelio (Roger):</strong><span> This week has been hard since we’ve arrived to our first goal in our production calendar. Some models were missing and some textures had to be changed to get to the same art style, but I’m happy with the result we’ve achieved. We’re getting very nice stuff. I’ve also been making some render tests for some new images. I like to light scenes and get to nice render results little by little, but it’s really time consuming. I hope to finish this rendering thing asap. Some models are waiting to be done. </span></p>

[CjStaal]

Is the 64 bit release going to be more stable?

[goldenpeach]

My idea for the nickname: The Hype train update.

Why?

Well, don't tell me you didn't notice all the hype around the 0.25(especially the Secret Feature!)

[dryer_lint]

Nice Devnotes! As for the survey answer, how about...

0.25: The Bomber Update

[Talavar]

I'd go with this name...

update 0.25: Cheese powered space bacon!

Because it's cheesy, and bacon is awesome.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Talavar

[Spuds]

Yay! Dervnert Tudseys!

I know that there isn't much to talk about when experimentals are up and running, but I appreciate you guys telling us about the bugs that you encounter and how you fix them. Keep up the good work guys!

[peachoftree]

You should call it Air traffic control. it combines administration and spaceplanes

[Endersmens]

I have a name suggestion based on .24, however it might fit better with .26.

.25 (or .26): First Contractor

[HafCoJoe]

A good question on .25, will the island runway be destructible too?

[Wanderfound]

I have a name suggestion based on .24, however it might fit better with .26.

.25 (or .26): First Contractor

Nah, I'm still voting for Pigs In Space.

[Mitchz95]

A good question on .25, will the island runway be destructible too?

Yes, it is.

[Andrew Hansen]

That picture by KasperVld is glorious! Nice glowing cockpit lights. I'm really pumped for this update!

For a nickname, here are a few ideas I came up with (in order of favorite to least favorite; the first option is what I submitted for the survey):

• Master Plane
  
• Planes & Plans
  
• Plane Plan
  
• Plane Clever
  
• Stragetic Planes
  
• Klever Kerbals
  

[Runescope]

With the two biggest additions feature-wise being the new spaceplane parts and the blowupable buildings I think it should be called:

KSP 0.25: Plane Destructive

Submitted that in the survey too.

[KasperVld]

Is the 64 bit release going to be more stable?

Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be so: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2hlhjq/heres_hoping_for_better_x64_support_in_025/cku3och

But anything can happen between now/then and release?

[Kerboman]

Michael Bay update! Because explosions!

[Mitchz95]

That picture by KasperVld is glorious! Nice glowing cockpit lights. I'm really pumped for this update!

For a nickname, here are a few ideas I came up with (in order of favorite to least favorite; the first option is what I submitted for the survey):

• Master Plane
  
• Planes & Plans
  
• Plane Plan
  
• Plane Clever
  
• Stragetic Planes
  
• Klever Kerbals
  

I like "Planes and Plans".

[Alshain]

In that pic KasperVld submitted.... what's with the fuel lines going to the docking ports? Are fuel transfers going to be more restricted depending on what separates the tanks?

[kenbobo]

0.25: The Big Bang update

(the buildings go BOOM!)

[KasperVld]

In that pic KasperVld submitted.... what's with the fuel lines going to the docking ports? Are fuel transfers going to be more restricted depending based on what separates the tanks?

They're merely decorative

[Vallius]

For the update name, how about "White Wings and Red Tape".

Based on the KasperVld pic, will cockpit and hitchhiker container windows be lit up from inside.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Vallius

[Alshain]

They're merely decorative

Aww too bad I kinda hoped that might have been part of the new crew transfers too. Pumping fuel through thin air (or rather thin vacuum?) seems kinda silly.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Alshain

[regex]

Gonna be some really nice stuff in this update, although I'm suspicious of these "strategies" if they actually alter parts performance. The ones that were quoted sound pretty cool, though, much more exciting and relevant than exploding buildings.

Of course, I can't wait until 0.26 comes out and you guys can get to working on all the neglected systems lying around here. Keep up the good work so we can get there!

[Wanderfound]

Gonna be some really nice stuff in this update, although I'm suspicious of these "strategies" if they actually alter parts performance. The ones that were quoted sound pretty cool, though, much more exciting and relevant than exploding buildings.

Of course, I can't wait until 0.26 comes out and you guys can get to working on all the neglected systems lying around here. Keep up the good work so we can get there!

Yes yes yes.

UI polishing, scenery improvement, contract expansion, biome completion, etc. Can't come soon enough. "We're delaying the polish so we can build the skeleton" is running out of time.

[magico13]

Glad the click through bug is finally getting some attention, even if it won't be fixed quite yet. I posted a bug report about it within days of the release of 0.24 which never got any attention. I even showed that it didn't happen in 0.23.5 and brought up the unintended consequence of pausing time when the KSC input locks are activated. It's been a very annoying nightmare for modders who do most of their work in the Space Center scene.

If the time stop bug can be fixed in 0.25 I'll be ecstatic. Thanks for all the great work guys

[KasperVld]

Yes yes yes.

UI polishing, scenery improvement, contract expansion, biome completion, etc. Can't come soon enough. "We're delaying the polish so we can build the skeleton" is running out of time.

I'd appreciate it if we could keep the discussion focussed on what is being discussed in the dev notes instead of planting personal development dogmas