SQUAD, please buy SimpleRockets.

[Whirligig Girl]

SimpleRockets is an immensely popular game among the students of schools in the U.S. who are participating in the program that gives students their own school tablets. These kids love playing it! But there's so many problems with it, and Kerbal Space Program is much better! When I asked these kids about Kerbal Space Program, some even thought that KSP was a "ripoff" of Simple Rockets. KSP is actually linked inside of the SimpleRockets app, but many of them have never actually gone home and bought it.

One student I talked to went home to play KSP for the first time, and they actually thought the LV-N didn't have enough thrust. They tried to put the LV-N on a huge 1.25m diameter rocket, and was puzzled as to why it never lifted off. This is because the largest thrust rocket in SimpleRockets looks like a nuclear thermal rocket. I explained to him that if the combustion chamber of a rocket engine is that big, it's probably a reactor and not a combustion chamber. I've been told the word about this is starting to spread. SimpleRockets is something of great fun, for a mobile device anyway. And many KSP players would surely love a proper KSP to play on a tablet when their PC is unavailable.

So here's my suggestion to you, dear SQUAD. After 1.0 of KSP is released, try to negotiate a purchase of SimpleRockets from Jundroo (Or purchase Jundroo entirely), and make Andrew Garrison, the creator of SimpleRockets, a SQUAD dev dedicated to SimpleKerbals. Think of what would be to gained from everyone's side! SQUAD would get money from purchases of SimpleKerbals, as would Andrew Garrison (Because he'd be paid by SQUAD), the dev resources for the game would increase, the game would get Kerbals (and become more than just a game about rockets), The gameplay would improve, and more kids will be introduced to full KSP! And there's not really much of a downside; you wouldn't need to divert any dev resources because Andrew Garrison would continue to develop it.

http://jundroo.com/project/simplerockets/

What does everyone else think? Would you like to see such things take place? Do you think I'm horridly and unrealistically optimistic? I can't think of a reason why anyone (perhaps other than SQUAD itself) would be against this idea, but I digress.

[Crimson Sunrise]

SQUAD is not a game company, so even if the idea seemed that good, what would a marketing company do with a portable space game in the first place?

Plus I think that SR is more of a casual game than what KSP is.

[Xaiier]

This definitely sounds like a good idea from a business perspective, but I have to wonder if market dominance by one company is a wise course of action. With so few games of this genre out there, combining two of them under the Kerbal mantra might be a bit too limiting. Perhaps a better course of action would be a partnership in which KSP and SimpleRockets both give more attention to the other, and perhaps both make some minor changes for them to fit better together.

[Whirligig Girl]

SQUAD is not a game company, so even if the idea seemed that good, what would a marketing company do with a portable space game in the first place?

Plus I think that SR is more of a casual game than what KSP is.

SQUAD is functionally two companies. The Marketing Division, and the Game Division. I was referring to the Game Division.

And I don't see how differences in casuality is relevant. And I must remind you that there is a RealSolarSystem mod for it. So yeah. Some people take SR seriously.

[briansun1]

I like the idea. I've always wanted a mobile version of KSP.

[Crimson Sunrise]

SQUAD is functionally two companies. The Marketing Division, and the Game Division. I was referring to the Game Division.

And I don't see how differences in casuality is relevant. And I must remind you that there is a RealSolarSystem mod for it. So yeah. Some people take SR seriously.

And that's pretty much your words right there. RealSolarSystems is a MOD and not part of the core game. Therefore, it only represents how a portion of the KSP community who doesn't speak for the entirety of KSP players thinks the game should be and play like.

As for the other point Xaiier made...I don't think anyone of the KSP developers have experience in mobile platform development, so that wouldn't be a fair exchange, IMO.

[Whirligig Girl]

And that's pretty much your words right there. RealSolarSystems is a MOD and not part of the core game. Therefore, it only represents how a portion of the KSP community who doesn't speak for the entirety of KSP players thinks the game should be and play like.

As for the other point Xaiier made...I don't think anyone of the KSP developers have experience in mobile platform development, so that wouldn't be a fair exchange, IMO.

Even stock players take the game uber seriously sometimes. RealSolarSystem users take this to the logical extreme on both ends. Of course, SimpleRockets is more casual by design, but that doesn't really matter.

[Crimson Sunrise]

Even stock players take the game uber seriously sometimes. RealSolarSystem users take this to the logical extreme on both ends. Of course, SimpleRockets is more casual by design, but that doesn't really matter.

I don't think it's fair to turn an exception (RealSolarSystem users and stock players who take the game very seriously) into a rule.

[Whirligig Girl]

I don't think it's fair to turn an exception (RealSolarSystem users and stock players who take the game very seriously) into a rule.

That's not my point. I'm just saying that even though SimpleRockets and Kerbal Space Program have different casual/hardcore levels, that doesn't mean there's no reason to do this because they are different in this respect.

[LaydeeDem]

Simple Rockets is a KSP clone made by someone who liked the game. It's also feature complete and no longer being worked on. Who do you think Squad is? EA?

[sedativechunk]

Ok, so I am a indie developer myself still working on a game for many years now. Squad, they hit it big; KSP is extremely popular, especially for it's niche appeal to the rocket and science community. I have always said KSP is a GREAT tool for education and I think it should absolutely be taught to young children in grade school, especially those who are getting into elementary algebra and geometry. Compared to learning off a boring chalk board, KSP makes thing so interesting. I'm almost 25 now, college educated, I've studied astronomy, math, and some advanced courses on "The Big Bang Universe". KSP has taught me more about orbital mechanics then anything college has!

The bottom line, Squad should be reaching out and targeting even more people. SimpleRockets, personally I feel KSP is vastly superior to this cheap mobile knockoff. With that being said, I think Squad eventually needs to address the mobile gaming market. They are missing out on the phone and tablet experience big time, and as far as I know, there are zero plans to do something on those platforms. As far as school goes, sometimes I think KSP should offer an educational package with tutorials, mods, and a short booklet on KSP for beginners, and offer a mobile app to coincide. I think this game has so much potential to inspire and teach kids about basic math and rocketry. If we ever want to do great things besides the ISS and go to Mars, Jupiter, and beyond, we need people who are enthusiastic about space travel and are interested in becoming tomorrows leaders and interested in building and engineering real rockets.

[Red Iron Crown]

I love SimpleRockets, it gives gameplay very similar to KSP on mobile devices. It's fun, but nowhere near as deep or flexible as KSP. Props to the dev for pointing people to KSP from the app.

Just bought SimplePlanes from the same dev, hoping it is of equal quality.

[r4pt0r]

Squad does not need to "address the mobile gaming market"