Do you feel KSP is ready for 1.0?

[hoojiwana]

Very simple, yes or no.

Beyond Beta feature list and 1.0 announcement

Because of this, the next update will be our 1.0 release, and with it we will be leaving Early Access. This is a landmark moment for us at Squad, as after over four years of development, we feel that KSP is finally ready to be viewed by all as a complete game. However, this is not the end by any means.

What does 1.0 mean for everyone then? Most noticeably, it means KSP will be leaving the Early Access program. And while this does mean we are ready to call KSP a complete game after the next release, it does not mean development itself is complete. Far from it, in fact.

We see no better way to follow up on reaching our initial goals than to continue development on Kerbal Space Program, beyond Beta, past our original plans. This means that after 1.0 is out, we will continue on with free updates 1.1, 1.2, and so on.

Updates:

Edited January 24, 2015 by hoojiwana

[AbhChallenger]

I strongly disagree with the decision to leave early access with version 1. Long story short it means that these brand new features that are only tested internally will be fair game for reviewers to tear apart if they don't work right.

Worse than that it means the game is going 1.0 with Unity 4. Unity 5 sure is taking it's sweet time but it's benefits are absolutely worth it for KSP.

Before people start saying "KSP is ready!" I invite you to go look at reviews of other games. A reviewer is NOT going to give the game the benefit of the doubt.

[montyben101]

I have to agree with you about the reviewers... they are harsh...

[Norpo]

Have to agree that it's not ready for full release, but they've already announced it, no turning back now.

[montyben101]

Have to agree that it's not ready for full release, but they've already announced it, no turning back now.

Well then.. the reviews could be interesting...

[GigaG]

Does "no early access" mean that we have to pay for at 1.0 to continue getting updates past 0.90?

[Nitrous Oxide]

Oh boy, bring it on. I can't wait to give this game a nice objective review with this monstrous Steam library of mine and a respectable 500+ hour play count... this is my time. Come on Squad, are you really ready for 1.0? You might want to think real hard on that one. It always makes me smile when someone tells me they bought a game because of my review... let's just hope I'm actually giving you guys a thumbs up, eh?

You thought the forum community was harsh... you don't know the Steam forums then. This game's 96% recommended rating is pretty tenuous if you ask me. Most people I know with KSP in their libraries have already given up on it after 1 or 2 hours.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Nitrous Oxide

[Norpo]

Does "no early access" mean that we have to pay for at 1.0 to continue getting updates past 0.90?

Nope, the post said that there will be more free updates.

"What does 1.0 mean for everyone then? Most noticeably, it means KSP will be leaving the Early Access program. And while this does mean we are ready to call KSP a complete game after the next release, itdoes not mean development itself is complete. Far from it, in fact.

We see no better way to follow up on reaching our initial goals than to continue development on Kerbal Space Program, beyond Beta, past our original plans. This means that after 1.0 is out, we will continue on with free updates 1.1, 1.2, and so on."

[GigaG]

Oh. Then what exactly does leaving Early Access mean? Does that mean that it will get more expensive for new users a la Minecraft going from Alpha to Beta to release?

[hoojiwana]

This post is now redundant!

Edited January 24, 2015 by hoojiwana

[Nitrous Oxide]

Worse than that it means the game is going 1.0 with Unity 4.

HAHAHA

This is a joke, right? Isn't it a little early for April Fools?

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Absolutely not, no game should still be this horribly optimized and buggy for it's final version.

[montyben101]

No, not at all. I thought before that they would fill the game with planets, more parts, a version of KAC, robot arms, shuttle engines, intereactive IVAs, more station parts, station science, something for satellites to do... I could go on forever...

The reviews are going to rip it apart for its bad optimization and graphics and basically unity 4.

[AlternNocturn]

Hard to say, considering the update isn't out yet. But if we follow the trends that Squad set with the last few updates, I have confidence that they'll address enough problems in the game for it to be worthy of 1.0.

[tntristan12]

I gotta say, I'm a little surprised. This next update is so huge that it is inevitably going to require some tweaking after the fact. That doesn't even go into the laundry list of concerns the community has been shouting about for over a year now. Unmanned pods are still fairly useless, since they can't gather science, and the science system itself is grindy, unintuitive, and blatantly unscientific. I would at least hope that squad listens to some community feedback before going out on a limb and declaring the whole enterprise to be complete.

[AbhChallenger]

Oh. Then what exactly does leaving Early Access mean? Does that mean that it will get more expensive for new users a la Minecraft going from Alpha to Beta to release?

Basically leaving Early Access means

#1 The game is considered to be ready for the public to purchase and play. It says that the game is in a finished state free of major bugs.

#2 Squad can no longer hide behind the "beta" tag. It means reviewers such as Angry Joe are free to either love the game. Or tear a it a new hole in their reviews.

That is why I think it absolutely is not ready. Waiting for Unity 5 at minimum would have been much better.

[montyben101]

Hard to say, considering the update isn't out yet. But if we follow the trends that Squad set with the last few updates, I have confidence that they'll address enough problems in the game for it to be worthy of 1.0.

??? KSP is already released and out of beta. They should have done that all before.

[montyben101]

It means reviewers such as Angry Joe are free to either love the game. Or tear a it a new hole in their reviews.

Sorry squad but shouldn't you at least address some of the major issues before coming out of beta?

[Bill Phil]

Not quite, it's close though.

[RocketPilot573]

Well, um.... I posted this in the article as a joke, but now I have realized that I was being serious.

I have come to a realization, the statement "As development in Beta has progressed" makes no sense. .90 was not Beta because it was still using the old development strategy; The realease of .90 marked entry into Beta. However the next update apparently we are exiting Beta. The community has never even SEEN this "Beta." It has supposedly only behind the scenes, so my point is, has there ever even BEEN a "Beta?!" As far as I know it could have been made up.

Basically...

NO New size 7 font hehheh

Edited January 24, 2015 by RocketPilot573

[Nitrous Oxide]

Basically leaving Early Access means

#1 The game is considered to be ready for the public to purchase and play. It says that the game is in a finished state free of major bugs.

#2 Squad can no longer hide behind the "beta" tag. It means reviewers such as Angry Joe are free to either love the game. Or tear a it a new hole in their reviews.

That is why I think it absolutely is not ready. Waiting for Unity 5 at minimum would have been much better.

Squad really underestimates just how much comfort room the Beta tag gives them. Please, go ahead and call your game finished. I'm waiting.

[Liowen]

In some ways yes but in a lot of ways no.

Need clouds for planets with atmospheres so they have some detail, with the improved smoke effects for take offs they have the tech to do them. Something like precise node would help with planning burns and fine tuning them with an easier interface. Docking alignment hud of some sort. Fix for windows 64 bit, unless this is a Unity problem then that is out of their control. MRS integration to give rockets some useful parts to make them more rocket like, especially with the atmosphere changes this will be big. Fix the navball in map mode so it comes up when you go into map mode. If possible make orbit paths less bouncy when rotating crafts. Get rid of the walls in the VAB when turning the camera to get a better look when building a craft. Make Kerbals actually hold on to the craft when they exit. Some sort of KAS system needs to be put in especially with base contracts and some form of Karbanite (sorry I forgot the spelling) this would be very welcomed. More wheel options.

Just to name a few things that I would love to see in the game given what was announced for 1.0 that would be great additions IMHO.

[CptRichardson]

Basically leaving Early Access means

#1 The game is considered to be ready for the public to purchase and play. It says that the game is in a finished state free of major bugs.

#2 Squad can no longer hide behind the "beta" tag. It means reviewers such as Angry Joe are free to either love the game. Or tear a it a new hole in their reviews.

That is why I think it absolutely is not ready. Waiting for Unity 5 at minimum would have been much better.

If they properly balance everything, then quite frankly, as far as I can tell it's ready. I see no glaring super-bugs, only minor quibbles for the most part. If they've got the tutorials properly updated, then the game will be just fine. Plenty of far more successful games with far nastier glitches and bugs than KSP.

Sorry squad but shouldn't you at least address some of the major issues before coming out of beta?

WHAT major issues? They're addressing aero, warp issues, adding even more variety by making Karbonite stock, and I rarely, if ever run into bugs. And both of the ones I can think of involved doing things absolutely crazy. As I said above, if their tutorials are properly up to date and marked clearly, I don't see the 'major, glaring' issues you seem to be on about. Yes, Unity 5 would be nice, but given that we know that Directx 11 works pretty well for cleaning up the game, I'd rather have them working on getting it fully compatable and using that to massively reduce any issues. They've already said they're rebalancing everything, adding in more parts to make things easier in other spots, and have worked to get the contracts turned into something fun. Seriously, everybody I talk with have been wondering why KSP hasn't been updated to 1.0 since about March last year.

Edited January 24, 2015 by CptRichardson

[montyben101]

I have come to a realization, the statement "As development in Beta has progressed" makes no sense. .90 was not Beta because it was still using the old development strategy; The realease of .90 marked entry into Beta. However the next update apparently we are exiting Beta. The community has never even SEEN this "Beta." It has supposedly only behind the scenes, so my point is, has there ever even BEEN a "Beta?!" As far as I know it could have been made up.

Now that's a VERY good point. Essentially they went from ALPHA to full release!! It took minecraft an entire year or more!

[JackGruff]

I accidentally voted yes, probably cause it's 5AM. Doesn't seem like I swayed the poll, exactly.

Absolutely not, no game should still be this horribly optimized and buggy for it's final version.

I don't know about that. For performance, I imagine critics will be reviewing on modern gaming machines so I doubt they'll experience what the majority of the community will.