Do you feel KSP is ready for 1.0?

[Twreed87]

My only issue with going straight to 1.0 is that it means it's going to take a really, really long time to get any of this new stuff. I would've hoped we'd see a few updates here and there, each adding new things little by little, instead of having to wait months and months and get it all at once. But still, I'm really excited for this game to finally feel like a complete package, and I think if Squad does take their time with it, it'll be a beautiful thing.

[iFlyAllTheTime]

Here's my $0.02 worth.

I have no remorse over buying this amazing game.

It has allowed me an experience that doesn't come close to being matched by a lot of AAA titles, which I payed 3 times as much.

If, for some unfortunate reason the development stopped yesterday or a couple of updates ago, I would have had enough mods and scenarios that would keep me coming back to it.

I've had a lot of fun playing this space lego and will continue to do so; but the point is lot of us that are passionate about it, would like to see it do well and expand the player base. Yes, word of mouth will get a few on-board, but unfortunately, quite a few buyers, including me sometimes, rely on reviews before making a purchase.

This is purely my opinion, which I see a lot of other people expressing as well. But there will be quite a few, which will have a different take on things.

Edited January 25, 2015 by iFlyAllTheTime

[Brotoro]

VERSION 1.0

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

At least it appears that Squad and I had different ideas about what "version 1.0" means. So I was astonished to see the announcement that 1.0 would be the next release. How could KSP be 1.0-ready when there are so many bugs that have been hanging around for so long? How can Squad expect to put in all those new features and expect them to work at 1.0-level right out of the gate?

But...so be it. Allow me to untwist my knickers.

There. I feel better.

I shall accept that fact that I don't know what "version 1.0" means.

I shall await the implementation of what I consider to be a fantastic list of new and improved features.

I shall trust Squad to stomp the bugs flat, and make sure the code is optimized.

I shall trust that Squad will test the new features to exhaustion before release.

[cpast]

I agree with Jacke, but cpast's argument is baseless. Look at how many times FAR has been downloaded on Kerba Stuff. 405,000. There have been 11 versions of FAR posted to KerbalStuff, so if 405,000/11 is the number of players who use FAR, that's still a large number of players. NEAR has been downloaded 100,000 times. It has had 6 updates. RemoteTech has been downloaded 260,000 times. RealChute 189,000 times. Thes aren't small numbers. The truth is the majority of players mod.

Without the sales numbers for KSP, you cannot conclude *anything* from FAR download numbers. Honestly, the number you get from those is all under 100,000 people for each mod. Factor in that there's a *lot* of overlap in those numbers, and you're claiming that there are under 200,000 people or so who have bought KSP. I suspect the actual sales numbers are much, much higher than 200,000. Those mod numbers are small even compared to the number of forumgoers, let alone the number of players.

EDIT:

Apparently an Ars Technica person in May 2014 who was compiling Steam sales estimates had an estimated 645,000 KSP copies on Steam. That was almost a year ago. So if that's anywhere near the actual numbers, the mod numbers you're quoting really aren't that high.

Edited January 24, 2015 by cpast

[Commander Zoom]

I've generally been on SQUAD's side, but not this time. I'm sorry. It's too soon.

[foxkill2342]

Game reviewers have every right to be harsh. If you rush a release and call it 1.0 it better have very few bugs and be functional. Reviewers would call KSP a buggy sandbox game with a career mode tacked on as an afterthought as it was rushed to completion. I understand the push to game complete, but I don't even understand why we are in Beta. It seems like the final version is going to be completely different mechanically than the game we have. We don't even know the type of balancing that's going to be required. The whole point of early access is that we pay to test the game. I'm ok with that. But it seems like the Devs want to add the final features to the game so they can stick the full game price tag and toss all of the advantages of early access out the window.

Edited January 24, 2015 by foxkill2342

[forenci]

The main argument seems to be "it will be torn to shreds by reviewers." First, I disagree. It's a great game as is right now. Second, plenty of games have received amazing reviews despite being quite buggy at release (Minecraft, Payday 2).

[chrisb2e9]

You guys are hilarious. Who the hell cares if they change the number to 1.0... they are going to keep developing the game. So what if some pissy critics post bad reviews. Does anyone actually listen to them?

Besides, Squad does pretty well when it comes to criticism. Anything bad said about the game, will be dealt with quickly. It's not like Xrebirth is being launched...

Squad has done a great job with creating the game that they set out to create. I trust whatever decision they make at this point. And if you don't like it, go and start your own business and make your own game.

[klgraham1013]

The main argument seems to be "it will be torn to shreds by reviewers." First, I disagree. It's a great game as is right now. Second, plenty of games have received amazing reviews despite being quite buggy at release (Minecraft, Payday 2).

Tell me, besides looking outside of the game, how is a reviewer even going to know to do a gravity turn? ...or are the tutorials covering that now?

-

I'll take another look at the tutorials just to have my facts right.

Edited January 24, 2015 by klgraham1013

[Robotengineer]

Without the sales numbers for KSP, you cannot conclude *anything* from FAR download numbers. Honestly, the number you get from those is all under 100,000 people for each mod. Factor in that there's a *lot* of overlap in those numbers, and you're claiming that there are under 200,000 people or so who have bought KSP. I suspect the actual sales numbers are much, much higher than 200,000. Those mod numbers are small even compared to the number of forumgoers, let alone the number of players.

EDIT:

Apparently an Ars Technica person in May 2014 who was compiling Steam sales estimates had an estimated 645,000 KSP copies on Steam. That was almost a year ago. So if that's anywhere near the actual numbers, the mod numbers you're quoting really aren't that high.

That maybe, but Kerbal Stuff is not the only mod repository. Anyways, could you post a link to those numbers?

[cpast]

That maybe, but Kerbal Stuff is not the only mod repository. Anyways, could you post a link to those numbers?

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-addressing-your-questions-and-concerns/?comments=1&post=26666493 They're not official; only Squad knows the total official sales numbers, but they're a reasonably reputable estimator.

KS isn't the only repo, but people a) also redownload mods they already had, the estimates are almost a year old, and c) Steam isn't the only sales channel

[FlowerChild]

You guys are hilarious. Who the hell cares if they change the number to 1.0... they are going to keep developing the game. So what if some pissy critics post bad reviews. Does anyone actually listen to them?

I think the worry is a rather reasonable one from players. If the game doesn't sell well, there's a precedent to suggest it also won't be supported for as long as it might have been. There's been a recent pattern of "game releases too early, sells poorly, and devs disappear as a result".

I've seen the above "who cares?" argument made a few times in this thread, but I do think it's a reasonable thing for players to care about in their own self interest, as well as out of concern for Squad and the game.

[colmo]

As a newbie member of the Experimental team, I was astonished by this announcement.

So much to add, and lots of bug fixing and optimisation to do at the same time. That's a lot of pressure to heap on the devs and the testers.

Some of the best releases have been ones which mostly dealt with optimisation - I recall the pleasant FPS bump from 0.22 I think it was, a release relatively devoid of new content.

I'd really prefer a 0.95 to finish adding the core content, then 1.0 with balancing and optimisation finished and polished, and mostly working mods fixed for 0.95.

[Random Tank]

I would've thought they would at least wait for Unity 5 to come out, then upgrade KSP onto it before releasing 1.0... That would basically fix the crashes due to RAM limit, and offer considerable help (in most cases) with the lag/low FPS caused by high part count ships, which I feel is the main limitations of the game, and the main reason why I think it's is far from finished.

Also, while it's definitely not the worst update, from personal experience 0.90 is quite a bit buggier than 0.25; and the first (and only, which also speaks volumes) update of Beta being buggier than the last update of Alpha does not exactly.... inspire me with confidence about later updates, and the general quality of the final release. The game is fun (very much so) but I'd never say it felt complete, and that's something I doubt 1 update can change....

[Wallygator]

I've changed my mind.

Go ahead with 1.0. Make it happen now.

Our beloved Devs need a bit of kick in the backside regarding bug fixes. Let it happen. I hope the first reviewer runs OSX.

All that said - I love this game. Best thing I've played in decades. So a little tough love might be what the doctor ordered.

[Wjolcz]

"DEFO NOT READY FOR 1.0 BETTER NAME IT SOMETHING ELSE!!!1111oneone"

Why are people going all mad about the version numbers and all that? Seriously? It's just another update. Not the first and not the last one. It's not like after this one comes out they'll say "Ok our job here is done have fun with all those bugs we ain't fixing them because this one's finished because 1.0 thats why." That would kinda ruin their reputation, would it not?

[basic.syntax]

People are pinning a lot of hopes on Unity 5.0, but, by the same argument put against KSP going to "1.0", Unity 5 may introduce some new bugs, and we should wait for 5.1...

At some point, you have to call it 1.0, and Squad's decided to go with the most recent released Unity 4.6 branch.

Maxmaps confirmed in this very thread a few pages back, that they are doing OK and are not going to pull a disappearing act, after 1.0.

And HarvesteR wrote in his goals post for 1.0:

* Bugfixes:

A lot of long standing bugs are being fixed, and we do mean a lot of them. Beta means bugfixes, after all.

Edit: KasperVld writes here (link): "There are definitely plans to update to Unity 5, though as always nothing is set in stone until it's actually released." Edited January 24, 2015 by basic.syntax

[Captain Sierra]

"DEFO NOT READY FOR 1.0 BETTER NAME IT SOMETHING ELSE!!!1111oneone"

Why are people going all mad about the version numbers and all that? Seriously? It's just another update. Not the first and not the last one. It's not like after this one comes out they'll say "Ok our job here is done have fun with all those bugs we ain't fixing them because this one's finished because 1.0 thats why." That would kinda ruin their reputation, would it not?

The reviewers disagree that its just another update. Calling it 1.0 makes the assertion that KSP is a complete finished product, even if they keep working on it. Critics do not take nicely to kraken attacks in a 'finished' game.

[Commander Jebidiah]

Wait what happened to the resource system that was supposed to be part of 0.91?

And other features that were promised would happen befor 1.0?

I know i may get in trouble for saying this but going from beta to full release just seems like squad are just gonna be lazy and give up on ksp, now i know they wont but that what it sounds like.

Basically if KSP went full release straight after 0.90 then most games reveiwers would say this is a very boring, hard and stupid game and all that would make people who only play games lik CoD and Halo not even acknowledge ksp.

Right now without mods ksp is an extremely boring game with no purpose to build stations or bases and a game that relies on its modding community to make it fun isn't a good game.

And if they release 1.0 sometime soon there will be more annoying bugs in it than an EA game and thats definitely not a good thing.

2 years ago when ever i saw a KSP video on YouTube I'd just ignore it because of how stupid it looked untill my dad bought the game for me and sadly this is what most people will do if they havn't seen a reveiw. And if you get a bad reveiw people wont watch these videos and Squad will lose out on customers if you get a good reveiw it'll be the opposite.

Im so glad i kept my copies of 0.21, 0.23, 0.23.5, 0.24, 0.25 and ill make sure to keep my favourite update of all 0.90.

And here's A big tip Squad, bBEFORE RELEASING 1.0 SWITCH TO UNITY 5, MANY PEOPLE WHO PLAY PC GAMES HAVE ATLEAST QUADCORES AND 16GB OF RAM.

See what i did there?

Edited January 25, 2015 by Vanamonde
Red, bold, underline, *and* font size is a bit much.

[LethalDose]

Personally, I seriously doubt the next release version will be KSP v1.0. The announcement has way more features and changes than any previous release. Based on Squad's track record, I have zero faith that they will deliver all this in one release. I expect we'll see an intermediate release before 1.0.

[Motokid600]

The stock game is so ugly idk how they can consider it 1.0. Critics are going to bash ksp for how bland it looks. The ugly low res surface textures gotta go before 1.0.

[Abdu]

i think 1.0 should released after they killed all the bugs so it could be a full game.

[Commander Jebidiah]

Also if mutiplayer was promised like it was befor 0.25 its a really good area for critics to judge on if you releas multiplayer after 1.0

[Lheim]

Nah, I'd totally go for a .99 version - a quick spin for player feedback with the new features, THEN off to 1.0. But I'm a cautious man.

And then.. heck, how about clouds at least?

[ch_lemr73]

I can't agree next version of KSP will be 1.0, since this means the game is with all the features that has been planned, and not officially discarded since then. One of these, quite well known, is the reentry heat. I know that such a feature can be in KSP as a mod, but was originally planned as part of the game himself. Since nothing is said on this for the next version, i think Squad should make a statement about this. As a note, that may be random (or maybe not !), but the wiki page on this official site is experiencing technical difficulties ... Nonetheless, i've found a place where an interview with Damion Rayne, a former community manager, which took place the 11 Feb 2013 (yes, nearly two years ago !), where he said that that feature will be in 0.19, which proved wrong. The interview link is http://www.themittani.com/media/kerbal-space-program-qa-devs . I save a screenshot as proof that this statement has been officially said by someone that was at the time an employee of this company. I never saw a word about that feature cancelled by Squad since.