I only paid £10 for Kerbal Space Program, and I feel bad about it.

[DBT85]

When I got KSP, it was in a steam sale. My brother showed me the game and I liked the look of it and as soon as I got home I bought it.

Some months later we're sitting here with the (hotly debated) 1.0 announcement, and I'm having so much fun playing the game. The community is also adding more and more things every day with mods to just expand things in cool and interesting ways.

And all Squad got from me for it was £10, minus whatever Mr Newell creamed off the top.

Just feels a bit wrong.

[kinnison]

There are some games I get so much replay value I wish there was way for me to give them MORE money.

[vexx32]

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

KSP used to be quite cheap, actually. Before the original demo version came out, there were no paid versions (pre-0.14) and the only way you could give something back to Squad was the optional purchase of KSP for $7 or so. It was more like a donation, really, but with it came the promise of all future updates for free. I bought KSP way back then, and transferred it to Steam when that became an option.

I essentially paid pocket change for what is now an amazing game. If I weren't so short of money these days I'd buy a copy for a friend, or something.

[klesh]

I posted the same a few days ago. I'm sure I bought it on sale for way less than I've gotten out of it.

You should buy your friends some copies on Steam if you're feeling flush, or buy some spares and give them away as a fun contest or whatever.

[tater]

I paid 20-something USD for it a few months ago, and it's already possibly the best fun/$ of any game I've ever owned. I suppose SH4 beats it, but I spent… many, many hundreds of hours writing mods for that (being a modder starts quickly feeling like a job, though, particularly once people actually use the mod).

[DBT85]

I posted the same a few days ago. I'm sure I bought it on sale for way less than I've gotten out of it.

You should buy your friends some copies on Steam if you're feeling flush, or buy some spares and give them away as a fun contest or whatever.

Yeah, I'm a regular on the NeoGAF forum and am thinking about a code giveaway maybe.

[cantab]

You could do worse than buy yourself KerbalEDU. That's got some interesting extras with it that aren't otherwise available.

[quietghost]

I shelled out the full $27 when the game was 0.23 but now even after paying the full price I fell they deserve more money. I guess since they really don't have a donation option just buying extra copies off the site is the best way, although I'm sure someone at squad would be happy to set up some type of donation scheme if one asked.

[Norpo]

I think the best way to "donate" to the devs would be to buy new copies of the game and give them to friends, they get money and more people in the playerbase, your friends get the copies of the game, win/win

[klgraham1013]

I actually bought KSP twice. Once on Steam and once on the website. I don't really regret it, despite my disagreement with Squad on the direction of the game.

[tater]

Some people are upset they spent too much, lol. People have odd thresholds. As soon as anyone has enjoyed a few hours, they are already ahead of a movie. My sat tv is about $4 a day, and I'd rather play KSP than watch most tv with limited hours available for such distration.

Common math here is cost per unit playing time, but it might be better to think value per dollar. Need to characterize "fun" better for that, I suppose.

[RoverDude]

Last year, I bought KSP for my entire engineering team under the condition that the first guy or gal who could get a Kerbal to the Mun and back (alive) using only stock (no mods, no MechJeb) would get a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse lunch.

[RainDreamer]

Last year, I bought KSP for my entire engineering team under the condition that the first guy or gal who could get a Kerbal to the Mun and back (alive) using only stock (no mods, no MechJeb) would get a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse lunch.

I suddenly want to work for you. Too bad I am not majoring in any field related to engineering.

[Baenki]

I bought the game in March 2013 for 23$ and switched to Steam as soon as possible.

Since then I logged 260 hours of playing. I played the game since 0.7.3 and every demo after, so I think it's safe to say that the time can be multiplied by 2.5.

So 2.5 x 260h = 650hours.

=> 23$ / 650h = 0.035$/hour or 0.027€/h at the course of 3.2013.

I think that is a huge amount of bang for your buck, if you compare it to modern AAA-games.

Maybe 12h of gameplay and a price around 60€ (5€/h), the game should have cost me 3250€.

[Renegrade]

Last year, I bought KSP for my entire engineering team under the condition that the first guy or gal who could get a Kerbal to the Mun and back (alive) using only stock (no mods, no MechJeb) would get a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse lunch.

I did a mun landing totally stock - can I have a steakhouse lunch too?

Some people are upset they spent too much, lol. People have odd thresholds. As soon as anyone has enjoyed a few hours, they are already ahead of a movie. My sat tv is about $4 a day, and I'd rather play KSP than watch most tv with limited hours available for such distration.

Yeah, I agree. I played Halo 3, ODST, and Reach, each in a single sitting, and those were very costly new (about as much as I've spent on KSP and KSP gifts ... EACH).

[LethalDose]

Buy some of their overpriced merch if you want to send more $€£¥ their way.

[pincushionman]

If you already have the Steam release, you can always buy a license off the website. AFAIK, you can then …not even have to download it? Just like a donation then.

Buy some of their overpriced merch if you want to send more $€£¥ their way.

They definitely need more merch options. Plushies in particular, but I'd probably buy a polo if they offered it.

[regex]

I don't feel bad at all. I'd pay the AAA price for a KSP-style game with proper memory management, a better parts system, less grindy career play, environmental effects and graphics, proper implementation of realistic systems, and a realistic solar system (doesn't have to be Earth system, BTW). KSP is a home-run idea for a game but it doesn't live up to its potential, even with the excellent changes coming in 1.0.

[r_rolo1]

Well, if you feel that you should give more money to SQUAD regarding KSP, there is nothing that forbids you to buy extra copies of the game ( and maybe gift them to people you know )

[Alshain]

Consider it payment for being a beta tester. In most software industries, people are paid to do that kind of work. In gaming, people jump at the chance to do it for free.

[LordFjord]

True, but in the case of KSP I got a whole lot more of game (speaking of fun, entertainment, relaxing and in this particular case: learning) back as compared to many other released games.

Regarding merch: I would love to have some Kerbal plushies, a Jeb for junior and a Val for his little sister would be awesome.

[briansun1]

When I got KSP, it was in a steam sale. My brother showed me the game and I liked the look of it and as soon as I got home I bought it.

Some months later we're sitting here with the (hotly debated) 1.0 announcement, and I'm having so much fun playing the game. The community is also adding more and more things every day with mods to just expand things in cool and interesting ways.

And all Squad got from me for it was £10, minus whatever Mr Newell creamed off the top.

Just feels a bit wrong.

I'm kind of in the same place right now. I'll probably end up buy another copy and giving it to a friend or to myself so I have a copy on steam and from there store.

Edited February 17, 2015 by briansun1

[EtherDragon]

I think the best way to "donate" to the devs would be to buy new copies of the game and give them to friends, they get money and more people in the playerbase, your friends get the copies of the game, win/win

This! If you feel so bad about it, then buy copies for your friends... hehe!

[Doctor Axel]

Convince all your friends to buy the game (or gift it to them, but myeh), and run a Dark Multiplayer space race. =D

[Spartwo]

Buy it again for someone?