The future of Squad?

[Sirrobert]

Being a developer myself, I personally think Squad will NEVER abandon KSP. This game is way too huge and successful to just dump. People love KSP, it has gained very big attention. I DO NOT think KSP will ever get a "sequel". We can dream of a "KSP" sequel with CryEngine graphics but that will probably never happen. I DO think they will continuously update this game. New parts, graphical and physics improvements, new planets, new places, I'm sure it is all coming. This game is also so hardwired into the mod community that even if SQUAD left, it would still live on.

I personally do not think SQUAD will make another game either; as some of you said, they are a marketing company more. But who knows; I think they should but it will have to be very interesting and fun.

Maybe in 5 years they could start on a sequal with some brand new technology, but I agree with the rest

[toric5]

maybe go back to novasilsko and put a full dev team os science of the spheres?

[Carraux]

Let's be honest, KSP as at it is, was a great idea and I am proud of owning and play it. But in terms of game play it is a bit "naked", if it was not for the wonderful community of Modders, the game would become pretty boring quick.

IMHO, there is a lot of truth in this.

And to be honest too, I think that KSP is a great game. Just because there is not much competition from other dev teams in this niche. But comparing KSP to other professional releases... Well...

As 0.90 came out they said that the road is still long before version 1.0 will come (to soften those of us who still think that a lot of stuff is missing). And now 1.0 is announced. And when I look onto the list of features which shall make it into 1.0 (and far more important: which not), I still think that the game isn't finished yet.

Because it feels so incomplete. Because KSP is built in a way that it is limiting itself for no reason. With only a little more - just a little more - effort in designing the gameplay the game could be twice as feature-rich. But built at it is, it shoot itself in the foot. I like every concept brought into the game but I think that most concepts just took the wrong turn somewhere.

Like the concept of part recycling. Cool concept and in reality SpaceX tries it too. Recycling the first stage or the boosters... Great! Oh wait: you can't do that in KSP. Unless you build a SSTO, only that last stage may come back and get recycled. Ok, I could live with that in a way although it sound silly to reward nothing but returning the LAST stage. But what makes me sad that the way it is implemented it discourages building anything what goes into orbit and stays there and never comes back. Probes, stations... What a pity.

When I think of game like KSP, a rocket/launcher construction kit to have fun exploring space: I think of manned missions, unmanned missions, space station and bases/colonies. KSP has a strong focus an manned missions though, neglecting unmanned missions and have no purpose at all for stations or bases (for the latter there are even no real parts present). So more than half of the fun is missing. Some few parts more and a revised contract system and stations and bases could be needful, adding much, much more flavor to the game.

Speaking of contracts: I liked contracts. I was so excited about them! Then I realizied that most contracts are just... well, tests in a randomized testbed. Which turn out to have nothing to do at all with real space flight. I have to make silly things just to progress further in the game. Why should I open a parachute in 27000km height at a crazy speed? Half the game is NOT going into space but to do senseless stuff to get the funds and tech to do then something meaningful *I* like (but the game doesn't reward or honor).

It would have been much more fun if the game would have treated me like a CEO of a space company and would offer me contracts in a commercial way (besides science contracts): Like giving me a blueprint of a sattelite and a contract to put 3 of them into near KEO for only 500k funds. If I'm good I'll make profit like hell, or getting bust if not. Contribute to a space station. Build it or find at least a cheap way of getting supllies up. Something like that... THAT would be fun. And my constructions would have some kind of purpose.

The Nasa mission pack: Now you can fly to asteroids and now you can... Well, fly to asteroids. Grabbing them, but what for? To be honest: In my opinion it was more of a cool marketing event than adding spice to the game (but in fact: Squad is a marketing company after all, isn't it?)

In my opinion, different design decisions could have doubled, tripled or quadrupled the fun in playing KSP. With only minor extra effort in implementing that stuff. But this didn't happen.

And that makes me a little sad and disapointed (although I like the game really. Did I say?)

It is a real pity that the true fun of the game lies in the mods, isn't it?

[And it is a shame that the game has the same memory footprint like Skyrim, but not its graphics]

My 2 cents.

Now you can blame me...

Edited January 29, 2015 by Carraux