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Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

kerbalspaceprogram.com

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Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#161

Post by kpil »

abritinthebay wrote: post #106
hoorayimhelping wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The game also has a horrible habit of turning people into arrogant know-it-all armchair rocket scientists. > no longer being able to watch most space movies due to frustration caused by the filmmakers not grokking basic orbital physics Oh boy, this again. Are you not able to watch movies with guns because Rainbow Six taught you how guns work and now you're just too woke to suspend disbelief? Something about this game…

Eh, knowledge of a thing means suspension of disbelief is ruined and broken by basic inaccuracies unless the media tries to handwave this away. Star Trek does lots of this with "inertial dampeners" and their "deflector shield". It's total handwaving, but at least they did it. It helps sell it, like "oh, ok, well... I guess that makes sense?" Much like most movie and TV "hacking", or even basic programming is totally…

Exactly. I think you can hand wave most things, and invent your own rules for how the universe works, including magic, aliens, FTL travel, teleportation, resurrection, etc.

But there needs to be at least a cursory hand waving, and the hand waving and the resulting rules must be logical and not contradict each other.

Although hand waved premises can set up the plot (magic exists and there is a school for magic kids) it's not really fun when the plot is advanced by hand waving new things as they are needed, and the hand waving should preferably just be background things like moving from a spaceship to a planet or walking around in space - in a budget friendly way.

I personally have a problem with anti-gravity spaceships, unless the other technology is at least Star Trek-, Star Wars- or preferably even Culture level.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#162

Post by erik »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #57
talldan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent said it's 'not graphics' that's the problem. I agree that it's not really the graphics that are an issue in KSP, but most likely the physics engine. Essentially, most (unity) games don't allow their users to create content, whereas the essential part of KSP is the creation and simulation of lots of bodies. I've definitely experienced a substantial slowdown when many entities are on the screen at the same t…

When they were on Unity 4, they were using Unity's physics engine - that made the game perform badly for bigger constructions (e.g. large rockets, or space stations), because the physics engine was single-threaded and the game is CPU-bound on physics. After switching to Unity 5, things got better. I haven't been up to date with KSP for the past year, so I don't know if they switched to some other physics engine (thou…

Unity uses a modified version of PhysX. Unity 5 updated to a newer PhysX build that supports at least some multithreading.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#163

Post by golergka »

Svekax wrote: post #19
Declanomous wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most of the team actually left after 1.0 was finished. They got sick of working for Squad. I think Squad was never a particularly good place to be a game developer, and they realized they should probably cash out now.

The ones that were weren't fired and replaced with Mexican "interns" working full time for $200 per month. https://www.destructoid.com/former-kerbal-space-program-deve... I wonder if Take-Two Interactive considered the morality of acquiring a company that paid slave wages. Maybe they should change their name to Take-Two Thousand Annually.

A wage that is agreed upon by both parties without coercion is not, by definition, a 'slave wage'. Yes, there are poor people who live in hellholes and are used to much lower salaries than you and me. It may make us feel uncomfortable or guilty, because we don't 'feel' as if we 'truly' deserve so much more money than them. But thankfully, following irrational feeling of injustice is not the only foundation of ethics that we have.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#164

Post by philsnow »

J5892 wrote: post #116
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no longer being able to watch most space movies due to frustration caused by the filmmakers not grokking basic orbital physics Meh. I've a degree in Physics and I still enjoy Star Trek. I agree with the rest.

And I think all of us here love hacker movies. Sneakers, Hackers, Swordfish, etc. :)

In what way was swordfish like Sneakers/Hackers? The latter are cyberpunk-ish, a bit ideological.

Swordfish is more of a "caper" movie with a cheap tacked-on hacking bit. Bad guy wants money, uses hacker and LOTS OF CRIME to get it.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#166

Post by skybrian »

ucarion wrote: post #155
milcron wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they were saying that Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian and The Expanse are all good examples.

I'm confused about this too. The Martian (at least the book) has good science throughout. But in Gravity , the space shrapnel is moving much faster than the ISS, yet has the same orbit as it. I don't think that's possible, from what KSP has taught me.

It's all a matter of degree. The Martian also has creative decisions that the author semi-apologizes for because they made the plot work. (Such the idea that a windstorm on Mars could blow anything over.)

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#167

Post by erikb »

Why do they always say "nothing will change"? Of course things will change. That why someone acquired them, to change something.

And why do they always say the acquisition is good for the community? I count meself to the community, yet I didn't receive any six to ten digit payouts from the sale. Why should it be exciting for me?

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#168

Post by captn3m0 »

J5892 wrote: post #116
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no longer being able to watch most space movies due to frustration caused by the filmmakers not grokking basic orbital physics Meh. I've a degree in Physics and I still enjoy Star Trek. I agree with the rest.

And I think all of us here love hacker movies. Sneakers, Hackers, Swordfish, etc. :)

I absolutely hated watching Mr. Robot. Gave up after 4 episodes.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#169

Post by gozur88 »

Declanomous wrote: post #10
xigency wrote: post #2

Video game company acquisitions can be brutal. I hope everything goes well for the team now and several years in the future.

I think most of the team actually left after 1.0 was finished. They got sick of working for Squad. I think Squad was never a particularly good place to be a game developer, and they realized they should probably cash out now.

Squad isn't (or wasn't, at least) a game company. I can't remember their actual line of business. Viral marketing or some such. The guy who started KSP made his pitch and had a fair amount of freedom to do what he wanted, but I don't think the company management ever really knew what to do with the game or the developers involved.

Also, game companies are famously bad places to work. I can only think of two for which I would even consider working, and I turned down an offer from one of them.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#170

Post by jimmaswell »

TylerE wrote: post #65
omg_ketchup wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unity's actually great... the problem is anyone can use it.

Unity's great for small indie games. Complex simulations don't mix well with mandatory GC. Microstutters suck.

It's not that hard to work with the GC in Unity to make the game smooth, especially if you do so from the beginning. https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/performance-optim...
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