Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

kerbalspaceprogram.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 344 posts

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#151

Post by oxide »

jjawssd wrote: post #125
kbenson wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a line to be walked. Having a gun that never runs out of bullets doesn't fly in most movies, even if they'll fudge exactly how many are fired before a reload. This is due to the general public's level of knowledge on the topic. It used to be very annoying to watch certain parts of movies when I was younger. Computers and the internet were treated so haphazardly, it was cause for celebration whenever a contem…

> it was cause for celebration whenever a contemporary computer interface was shown that wasn't entirely bullshit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msX4oAXpvUE Computer/Hacker Movie inspired GUI: http://geektyper.com/

I remember hackertyper from way back when, but I just spent about 10 minutes with a shit eating grin on my face as I played with the different things on geektyper, it nails the vibe spot on.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#152

Post by jacquesm »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #120
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…

I had a real problem teaching Newtonian Mechanics to students who got most of their Newtonian Mechanics from movies. Their intuition about motion in free-fall was all wrong. Imagine if movies just got this right as a matter of course, and gave even uneducated people correct intuition. I believe that constantly seeing mega-structures fail incorrectly (e.g. CG buildings falling over) actually contributes to 911 conspir…

> I believe that constantly seeing mega-structures fail incorrectly (e.g. CG buildings falling over) actually contributes to 911 conspiracy theories.

The two biggest 911 conspiracy believers that I know are both involved in CGI for their day jobs.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#153

Post by baq »

redthrowaway wrote: post #79
TeMPOraL wrote: post #52

KSP was possibly my best entertainment spending ever. It definitely is the best game for me in terms of costs / time played. If you haven't played it yet, do yourself a favour and buy it now. If you have a kid with even tangential interest in space, get a copy for them. Side effects of playing KSP include: - getting an intuitive feel for basic orbital mechanics - finding yourself reading up on actual math to better u…

Let's not go giving The Expanse too much credit, here. That no-thrust gravity slingshot around all of Jupiter's moons in 2 hours was...stretching it.

yeah, there is a blog post with one of the producers apologizing for it: http://www.danielabraham.com/2017/04/04/guest-post-losing-sc... (minor spoiler alert)

nb. i'm in complete love with the show and that particular scene can be best described as... pretty.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#154

Post by andrewflnr »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #91
Fifer82 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again I would say that if he did say that, he would be correct. Sit me down in a room of 20 games, and tell me to identify unity games by simply playing each computer. On the 20% chance that I can't instantly tell by looking, a wee swipe of the mouse and the complete lack of responsiveness finalizes all I need for 100% success rate.

I could do the same, and I could also tell you which games were made with Unreal Engine, which with Source Engine, etc. Game engines have distinctive traits that are hard to eliminate from a game but easy to notice while you play. That isn't an argument against Unity per se.

Out of sheer curiosity, what are the tell-tale signs of other engines?

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#155

Post by ucarion »

milcron wrote: post #146
simonh wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but I've got hundreds of hours of KSP under my belt and thought Gravity was fantastic. I'm a proud science and gamer geek, but feel that the urge to nit pick is the scourge of the geek community. I'll happily engage in a conversation about the compromises made in Gravity, it none of them spoiled the movie for me and I'm very glad it exists. If it makes movie goers more interested in Space and feel positively a…

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.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#156

Post by waiseristy »

ouid wrote: post #145
TeMPOraL wrote: post #52

KSP was possibly my best entertainment spending ever. It definitely is the best game for me in terms of costs / time played. If you haven't played it yet, do yourself a favour and buy it now. If you have a kid with even tangential interest in space, get a copy for them. Side effects of playing KSP include: - getting an intuitive feel for basic orbital mechanics - finding yourself reading up on actual math to better u…

Interstellar had really bad orbital mechanics. You remember when they used the staged rocket to get off earth? Do you remember later, when they landed on that other planet with 1.5 times the mass of earth? Do you remember the machine that they used to leave that planet?

Remember when he let go of the spacecraft and fell into the black hole?

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#157

Post by rxhernandez »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #108
TeMPOraL wrote: post #52

KSP was possibly my best entertainment spending ever. It definitely is the best game for me in terms of costs / time played. If you haven't played it yet, do yourself a favour and buy it now. If you have a kid with even tangential interest in space, get a copy for them. Side effects of playing KSP include: - getting an intuitive feel for basic orbital mechanics - finding yourself reading up on actual math to better u…

> 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.

I too have a degree in Physics but have trouble enjoying sci-fi entertainment that includes basic physics screw ups in its story. I about pull my hair out when I hear them insert quantum entanglement in random places to make up for a lack of creativity and/or ability to hire a decent science adviser.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#158

Post by erik »

dragonwriter wrote: post #144
mhh__ wrote: post #56

Kerbal Space Program is a game that we're quite lucky to have. No microtransactions, no DRM, just sciencey goodness. Except for those making it, who Squad apparently didn't bother paying anywhere near what they were worth.

Its likely the lack of excessive monetization and the lack of pay to developers are not unrelated.

KSP has been extremely successful financially. The staff problems likely come from Squad not being a game studio. It was a marketing agency, and KSP grew out of an employee's passion project.

Management has never seemed to be invested in the game.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#159

Post by _dingus »

mikeash wrote: post #107
TeMPOraL wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a movie stage setup problem though, not a physics issue.

How so? The movie shows them going from A to B, physics says going from A to B takes far more delta-v than the spacecraft would have, therefore it's a physics issue. It would be like a WWII movie showing a bomber taking off from NYC and bombing Berlin.

>It would be like a WWII movie showing a bomber taking off from NYC and bombing Berlin.

NYC to Berlin is well within the originally required flight range of the B-29 (5,333mi at 400mph with a 2k lbs load). It wouldn't be an intelligent thing to do, but it isn't physically impossible.

Re: Kerbal Space Program Acquired by Take-Two Interactive

#160

Post by Florin_Andrei »

rxhernandez wrote: post #157
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.

I too have a degree in Physics but have trouble enjoying sci-fi entertainment that includes basic physics screw ups in its story. I about pull my hair out when I hear them insert quantum entanglement in random places to make up for a lack of creativity and/or ability to hire a decent science adviser.

Well, I was just watching yesterday an episode from TNG, where Geordie detects a "deuterium leak", and Riker immediately asks "toxic?"

Dude, it's hydrogen, you need to have different concerns there.

At least they did acknowledge that firing a weapon in a deuterium-rich atmosphere might not be wise, depending on concentration.

Eh, just push the non-chewy bits to the edge of the plate and enjoy the rest of the culinary confection.

Post reply on HN