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fishspit's Kerbal Space Program (PC)
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| [September 10, 2012 05:24:19 PM]
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Kerbal Space program (KSP for short), I discovered this odd little game beta back on Friday. It piqued my interest enough that I bought it, and it has since consumed a great deal of my weekend! It’s a constructive sandbox/flight simulation game in which the player flies aircraft and spacecraft of their own designing inside a small star system. The player is in charge of the space program on the planet Kerbin, an earthlike planet that is 600 Km in diameter. There are also two moons orbiting Kerbin, Mun and Minmus. All this is persistent too; you won’t ever see a loading screen! Still being in the beta testing phase, this game is buggy and unfinished feeling. Despite this, I would still say it is an enjoyable sim.
One thing that is most striking about this game is how realistic the physics are. Doing anything apart from simple up/down trips to space is very difficult. While I was sifting through the online forums that hold the KSP community I was initially shocked to see people talking about rocket science, real rocket science! The physics are so accurate that you need to on some level understand what is going on “behind the scenes” to be successful. This makes for an experience that is at times frustrating, but overall rewarding. The first time I intentionally got one of my spaceships into a stable orbit I felt seriously accomplished. I have not successfully made a landing on one of the moons, however I am getting the hang of controlling and manipulating orbits.
The GUI for constructing ships is pretty easy to get the hang of. You draw from a limited bank of parts from a side menu and snap your craft together like it was made of Legos. Simple enough to build a ship, but the nuances of proper design take a while to hammer out. Things like drag, fuel supply/routing, weight/thrust ratios, balance, staging, control systems, and crew safety systems have to be considered (or ignored if you are feeling lucky). The flexibility of the ship builder makes for some very interesting and creative spacecraft.
The game doesn’t have any goals or measures of progress currently, making it more of a sandbox/toy. However, there are a few things that can be seen as goals that lend the game some structure. For example, at first I was happy to see my rockets exit the atmosphere and bring the crew back alive, but now I am aspiring to land a craft on one of the moons. The two moons orbiting the planet each present an informal challenge to the players. Self-created goals can only carry a game so far however, and hopefully in future updates to the game there will be more substance to it. Currently there are a few things inside the game that aren’t fully fleshed out giving hints as to the future. For example, each part has a “cost” associated with it, but this doesn’t mean anything currently. There is also a “crew” tab in the construction menu that is currently empty. These suggest that there may be some elements of a management style game coming in future releases.
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fishspit's Kerbal Space Program (PC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Sunday 9 September, 2012
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