Kerbal Space Program (commonly abbreviated to KSP) is a space flight simulator developed by Squad for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The first publicly available version was released on June 24, 2011, and was sold on the official KSP Store. The game also was available on Steam's early access program on March 20, 2013.[2][3] The game will be officially out of beta on April 27, 2015.[1] KSP has large support for game mods and a large community to create them,[4] which developed shortly after the game's initial release.[5] Notable members of the space industry have taken an interest in the game, such as NASA[6] and Elon Musk of SpaceX.[7]
Gameplay
A rocket (preloaded ship "Kerbal X") sitting on the launchpad with the Vehicle Assembly Building and Mün, Kerbin's nearer moon.
The player controls a nascent space program operated by Kerbals, a race of small green humanoids, who have constructed a fully furnished and functional spaceport (known as the Kerbal Space Center, or KSC) on their homeworld Kerbin, similar to Earth. Despite being shown as funny cartoon-like little green men, sometimes lacking common sense,[8] they have shown themselves to be able to construct very well-made spacecraft parts and perform experiments in the lab.
Gameplay consists of constructing rockets and spaceplanes out of a provided set of components and launching them from the in-game space center's launch pad or runway, then going on to complete their desired mission while averting catastrophic failure.
Due to the complexity of orbital physics and the development of spacecraft, the game can be difficult for new users.[9]
Missions (Either player-set or proposed in the form of "contracts" with set parameters to achieve) generally involve, from simplest to most complex, achieving orbit, landing on the Mün or Minmus (Kerbin's two moons), landing on other planets,[10] capturing asteroids and creating space stations and bases.[11]
Once a spacecraft is built, it is placed on the launchpad or the runway and is ready for launch. Players control a spacecraft in all three dimensions with little assistance other than a stability system to keep a rocket pointed at a certain direction.[12] If the rocket has enough thrust and fuel, it is possible to reach orbit. In flight, to visualize the player's trajectory, the player must switch into map mode, which shows the orbit or trajectory of the current craft, and the current position of other spacecraft and planetary bodies.[12]
The game can be played in three different gamemodes that are selected when the player starts a new game: sandbox mode, science mode, and career mode.[13] In sandbox mode, players are free to attempt any mission for which they can construct a suitable vehicle, with no punishments for failure[14] (except the temporary death of Kerbals who died during a mission) and using entirely user-assigned missions.
In Science mode, the initial selection of parts is limited, with the more advanced parts unlocked via "Science",[13] in the Research and Development building, gained by performing various scientific experiments on Kerbin and throughout the solar system. Science mode was partially designed to ease new players into the game and prevent them getting overwhelmed.[15] Science gained on a mission needs to be received by the space port.[16] This can be done by transmissions via antennas[13] in the game, or recovery by a craft landing back on Kerbin. Career mode is an extension upon science mode, adding funds, reputation, and contracts. In order to build and launch new rockets, the players must complete contracts to earn funds to pay for the new parts. Reputation will affect how many contracts are given to the player in a future update (less reputation leads to fewer contracts).
While the game is not a perfect simulation of reality, it has been praised for its representation of orbital mechanics.[18][19] Every object in the game except the celestial bodies themselves are under the control of a Newtonian dynamics simulation. Rocket thrust is applied accurately to a vehicle's frame based on the positions in which the force-generating elements are mounted. The strength of the joints connecting parts together is finite and vehicles can be torn apart by excessive or inappropriately directed forces.
The in-game astronauts, known as "Kerbals", have some physics calculations applied to them when they are on extra vehicular activities. For example, hitting an object with only the Kerbal's feet will send them into a tumble, which is a potential hazard in real-life spaceflight as well. While on EVA, Kerbals may use their very capable space suit to maneuver around.
Some celestial bodies have atmospheres of varying heights and densities, affecting the efficiency of wings and parachutes and causing drag during flight. The simulations are accurate enough that real-world techniques such as Hohmann transfers and aerobraking are viable methods of navigating the solar system. Atmospheres thin out into space, but have finite height unlike real atmospheres.
Kerbal Space Program takes some liberties with the scaling of its solar system for gameplay purposes.
Development
Kerbal Space Program is written in C# and uses the Unity engine.
The game is currently in the beta stage of development and is considered by the developers to only be an approximation of the final product.[21] New features are added regularly in updates to the game, although Squad makes a point of not announcing release dates in advance. Squad publishes a developer blog[22] where upcoming features are discussed. The date for the final release has been announced as April 27, 2015.[1]
The game's first public release was Alpha 0.7.3 on June 24, 2011. Versions 0.13.3 (March 3, 2012) and 0.18.3 (February 12, 2013) are available, in limited form, as demos; they are available at no cost, but have limited content and cannot receive updates. The latest version of the game, 0.90, was released on December 15, 2014.[11]
Squad has also made an Asteroid Mission Pack (update 0.23.5) with full support from NASA, that was released on April 1, 2014. It is based on a real-life initiative to send humans out to study asteroids.[11][23] The full game will be released on April 27, 2015.[1]
Reception
Commercial
In the hours after its Steam release on March 20, 2013 it reached the top 5 of best sold games,[3] as well as the best seller on Steam for Linux.[24]
The game has notably crossed over into the scientific community with scientists and members of the space industry having an interest in the game – including NASA,[6]SpaceX,[33] and ESA.[34]
