Kerbal Space Program 2 News

"Sustained" development of Kerbal Space Program is over as devs shift focus to KSP2

This week Kerbal Space Program received a new update in the form of version 1.12.2. This new patch not only completes the 1.12 version as a whole, but developer Squad has announced that "sustained development" for the popular simulation game is now over. "We are now shifting gears towards the development of KSP2," the patch notes read, "Even though we still may release a minor patch here and there when needed."

Patch 1.12.2 may not be a full version shift, but it still comes with over 90 bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and even a couple new parts, with complete overhauls of the LV-T30 Reliant and LVT-45 Swivel liquid fuel engines and the brand new ground anchor.

Squad originally announced back in June that the 1.12: On Final Approach update would be the last major release for the space game, and now the team is going to be joining Intercept Games as it works towards KSP2's (current) 2022 release window. Kerbal Space Program has been in active development since 2010, and first first released to the public on June 24, 2011. Squad launched version 1.0 in 2015, and then Take-Two, via its Private Division indie label, acquired the studio and the KSP rights in 2017.

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Stare into the Mun's lovely craters in this Kerbal Space Program 2 footage

This is delightful. Most games struggle through the tangled thorns of PR, marketing, and that one dude who spots errors from seven miles away, before getting a single screenshot to you. But this little glimpse into Kerbal Space Program 2’s progress is via their show and tell sessions on the official forums, where the team gathers up what they’ve been working on and shares it with the community. In April and May, the clouds got fluffier, the terrain more specular, and the Mun really embraced its impact craters.

There’s not a lot here, but what there is has made me very happy. I’ve officially given up trying to mod Kerbal Space Program after watching the work being put into the skies and terrain for the second game. I’ll happily wait to split these clouds with my best attempt at a rocket.

The Mun really caught my eye. It’s gorgeous. Every shade of grey imaginable, covered in overlapping impact craters, shadows piling up in every scoop of dirt. I'm going to spend weeks admiring it as I work out how to get there without sacrificing my grinning little Kerbalnauts.

Kerbal Space Program 2 is a game about rocket science, and famously, rocket science is not an easy thing to learn. The first KSP gave plenty of people an education in space exploration, but you really needed external help to get there. KSP2 will make that learning process easier in-game without reducing the simulation's complexity - in a new video, the devs suggest that while you're still climbing Mount Everest, you're getting some guides to help you on the way.

To help explain the complex scientific principals that it simulates, KSP2 is getting cartoons. A series of animated tutorial videos will kick in throughout the game (if you want), illustrating things like orbits and engine sizes with comedic interludes.

Thrust, for example, is represented by a pair of riders on a tandem bicycle - a brawny kerbal pushes the team up a massive hill, and a leaner kerbal drops the big guy's dead weight to continue the ride, offering a simple visual metaphor for why you need booster rockets and smaller engines.

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Here's how Kerbal Space Program 2 will use cartoons to get you into orbit

Space knower and Iain M. Banks reader (check his bookshelf) Scott Manley says Kerbal Space Program is a "gateway drug to physics", which I sort of agree with. For me, the rocket sim was an education in things like "apoapsis" and "periapsis", and I felt slightly more informed for having played it. But it’s not a good teacher, really, which is one of the things Kerbal Space Program 2 hopes to remedy. The game will still be tough, the processes still hugely complex, but you’ll hopefully be able to play it without needing to consult a smart friend or a YouTube playlist.

The Kerbal Space Program 2 release date might not landing until 2022, but developer Intercept Games has been posting some tidbits about the upcoming space game to tide fans over in the meantime. A new dev blog takes a look at the little spacefaring green dudes themselves, revealing that there are some changes in store compared to the first title - namely, they'll have a slightly more heightened reaction to you stuffing up your side of things.

"There's a cartoonish exaggeration to all of [kerbals'] emotions, in particular the panic," says Tom Vinita, Intercept Games senior designer. "In KPS1, kerbals would start looking very nervous when they were about to crash. Now, they will be screaming and flailing. It's a really good effect," the dev jokes as he illustrates the, well, screaming and flailing alongside dome pre-alpha footage of a kerbal's interstellar meltdown (excellent squealing included).

Additionally, the devs chat about some tweaks to the kerbals' designs and animations that will be implemented into the upcoming PC game - though it sound like the spirit of the first title will carry over into the next.

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Kerbal Space Program 2 News

"Sustained" development of Kerbal Space Program is over as devs shift focus to KSP2

Stare into the Mun's lovely craters in this Kerbal Space Program 2 footage

Kerbal Space Program 2 has cartoon tutorials and procedural wings

Here's how Kerbal Space Program 2 will use cartoons to get you into orbit

Kerbal Space Program 2 changes mean kerbals scream and flail when you stuff up