Kerbal Space Program
Latest
'Kerbal Space Program 2' finally arrives on February 24th
'Kerbal Space Program 2' will finally be available to play on February 24th as an Early Access release.
The best educational apps to stay sharp throughout the school year
Find the best learning tools, apps and courses online to aid you in your studies.
‘Kerbal Space Program’ gets an interstellar flight sequel
It's been four years since Kerbal Space Program (KSP) -- the spacecraft building and flight simulation game -- officially launched. While Elon Musk once called the title "awesome" and joked that SpaceX used KSP for testing software, it was due for a refresh. Today, Private Division announced that Kerbal Space Program 2 (KSP2) will arrive in 2020. As part of the reveal, it released cinematic trailer and a (dramatic) developer story.
Blast off with 'Kerbal Space Program' on PlayStation 4
Did you miss out on sending members of tiny Kerbal alien race into space because you previously had nowhere to enjoy Kerbal Space Program? That's all about to change if you've got a PlayStation 4, as the quirky little simulator is launching July 12th.
Nintendo@PAX: Wii U gets 'F-Zero'-style racer, 'Kerbal' and more
Nintendo helped kick off Seattle's annual PAX Prime gaming convention with a focus on the indie scene. The Nindies@Night event at the EMP Museum gave fans a chance to check out 19 indie games on the Wii U and 3DS -- and interact with the developers themselves. Among the highlights: Developer Shin'en showed off two-player split-screen support in its very F-Zero-esque Fast Racing Neo; Squad talked about bringing Wii U-specific features to Kerbal Space Program; and Yacht Club Games unveiled a certain shovel-wielding Amiibo figure.
'Kerbal Space Program' is coming to PS4
Imaginative rocket designers have good news out of E3 tonight, as the Kerbal Space Program team revealed that its quirky construction and space flight simulation is coming to the PlayStation 4. There's no release date yet, just the announcement, but it's yet another notable score on Sony's list of indie developer wins. Considering it took a couple of years for the original to go from Steam Early Access star to official release we wouldn't hold our breath, but hopefully the team has enough resources to make a quick transition to the console.
Sound Off! What games have you spent the most time playing?
Recently, I took a look through my Steam library and realized that I've spent a lot of time playing games. From old standbys like Civilization to more recent titles like Kerbal Space Program, there's hundreds hours of my life sunk into some of these titles. Let's not even get started on colleagues and friends who've played thousands of hours of WoW and Dark Souls. Which games have you found yourself obsessed with and how many hours of your life have you devoted to them? Head over to the Engadget forums to share your top games or post about them below.
Kerbal Space Program adds contracts to expanded Career Mode
Those hoping Kerbal Space Program might offer more space agency management and less blasting adorable Kerbals to their death in the icy void of space should be pleased with the newly-launched First Contract update. "Players will now have the opportunity to take on Contracts, manage Funds, a new in-game currency that allows players to buy rocket and plane parts, and earn Reputation for their efforts," reads the update's official description. "Reputation is raised for completed contracts and bringing Kerbals back in one piece. Failing missions, or gasp, blowing them up lowers Reputation." According to Squad, Contracts appear based on a player's reputation. Your space program starts at neutral, then after completing a series of starter contracts the game dynamically generates new contracts which range from testing spaceship parts to rescuing a hapless Kerbal who has become lost in orbit. Complete your mission in time and your reputation will be enhanced, leading to new, more complex contracts. The First Contract update for Kerbal Space Program is available to players at no charge. For more information, take a look at the immense FAQ Squad has prepared. [Image: Squad]
NASA will use video games to rekindle our love of space travel
The Kerbal Space Program folks teaming with NASA was pretty cool, right? Well, it wasn't an accident. The US aeronautics outfit is embracing the space-travel sim as a means to get the public interested in leaving our planet once again -- much like the televised Apollo launches were for generations prior. Thanks to NASA, the development team has even started a collaboration with educators to create a classroom-focused version of Kerbal, where teachers can assign specific tasks to their students for homework.
Papers, Please and The Last of Us honored at GDC awards show
Designer Lucas Pope came close to apologizing for his frequent appearance on stage at 2014's Indie Games Festival Awards, collecting award after award for Papers, Please. The dystopian game of bureaucracy and hard-earned immigration was recognized by a panel of industry peers for its considered narrative, game design, and ... downloadability? Pope couldn't help but poke fun at the vestigial "Best Downloadable Game" category, noting the distinct advantage of making a game that's a quick 40MB download. Papers, Please also won for innovation in the Game Developers Choice Awards, the more mainstream half of the evening's show. Naughty Dog's own take on dystopia, The Last of Us, won here for best design, best narrative, and best overall game of the year. (This despite fellow nominee Super Mario 3D World having some pretty sweet overalls.) For the rest of the winners, including some gongs for Device 6, Risk of Rain and Grand Theft Auto 5, please see below.
NASA taps Kerbal Space Program to replicate real space mission
The actual rocket scientists at NASA have joined forces with the virtual rocket scientists of the Kerbal Space Program to update the indie space simulation with legitimate technology and an actual, real-world, ongoing mission. Kerbal Space Program: Asteroid Redirect Mission shares its name with NASA's ongoing attempt to land astronauts on an asteroid orbiting beyond our moon. Details on how this crucial effort will translate to the video game are currently scant, but representatives from NASA and Kerbal Space Program developer Squad will be on hand at the upcoming SXSW culture festival to offer the first public look at the update. "Kerbal Space Program is about giving gamers the chance to dream big, even if they're not astrophysicists," wrote lead developer Felipe Falanghe. "This relationship with NASA, the very beacon of big dreams and imagination, is going to give players a real opportunity to learn about the universe we're living in." Full details on when and where SXSW attendees can witness the demonstration can be found at the festival's website. [Image: Squad]
Transformers' Starscream takes flight in Kerbal Space Program
We've all seen Transformers do their titular thing with ease but, when slowed down, it's quite the complicated and laborious process. There are a lot of hinges and gaskets and pistons that have to move around in different stages in order to turn a gigantic bipedal robot into an airplane. That's exactly what's so interesting about this Kerbal Space Program video, which shows how user Hooptiej built a fully-transforming Starscream model into the game. It's not the exact Starscream we remember from the TV show when we were growing up, but it's impressive nonetheless. Unfortunately, this version of Starscream isn't the most adept at flying. A few seconds after a clumsy take-off, Starscream came careening back to Earth – at least, that's what HooptieJ says. In the interest of saving face, the video cuts away before we can see Starscream crash. [Image: HooptieJ]
Kerbal Space Program plots course for the classroom
Hoping to make rocket science a bit more palatable to the average person, the developers behind Kerbal Space Program have joined forces with TeacherGaming to launch a modified version of the game called KerbalEdu. Kerbal Space Program, for those unaware, is a construction game that gives players a wide range of components, then asks them to build and launch a spacecraft. The game's physics are meticulously detailed, making this easier said than done. In the course of designing a functional spaceship, players will repeatedly crash, explode and lose ships in increasingly spectacular fashion, but with each failure they learn a bit more about how to push their rocket into space. This is what KerbalEdu hopes to capitalize on. "KSP is about making rocket science fun, which is why we didn't need any complex algorithms to realize an educational version is a great extension," said Adrian Goya, co-owner of Kerbal Space Program developer Squad. The first release of KerbalEdu has yet to appear, but TeacherGaming has revealed plans to alter the game's UI to make data collection more simple and akin to real world scientific methods. Further, the educational developer also plans to build a series of lessons into the game that focus on specific topics. These will be complemented by more traditional educational materials which expand upon the lessons taught by the game. Educators interested in this modification can follow its progress and receive details on how to employ it in the classroom on the official KerbalEdu website.
Antichamber 66% off on Steam today, Skullgirls free this weekend
Steam rolled out a new batch of limited-time PC game deals, dropping the price of the Escher-inspired first-person adventure game Antichamber by 66 percent as Lab Zero Games' 2D fighter Skullgirls gears up for a free weekend. Steam's Weekend Deal additionally drops the price of Overkill Software's multiplayer heist sim Payday 2 by 40 percent, to mark the release of its new Armored Transport DLC. Kerbal Space Program rounds out this weekend's deal selection with a 40 percent discount. Skullgirls is also available at a discounted rate over the course of its free weekend, ending Monday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
Kerbal Space Program update opens the R&D wing for business
Kerbal Space Program has issued a new update, version 0.22, adding research and development functionality and scientific experiments to Career mode. The data gathered through research and scientific experiments furthers the player's abilities by unlocking access to new parts for potential spacecraft and space stations. New experiment modules, running a variety of experiments accruing even more data, may then be built to conduct tests around all celestial bodies found within the Kerbal solar system. This new functionality is available in the Career mode, where players can find a more structured introduction to Squad's indie space simulator's mechanics. Career mode is a new compliment to Kerbal Space Program's unguided Sandbox mode tasking players with building space craft and shooting them into space – a real trial and error game type that made up the foundation of the initial game. The 0.22 update also adds a lot of other minor features and tweaks to the existing game. Feel free to pore over it all in the patch notes past the break. Kerbal Space Program, Steam's first Early Access game, is available for the PC, Mac and Linux for $23 – both through Steam and the official KSP website.
The atypical story of Kerbal Space Program's indie flight to success
Making video games is what Felipe Falanghe always wanted to do. Unfortunately, that's not what his job was at Squad, an interactive marketing company in Mexico City, Mexico. Squad was responsible for creating multi-media installations to sell products from Samsung and Nissan to the Mexican market. So one day, in early 2011, Felipe approached his bosses and told them he wanted to make a game. "And it completely blew me away when they just said, 'Okay,'" Felipe told me during a meeting at PAX Prime. "I didn't believe them at first," he added, but his bosses were serious: If he brought them a good idea and a solid business plan, he would be free to go for it. This is when he wrote the design document for Kerbal Space Program, a sandbox space flight simulation game that has been quite successful since its launch through the Steam Early Access program in 2011. Felipe has been lead developer ever since.
