Forum francophone de Kerbal Space Program
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.fr/
https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.fr/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2246
LOVE the new Career Mode. What can we expect to see in its future development?
HarvesteR: As for what's coming in the near future for Career Mode, We've got a couple of major features that we are already planning, which will be closely integrated with the existing gameplay, and I daresay if it all goes as planned, should make for a pretty awesome overall experience.
More specifically, we've got Contracts coming soon, which will let you take on proper objectives, to earn funds and reputation (or lose them) should you succeed (or fail).
Then there's the Funds and Reputation mechanic itself, which will require you to spend funds to launch ships or hire crews, and manage your space program's reputation to get better contract offers and generally keep Kerbalkind pleased with your progress towards conquering space.
This is just a very brief explanation of those features. We'll get into more detail on them as we get there.
About the tech tree
HarvesteR: The tech tree was always meant to work as an introduction tool to KSP. A more 'conventional' tutorial would have probably worked too, but it would be exceedingly long and pretty boring. Plus, I think a game should always give players means to discover it by simply playing, and this is what we set out to do with R&D.
I don't think any player, veteran or first-timer, would enjoy sitting through an overly long 'lesson' on what each part does. And more importantly, they wouldn't get to experience first hand the problems that some parts exist to solve. If you've never experienced the problem of tall ships falling over on the pad, then you won't fully appreciate the fact that launch clamps exist.
In the end, the R&D system works to let everyone experience the process of gradually developing your space program, learning as you go how to overcome the problems you encounter. For new players, this allows them to get into the game without having to sit through an introduction, and for veterans, the restrictions are also a good thing, as they set them (or rather 'us') up with new challenges that require us to come up with new ways to tackle old problems.
In one of the denotes chad (c7) said that there would be secondary propellants. What does this mean. Are we going to get different fuel types.
c7studios: This means that an engine can switch propellants that it's using to an alternative. For example, if your engine is running on air from intakes, it could seamless switch to using oxidizer as a backup. It will be useful for creating hybrid engines.
Have you considered expanding the Kerbol system further, or adding other star systems?
HarvesteR: We've certainly thought about it a lot, but right now, we feel it's more important to have more things to do in the current solar system, than to go on adding more places that in the end will just be more variations of the same terrain system.
Take for instance when we first added docking, It gave a whole new importance to simply being in orbit around Kerbin. Or how with the addition of R&D, even landing on different spots on good old Kerbin now had all new purposes.
This is what I mean with 'more to do on the current system'. I think in the long run, these sorts of things will increase the depth of the gameplay far more than just adding more places to visit, without having new things to do when you get there.
What are your plans on expanding the engine? (Multicore support/ physical timewarp > 4/ no stuttering when hugecrafts)
Samssonart: A lof of this is dependant on Unity, we usually go through the change log of a new Unity update the second it is announced and see what improvements can be made with new Unity features and bug fixes.
C7: We're constantly working on polish and performance in between adding new content to the game. 0.23 is bringing an upgrade to the base engine, along with a large amount of performance optimization and overhauls.
I'm tired of telling people to install texture reduction packs - what's the progress on 64bit Unity support for windows/OSX
Harvester: So far we haven't had good results with the 64-bit builds, they've mostly been unstable and crashing randomly.
We're always re-testing them on new Unity releases though, and lately, there's been a few good steps forward in that area, so a 64-bit build could be a reality in the not-too-distant future.
Mis à jour :
How much have you grown as a programmer since beginning this process? Any anecdotes about either eureka moments, or having implemented something by hand only to learn later that there was a built-in that offered the same function?
Harvester: Let’s put it like this: Before KSP, I had never worked with C# for anything over 300 lines of code. It’s been a massive learning experience from day one, and we keep on learning every day.
As for an eureka moment, I have two that always come to mind that marked moments where if we lived in an RPG game, a heavenly light would have beamed down over me with a “Lvl Up!” message. The first one was when I realized that the solution to have planets rotate without completely breaking physics was to use a rotating reference frame, and how rotating frames mean applying centrifugal and coriolis forces. A quick look through Wikipedia confirmed that this idea was in fact correct, and I think the levelling up special fx would have happened right about there.
The second ‘level up’ moment was when I realized that the simplest way to implement docking was to merge vessels. Up until then, we were struggling on this feature, and having a really hard time attempting to wrap our heads around how to manage multiple vessels connected together, and the many, many edge cases that would arise from it. Merging vessels was dismissed as an option at first, because it would mean vessels would lose their identities. I realized though, that that was a simpler problem to work around than all other alternatives, and the level up fx came up a second time.
There were many other such moments, and yes, looking back at old code can be a very shameful experience sometimes, but such is the way of programming. I’d hate to find code that I wrote a long time ago and think it was better than code I’m writing now.
c7Studios: Before KSP I had only worked with C++. Moving to C# and the concept of scripting was a pretty major adjustment for me.
It's been a great learning experience, and I work with an awesome team that is always very helpful and supportive of learning new skills.
I have to agree with Harvester on old code. Every time I go back I have to wonder what I was thinking at the time. It's just like with artwork, when you go back and look at old work, you can very easily spot the flaws that you didn't see at the time.
My question is what do you plan to do to make bases and stations more of a useful option when playing?
c7studios: The lab module that's coming in 0.23 should help to make bases more relevant. You won't be able to constantly reset and transmit data to get more science. Having a landed base on site will allow to process experiments and transmit them at a higher return.
What other features have fallen off the table permanently? Like decals?
HarvesteR: Very few things ever get discarded altogether. What usually happens is that they evolve and morph into other (better) ideas, so nothing is really a complete waste. That said, some features are of higher priority than others, of course, so we always have to make a choice about where to apply our time and effort.
Do you expect to continue working on the KSP franchise for years to come? Will the game continue to grow and stay relevant through development, sequels, or expansion packs OR will you finish the game and allow the mod community to grow it from there?
Maxmaps: As far as the currently visible future goes, we are nowhere near done with the development of Kerbal Space Program. We'll keep updating the game as we add things to it like we have been so far.
And thank you for playing KSP, without fans like you this game would still be just a mad dream in HarvesteR's head.
Hi Squad! I want to say thank you for making such an amazing game! Do you have any plans to "flesh out" Kerbin? Like adding cities or rivers?
Not on the near future, but there is plenty of room for Kerbin to grow.
Will KSP ever have comets?
Maxmaps: Once we're done making all the huge bodies in our solar system interesting and important to visit, we'll have time to consider smaller ones.
There has been some confusion about what exactly was done to the behavior of nose cones. Could you elaborate on how they help to stabilize the craft?
Maxmaps: Nosecones now have a lower drag coefficient than other parts in the game. The way our aerodynamics model works, if you put them on top of something, this will aid that something point in the direction the nosecones are placed on.
Comme quoi tout arrive. 
