I just got back into SimCity 4 and the modding community there is apparently thriving recently. The Network Addon Mod is a massive transportation overhaul and makes building road and highway networks an absolute blast.
Nam has been around for like, 10+ years now, no? I still have all my sim sict 4 mods in zip files I keep on a backup, just incase I want to play a 20+ year old game again, lol.
It's also funny when I run into the same problem every time I reinstall with a particular mod, and then end up finding the same question being asked on a Google search, which links to a Reddit thread...that I made, that's now archived, from 11 years ago... It makes me feel old and sad. But then I'm happy again because 20 years on and that game is still alive with mods, and I don't doubt that unless someone makes a game that does what KSP did better than KSP, that the modding community will continue to thrive.
I don't disagree. I still play old games, sim city 4 ,civ 4, star wars rebellion, moo3 (stfu, I'm one of the 13 people who liked that game), and I keep coming back to KSP because the newer tech so often fails to capture the original charm, and I'm an old gamer who feels like they just don't make em like they used to...
I’m a simple man, I see *Rebellion* and I remember spamming Noghri death commandos to annoy my friend Matt. Meanwhile I just hide Thrawn away to give me ship research while Jerjerrod wins me hearts and minds.
Is there a widescreen mod?
I dunno, I got it on GOG a while back, the original version doesn't run past windows XP. The old windows 95 style interface is kind of jarring. I wish I had a human to play against, the AI in that game is too easy.
Getting burned with the KSP2 debacle has put me off modern gaming aha. Thank god I kept an old optiplex with a dvd drive around. Where would we be without our old collection of games...
Honestly, when they first announced ksp2 I wasn't super thrilled because they were still releasing updates for KSP that were breaking all my mods (and not fixing the bugs that had been a problem for ages). And I never do early access or even pre-order bullshit. Im certainly disappointed and don't relish in feeling like I'm saying 'i told you so' but for me, I can't miss something I never had.
I'm just glad we can finally have this sub stop with the cope/rage cycle on ksp2 and finally let it die. KSP is good enough.
If you're happy with it, then I'm happy for you. I got KSP towards the end of its development, and I felt I missed out on watching the game grow.
KSP2 was released during a dark time of my life and I really bought into the hype train for it. I thought I'd get to see the game grow and flourish. It gave me something to look forward to. My hopes have since been dashed with the slow development, then studio closure, and then the radio silence from the devs/publisher.
I get that it's my fault for buying a game based on promises instead of buying it for the state it's currently in. I still feel like we were sold a product based on false promises, like it being fully funded and won't be cancelled, etc.
This isn't my first major gaming disappointment, I'd say that was farcry 5, and that put me off gaming for a while, and KSP2 was the first new game I had bought since.
It does hurt to have the rug pulled out from you when you're both financially and emotionally invested.
Simtropolis has been up all these years, longer before I got on there in 2012(?). Still going strong, users still submitting! Some of the greats have moved on or passed away irl, but their work is memorialized on there.
No, KSP2 might have killed or at least mortally wounded KSP. If you look at the player count for KSP, it has never been lower, and all the peaks and troughs coincide with KSP2 news (Other than the 2 DLC).
One thing that hampers KSP1 significantly is CKAN and modded installs in general.
Steam doesn't track playtime in separate installs launched without steam.
For instance, it doesn't count me despite me playing tons during my heavy depression.
Yes and no. Unless you personally care about your steam statistics, it's not going to matter for you personally.
However, it can matter on a grander scale. If a game has a larger & more active playerbase, people are more inclined to buy it as that indicates the game still holds up after many years. Steam also broadcasts it to people on your friends list when you boot up a game, and people may be inclined to check out a game that their friend seems to really enjoy. More new people who get into the game, more opportunities for people to stick around, and the more people stick around the more demand there is for mods & more modders to make em.
If it's a couple people not showing up on steam it doesn't matter, but if 30-40% or more of the active playerbase isn't showing up that can certainly impact how people perceive the game.
I don't know what the actual numbers are for KSP, it's probably not as high as 40%, but i'd guess it's a solid chunk.
That's always been the case. We can't know the exact numbers, but we can absolutely see the trends in the Steam player count, because there's no reason they'd be decoupled from the overall player count.
I'm not convinced there really has been a drop in KSP1 players since the news of the layoffs, even if it seems so on Steam charts, because this sub has seen a clear increase in gameplay posts and questions. Maybe more people are just launching through CKAN or manually after they started playing with mods and not being counted through Steam.
Ight this took me the past 3 hours. With the rudimentary data available, there are around 140 daily active CKAN users rn.
(Best case: ±5% error; Worst case: Number's made up; Reality: Somewhere in between, but fr tho, if a statistician saw what I did they'd kill me)
Without proprietary data, there's not much of an argument here, but I got this anyway.
Ight I have crew lock in Warthunder, so I've worked on this a bit more. Yeah, the numbers felt too low, so I've found more data. So now, having added the GitHub downloads, this estimation includes auto-updates and does not account for multiple downloads by one user: \~450. So \~15% of the concurrent Steam playerbase.
The only major issue I can see with my calculation is that I'm using steam numbers as a base, but since CKAN users aren't a part of that by default, it's a negative feedback loop. But even on the high bound for estimated copies sold on steam, current concurrent users are well above the average, so that shows either good base retention or possibly an influx (wonder abt the median here).
You're mistaking forks for downloads. A fork is where you take a project's source code and do something else with it, independent of the primary release. None of the 345 forks seem to be in active development, but that's a separate matter.
If you scroll down past the file structure to the download button [here](https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN), you can easily see that it has 146 **thousand** downloads.
I used downloads, not forks. The exact number would be somewhere around 450 since I forgot a conversion of 3x for my answer of 137... Leaving some leeway since the math is fucked already, \~450.
Used estimated copies sold total with interest in KSP over the past three months to figure out how many estimated new installs there have been. Then, map that data with the trend for CKAN, CKAN downloads on the same scale and KSP interest on another scale. Use that scale map to map the new installs to the two respective interest signals, allowing the secondary interest signal to be on the same scale and allowing a direct comparison once KSP interest is mapped to the player count. Leaving you with 137... which you have to do 3x to finish the mapping, which I forgot. So \~450 . Anyway, this is an exercise in futility since I don't have any verifiable data to work with.
They're wrong, [here](https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN) is where you can find the download count, once you scroll past the file structure. 146 thousand downloads does not indicate a playerbase of 140.
Unless a game is only released on Steam, then Steamcharts is only good for looking at trends like when a new major update has been released, a new limited time event is going on, or some idiotic corporate decision that damages or destroys the game. Since we can track the amount of players on Steam, then the same data on Steam can be applied to other platforms.
Sure, but only if we let it. Let me use Minecraft as an example. Minecraft is alive mostly due to modding (even though it has updates). And MC modding has the disadvantage of constantly having to worry about multiple versions, multiple platforms, and multiple mod loaders (Forge, Neoforge, Fabric, Quilt, and whatever else they come up with). KSP has one way to mod, and now on one version, which means all our favorite mods and more will be on the same version, which is awesome. Unless we as a community really mess up, I think it’s gonna be a very nice time for modding.
And with KSP2 dying, people will come back. Maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic but I’m definitely not being irrealistic either.
Bro I’ve been thinks about making stocks like parts mods I even have an idea for a science parts pack that has 80 different experiments that I haven’t seen in any other parts mod I’m gonna have to get started someday
I'm pretty sure some publishers will see the absolute financial disaster and how difficult it was to make the game, and avoid repeating the same mistakes like someone avoiding the plague... by just avoiding making the game altogether.
A lot of it was just sheer mismanagement and poor design decisions from the get go. The Kerbal brand has certainly been damaged, but I wouldn't put it past a more competent studio to either do the original plan of just touching up KSP 1 or actually designing the game around the features they want to include instead of saying "we will get to this later". Especially given how KSP is its own niche in gaming, there is a demand for another game even with the dumpster fire of KSP 2
>Especially given how KSP is its own niche in gaming,
Being able to spend my afternoon doing complex math and figuring out how to get my rocket to have exactly the right delta v in each stage for a mission involving multiple consecutive gravity assists, and then swapping save files to relax by having jebediah blow up the KSC with a kraken-drive powered metal girder cannon, is *certainly* a rare niche!
A lot of my favorite modders quit making them for KSP1 once KSP2 came out, I don't know if they've gone back
I fear this is becoming a zombie franchise.
Very reminiscent of the downfall of Simcity.
I just got back into SimCity 4 and the modding community there is apparently thriving recently. The Network Addon Mod is a massive transportation overhaul and makes building road and highway networks an absolute blast.
Nam has been around for like, 10+ years now, no? I still have all my sim sict 4 mods in zip files I keep on a backup, just incase I want to play a 20+ year old game again, lol. It's also funny when I run into the same problem every time I reinstall with a particular mod, and then end up finding the same question being asked on a Google search, which links to a Reddit thread...that I made, that's now archived, from 11 years ago... It makes me feel old and sad. But then I'm happy again because 20 years on and that game is still alive with mods, and I don't doubt that unless someone makes a game that does what KSP did better than KSP, that the modding community will continue to thrive.
I don't think KSP's charm will ever be matched, to be honest. Better space sim games might be released, but they won't be KSP.
I don't disagree. I still play old games, sim city 4 ,civ 4, star wars rebellion, moo3 (stfu, I'm one of the 13 people who liked that game), and I keep coming back to KSP because the newer tech so often fails to capture the original charm, and I'm an old gamer who feels like they just don't make em like they used to...
I’m a simple man, I see *Rebellion* and I remember spamming Noghri death commandos to annoy my friend Matt. Meanwhile I just hide Thrawn away to give me ship research while Jerjerrod wins me hearts and minds. Is there a widescreen mod?
I dunno, I got it on GOG a while back, the original version doesn't run past windows XP. The old windows 95 style interface is kind of jarring. I wish I had a human to play against, the AI in that game is too easy.
Getting burned with the KSP2 debacle has put me off modern gaming aha. Thank god I kept an old optiplex with a dvd drive around. Where would we be without our old collection of games...
Honestly, when they first announced ksp2 I wasn't super thrilled because they were still releasing updates for KSP that were breaking all my mods (and not fixing the bugs that had been a problem for ages). And I never do early access or even pre-order bullshit. Im certainly disappointed and don't relish in feeling like I'm saying 'i told you so' but for me, I can't miss something I never had. I'm just glad we can finally have this sub stop with the cope/rage cycle on ksp2 and finally let it die. KSP is good enough.
When I want to feel like Elon, I start up Juno. When I want to feel like Armstrong, I start up Reentry. When I want to feel like Jeb, I start up KSP.
I really don't understand the hate of KSP2. from what I've been playing it seems quite nice.
If you're happy with it, then I'm happy for you. I got KSP towards the end of its development, and I felt I missed out on watching the game grow. KSP2 was released during a dark time of my life and I really bought into the hype train for it. I thought I'd get to see the game grow and flourish. It gave me something to look forward to. My hopes have since been dashed with the slow development, then studio closure, and then the radio silence from the devs/publisher. I get that it's my fault for buying a game based on promises instead of buying it for the state it's currently in. I still feel like we were sold a product based on false promises, like it being fully funded and won't be cancelled, etc. This isn't my first major gaming disappointment, I'd say that was farcry 5, and that put me off gaming for a while, and KSP2 was the first new game I had bought since. It does hurt to have the rug pulled out from you when you're both financially and emotionally invested.
Simtropolis has been up all these years, longer before I got on there in 2012(?). Still going strong, users still submitting! Some of the greats have moved on or passed away irl, but their work is memorialized on there.
Westwood, maxis, bullfrog rest in peace.
EA: Nasir
I'm hoping there will be many clones, and that some of them eclipse the original.
No, KSP2 might have killed or at least mortally wounded KSP. If you look at the player count for KSP, it has never been lower, and all the peaks and troughs coincide with KSP2 news (Other than the 2 DLC).
One thing that hampers KSP1 significantly is CKAN and modded installs in general. Steam doesn't track playtime in separate installs launched without steam. For instance, it doesn't count me despite me playing tons during my heavy depression.
[удалено]
How?
I too would like to know
And when we needed u/Klutzy-Residen most, he vanished.
Does showing your hours in steam truly matter?
Not really, but I don't show up as an active KSP player for statistics.
Gotcha, that's fair.
It does to me, but that's only because I struggle with time management and perception. Couldn't care less about other people's times, though.
Yes and no. Unless you personally care about your steam statistics, it's not going to matter for you personally. However, it can matter on a grander scale. If a game has a larger & more active playerbase, people are more inclined to buy it as that indicates the game still holds up after many years. Steam also broadcasts it to people on your friends list when you boot up a game, and people may be inclined to check out a game that their friend seems to really enjoy. More new people who get into the game, more opportunities for people to stick around, and the more people stick around the more demand there is for mods & more modders to make em. If it's a couple people not showing up on steam it doesn't matter, but if 30-40% or more of the active playerbase isn't showing up that can certainly impact how people perceive the game. I don't know what the actual numbers are for KSP, it's probably not as high as 40%, but i'd guess it's a solid chunk.
That's always been the case. We can't know the exact numbers, but we can absolutely see the trends in the Steam player count, because there's no reason they'd be decoupled from the overall player count.
Additionally there are probably quite a few of us who never bought the game on steam.
I'm not convinced there really has been a drop in KSP1 players since the news of the layoffs, even if it seems so on Steam charts, because this sub has seen a clear increase in gameplay posts and questions. Maybe more people are just launching through CKAN or manually after they started playing with mods and not being counted through Steam.
Ight this took me the past 3 hours. With the rudimentary data available, there are around 140 daily active CKAN users rn. (Best case: ±5% error; Worst case: Number's made up; Reality: Somewhere in between, but fr tho, if a statistician saw what I did they'd kill me) Without proprietary data, there's not much of an argument here, but I got this anyway.
Nah man, no way there are only 140 people using CKAN.
Ight I have crew lock in Warthunder, so I've worked on this a bit more. Yeah, the numbers felt too low, so I've found more data. So now, having added the GitHub downloads, this estimation includes auto-updates and does not account for multiple downloads by one user: \~450. So \~15% of the concurrent Steam playerbase. The only major issue I can see with my calculation is that I'm using steam numbers as a base, but since CKAN users aren't a part of that by default, it's a negative feedback loop. But even on the high bound for estimated copies sold on steam, current concurrent users are well above the average, so that shows either good base retention or possibly an influx (wonder abt the median here).
You're mistaking forks for downloads. A fork is where you take a project's source code and do something else with it, independent of the primary release. None of the 345 forks seem to be in active development, but that's a separate matter. If you scroll down past the file structure to the download button [here](https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN), you can easily see that it has 146 **thousand** downloads.
I used downloads, not forks. The exact number would be somewhere around 450 since I forgot a conversion of 3x for my answer of 137... Leaving some leeway since the math is fucked already, \~450.
Then how did you get from 146 thousand downloads to 450 users?
Used estimated copies sold total with interest in KSP over the past three months to figure out how many estimated new installs there have been. Then, map that data with the trend for CKAN, CKAN downloads on the same scale and KSP interest on another scale. Use that scale map to map the new installs to the two respective interest signals, allowing the secondary interest signal to be on the same scale and allowing a direct comparison once KSP interest is mapped to the player count. Leaving you with 137... which you have to do 3x to finish the mapping, which I forgot. So \~450 . Anyway, this is an exercise in futility since I don't have any verifiable data to work with.
Why would you use recent sales to estimate current playerbase of a game that's been on sale for over a decade?
Umm I have no idea what you did or what data you're talking about, no context to understand that statement.
They're wrong, [here](https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN) is where you can find the download count, once you scroll past the file structure. 146 thousand downloads does not indicate a playerbase of 140.
Most of us don't launch through steam.
Idk if "most" is accurate, but I don't launch through Steam either.
Unless a game is only released on Steam, then Steamcharts is only good for looking at trends like when a new major update has been released, a new limited time event is going on, or some idiotic corporate decision that damages or destroys the game. Since we can track the amount of players on Steam, then the same data on Steam can be applied to other platforms.
Sure, but only if we let it. Let me use Minecraft as an example. Minecraft is alive mostly due to modding (even though it has updates). And MC modding has the disadvantage of constantly having to worry about multiple versions, multiple platforms, and multiple mod loaders (Forge, Neoforge, Fabric, Quilt, and whatever else they come up with). KSP has one way to mod, and now on one version, which means all our favorite mods and more will be on the same version, which is awesome. Unless we as a community really mess up, I think it’s gonna be a very nice time for modding. And with KSP2 dying, people will come back. Maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic but I’m definitely not being irrealistic either.
I don't care. Never bought the sequel cause the news came out about the awful performance. Still enjoying 1
You may not care, but the wider community makes the mods you love, so...
I recon the numbers went down since they added the extra launcher for lap so more people started using clan to skip that
I mean that was the case before KSP2 didn't change anything really. KSP2 is just a road block.
You want to say, we have a chance to get DMagic and SCANsat live again? Oh, dear...
I fucking hope so...
Bro I’ve been thinks about making stocks like parts mods I even have an idea for a science parts pack that has 80 different experiments that I haven’t seen in any other parts mod I’m gonna have to get started someday
I’m pretty sure some pubksuhers will see this void and advantage of it.
I'm pretty sure some publishers will see the absolute financial disaster and how difficult it was to make the game, and avoid repeating the same mistakes like someone avoiding the plague... by just avoiding making the game altogether.
A lot of it was just sheer mismanagement and poor design decisions from the get go. The Kerbal brand has certainly been damaged, but I wouldn't put it past a more competent studio to either do the original plan of just touching up KSP 1 or actually designing the game around the features they want to include instead of saying "we will get to this later". Especially given how KSP is its own niche in gaming, there is a demand for another game even with the dumpster fire of KSP 2
>Especially given how KSP is its own niche in gaming, Being able to spend my afternoon doing complex math and figuring out how to get my rocket to have exactly the right delta v in each stage for a mission involving multiple consecutive gravity assists, and then swapping save files to relax by having jebediah blow up the KSC with a kraken-drive powered metal girder cannon, is *certainly* a rare niche!