"Kerbal Space Program: First Contract" is now live

in games on 2014-07-18 11:28 (#3R5)

The Kerbal Space Program has just released an update called "First Contract," a name chosen by the popular indie game's active user community. It introduces the concept of funds and contracts to the basic science career mode, giving a sense of purpose to the space agency simulator.

Other new aspects to the game with this update include all new agency icons (they were all fan-created and voted on), and the new factor of reputation as well: keeping those little green dudes alive actually takes on importance.¹ The game has all the goodness of a fully functional career mode, and there is now 64 bit support for both Windows and Linux (the Linux version has been 64 bit capable for some time now). If you have been hiding in a cave for the last 3 years here is a link to their homepage. Available through the website or Steam. $26.99 US at this time.

So, go forth and build rockets! In the famous words of Jebidiah Kerman, 'Splosions are the sprinkles on your ice cream sundae.'

¹ If reputation is a factor, I am in trouble for certain.

alive? (Score: 1)

by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2014-07-18 14:01 (#2JB)

keeping those little green dudes alive actually takes on importance

I assume that my kerbel that has been (accidentally) orbiting the sun for over a year counts as alive, right?

Re: alive? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-19 01:38 (#2JQ)

You should mount a rescue mission! It would be glorious!

Re: alive? (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-19 11:03 (#2JS)

Actually, that would be truly awesome. I've never played the game but it looks an awful lot more fun than first-person shooters, which bore me. These Kerbels are pretty close to Minions, no?

Re: alive? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-19 11:19 (#2JW)

They are a bit. I had a booster accident in one mission, where I knocked out the main engine on my capsule. I ended up managing to de-orbit my capsule with the RCS thrusters, although it took a while.

I haven't yet got myself a paid copy of the game, I've only played the freebie (older version, limited space hardware) but it's on my definitely buy list.

One day.

Re: alive? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-19 13:24 (#2K0)

You should definitely play it. (Same AC as before.) After a year-long absence, I started playing again tonight. After a couple of hours, I was building rockets and getting Kerbals into orbit - the look of terror on the face of one Kerbal was great, but the look of complete calm as his rocket later flipped upside down and slammed into the ground was even better.

It's a bit of work to get to grips with, but when your first rocket design breaks through the atmosphere and makes it into low orbit...

just freaking awesome.

Re: alive? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-19 18:56 (#2K1)

Congratulations, you have figured out how to override word-wrap. Consider this message a bug-report.

Re: alive? (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-07-20 20:25 (#2KD)

That would be the <pre> tag that ACs on slashdot abuse a lot too. Although it does tend to make the post stand out, it is not the ideal use of the tag. I kept it as an allowed tag mainly from tradition with slashcode and possibly for formatting short blocks of source code inside a comment.

Looks like I might need to break with tradition.

Re: alive? (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-20 20:55 (#2KE)

Slash and burn! No sense keeping options that aren't currently adding any value. I haven't seen anyone posting any code, really. If it becomes necessary later we can find another way.