During my brief love affair with DIY rocket sim Kerbal Space Program, I visited the London Science Museum and came out having learnt genuinely useful lessons about when to use my second stage rocket boosters. I could have looked that up online (and yeah, I did that too), but isn’t that fantastic? I can’t say for sure that I wouldn’t have wound up in the museum anyway, but Kerbal had to have been on my mind when I was deciding whether to visit. Nice one, video games.

I’d sort of forgotten Kerbal existed since then, but today’s launch of its first expansion has blasted it back onto my radar. Making History is free for anyone who bought the game before April 2013, and adds a new mission builder that lets you devise fiendish tasks for yourself and other players. That’s the Making part: the History part lets you reenact landmark moments “from spacewalking to crash landing on the Mun”.

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Space catastrophe simulator Kerbal Space Program will launch its first expansion on March 13th, the developers announced today. ‘Making History’ is a clever little name combining the expansion’s two big features: a Mission Builder to make your own missions; and a load of spaceship pieces and missions inspired by real-world historical space exploration. I can’t imagine what those might be, given that Kerbal’s sandbox already leads to replicating most of the human history of space travel and the little it doesn’t mostly involves dead animals, but sometimes it is nice to have someone lay out a goal for you. As promised, the expansion will be given free to players who bought Kerbal early enough. (more…)

Reminding us all that the term ‘indie’ is meaningless, Take-Two Interactive–the multi-billion-dollar owners of GTA devs Rockstar Games, Civ and XCOM studio Firaxis, and 2K–have launched an indie publishing label. It’s named Private Division and that combined with the logo makes me think: Twin Peaks-themed porn site. But they have gathered a fair number of big names for their initial lineup, including Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey from the new studio of Assassin’s Creed creative director Patrice D silet, a yet-unannounced RPG from Tim Cain and his Fallout cohorts at Obsidian Entertainment, games from fellas who worked on Battlefields and Halos, and Kerbal Space Program (which Take-Two now own). Hey, if leads to good games getting made, wank yourselves wild with your indie fantasies. (more…)

“Beep beep beep beep,” said Leonard Nimoy, imitating his favourite piece of space hardware. But what is one voice in the vast night sky? You want yourself a satellite network, Len my son. That’s the focus of update 1.2 for Kerbal Space Program [official site], which launched last night. It lets players link satellites and other hardware to bounce and boost signals all over, and also use satellites to map terrain. Oh, and the update makes your wheeled vehicles and flying vehicles more stable, less prone to wonky physics explosions – unless that’s what you really want, of course. … [visit site to read more]

One thing I love about spaceflight simulator Kerbal Space Program [official site] is that I’m yet to find two players who’ve shared identical experiences. I’ve only ever played in short bursts myself, but mastering takeoff still heads my to do list. Others I’ve chatted with speak of grand space voyages and interesting discoveries. Heck, Adam even prefers the game as a spectator sport, which speaks volumes for its wide-reaching appeal.

Which is why it’s a surprise to learn that lead developer Felipe Falanghe has announced his departure from Kerbal Space Program after five and a half years of service.

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One thing which makes Kerbal Space Program [official site] different from most, if not all, other space games is failure. In the short bursts I’ve played our Best Space Game of 2015, I’ve not saved the world or fought off alien invasions; I’ve struggled to assemble the most basic of rocket ships and have fumbled more take offs than I care to admit. My fleeting moments of success, though, have been great fun. The game’s “Turbo Charged” 1.1 update introduces a range of new features aimed to help amateurs like myself along, while also upping the challenge for those space veterans among us.

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We’ve been drawing up our end of year list here at RPS and in trawling through 2015’s releases, I found a fair few that I hadn’t played and feel like I really should have done. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been catching up. Here are the games I missed. Until now.

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What is the best space game of 2015? The RPS Advent Calendar highlights our favourite games from throughout the year, and behind today’s door is…

Kerbal Space Program!

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

Most films and books about actual human space exploration are about triumph. There are challenges and accidents along the way, but they’re stories of humans overcoming incredible odds in the noble pursuit of knowledge and exploration. Kerbal Space Program [official site] is different because it’s a game about the failures along the way, rather than the success that comes at the end.

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Kerbal Space Program [official site] is a game about exploration, vehicular design and physics. It involves triumph and tragedy, careful meticulous planning and improvised catastrophe. We asked Brendan to suit up and go forth, in the name of science.>

… [visit site to read more]