Squad, the studio behind Kerbal Space Program, has announced that development for the game has finally ceased after over 10 years. However, the developer has said that minor patches will be released for the game if and when required.
Besides the fact that it’s been over a decade since Kerbal Space Program launched in Early Access, Squad claims that the main reason for ceasing sustained development was so that the team could fully shift its focus to Kerbal Space Program 2.
As spotted by Eurogamer, the developer released update 1.12.2, which fixed over 90 bugs and added improvements like locking functionality to docking node rotations. It also revamped the LV-T30 Reliant and LVT-45 Swivel liquid fuel engines and introduced the Ground Anchor. In the patch notes, Squad stated that, “with this patch we are officially completing the 1.12 update, as well as the sustained development of the original KSP, as we are now shifting gears towards the development of KSP2.” While players can still report bugs via the bugtracker, the fixes may take some time due to the shift in focus to Kerbal Space Program 2.
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While there’s no fixed release date for the sequel, it was originally planned for a late 2020 launch, but was understandably delayed to Fall of this year because of the Covid 19 pandemic. However, that release date was once again pushed back to 2022. "We knew we were taking on an immense technical and creative challenge when we started this project," creative director Nate Simpson wrote in a forum post. "We’ve heard time and again from this community that quality is paramount, and we feel the same way." However, the team would regularly put out development diaries and updates.
One such developer diary focussed on how Kerbal Space Program 2 is designed to welcome new players. “There’s nothing about Kerbal Space Program that should stop anybody from enjoying it if they are enthusiastic about simulation games or the idea of space and space travel, or being able to build cool stuff,” said Executive Producer, Michael Cook in the video. “It’s important for us to get approachability right so that instead of trying this experience because of whatever it is that brought you to it, [you’re] sort of feeling that you are being stopped from finding your enjoyment. We’re helping you into that experience.”
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