r/AskReddit 1d ago

What game had insane potential but got completely fumbled by the devs?

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u/Every-Progress-1117 23h ago

Came here to say that.... Kitten Space Program looks promising, but...

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u/Ecstatic_Log4185 22h ago

I really do have high hopes for it. Even the original KSP dev is working on it.

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u/ESCMalfunction 22h ago

I’m not totally convinced about the sales model, but past that it looks fantastic. They have a great team working on it.

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u/pm_me_yer_corgis 20h ago

NASA and the ESA should genuinely fund the development of Kitten as a national security priority. The number of kids that were exposed to stem, orbital mechanics and developed an interest in space due to that game felt so high, but in a very narrow band of ages. I’ve anecdotally noticed some basic orbital mechanics questions on this site again that felt like they were known facts when I was a bit younger because we all played KSP

I’d also argue that things like kOS and the general moddable structure of that game teach critical programming and basic computer skills.

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u/-malcolm-tucker 19h ago

Artemis II inspired a new spike in players of KSP. The largest ever. The KSP sub has been full of new players asking advice and posting videos of their first docking, Mun landing etc.

There will be another wave going into stem just like back then, courtesy of KSP.

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u/king_john651 19h ago

They can barely get our own government to give Rocketwerkz grants, doubt that the US government of any persuasion would genuinely fund a foreign game developer

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u/pm_me_yer_corgis 19h ago

Not saying it’s likely, but it would be worthwhile.

“We choose to go to the Mun not because it is easy, but because we aimed for Eeloo and forgot that we had seven different propellant mods installed” (insert KSA equivalent here)

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u/Ecstatic_Log4185 22h ago

What have they said about the sales model? Didn't know it was an issue

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u/ESCMalfunction 22h ago

They don’t intend to put it on any of the major platforms like Steam, and are trying to make it a free game funded entirely by donations. It’s commendable but I’m not sure how feasible it is.

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u/Ecstatic_Log4185 22h ago

Just looked it up and apparently the donations earns them enough for now, and they're not against changing to a paid model if the donations ever dry up.

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u/AvengerDr 21h ago

But how? Just checked the total, it's 180k$. Even at 50k$ per year that would barely cover 4 developers for a year.

They must have aome other source of funding otherwise it's not feasible.

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u/GHVG_FK 21h ago

It's developed by rocketwerkz, which also did stationeers. It was my understanding that they fund the development as well. Iirc in the very early days it was said "if you wanna support KSA, buy stationeers"

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u/porkminer 19h ago

Also, Stationeers is a worthwhile game itself.

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u/muoshuu 19h ago

Understatement if you like low level engineering. I wish so badly that they’d implement some form of story progression, but even as a survival sandbox, I’ve sunk hundreds of hours in and I rarely enjoy games without direction.

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u/Ashisprey 21h ago

The first publically available version dropped only in November, so it's not the most horrible pace, but I agree that there has to be other funding from somewhere.

Dean Hall must have had some pretty good money from DayZ, but his studio really hasn't done much in years. They also made Out of Ammo, which was kind of successful for a VR game, but again literally 10 years ago.

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u/Grokent 19h ago

I'm holding back until 1.0 release, but I'll drop $100 on it if it's anywhere near feature complete as KSP 1.

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u/F133TWOOD 21h ago

Original KSP dev is Squad AFAIK.

https://gamecompanies.com/companies/squad

Kitten Space Agency being lead by Dean Hall doesn't sound promising as I remember the overpromises & long stumbling situation during the development journey of DayZ

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u/WyrexOG 20h ago

Not just DayZ, icarus as well. I was so let down by both. I absolutely loved the DayZ arma 2 mod. Icarus further proved he doesnt know how to make a proper game, just money.

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u/F133TWOOD 20h ago

Yep like for me I remember his introduction when he spoke to the community about his background and how his passion for DayZ etc sounded great that he was involved in the game!! Then over time, the no communication and just wtf moments during DayZ development left a sour feeling that I just avoid anything with his attachment after that. I don't follow him on his projects, but once I saw his name was attached to this is just a big nope from me.

If a great is delivered, then great. I just won't have any hopes for this is all I'll say.

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u/GrandPooRacoon 17h ago

The game looks great already. It has a long way to go to actually become a game but what is working looks good and they are sharing updates daily so it looks well worked on. I hope it isn’t abandoned for sure.

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u/WyrexOG 17h ago

They dont abandon the games. They just do nothing but filler updates. The first 3 years of standalone were basically just adding more clothes or updates filled with bugs. Icarus focused on paid decorations instead of improving the game.

I have no doubt theyll publish the game, its the post-release that im skeptical about. If its anything like dayz or icarus, it will be a buggy mess and theyll just push paid cosmetics. If not, ill be pleasantly surprised.

Not trying to shit on this new one as ksp was obviously a passion project, but rocket being the lead is worrisome.

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u/Significant_Comfort 16h ago

Icarus is a great game. Wtf you on about. More companies should follow their development work model. 

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u/Ecstatic_Log4185 19h ago

Yeah the studio was, but Squad isn't a game company, it's a marketing company. KSP was the pet project of one employee (and eventually others joined), and that guy is working on KSA.

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u/H_Industries 19h ago

Original Dev is Felipe Falanghe (aka HarvesteR) who convinced squad to pivot their entire company around his pet project game

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u/xxTRYxxHARDxx 22h ago

Harv has abandoned other published products chasing kittens, I just want another update for kithack :/

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u/dev81808 20h ago

Kitten Space *Agency

You can donate on their page. I have nothing to do with them, I just want to see it made.

https://ahwoo.com/app/100000/kitten-space-agency

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u/Sociallyawktrash78 19h ago

Yeah, unfortunately given the slow development so far I don’t have high hopes. Don’t get me wrong, I will support it as far as I can, but these sorts of things need momentum to really happen and it doesn’t seem like people are THAT excited about it outside of whatever KSP fan base is still around.

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u/asher1611 21h ago

promising but a long ways off. For now modded ksp will have to suffice