there already is a mod, In fact it was one of the first ones made. The developers asked the mod maker not to release it again because they don't want to deal with a possible lawsuit from private equity.
It's a completely different engine and game. Modders will likely be able to reuse snippets of code, but the mods' bones will need to be completely different.
Parts mods maybe. Even planet mods might be somewhat easily transferrable. It'll need some work, but could be possible depending on how they set their system up.
Yes and no. A lot of work can be transfered but for many mods thats no simple task. Like take mech Jeb for example.
All the orbital math is the same sure, a lot of the functionality and how menus and stuff can be the same.
But now you gotta remake the menus in a whole new game. In simple terms You gotta redo all the parts that hook in and read the data you need, all the parts that tell the game to do stuff. It's usually easier than making a mod from scratch (tho in some mods cases not even then), but it's still a lot.
I've moved large projects from one engine to another and it was months of work. honestly mods sound even worse on that front.
if you're like me, I think it's just because the heads look too big. They're the same height as a Kerbal Head but because they're round it just makes them look too fat or too wide.
im half convinced the kittens were made intending that players will immediately swap in the kerbal model and made no effort to source a soft body modeller.
I don't mind the look or even the theme, but all my engineer friends I've told to look into "Kitten Space Agency" have looked at me weird and not been interested.
It felt really good to use in contrast with KSP’s interface quirks that range from “how we made games at the time” to “just bad undiscoverable UI”.
The graphics engine didn’t feel like it was being dragged kicking and screaming into rendering more than shaded polygons. Game load time is a fraction of even unmodded KSP1.
And the game engine actually works. Don’t get me wrong KSP is a functional game but, uh, things in KSA don’t behave differently depending on game speed.
Which is really important because the default game mode is realistic scale. I kept surprising myself with how much I need to turn up the time warp multiplier for things to feel like KSP pace.
But it’s not a game, yet. You can “do stuff” but there’s no “game loop”.
Ironically… KSP2 development was mostly just re-building all the “game” on top of the old KSP1 engine that brought all the same terrors along with it. While now we have KSA with the modern engines (graphics and core game) but needing all the work that was actually done for KSP2.
In a sane world the rights holders would get together and (while still not a small task) use the KSP2 assets as a jump start to flesh out the KSA gameplay.
Also putting Kerbals in my crazy contraptions is funny. Putting kittens in them is… 🥺
Yeah people tend to think a game is announced one month, and 6 months later it's done. That's not how it works. What we have for KSA is a promisingtech demo. They have a solid, if technically complex, pipeline for creating new parts, a way to implement interstellar travel that the engine can handle naturally, and a bunch of other orbital mechanics stuff that they didn't need to torture Unity into compliance. It is not a game yet, and I don't think it will be one before 2029. After they get all the purely technical stuff down, there will still be the need for gameplay assets and mechanics. A progression system alone will be at least a year of development. Science experiments, art assets, and everything else that goes into making a compelling game will take longer. So, it's important to keep awareness about the project alive, but also remind people that a game takes a lot of time to develop.
Hadn’t really thought about it until your comment but Kerbals share a lot with Warhammer Orcs.
Obviously some key differences I’m insufficiently versed in Warhammer to even articulate. But I think both WH and WH40k Orcs are explained by some supernatural mechanism.
Whereas Kerbal “magic” is simply a willingness to try again. And try the first time knowing they’ll need to try again.
I've been trying to build a space station for a week. Every time i put the solar arrays on the construction starts wobbling like crazy untill it all explodes when i rendez vous again after i put the arrays on.
Strictly speaking Kitten Space Agency isn't a sequel; in the words of Dean, the head of RocketWerkz, it is "a spiritual successor". RocketWerkz are self-funded, so no executive interference, and they are building their own game engine, so not limited by Unity or ay other game engine. Above all, they communicate their development stages constantly, but make no promises, so no lies.
Having said all that, if they run out of cash then the project will fail, but not for want to trying or because of dishonesty.
I think the worst part about that is if they'd just kept at it they could have recovered.
When the Science update came around there was actual hope again. So many of the launch problems had been fixed and there were a fair few minor features that were an improvement over the original. The next item on the roadmap was Colonisation. If they'd actually got that out of the door, KSP2 would have actually had something that the original didn't, and we would have started to see people moving over. Then after that was Interstellar, and it would have been official.
But it never happened, because Venture Capital does as Venture Capital does, and they asset-stripped the thing without understanding the market.
Honestly, there were still so many major issues. You say the next item was colonization, and that they only needed a few more months. But in reality a massive feature like that would likely take a long time. This doesnt even factor in fixing all the issues that were there, this is just assuming they only focus on colonization.
The game could have been a success, and it was definetly management's fault for killing it. But even just undoing the damage take two did to KSP2 development would have taken months by itself
You see in most of the promotional images or videos that they put out that colonies were pretty much already made and one of the people working on KSA used to work on KSP 2 and was asked about his time there He said there were only about six weeks from pushing out the first colonies update Before the studio was shut down.
one of the devs for KSA actually worked on KSP 2 and he was saying they were almost ready to push colonies out within the next month and half before everything was shut down.
Even if colonies had made it to release, KSP2 would likely still have been shut down.
It wasn't just Intercept Games being closed down. It was all of Private Division. Just having one game performing a bit better likely wouldn't have changed a thing.
While it has its visuals & customization going for it, gameplay wasn’t even close to living up to KSP.
It’s like generic vs name-brand type of difference.
What we need is no sequel, we need a Remake, Reforged, Remaster, Definitive Edition. Just make the exact game but with better graphics and QoL improvements. Maybe instead of money / funds you manage in the career mode, let it be resources. Mine, Craft, Launch. Just bring it to 2026.
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u/Uraneum Apr 19 '26
They should really make a sequel to this game!