The Indie Challenge: Kerbal Space Program - Week 10
I'm not the sort person who is fond of Indie games. I like my big name titles, my polished graphics and my big budgets. I dislike titles that I can't add to Steam or that can't use the processing power I've lovingly paid out for in my gaming rig. I am, for lack of a better term, a gaming snob. For this reason, I have given myself The Indie Challenge.
Each week, I will be playing at least one lesser known Indie game. I may not have enough time to complete said game, but I will at least try it. I'm doing this to attempt to expand my gaming horizons and stop being so focused on a small selection of game types. There is a whole world of gaming out there ready and waiting for me to come across.
I'll be posting a weekly blog following this challenge and detailing the game I've been playing as well as the game I will be playing next week. If you want to follow along with me, I'll be posting a link to the game.
Previous weeks:
Week 1 - Receiver
Week 2 - FTL: Faster Than Light
Week 3 - Reus
Week 4 - Thomas Was Alone
Week 5 - Home
Week 6 - Gunpoint
Week 7 - Guns of Icarus Online
Week 8 - Papers Please
Week 9 - Night of the Rabbit
I instantly regret this decision.
This week, I’ve been playing Kerbal Space Program, a spaceship crafting simulator where you play as the constructor and pilot of your own designed spaceship. It’s every kid’s dream to be able to take those crudely drawn ships and sent them sky high. However, it’s a little more complex than that.
To start off with, I just grabbed the default craft, the Kerbal X, and threw it onto the launch pad. After a little bit of tutorial and manual reading, I managed to get the thing off the ground and flying. Sure, that was fun, I made it into space and completely missed the moon, evacuating all of my crew into the deepest darkest pits of space but hey ho, I made it.
I then decided to try my hand at building a spacecraft. Yeah, that didn’t go so well. I wasn’t really in a mood to sit there and spend hours painstakingly building my childhood dream, referencing wiki pages and websites so instead, I threw together some pieces of machinery in a haphazard sort of way.
This ended as you might expect. I got my ship onto the launch pad, increased the thrust, let go of the support struts, noises began to happen, engines spurted to life and soon enough, it exploded all over the floor. I was heartbroken.
I think this experience pretty much sums up Kerbal Space Program for me. It seems like a fantastically in-depth game but only for those who have a passion for it. You are supplied with everything you will need except the knowledge and that’s it’s downfall for me. I didn’t have the time to sink hour after hour into it to make everything tick, I just wanted to fly around in space and stick my face out of the window.
Maybe another time in a galaxy far far away, I might be able to have fun with this title. But for now, it’s going to gain some virtual dust until I’ve cleared my way through the rest of the mess that is my Steam Library.
You can read our preview of Kerbal Space Program, written by an indivdual with more time for the game, here: http://www.gamegrin.com/game/preview/kerbal-space-program-preview
You can also try your own hand at spaceship building by purchasing the game here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/220200/
This week I will be playing NightSky from Nicalis. NightSky is an action based puzzle game that "offers gameplay unlike any others".
If you'd like to play along with me, you can find NightSky here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/99700/
COMMENTS