Multiplayer
Currently an officially supported multiplayer mode is not available. Developers have indicated a willingness to revisit multiplayer ideas at a later time only after the game is released from development. The chief factor limiting initial multiplayer development is in handling time warp across player experiences without running into chronological, physical, and logistical issues.
This page is a catalog of all ideas for multiplayer which people have come up with on the forums, some of which have been implemented successfully. It appears after much discussion that solutions center around 5 general categories of solutions:
Contents
Master Controlled Warp
Master Warp: Only certain players or all players have the power to advance time at the lowest available common warp factor. This idea requires communication between players prior to warping. This is great for small network games where the multiplayer focus is usually on close quarters or EVA/IVA operations. Either designated warp admins have the power alone to advance the time warp, or all players do. The amount of maximum warp is limited to the lowest warp factor available to all players (so if a player is landing, the max factor is lower than if all player ships/evas were in interplanetary space or in an observer mode). Communication between all players would be essential to avoid collision or physics catastrophes. "Battening down the hatches" would be a regular occurrence in such games, but EVAs would certainly be a lot more fun! This seems the most logically doable of all ideas.
- Agreed Warp:
- The Multiplayer Project:
Kerbal Multiplayer Plugin
A multiplayer plugin has been developed by the forum user TehGimp666, and is available in alpha here.
Relative Synch
Time warp only is allowed relative to the player initiating it, and whenever a player's ship or EVA is within a certain distance, max time warp availability slows down for both players using it, in increments until time is x1 in close quarters; or whenever a player logs off, the server advances the shared game state to the most advanced time stamp relative to the most chronologically advanced player. Least realistic of all options since it introduces warping of planets and/or other objects that require sometimes illogical reconciliation, paradox-inducing abnormalities, or unforeseen physics consequences.
- Kerbal MultiPlayer (KMP):
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55835-Kmp-0-22-wip-alpha?highlight=wip-alpha
- logistics:
- L.O.G Multiplayer System:
- Not Your Average Multiplayer Discussion:
- another time synch:
Turn Based
Pass the savegame file to the next person in line, or a shared savegame file that is asychronously updated by various players. Successfully doable with current game mechanics.
- Kessler - asynchronous shared save file
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/8610- asynchronous, shared-world multiplayer (+ save editor)
- RPG Multiplayer
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/34725-RPG-Multiplayer-Ideas?highlight=multiplayer
- Symbolic Link
Information Sharing
Not multiplayer but a shared social gaming experience. Think of friends playing individual games of solitare while all at the same table, able to share strategies, view each other's work, or even pass cards (ships) to each other.
- Telemachus Mod - Mission Control style game control where a single player flies the craft, but data is shared with mission control participants who can call out values and course corrections.
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/32870-Mission-Control-Multiplayer-kind-of?highlight=multiplayer http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24594-0-20-Telemachus-%E2%80%93-Telemetry-and-Flight-Control-in-the-Web-Browser
- Kerbal LiveFeed - view live game information from other players playing KSP, and share craft files.
- Kermageddon- view other player ship orbits in your game.
No Time Warp
Just as it says. No Time Warp. Games are loaded from a KSP gamesave file to a server, which is then played in by game clients without any time warp option available to them. Games can be exported from the server (or client) to a new KSP compatible savegame file format which individuals can then play in KSP with, and even warp, and then reload that KSP savegame on the server for a new No Time Warp event. This is really a variant of MCW but without specifying a warp process with players in a game.
- EVA Multiplayer
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/34703-EVA-Multiplayer?highlight=multiplayer
