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Award-winning space agency simulator Kerbal Space Program has entered beta, developer Squad has announced.
The update is free to existing players.
Entering beta marks a major milestone for Kerbal Space Program in the process of eventually exiting early access and becoming a fully launched game.
Key to the update is the ability to start from the ground up with a basic space centre and turn it into a compound in the new upgradable facilities feature.
The Kerbals themselves can also progress, gaining specialized skills that players can improve by taking them on missions. These include advanced piloting, science gathering and spacecraft repairs.
“We’ve come a long way,” said KSP lead developer, Felipe Falanghe. “The decision to go into beta is a big step and there’s no better way to say it than with an update the size of Beta Than Ever. It means we’re in the home stretch. We’re not done with the game by any means, but it’s matured to a point where we can safely say that hitting 1.0 is within sight.”
Other features include:
- A Retooled Craft Editor: Build crafts better than ever before with advanced part sorting and construction gizmos that allow players to place, offset and rotate the different parts on your craft.
- Expanded Contracts: Brian “Arsonide” Provan, creator of the highly rated mod, “Fine Print,” has implemented and expanded his mod into the game, granting greater variety, depth and difficulty to the previously implemented contract system.
- Biomes Everywhere: KSP-TV host, Alyson “Tanuki Chau” Young created new biomes for the game, bringing them to over 100 areas from which Kerbals can collect, store and send science data. The new biomes have been placed all across the universe, giving players bigger incentive to explore every inch of the game.
- New Mk3 SpacePlane parts: Prolific modding community member, Christopher “Porkjet” Thuersam has overhauled and added to the popular collection of Mk3 parts that allow crafts to carry larger payloads.
Source: Squad
