## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 First of all - thank you for all the feedback over the past weeks, and especially last week! The blog post about merging Story and Sandbox has sparked a lot of attention and thoughtful comments: Marek's Dev Diary - July 17, 2025 I appreciate how many of you took the time to think through the implications and share your reactions. Let me clarify a few important things, especially since the blog focused only on**single-player** , and may have left some questions open. ### Story is Optional, Sandbox is Still King The idea is not to force a story or campaign on players who just want to build, explore, or set their own goals. SE2 is still a **sandbox-first game**. The story is there _if you want it_. You can accept missions from NPCs or the Contract Block - or simply play free-form sandbox. Some of these missions are part of the **Colonization of Almagest** - our **meta-progression loop**. This system unlocks new areas, resources, blocks, upgrades, and more. It’s not mandatory, but it’s a key way to grow your capabilities and unlock more of the world. Separate from colonization, some missions push the **story** forward - including cutscenes and narrative moments. The story layer is completely optional. If you ignore both the colonization missions and the story, you’ll have a pure sandbox experience. You decide how deep you want to go - colonization, story, both, or neither. ### What About Multiplayer? The last blog post focused on single-player, but here’s our current thinking on multiplayer: * **Co-op Story Mode:** Your friends join your world. You play as **Miro Sokol** , and they’re your companions. Together, you experience your story. * **Vanilla Sandbox Servers:** On public or dedicated servers, the story is turned off. Nobody is Miro Sokol. Everyone starts freely, just like classic SE sandbox. This design is still a work in progress and subject to change. But your feedback is helping us shape it in the right direction. **Let me know what you think about any of this.** **I read all your comments - it’s one of the best parts of my life.** ** ** ** **

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. **Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change.** Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 First of all - thank you for the 130+ comments on the combat system in last week's dev diary. I really appreciate it. You’re a great community. I love you for it. And the same thanks goes for all the FTUE feedback the week before - see this post. --- Fractured Cryopod Design ### This week in our internal playtest: **Asteroid Clusters -  **Asteroids are now grouped into clusters - soon they’ll be organized into proper asteroid belts and rings. This is part of a bigger plan to add structure to space using the Star Map (we’re now calling it the Colonization Map). **Multi-Character Emotes** - These can be triggered from the debug screen (not available to players). We’ll use them in trailers and cutscenes. For example: two characters shake hands in a synchronized animation. Animators are also working on the facial rig now - for emotions and lip sync in cinematics. **Hand Drill Animations -** I've always wanted the hand drill to feel heavy and dynamic. When you push it into rocks, it should bounce and fight back. We realized we need three clear states: * Idle (just holding it) * Drill on, no contact (drilling into air) * Drill on, in contact (drilling into rock, bounces, etc.) This should feel instantly gratifying - like hitting something with a crowbar in Half-Life. That same feedback loop. We’ll apply this to the grinder and probably the welder too. **Acceleration-Based Camera**  - Shake When piloting a grid or jetpack-boosting, the camera shakes slightly during acceleration and deceleration. It gives you that visceral sense of momentum - like engines pushing. It only triggers during velocity changes, not while cruising. We tuned it down a lot to avoid being annoying, but I think we still need to reduce it by 40%. I expect some veterans will hate it - so maybe we’ll add an option to turn it off. --- Space Engineers 2 Grass Tests **Story and Sandbox Merge -** We’ve decided to merge Campaign into Sandbox. Originally they were separate: Sandbox was colonization only, no story, no main characters - just systems and generic NPCs. But now we realize that having story outside of Sandbox would be a waste. It complicates production and splits our focus. So: no separate Campaign mode anymore. We’re putting the story _into_ Sandbox. --- Space Engineers 2 Rocks Scattering ### So how will story work inside Sandbox? (SPOILERS!) * It starts with a cutscene: who you are, what the Bering Project is, what Almagest is, who your brother is * FTUE begins - you repair your ship, build a small spaceship, and reach the Orbital Station * From there, you take contracts and missions that progress colonization of Almagest * Some missions push the story forward (not just colonization meta) * Cutscenes play at the beginning or end of key missions - but they will avoid anything that the player could have influenced (e.g., ship builds, destroyed stuff, character skins), because the cutscenes are pre-rendered * There will be datapads and hidden locations to reveal more of the world and its mysteries I'm really looking forward to telling the story of Almagest. It’s deep, has a big twist, and is quite personal - shaped by how I see the world. --- Space Engineers 2 Grass Biome Tests **Complete Roadmap, Player Experience:** Besides that, I’m looking forward to getting a full day just to dig deep into our "Complete Roadmap" - to lock in everything that needs to be in the final version of SE2, the version that leaves Early Access. The goal is to deliver a complete and well-balanced experience - and then keep expanding through updates, like always. I'm also working on the Player Experience document - it’s a short doc (just a few pages), but it outlines how players should experience SE2, from the very first moment all the way to 50+ hours of gameplay. **===** **Let me know what _you_ think about any of this. ** **I read all your comments - it’s one of the best parts of my life.** **===**

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 First of all - thank you for the 130+ comments on the combat system in last week's dev diary. I really appreciate it. You’re a great community. I love you for it. And the same thanks goes for all the FTUE feedback the week before - see this post. --- Fractured Cryopod Design ### This week in our internal playtest: **Asteroid Clusters -  **Asteroids are now grouped into clusters - soon they’ll be organized into proper asteroid belts and rings. This is part of a bigger plan to add structure to space using the Star Map (we’re now calling it the Colonization Map). **Multi-Character Emotes** - These can be triggered from the debug screen (not available to players). We’ll use them in trailers and cutscenes. For example: two characters shake hands in a synchronized animation. Animators are also working on the facial rig now - for emotions and lip sync in cinematics. **Hand Drill Animations -** I've always wanted the hand drill to feel heavy and dynamic. When you push it into rocks, it should bounce and fight back. We realized we need three clear states: * Idle (just holding it) * Drill on, no contact (drilling into air) * Drill on, in contact (drilling into rock, bounces, etc.) This should feel instantly gratifying - like hitting something with a crowbar in Half-Life. That same feedback loop. We’ll apply this to the grinder and probably the welder too. **Acceleration-Based Camera**  - Shake When piloting a grid or jetpack-boosting, the camera shakes slightly during acceleration and deceleration. It gives you that visceral sense of momentum - like engines pushing. It only triggers during velocity changes, not while cruising. We tuned it down a lot to avoid being annoying, but I think we still need to reduce it by 40%. I expect some veterans will hate it - so maybe we’ll add an option to turn it off. --- Space Engineers 2 Grass Tests **Story and Sandbox Merge -** We’ve decided to merge Campaign into Sandbox. Originally they were separate: Sandbox was colonization only, no story, no main characters - just systems and generic NPCs. But now we realize that having story outside of Sandbox would be a waste. It complicates production and splits our focus. So: no separate Campaign mode anymore. We’re putting the story _into_ Sandbox. --- Space Engineers 2 Rocks Scattering ### So how will story work inside Sandbox? (SPOILERS!) * It starts with a cutscene: who you are, what the Bering Project is, what Almagest is, who your brother is * FTUE begins - you repair your ship, build a small spaceship, and reach the Orbital Station * From there, you take contracts and missions that progress colonization of Almagest * Some missions push the story forward (not just colonization meta) * Cutscenes play at the beginning or end of key missions - but they will avoid anything that the player could have influenced (e.g., ship builds, destroyed stuff, character skins), because the cutscenes are pre-rendered * There will be datapads and hidden locations to reveal more of the world and its mysteries I'm really looking forward to telling the story of Almagest. It’s deep, has a big twist, and is quite personal - shaped by how I see the world. --- Space Engineers 2 Grass Biome Tests **Complete Roadmap, Player Experience:** Besides that, I’m looking forward to getting a full day just to dig deep into our "Complete Roadmap" - to lock in everything that needs to be in the final version of SE2, the version that leaves Early Access. The goal is to deliver a complete and well-balanced experience - and then keep expanding through updates, like always. I'm also working on the Player Experience document - it’s a short doc (just a few pages), but it outlines how players should experience SE2, from the very first moment all the way to 50+ hours of gameplay. **===** **Let me know what _you_ think about any of this. ** **I read all your comments - it’s one of the best parts of my life.** **===**

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 The next update for Space Engineers brings many new gameplay elements to survival mode - including more environmental hazards. Here is a small teaser. ## Space Engineers 2 - Rethinking Combat This week we spent time discussing what combat should look and feel like in Space Engineers 2. Nothing is final yet. We're exploring ideas, identifying the pain points from SE1, and trying to define what kind of combat experience we actually want to build. ### What are we aiming for? We started by outlining a few **core principles** that we think should guide combat design in SE2: * **Longer, more tactical engagements** Fights should take time - measured in minutes, not seconds. We want to avoid sudden one-shot kills and give players time to react. * **Preparation should matter** Players who scout, build defenses, or prepare ambushes should be able to generate unfair local advantages. * **Rock-Paper-Scissors balance** No single weapon or strategy should dominate. A system where different combat types counter each other could make battles more dynamic. * **Player feedback and clarity** You should know when you’ve hit something, what damage you’re doing, and what’s happening around you - without guesswork. * **Support both attack and defense playstyles** Offensive and defensive roles should both be viable, with tools and mechanics that support each side. With those principles in mind, we discussed **possible features and mechanics** that could support this kind of gameplay. ### Combat Duration & Survivability In SE1, a single cockpit hit could end the fight instantly. We’re thinking about ways to prevent this - possibly through **shields** or other durability layers that give players more time to react. The idea isn’t to make combat slower for the sake of it, but to make it more _interesting and fair._ ### Weapon Dynamics: Rock–Paper–Scissors We explored a triangle-based balance model: * **Aimed/manual weapons** beat **automated turrets** * **Automated turrets** beat **rockets/missiles** * **Rockets/missiles** beat **aimed weapons** This would encourage diverse ship builds and make strategic choices more meaningful, especially in PvP. ### Detection, Infiltration & Defense We’d like players to have ways to **detect enemies** - not just through visual spotting but via **tools like scanners** or sensors. This also opens up **infiltration gameplay** , where a player could sneak into an enemy base or ship and gain an advantage. But for that to work, defenders need **countermeasures** - like surveillance systems, detection blocks, or hacking protection. We’re also toying with the idea of **hacking encounters** as a mini-game or high-stakes mechanic during infiltration. ### Safe Zones & Risk Management Safe zones came up a lot. We’re considering making them: * **Limited in size and availability** * **Costly to maintain over time** * **Slow to set up** The idea is to preserve tension and avoid scenarios where players are untouchable. One suggestion was to have **safe zone chips decay over time** , even when stored, to prevent stockpiling. There could also be progression systems that allow players to expand their safe zones later in the game. ### Character vs Grid Combat Another angle we’re still thinking about: how important should **character combat** be compared to **grid combat**? Should it play more like a shooter, or more like an engineering-driven encounter? Some ideas we’re toying with: * Characters boarding grids and taking them over * Combat-focused **suit upgrades** * Dedicated tools for sabotage or infiltration There’s also potential to make enemy characters more visible or tagged on your HUD if they’re hostile - not allied - making encounters easier to track and respond to. ### Conclusion As always, these are **early design discussions**. Some of these systems may evolve, combine, or be cut entirely. But this is the direction we’re thinking about as we continue shaping SE2 into the game we’ve always wanted to play. **Let me know what _you_ think combat in SE2 should feel like!**

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 The next update for Space Engineers brings many new gameplay elements to survival mode - including more environmental hazards. Here is a small teaser. ## Space Engineers 2 - Rethinking Combat This week we spent time discussing what combat should look and feel like in Space Engineers 2. Nothing is final yet. We're exploring ideas, identifying the pain points from SE1, and trying to define what kind of combat experience we actually want to build. ### What are we aiming for? We started by outlining a few **core principles** that we think should guide combat design in SE2: * **Longer, more tactical engagements** Fights should take time - measured in minutes, not seconds. We want to avoid sudden one-shot kills and give players time to react. * **Preparation should matter** Players who scout, build defenses, or prepare ambushes should be able to generate unfair local advantages. * **Rock-Paper-Scissors balance** No single weapon or strategy should dominate. A system where different combat types counter each other could make battles more dynamic. * **Player feedback and clarity** You should know when you’ve hit something, what damage you’re doing, and what’s happening around you - without guesswork. * **Support both attack and defense playstyles** Offensive and defensive roles should both be viable, with tools and mechanics that support each side. With those principles in mind, we discussed **possible features and mechanics** that could support this kind of gameplay. ### Combat Duration & Survivability In SE1, a single cockpit hit could end the fight instantly. We’re thinking about ways to prevent this - possibly through **shields** or other durability layers that give players more time to react. The idea isn’t to make combat slower for the sake of it, but to make it more _interesting and fair._ ### Weapon Dynamics: Rock–Paper–Scissors We explored a triangle-based balance model: * **Aimed/manual weapons** beat **automated turrets** * **Automated turrets** beat **rockets/missiles** * **Rockets/missiles** beat **aimed weapons** This would encourage diverse ship builds and make strategic choices more meaningful, especially in PvP. ### Detection, Infiltration & Defense We’d like players to have ways to **detect enemies** - not just through visual spotting but via **tools like scanners** or sensors. This also opens up **infiltration gameplay** , where a player could sneak into an enemy base or ship and gain an advantage. But for that to work, defenders need **countermeasures** - like surveillance systems, detection blocks, or hacking protection. We’re also toying with the idea of **hacking encounters** as a mini-game or high-stakes mechanic during infiltration. ### Safe Zones & Risk Management Safe zones came up a lot. We’re considering making them: * **Limited in size and availability** * **Costly to maintain over time** * **Slow to set up** The idea is to preserve tension and avoid scenarios where players are untouchable. One suggestion was to have **safe zone chips decay over time** , even when stored, to prevent stockpiling. There could also be progression systems that allow players to expand their safe zones later in the game. ### Character vs Grid Combat Another angle we’re still thinking about: how important should **character combat** be compared to **grid combat**? Should it play more like a shooter, or more like an engineering-driven encounter? Some ideas we’re toying with: * Characters boarding grids and taking them over * Combat-focused **suit upgrades** * Dedicated tools for sabotage or infiltration There’s also potential to make enemy characters more visible or tagged on your HUD if they’re hostile - not allied - making encounters easier to track and respond to. ### Conclusion As always, these are **early design discussions**. Some of these systems may evolve, combine, or be cut entirely. But this is the direction we’re thinking about as we continue shaping SE2 into the game we’ve always wanted to play. **Let me know what _you_ think combat in SE2 should feel like!**

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## General This week and last week, I've been busy with team quarterly evaluations and other administrative work. While this might seem less exciting than feature updates, team management and leadership are actually crucial topics for me. At Keen Software House, we're building a culture that's trustworthy and accountable, while also being friendly, respectful, and professional. These quarterly evaluations aren't just bureaucracy - they're how we ensure everyone on the team knows where they stand, what they're doing well, and where they can grow. It's about creating an environment where people can do their best work and feel valued. I might dig deeper into our approach to leadership in a future diary (lessons learned, what doesn't work, what does work). --- Water Team created Whirlpool in a tub by accident - caused by a small hole in the armor ## Space Engineers 2 The main thing that's been occupying my thoughts is playtesting the First Time User Experience (FTUE) in SE2. The prototype is coming together nicely! **== Spoiler Alert ==** Here's how the FTUE currently works: You spawn on Verdure planet with a GPS marker leading you to a cave. First, you'll need to dig out the entrance. Inside, you'll discover an unfinished small ship with several components shown as projections (thrusters, survival kit, etc.). Your tasks include: * Mining ore within the cave * Using Backpack Building and Projection Building to weld the projected blocks * Finding batteries from a nearby stack and installing them in the ship for power * Expanding the cave entrance to fly out * Flying to a nearby mountain where an abandoned station awaits * Landing and transferring batteries to power up the station grid This is where the prototype currently ends, but our goal is to create a 1-2 hour FTUE that concludes at the Orbital Station. After that, the freeform Colonization meta-loop begins. The experience is guided by: * HUD objectives * GPS markers pointing to key locations Our FTUE design goals (KPIs): * Teach players the basics * Make the process enjoyable (mining, welding, cave exploration) * Achieve first win (repaired ship & flight) within 5 minutes The FTUE will evolve with future updates. Once we add water mechanics, we might revisit and redesign it entirely - we'll see when we get there. While the prototype is functional, the team agrees it's currently missing that "WOW factor." We're brainstorming additional elements to make the experience more impactful. If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## General This week and last week, I've been busy with team quarterly evaluations and other administrative work. While this might seem less exciting than feature updates, team management and leadership are actually crucial topics for me. At Keen Software House, we're building a culture that's trustworthy and accountable, while also being friendly, respectful, and professional. These quarterly evaluations aren't just bureaucracy - they're how we ensure everyone on the team knows where they stand, what they're doing well, and where they can grow. It's about creating an environment where people can do their best work and feel valued. I might dig deeper into our approach to leadership in a future diary (lessons learned, what doesn't work, what does work). --- Water Team created Whirlpool in a tub by accident - caused by small hole in the armor ## Space Engineers 2 The main thing that's been occupying my thoughts is playtesting the First Time User Experience (FTUE) in SE2. The prototype is coming together nicely! **== Spoiler Alert ==** Here's how the FTUE currently works: You spawn on Verdure planet with a GPS marker leading you to a cave. First, you'll need to dig out the entrance. Inside, you'll discover an unfinished small ship with several components shown as projections (thrusters, survival kit, etc.). Your tasks include: * Mining ore within the cave * Using Backpack Building and Projection Building to weld the projected blocks * Finding batteries from a nearby stack and installing them in the ship for power * Expanding the cave entrance to fly out * Flying to a nearby mountain where an abandoned station awaits * Landing and transferring batteries to power up the station grid This is where the prototype currently ends, but our goal is to create a 1-2 hour FTUE that concludes at the Orbital Station. After that, the freeform Colonization meta-loop begins. The experience is guided by: * HUD objectives * GPS markers pointing to key locations Our FTUE design goals (KPIs): * Teach players the basics * Make the process enjoyable (mining, welding, cave exploration) * Achieve first win (repaired ship & flight) within 5 minutes The FTUE will evolve with future updates. Once we add water mechanics, we might revisit and redesign it entirely - we'll see when we get there. While the prototype is functional, the team agrees it's currently missing that "WOW factor." We're brainstorming additional elements to make the experience more impactful. If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 **VS 1.5 - Modding for SE2** ** ** This Tuesday we releasedVS 1.5 - Modding for SE2! It was a big update because it allows modders to change the game just by modifying data. Modders can add new blocks, change existing blocks, textures, character models, skybox, sound and music, and other things. I think our modding technology is quite amazing, because it's all data-driven. We released a HUB and Editor where you can do it all in WYSIWYG mode (with validation, templates, etc.), and your changes are validated—reducing the chances of breaking things. And it’s all Blender compatible - a very important thing for me, making the 3D modeling for SE2 accessible to everyone. Thanks again to the team who delivered the Modding—it was really a big project and will serve the SE community for the coming decades! **VS2 Planets and Survival** ** ** This is our main priority right now. SE1 didn't have an explicit meta loop, and this was a benefit (it kept the game pretty open and people focused on what they wanted to do) but also a disadvantage (some players actually want clear objectives and a visible success metric). I feel pretty good about the final meta loop we designed: * your goal is to colonize Almagest, sector after sector * you see your colonization progress on the Colonization Map — the whole Almagest, sectors, planets, GPS locations, etc. * you colonize sectors by completing contracts/missions * contract types: engineering, exploration, mining, and in the future, combat too This gives the ultimate purpose and end goal: Colonize Almagest. Everything will converge to this singular goal — and it's visual, tangible, and easy to understand and communicate. It's an end goal you can reach within a reasonable amount of time. And the game doesn't end there — it can continue in open-ended freestyle sandbox mode. You can keep building or just complete more missions. **I am interested in your feedback, so please leave your comments!** **VS3 Water** ** ** We are going through the final planning stages for VS3 Water — what still has to be implemented gameplay-wise, not just the water tech for VS3. Of course, water will be released after VS2 Planets and Survival, but we are working on them in parallel. ** ** **Help Shape the Future of Space Engineers 2** We’d love to hear from you! We’re running a short poll to get your thoughts on the direction of Space Engineers 2, and your feedback will help us prioritize. 🗳️ Please take a moment to fill it out: https://forms.gle/TUP4MZ9VA3Nd1j7P6 Thank you for being part of the journey! ## Space Engineers 1 The SE1 team is hard at work on the Advanced Survival update, and the release date is getting closer…

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 **VS 1.5 - Modding for SE2** ** ** This Tuesday we releasedVS 1.5 - Modding for SE2! It was a big update because it allows modders to change the game just by modifying data. Modders can add new blocks, change existing blocks, textures, character models, skybox, sound and music, and other things. I think our modding technology is quite amazing, because it's all data-driven. We released a HUB and Editor where you can do it all in WYSIWYG mode (with validation, templates, etc.), and your changes are validated—reducing the chances of breaking things. And it’s all Blender compatible - a very important thing for me, making the 3D modeling for SE2 accessible to everyone. Thanks again to the team who delivered the Modding—it was really a big project and will serve the SE community for the coming decades! **VS2 Planets and Survival** ** ** This is our main priority right now. SE1 didn't have an explicit meta loop, and this was a benefit (it kept the game pretty open and people focused on what they wanted to do) but also a disadvantage (some players actually want clear objectives and a visible success metric). I feel pretty good about the final meta loop we designed: * your goal is to colonize Almagest, sector after sector * you see your colonization progress on the Colonization Map — the whole Almagest, sectors, planets, GPS locations, etc. * you colonize sectors by completing contracts/missions * contract types: engineering, exploration, mining, and in the future, combat too This gives the ultimate purpose and end goal: Colonize Almagest. Everything will converge to this singular goal — and it's visual, tangible, and easy to understand and communicate. It's an end goal you can reach within a reasonable amount of time. And the game doesn't end there — it can continue in open-ended freestyle sandbox mode. You can keep building or just complete more missions. **I am interested in your feedback, so please leave your comments!** **VS3 Water** ** ** We are going through the final planning stages for VS3 Water — what still has to be implemented gameplay-wise, not just the water tech for VS3. Of course, water will be released after VS2 Planets and Survival, but we are working on them in parallel. ** ** **Help Shape the Future of Space Engineers 2** We’d love to hear from you! We’re running a short poll to get your thoughts on the direction of Space Engineers 2, and your feedback will help us prioritize. 🗳️ Please take a moment to fill it out: https://forms.gle/TUP4MZ9VA3Nd1j7P6 Thank you for being part of the journey! ## Space Engineers 1 The SE1 team is hard at work on the Advanced Survival update, and the release date is getting closer…

 **SUMMARY:** * **VRAGE3 Mod HUB & Editor released!** * **Data Modding Support & Steam Workshop Publishing** * **Blender VRAGE Tools** * **No Restrictions by entity type!** * **Automatic generation of Mount Points & Asset Structures** * **Custom Armor Blocks with full deformation** * **Pre-generated Block Templates** * **...and much more!** * * * Hello, Engineers! With VS 1.5 update, we’re introducing the first phase of modding support for Space Engineers 2. This includes the release of the **VRAGE3 Mod HUB** (a tool for mod creation, management and publishing) and **VRAGE3 Mod Editor** (a tool for creating mod content). **These are the same tools our designers and artists use to build Space Engineers 2.** You are now able to **create, modify, and preview content with ease** directly in the VRAGE3 engine using a visual, game-integrated workflow. ## Modding Support We made a deliberate decision to bring modding in early. Space Engineers has always been shaped by our community – especially by modders – and **we want to support that creativity from the very beginning.** Our goal is to make modding easy and approachable for everyone, even those with no prior experience or who were previously intimidated by the process. No more relying on Notepad++ or manual file edits! With the new Editor, **modding is more accessible than ever,** with a purpose-built toolset designed specifically for ease of modding the game. This first release focuses on **data modding support** : skyboxes, blocks, character models, tools, voxels, animations, particle effects, sounds and music are all moddable starting now. The **Mod HUB** includes **full mod management** and **Steam Workshop publishing support** , so you can build, test, and share your creations without ever leaving the tool! The Editor includes **pre-generated block templates** to speed up your workflow. Even better, you’re **no longer restricted by entity types** – want to build a thruster that also works as a light and a gyroscope? You can! The Editor also supports **Blender add-on (Blender VRAGE Tools)** and handles complex features like **Dynamic Gizmo Transforms** (creating conveyor ports, and much more), **block animations** (such as infinite rotation), and**automatic generation of mount points** and **automatic generation model asset structure.** **Dummies are now added directly in the editor** instead of the 3D model, streamlining asset creation and reducing setup errors. We're especially excited to introduce support for **custom Armor blocks with full deformation support** - something that's never been possible at this level before in Space Engineers. You can find the Space Engineers 2 Mod SDK in your Steam Library in the Tools section. Note: Scripting and code APIs are not included yet, but they’ll be released later as development progresses. There has never been a better time to jump into Space Engineers modding – with powerful new tools and more flexibility than ever before. **This is just the beginning** – and we can’t wait to see what the Space Engineers 2 modding community creates! ## Modding Guides & Example Mods To help you get started with Space Engineers 2 modding, we’ve prepared a set of official guides and example mods. These resources cover everything from creating your first block to working with gizmos, mount points, thruster effects, and more – all using the new VRAGE3 Mod HUB & Editor. **Tools:  ** * Blender VRAGE Tools **Guides:  ** * VRAGE3 Modding Overview * Guide: Making a Skybox * Guide: Creating an Armor Block * Guide: Create New Voxel Material * Guide: Character Model Modding * Guide: G-Screen * Guide: Create New Thruster * Guide: Adjust Thruster Flame Visual * Guide: New Thruster Sound * Guide: Adding New Music **Example Mods:  ** * Modded Skybox Example * Modded Character Example * Modded Thruster Example * Modded Vanilla Small Thruster Effect Example * Ice Asteroid Material Example * Armor Block Example ## Porting Guidelines Between SE1 and SE2 With the release of modding support for Space Engineers 2, we want to clarify our stance on straight porting blocks between Space Engineers 1 and Space Engineers 2. Porting vanilla blocks from SE1 to SE2 is allowed. However, porting DLC content from SE1 to SE2 is not, and porting any SE2 content back to SE1 is also not allowed. That said, this applies strictly to direct block ports. If you're creating your own blocks from scratch, inspired by designs from Space Engineers (including DLCs), that's totally fine – a pipe is a pipe is a pipe. ## Additional Improvements There are many additional improvements and fixes in **Vertical Slice 1.5** - you can explore everything included in the detailed **Changelog**. ## Modding Community: First Impressions _“As much fun as I’ve had making mods in the past for Space Engineers 1, the VRAGE3 tools for Space Engineers 2 have opened up possibilities I could only dream of in SE1 – especially since I’m not a scripter.”_ **- stonelords** _“Having the chance to work with the new VRage Hub has been a great experience. In my opinion, Keen has truly understood the assignment and provided us with tools we could only dream of during SE1 modding. With a focus on using Blender for models and handling everything else within the VRage Hub, going from concept to game is incredibly fast. There are so many exciting new features and possibilities - I couldn’t wait for this slice to be released!”_ **- Chipstix213** _“In six years of Space Engineers 1 modding, I’ve only ever made one block. In two weeks of Space Engineers 2 modding, I’ve already made nearly a dozen.”_ **- Jakaria** _“It's difficult to explain how much of a difference the new VRAGE3 Editor for Space Engineers 2 makes, without first explaining how modding works for Space Engineers 1: Most mods for SE1 are made through editing XML files by hand, with a text editor. The fact that this is possible and common in the first place, speaks for the accessibility of modding SE1 - it is veryeasy to get started, even with no prior modding experience. But modding like this can be a tedious and slow process. Once 3D models and textures enter the picture, the situation is better: The vast majority of mods that include these, are made with the free 3D modelling application Blender and the add-on Space Engineers Utilities (SEUT) that I have developed with the help of many contributors. The situation is similar with other community-made modding tools, such as the Particle Editor plugin by Digi, or the Steam Workshop Tool by Gwindalmir. However, with their nature as community-built tools, and with Space Engineers originally developed with its own toolset in mind, they will always have their limitations._ _ _ _The situation with SE2 will be fundamentally different: Whereas SE1 was developed with tools of which only some could be publicly released, the VRAGE3 Editor is a core component of the development of SE2 - and it has been created from the ground up to also be a modding tool. Editing XML data files directly is not needed anymore, because the editor makes it unnecessary: It provides a user interface to edit the data on which SE2 runs. Furthermore, the editor also includes many shortcuts and streamlines the workflow for modders tremendously, by including various tools that were separate or not available for modding SE1. A good example for this is the built-in texture and model conversion to the format SE2 requires. The SE2 modding SDK will also include an add-on for Blender (VRAGE Tools) to make the process of getting a model into the game straightforward. I will be contributing to this addon as well, and implement many of the lessons learnt during my years of developing SEUT - its SE1 community-made counterpart._ _ _ _To sum up: It is safe to say that while SE2 still has a long way to go, VS1.5 sets a very solid foundation for a healthy and long-lasting modding community.”_ **- enenra **(Author of the AQD and GFA mod series, and main developer of the SEUT addon for Blender) _“The new modding tools are a big step up compared to what we had in SE1. The new GUI approach would be much easier and comfortable to use for both newer and experienced modders especially due to the fact that the SE2 block system is far more complex than what SE1 has.  _ _Additionally, new official tools open lots of possibilities which were previously inaccessible or complicated to modify for SE1 modders without using community-made tools, frameworks or plugins (such as new animation editor or particle editor).”_ **- humanoid.mp4** _“Keen’s new VRAGE3 Editor is a real game changer with functionality and ability to easily create a mod either copying vanilla assets or starting from scratch with the easily added definitions from the menus. I like that you can view your models in the editor, and make changes to particles and subparts without having to start SE2 to just test a small change. Adding your own materials is easy too with the definition lists of texture types.”_ **- nukeguard** _“Modding is the long-term lifeblood of many sandbox games, and I'm glad that Keen has provided official tools for the job. I'm excited to see what's to come, as what I've seen so far is awesome.”_ **- Aryx** _“Modding SE2 is way easier than the original game thanks to the new editor. It was quick and easy to import my models, assign the definitions and get it in-game. I found the SDK to be extremely powerful and easy to use. The automatic mount point calculator feature is also amazing! I can't wait to see what cool things the community will be able to create with this tool.”_ **- Cosmonaut** ** ** _"I love the new VRAGE3 editor and it's much better and easier to use than having to rely on Notepad++ (like I do for Space Engineers 1)."_ **- SEModder4** _“User Friendly, extensive and fastest thing to setup from start to finish. A new Golden era in Space Engineers Modding!”_ **- Kreeg** _“The new VRAGE3 tools are impressive, and there's lots of cool stuff to do already. These new tools will be an immense help to the modding community and I can't wait to see what the modding community does to unleash their need to create!”_ **- yellow51** ## What's Next We’ve decided to skip Vertical Slice 1.6 to focus fully on delivering **Vertical Slice 2 – Planets and Survival** as soon as possible, and as polished as possible. This aligns with our Vertical Slice strategy, where each release is a complete and refined piece of the final game. Many of the features and improvements planned for VS2 have been requested and shaped by the suggestions and ideas shared through our Support Portal. Your feedback is incredibly valuable, and we appreciate every suggestion you submit. Check out our full **Roadmap**. **Help Shape the Future of Space Engineers 2** ** ** We’d love to hear from you! We’re running a short poll to get your thoughts on the direction of Space Engineers 2, and your feedback will help us prioritize. 🗳️ Please take a moment to fill it out: https://forms.gle/TUP4MZ9VA3Nd1j7P6 Thank you for being part of the journey! ** ** **Celebratory Sale** This update marks a major milestone for our incredible modding community, a true cornerstone of Space Engineers. Their creativity, innovation, and dedication have helped shape the game in extraordinary ways, and we believe that’s something worth celebrating. We’re deeply grateful for the passion and support of our players whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or just joined the journey. To welcome new engineers and continue growing the community, we’re offering a **20% discount until July 1st**. Jump in now and help shape the next chapter of Space Engineers 2 ## Release Notes While your feedback is invaluable, **some features are not yet ready for your input.** These systems and mechanics are temporary solutions or placeholders, and we’re already **hard at work redesigning and refining them.** We ask for your patience while we bring these elements to their full potential. Features and improvements we are actively working on: * Modding: Scripting and code APIs are not included yet, but they’ll be released later as development progresses. * Color picker will be included in undo-redo for paint gun in a future update * After entering a cockpit for the first time after starting the game, the character may peek through the cockpit - this will be fixed in an upcoming update. * Keyboard and mouse controls are not customizable yet, but they will be! * Toolbar block groups and sizes (block selection via R key) are a temporary mechanism and will be redesigned in a near update. * We’re aware of incompatibility at launch of Space Engineers 2 on Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 built-in Arc GPUs. We are working with Intel to enable the game experience and will provide relevant updates as development progresses. * We are solving ship movement edge cases (jittering in slow speeds or too many gyros present) * Performance * Performance optimization is ongoing. For Alpha release, we’re targeting 16x Red Ship grids at 60 FPS on recommended hardware. * Autosave may cause brief lags during gameplay. * Performance optimizations of ship collisions and destruction are ongoing, so it won’t be lag-free at this moment. We will be continuously improving it in the following updates. * PCU values per block may appear higher compared to Space Engineers 1, reflecting SE2's increased detail and more precise performance measurements. While the current total PCU limit is set at 400,000 in VS1, we plan to raise this threshold in future updates as we implement scheduled optimization improvements. * Space Engineers 2 Workshop: Displaying Steam Workshop Collections in-game is planned. We are working on better handling when Steam is offline. * The current GUI (Graphical User Interface) and HUD (Heads-Up Display) are works in progress. Our team is prioritizing core functionality first. Once we've confirmed all features are working as intended, we'll enhance the visual design and overall aesthetics. * Some blocks are decorative-only for now (for example, the Assembler is present but cannot produce components) * The inventory system will be implemented in a future update * Fracture models will receive additional visual updates in future versions. * The paint tool’s limited palette is temporary; future updates will include RGB/HSV color settings and custom palettes. * Work on enhanced sound effects is ongoing * The Alpha releases in English language, more localizations will follow * Tutorials will be added closer to the end of development. This is just the start of an incredible journey, and we want to thank everyone who’s joining us on it. Your creativity and passion are what make this community so special. ## Support Portal The best way to provide your feedback is through our **Support Portal**. You can always find a direct link to the support portal from within the game - just press F1 to access the help screen! This platform is your direct line to the developers and the Space Engineers community. Here, you can: * Create a Bugreport * Create a ticket with your Feedback/Idea * Vote on other ideas or bug reports * Comment and Interact with fellow players * Suggest solutions and provide valuable feedback to help shape the future of Space Engineers 2 ## Marek’s Dev Diaries Marek Rosa - Keen Software House founder, CEO, and Game Director shares a weekly Dev Diary every Thursday, offering a **behind-the-scenes look at Space Engineers 2 development.** These diaries dive into the latest challenges, solutions, and ideas shaping the game. They are Marek's unfiltered thoughts, meaning details may change as development evolves. If you enjoy insights into game creation (and don’t mind potential spoilers), be sure to **check them out!** ## Get Started Today * Play Space Engineers 2 on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1133870/Space_Engineers_2/ * Run the VRAGE3 HUB/Editor from the Steam Library (Tools Section) - search for “Space Engineers 2 - ModSDK” ## Hiring If you’re interested in working on awesome games like **Space Engineers**  or our in-house engine VRAGE3, we’d love to hear from you! We are currently in the Research and development phase, exploring new features of the VRAGE3 engine. Our goal is to support extremely large and fully dynamic and destructible environments, including planets, large spaceships, and any other creations built by the players. If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers or our **in-house game engine** , and **love solving unique challenges** , we’d love to hear from you! Check out the open positions at Keen Software House and don’t forget to send us your English CV/resume and cover letter. Remote collaboration is possible! Our team is global. Finding the best candidates to join Keen Software House means exploring every possible solution, including remote work. While we strive to provide team members with the best possible work-life balance here in Prague at our incredible Oranzerie offices, we understand that it is not always possible to transition, therefore we are very remote-friendly. Here’s a map of where our teammates live. If you want to let me know your feedback, please get in touch via my personal email address marek.rosa@keenswh.com, or use our Keen Software House support site. I welcome all of the feedback we receive and we will use it to learn and provide better services to our players. ## Follow our social media to get the latest news! * **Space Engineers& Keen Software House Connect Page** ** **** Thank you for reading this blog!** Best, **Marek Rosa** CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI **Personal bio:** _Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development._ _Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine._ _Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system._ _Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe._

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 This week was mostly about finalizing the SE2 roadmap. We need to figure out what absolutely has to be in the game before it leaves Early Access. The tricky part is not letting the scope grow forever - it's easy to keep adding "just one more thing" and never actually finish. So we're defining what needs to be done for the initial release and sticking to it. #### Water, Water Everywhere We conducted a comprehensive review of our Water system - looking back at the last few months of development and mapping out the next steps. The technical foundation is solid, and we've got some great mechanics working already: aqueduct system, water dams that break and unleash torrents, pools that overflow realistically, water flow that pushes grids and characters around, water particles, grids crashing into water (with damage based on impact velocity), and proper buoyancy calculations for floating grids. Now we're turning our attention to the visuals, focusing on: * Enhanced water surface textures and animations * Proper foam generation and particle effects * Improved transparency and reflection systems * Wave pattern animations with both low and high frequency components * Shallow-water equations (SWE) - a more performance-friendly approach for situations where we don't need full volumetric simulation, which also opens up some nice visual tricks to make water look even prettier These aren't just cosmetic improvements - they're essential for making water feel like a real, dynamic part of the game world. #### The Survival Experience Perhaps the most critical work this week has been our intense focus on survival gameplay. We're not just thinking about the mechanics - we're obsessing over the player journey. The first two hours need to hook players, teaching them the ropes while keeping them engaged and excited. But equally important is what happens after 30+ hours. What keeps players coming back? What gives them that sense of meaningful progression and accomplishment? This is the kind of design challenge that keeps me up at night (in a good way). Creating a survival experience that's both accessible to newcomers and deep enough for veterans is no small feat, but it's exactly the kind of challenge our team thrives on. ## Looking Back at Spring Week Just a quick note about last week's Spring meetup - it was absolutely amazing to see my colleagues in person again. There's something special about our annual gatherings that video calls just can't replicate. I'm already counting down the days until next year's meetup! * * * Until next week,  Marek

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 This week was mostly about finalizing the SE2 roadmap. We need to figure out what absolutely has to be in the game before it leaves Early Access. The tricky part is not letting the scope grow forever - it's easy to keep adding "just one more thing" and never actually finish. So we're defining what needs to be done for the initial release and sticking to it. #### Water, Water Everywhere We conducted a comprehensive review of our Water system - looking back at the last few months of development and mapping out the next steps. The technical foundation is solid, and we've got some great mechanics working already: aqueduct system, water dams that break and unleash torrents, pools that overflow realistically, water flow that pushes grids and characters around, water particles, grids crashing into water (with damage based on impact velocity), and proper buoyancy calculations for floating grids. Now we're turning our attention to the visuals, focusing on: * Enhanced water surface textures and animations * Proper foam generation and particle effects * Improved transparency and reflection systems * Wave pattern animations with both low and high frequency components * Shallow-water equations (SWE) - a more performance-friendly approach for situations where we don't need full volumetric simulation, which also opens up some nice visual tricks to make water look even prettier These aren't just cosmetic improvements - they're essential for making water feel like a real, dynamic part of the game world. #### The Survival Experience Perhaps the most critical work this week has been our intense focus on survival gameplay. We're not just thinking about the mechanics - we're obsessing over the player journey. The first two hours need to hook players, teaching them the ropes while keeping them engaged and excited. But equally important is what happens after 30+ hours. What keeps players coming back? What gives them that sense of meaningful progression and accomplishment? This is the kind of design challenge that keeps me up at night (in a good way). Creating a survival experience that's both accessible to newcomers and deep enough for veterans is no small feat, but it's exactly the kind of challenge our team thrives on. ## Looking Back at Spring Week Just a quick note about last week's Spring meetup - it was absolutely amazing to see my colleagues in person again. There's something special about our annual gatherings that video calls just can't replicate. I'm already counting down the days until next year's meetup! * * * Until next week,  Marek

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Keen Software House Annual Meetup Like many studios, we went remote during the COVID pandemic. What started as a necessity became a strength - we discovered that fully remote development works. Since then, we’ve welcomed more and more talented, creative engineers, artists, designers, programmers and dreamers from all over the world. But once a year, we all come together in person at our HQ in the Oranžerie. It’s a tradition that’s become a vital part of our culture - a chance to reconnect, reflect, and recharge. No matter how many virtual meetings we have, nothing beats seeing your team face-to-face. Every meetup is a breath of fresh air, reminding us that this isn’t just a job - it’s a shared journey. Over the years, we’ve grown not just in size and experience, but in connection. What started as colleagues working on a game has become something deeper: a global team of friends, united by a shared love for games, creativity, and of course - Space Engineers. During the meetup, the Space Engineers 2 team surprised us with screenshots from our latest internal build - they were jaw dropping and I simply have to share them with you! As the meetup came to an end, no one was in a hurry to leave. After a few days of talking, planning, laughing, and just being together, it was hard to say goodbye. We're already looking forward to the next one – and to everything we'll build together in the year ahead.

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. A few months ago, I restructured my schedule to alternate weekly between Space Engineers 2 and AI People. This approach lets me maintain a deep focus on each project. I'm really someone who needs to dig deep into something and work on it until it's done, rather than switching context every few hours. ## AI People This week's focus was AI People, specifically exploring AI-assisted programming (what we call "vibe coding") to accelerate development of our AI NPCs. However, instead of diving into planned features, we spent the week refining our methodology. Our experience with Cursor + Opus 4 and Gemini Pro 2.5 revealed a frustrating pattern. Initial progress feels promising, but then you hit a wall: request a change, the AI modifies code, you skip review and test directly, discover new bugs or no improvement, repeat. Hours later, you realize you're going nowhere. The core issue? Current AI agents approach software engineering fundamentally differently than experienced developers. **How AI agents work today:** You describe a feature → AI reasons briefly → finds files → implements changes → declares completion. **How expert developers actually work:** 1. Fully understand requirements and context 2. Study relevant code thoroughly (nothing more, nothing less) 3. Break complex changes into testable chunks 4. Implement with constant awareness of ripple effects 5. Review for edge cases and unintended consequences 6. Update all affected elements - comments, references, documentation, architecture diagrams 7. Write comprehensive tests and iterate based on results 8. Access running systems for real-time debugging and observation Current tools can't replicate this workflow. They also lack game runtime access, can't insert diagnostic traces, and miss the holistic view that makes great code. This realization led us to explore building our own SWE agent. We're studying Claude Code, which implements some of these concepts plus additional capabilities like sub-agents. **Key insights from this exploration:** ** ** LLMs feel superhuman in their domains. Yes, they still have gaps and can only handle minute-long tasks rather than day-long projects, but within their scope? Opus 4 writes a complete Tetris game in seconds - a task that would take me days. The bottleneck isn't intelligence; it's the scaffolding. When AI programming fails, it's rarely the model's fault. It's inadequate tooling around it. I'm convinced 2025 will bring revolutionary improvements: correct SWE loop, specialized agents for exploration, coding, testing, reviewing, evaluating, validating, etc; sophisticated code search and indexing, intelligent test automation, multimodal feedback loops. Imagine Gemini analyzing gameplay video to fix bugs autonomously. We're validating our approach on smaller codebases and design documents. Design docs are particularly revealing - text changes are far easier to track than code modifications, exposing flawed agent behavior immediately. Case in point: I asked Cursor to reformat log specifications in our design doc. It updated one section, missed another, left duplicates, never reviewed its work. In a text document, these mistakes jump out instantly. In code, they'd hide among thousands of lines. Classic junior developer behavior - making changes without verifying impact. How about costs? Sure, spending $100 on tokens in a day might seem expensive. But if the AI delivers in one day what would take me two weeks? That $100 is cheap. Plus you're iterating in hours instead of weeks. Clear win. We're not quite there yet, but I'm confident this year will bring the breakthrough. Once we crack this, we'll accelerate AI People development dramatically, running parallel experiments and iterating at unprecedented speed. ## Space Engineers 2 Given my AI agent focus this week, my SE2 time went into writing the SE2 Vision document - a comprehensive guide defining requirements, constraints, and KPIs for the team. **Our north star:** Make SE2 mainstream while delivering 10x improvements across every dimension - art, code, design, quality, performance. The key insight: SE2 will match or exceed SE1's complexity, but we're wrapping it in an accessibility layer. New players start with intuitive, manageable systems. Complexity reveals itself progressively as skills develop. We're also prioritizing engaging gameplay loops and meaningful progression. The complexity remains - it just becomes fun to master rather than overwhelming to encounter.

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 This week's work was mainly about survival gameplay - discussion with the designers and playtesting what already works. ### Resource Gathering ** ** **Drilling and Ore Detection** - The basics work! Now we need to polish it: better animations, particle effects, and voxel deformation (how terrain changes when you drill). ### Building and Repairing ** ** **Projection Building** - This is different from SE1. You place blocks as semi-transparent holograms first - just projections without physics that you can walk through. Then you weld them block by block to make them real. Why we went this direction: You see what you're building before spending resources, you can place entire Workshop blueprints as projections, and we can bring creative mode features like undo/redo into survival - since you're just manipulating projections, not actual blocks! **Build Planner Queue** - Every projection you place gets added to a build queue. This queue can be sent to production blocks to craft the components you need. It's all connected! **Repair HUD** - A new concept we're working on. The game compares your current grid against the original blueprint (or a saved snapshot), shows missing blocks as projections, and displays them on your HUD (similar to GPS markers). Should make repairs much more intuitive. ### Testing the Loop I've been playtesting this myself. Placed cockpit projections around me - some on ground, some in air (supporting truss blocks are added to keep the block while welding it). Then I mined iron and silicon and welded them using backpack building. Very satisfying to see your build take shape! Note: Backpack building (direct crafting) is only for early game basic blocks. Later stages require manufactured components and/or block wrappers (which I may talk about next time). That's it for this week!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## AI People This week, I’m focusing on the AI People project. We’re returning to the drawing boards, redesigning both the gameplay and the technology behind AI NPCs. Our goal is to make the NPCs more goal-oriented, with distinct personalities, capable of solving environmental and social challenges. Their interactions—with each other and the player—should lead to emergent stories and butterfly-effect-like chain reactions spanning from hours to weeks. I decided to work on the prototype personally, so a colleague and I have been vibe coding all day. Vibe coding is when you instruct a coding agent (like Cursor, OpenAI Codex, or Jules) to autonomously make changes to the codebase. It’s going well—it feels like we can achieve in a single day what used to take weeks. Iterations and feedback loops are much faster, which means we can prototype at an incredible pace. Today, we also implemented automated testing. After the agent completes code changes, it runs the tests and, based on the results (e.g., if some tests fail), it starts fixing the issues itself. This new workflow is a game-changer because we no longer have to tediously copy-paste errors from logs. The tests were written by the agent as well, saving us even more time. I’m already looking forward to the next five years when this workflow will be even more simplified and faster. Imagine just asking for something like "add grounded NPC actions like goto(), attack(), harvest()—planned and executed in sequence," and the agent makes the changes, tests them, and delivers an interactive game in a second. Just see how fast the new diffusion LLMs are: [https://x.com/InceptionAILabs/status/1894847919624462794](https://x.com/InceptionAILabs/status/1894847919624462794 ) ## Space Engineers Every two weeks, we hold an internal team biweekly presentation where individual teams share their progress. This week’s session was particularly exciting! ### **SE1 Team** The SE1 team shared their progress on the new survival mode and introduced some new blocks, which are shaping up nicely. ### **SE2 Team** Most of the SE2 team is working on VS2, focusing on planets and survival mechanics. Here’s some of what they showcased: * **Procedural World Generator:** This now spawns asteroid fields and rings with a realistic distribution. * **Clouds:** Already in-game and visible in many screenshots (though they’re still programmer-art clouds; artists will refine them later). * **Planet Flora Generator:** We now have grass and trees on planets! Currently, it’s just one type of tree everywhere, but artists are working on a flora library that includes dozens of trees, bushes, fynbos, plants, and even underwater flora. * **Backpack Building and Welding:** This feature is nearly complete, which is exciting because we’ll soon be able to playtest the full survival game loop and start iterating on improvements. ### Water Team The water team gave what might be their best presentation yet. They showcased several impressive improvements: * Enhanced performance. * New marching cubes for the water surface. * New particle effects for dynamic water (think waterfalls and splashes from your ship). * Improved resolution of the water simulation, plus many other upgrades. ### Art and Visuals The artists made another pass on improving voxel materials for the planets, and the results are stunning—screenshots are starting to look photorealistic. On top of that, our planets are fully volumetric and destructible, allowing players to dig tunnels and add materials. The new particle effects on the Hydrogen Thrusters look fierce, and new character models are in development, which are shaping up to be very cool. It’s been an exciting week, and I’m looking forward to seeing how these features evolve in the coming sprints!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 The team is almost finished with VS 1.5 Modding (should be completed this week, and then a few weeks of testing will begin). With this milestone approaching, everyone is now shifting focus towards VS 2 - Planets and Survival, which I'm personally very excited about. Some of the basic loops in the game are already working well during our internal playtests: the ore detector now elegantly displays ore locations on your HUD, you can drill ore, and the inventory screen allows smooth movement of items between inventories and grids. During yesterday's playtest, we focused on refining the grid roll function (Q/E keys) which many of you noticed wasn't fully implemented. I'm pleased to report it's now working as intended. The art team is polishing voxel materials for planets - cliff materials, grass, soil, sand, and more. I'm genuinely impressed with how planets look from orbit and from 1-2 km distances - the view is breathtaking. However, we still have work to do in the middle distance range (200-2000m), where some material detail patterns don't quite match the scale. This is the kind of subtle polish that will make a huge difference in the final experience. ## Turning SE2 into a Game: Core/Meta Loops & Progression This topic has become my personal priority. Many systems in SE2 are already solid and polished, so now it's time to "turn it into a game" with meaningful, satisfying loops. **Core loops** in SE2 encompass exploration, engineering, combat, and various combinations of these activities. A key design principle we're implementing is accessibility - ensuring the first experience with engineering isn't overwhelmingly complex, which might discourage new players. We're designing a progression from simpler engineering tasks to more complex challenges as players gain experience, but importantly, players are free to progress in any direction they want. The game will gradually introduce more complexity and challenges, but you'll never be forced down a specific path. Let me walk you through a concrete example: Imagine spawning on a planet where your HUD objectives guide you to a ship projection. The interface intelligently directs you to nearby resource locations. You mine ore and then use backpack building (which automatically converts raw ore to components for basic blocks) to weld the projection block by block. Within minutes, you've constructed your first ship, and your HUD guides you to the next objective. Of course, this is just one optional path - you're always free to ignore these suggestions and forge your own way through the universe. This engineering core loop creates satisfying and rewarding moments every few minutes. It's something players will repeat regularly, so we're meticulously fine-tuning it to ensure it remains engaging. This is just one example - we have numerous core loops designed with the same care. **Meta loops** provide longer-term goals. You might accept a mission, travel to a specific location, solve various challenges (exploration, combat, engineering), receive rewards, and then progress to the next mission. Through this journey, you'll unlock new areas and advance your colonization index - a visual map showing which regions of Almagest you've already colonized. This provides intuitive, visual progression feedback without resorting to arbitrary gates. **Progression** in SE2 isn't about arbitrary skill trees or artificial restrictions. Our philosophy is to gradually introduce complexity, allowing players to learn the game's systems organically while providing clear visual indicators of progress. We respect player intelligence while ensuring the learning curve doesn't become a learning cliff. What I've described is just a glimpse into the ongoing design discussions we're having. Another major topic we're currently brainstorming is the combat meta and core loops - examining why players would attack or defend, what challenges they'll face, what rewards they'll receive, optimal combat frequency and distance, and whether combat should be automated or manual. These decisions will fundamentally shape the SE2 experience. What aspects of SE2's core loops are you most excited to experience? What other topics are you interested in? I'd love to hear your thoughts. ## Personal: Safari in Botswana We recently took a quick three-night extended weekend trip to Botswana (an easy choice when you're staying in Cape Town). I've always wanted to visit, but since we didn't have time for a car journey, we opted for this shorter trip. Botswana is a vast country with fewer than 3 million citizens. They have quality education, good governance, and generally, people seem content in their country (there's relatively little emigration). Our focus, however, was purely on nature - we stayed at a camp in the Okavango Delta and enjoyed the classic safari experience: morning game drives and evening boat rides to observe wildlife. We were fortunate on the first day to encounter two lion brothers, whom we followed for almost an hour. We witnessed them attempt two hunts - first on a warthog and then on giraffes. Both were unsuccessful. It was fascinating to observe how lions rely on the element of surprise and abandon pursuit if not successful in the first few seconds. It was quite the experience sitting in an open vehicle just 5 meters from these magnificent predators with nothing between us. To summarize: Botswana is beautiful, safe, has incredible wildlife, excellent food, lush greenery, and friendly, happy people. We plan to return in the future, but next time as a road trip to experience the country more intimately.

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 The recent Fieldwork update for SE1 has brought many players back, and we're now seeing increased activity in SE1. This is wonderful to see, especially since we still have plans for SE1, and because SE1 and SE2 cannibalize each other's player bases in interesting ways: Some new players purchase SE2 (simply because it's newer), only to discover there isn't much content for them yet, leading them to leave. Had they bought SE1 instead, they would likely have had a higher chance of remaining engaged with the game. SE2 currently shows lower retention rates and player numbers compared to SE1, largely because creative mode appeals only to a smaller segment of players. Nonetheless, we're committed to this as a long-term journey, so these are merely temporary challenges we'll overcome. ## Personal I want to share a personal experience with you. About a year ago, after a minor slip-up during BJJ, I started noticing spasms and stiffness in my upper and lower back. At first, I brushed it off, thinking it was just part of getting older. I turned to the usual remedies—massage, stretching, mobility exercises—but none of them made a dent. Frustrated, I consulted a sports doctor who referred me to a biokineticist with a fresh perspective. Using movement tests, the biokineticist uncovered the real culprit: some of my muscles were over-active—doing more than their proper share of work—while others weren't pulling their weight. This overactivity led to muscle fatigue, which eventually triggered protective spasms when my body and brain decided to protect those overworked areas by stiffening them. His solution was straightforward yet spot-on: massage the tense muscles to ease their burden and strengthen the weaker ones to bring my body back into balance. It worked wonders. We even discovered that in certain positions, some muscles were malfunctioning - for example, when I turned my head to the right, my abdominal muscles would completely disengage instead of maintaining proper support. The best part was that we precisely debugged the issue with no uncertainty, targeting and discovering exactly three muscles that needed fixing. This precision meant I knew exactly where to be careful and how to address each problem area. With this approach, the pain faded, and now I'm back to long coding sessions, discomfort-free. **The takeaway?** Whether you're debugging code or resolving issues in your body, don't stop at the surface—dig deeper to find the root cause. ## Space Engineers 2 ### VS 1.5 Modding Next big update is VS 1.5 Modding * Here are some use cases that I was recently testing: * Replace the default skybox in the game - can be done in few clicks * Replace the texture on the default Medbay block with a chrome one * Add a new Medbay block to the game - so it shows as a new block in the G-screen During this testing we discovered some bugs and some weird UX issues, which are getting fixed, so it was pretty useful. Here are few examples of Modding in action: Space Engineers 1 Couch Model imported and material adjusted. Gizmo control of dummies. Thruster with a light and gyroscope built in - you are not restricted by entity type anymore! And a view of terminal with both light and thrust override. The reason why we decided to add modding so early was that SE was always about our community and our modders and we want to support them as soon as possible, and also we hope that it will add extra value to the game, and help grow SE2 faster. But it’s hard to say, maybe starting with Survival would be a better growth strategy. Hard to say. ### Gameplay: Colonizing the Almagest System The heart of Space Engineers 2's gameplay is the new colonization system. We've divided the Almagest solar system into distinct regions, each offering unique resources, challenges, and opportunities. As you complete missions and establish infrastructure in these areas, you'll increase your "colonization index" – a measure of humanity's foothold in this distant star system. This creates a clear, visible progression path while maintaining the sandbox freedom that defines Space Engineers. Every engineering project, exploration mission, and combat encounter contributes to your colonization efforts. Complete a power station? Your colonization index rises. Establish a mining outpost? The index grows further. Defend against threats? Your settlement becomes more secure. This system gives purpose to your engineering projects within the broader narrative of humanity's expansion. We're framing this experience as "The New Space Race" – where players collaborate and compete to establish humanity's presence across Algamest. This creates natural objectives that are always visible and clearly communicated through mission markers, HUD indicators, and detailed objective panels. You'll always know what your current mission is, where to find essential resources, and what rewards await completion – all through intuitive visual guidance. While Space Engineers 1 excelled at engineering, physics, and sandbox elements, SE2 will enhance these foundations with stronger gameplay loops and progression systems. We've designed the game to provide a satisfying rhythm of challenges and rewards – you'll experience meaningful accomplishments every few minutes rather than hours, keeping engagement high while building toward larger achievements. We're implementing several accessibility features to support this vision: * **Backpack building** for direct ore-to-component conversion during construction * **Enhanced projection building** with our improved ghost block system * **New build planner interface** streamlining the engineering process * **Redesigned blueprint system** facilitating knowledge sharing between engineers Block unlocking will be tied to both your colonization progress and your building achievements – construct basic components to unlock advanced ones, with region-specific resources enabling specialized technology. We're also considering role-based specialization paths (Explorer, Engineer, Pilot, Industrialist) that would complement the colonization system while preserving the sandbox freedom SE is known for. Throughout all these changes, we're improving accessibility without compromising depth. Space Engineers 2 will be easier to learn but just as challenging to master – maintaining the engineering complexity our community values while welcoming newcomers to the universe we're building together. Please let me know your thoughts - suggestions, questions. It’s time to start discussing the gameplay with you!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 The recent Fieldwork update for SE1 has brought many players back, and we're now seeing increased activity in SE1. This is wonderful to see, especially since we still have plans for SE1, and because SE1 and SE2 cannibalize each other's player bases in interesting ways: Some new players purchase SE2 (simply because it's newer), only to discover there isn't much content for them yet, leading them to leave. Had they bought SE1 instead, they would likely have had a higher chance of remaining engaged with the game. SE2 currently shows lower retention rates and player numbers compared to SE1, largely because creative mode appeals only to a smaller segment of players. Nonetheless, we're committed to this as a long-term journey, so these are merely temporary challenges we'll overcome. ## Personal I want to share a personal experience with you. About a year ago, after a minor slip-up during BJJ, I started noticing spasms and stiffness in my upper and lower back. At first, I brushed it off, thinking it was just part of getting older. I turned to the usual remedies—massage, stretching, mobility exercises—but none of them made a dent. Frustrated, I consulted a sports doctor who referred me to a biokineticist with a fresh perspective. Using movement tests, the biokineticist uncovered the real culprit: some of my muscles were over-active—doing more than their proper share of work—while others weren't pulling their weight. This overactivity led to muscle fatigue, which eventually triggered protective spasms when my body and brain decided to protect those overworked areas by stiffening them. His solution was straightforward yet spot-on: massage the tense muscles to ease their burden and strengthen the weaker ones to bring my body back into balance. It worked wonders. We even discovered that in certain positions, some muscles were malfunctioning - for example, when I turned my head to the right, my abdominal muscles would completely disengage instead of maintaining proper support. The best part was that we precisely debugged the issue with no uncertainty, targeting and discovering exactly three muscles that needed fixing. This precision meant I knew exactly where to be careful and how to address each problem area. With this approach, the pain faded, and now I'm back to long coding sessions, discomfort-free. **The takeaway?** Whether you're debugging code or resolving issues in your body, don't stop at the surface—dig deeper to find the root cause. ## Space Engineers 2 ### VS 1.5 Modding Next big update is VS 1.5 Modding * Here are some use cases that I was recently testing: * Replace the default skybox in the game - can be done in few clicks * Replace the texture on the default Medbay block with a chrome one * Add a new Medbay block to the game - so it shows as a new block in the G-screen During this testing we discovered some bugs and some weird UX issues, which are getting fixed, so it was pretty useful. Here are few examples of Modding in action: Space Engineers 1 Couch Model imported and material adjusted. Gizmo control of dummies. Thruster with a light and gyroscope built in - you are not restricted by entity type anymore! And a view of terminal with both light and thrust override. The reason why we decided to add modding so early was that SE was always about our community and our modders and we want to support them as soon as possible, and also we hope that it will add extra value to the game, and help grow SE2 faster. But it’s hard to say, maybe starting with Survival would be a better growth strategy. Hard to say. ### Gameplay: Colonizing the Algamest System The heart of Space Engineers 2's gameplay is the new colonization system. We've divided the Algamest solar system into distinct regions, each offering unique resources, challenges, and opportunities. As you complete missions and establish infrastructure in these areas, you'll increase your "colonization index" – a measure of humanity's foothold in this distant star system. This creates a clear, visible progression path while maintaining the sandbox freedom that defines Space Engineers. Every engineering project, exploration mission, and combat encounter contributes to your colonization efforts. Complete a power station? Your colonization index rises. Establish a mining outpost? The index grows further. Defend against threats? Your settlement becomes more secure. This system gives purpose to your engineering projects within the broader narrative of humanity's expansion. We're framing this experience as "The New Space Race" – where players collaborate and compete to establish humanity's presence across Algamest. This creates natural objectives that are always visible and clearly communicated through mission markers, HUD indicators, and detailed objective panels. You'll always know what your current mission is, where to find essential resources, and what rewards await completion – all through intuitive visual guidance. While Space Engineers 1 excelled at engineering, physics, and sandbox elements, SE2 will enhance these foundations with stronger gameplay loops and progression systems. We've designed the game to provide a satisfying rhythm of challenges and rewards – you'll experience meaningful accomplishments every few minutes rather than hours, keeping engagement high while building toward larger achievements. We're implementing several accessibility features to support this vision: * **Backpack building** for direct ore-to-component conversion during construction * **Enhanced projection building** with our improved ghost block system * **New build planner interface** streamlining the engineering process * **Redesigned blueprint system** facilitating knowledge sharing between engineers Block unlocking will be tied to both your colonization progress and your building achievements – construct basic components to unlock advanced ones, with region-specific resources enabling specialized technology. We're also considering role-based specialization paths (Explorer, Engineer, Pilot, Industrialist) that would complement the colonization system while preserving the sandbox freedom SE is known for. Throughout all these changes, we're improving accessibility without compromising depth. Space Engineers 2 will be easier to learn but just as challenging to master – maintaining the engineering complexity our community values while welcoming newcomers to the universe we're building together. Please let me know your thoughts - suggestions, questions. It’s time to start discussing the gameplay with you!

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 * This Monday we released a huge Fieldwork update for Space Engineers 1 * Check out Zer0's Legion overview video * You can read the full release blog post here: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2025/04/space-engineers-fieldwork-live-now.html ## Personal * I missed last week's dev diary because I took a vacation to a remote offline place without internet access. But I want to share with you some things that excited me: * I spent 3 days staying on a remote sheep farm in the Karoo (South Africa), with no signal, no electricity, and the nearest neighbor about 30 km away * The forced deep-focus was incredible - with no internet or email notifications, I could only think, sketch, and draft ideas the old-fashioned way * It was strangely liberating not being able to "just ask the AI" or to google or open some documents - every question had to go in my notebook, which helped me see which problems are truly worth pursuing later * I finally completed a reading sprint, finishing "Designing Games" by RimWorld's Tynan Sylvester - got lots of great mental models on player motivation, pacing, and emergent story arcs that I'm bringing back into SE2 and AI People * Explored the farm's canyon system and discovered a century-old settler dam that's now partially breached, plus an ancient camel-thorn tree that I named the "Tree of Life" * Had an amazing "Palaeo day" where I: * Toured the Gansfontein palaeosurface with Marinda Oberholzer in Fraserburg - hundreds of 255 million-year-old proto-mammal trackways preserved in mudstone * Visited Jaco Groenewald's personal museum in Sutherland to see dicynodont skulls and amphibian swim-trails - his DIY exhibit at Sterland shows how the Karoo records the Permian-Triassic extinction * Both amazing people who love their work and passion! ## Space Engineers 2 * Our water team is optimizing the simulation and making it more stable across various test cases (water dam, underwater base, aqueduct, submarine, etc.) * The water rendering looks much better now and more flat - making spherical water for a spherical planet was a very challenging task, but it's working well now * We'll soon need to start adding sound effects for water, which I think will be substantial work - we need to detect where water falls and splashes without over-spamming the audio system, plus create muffled sounds for underwater (though this part should be easier, just needing an "if" condition and a dynamic effect in FMOD) * We've improved camera shake for both character and ship: * It feels great during jetpack flight - shaking during the initial charge-up period and during boost flight * It works for ship acceleration too, but it's currently too strong - we'll reduce it and implement a cooldown so after about 2 seconds it will gradually stop shaking or shake very little * We also plan to implement this for deceleration * The ship drill now causes rock debris to fly off when drilling asteroids * Our main focus is now on: * VS 1.5 Modding update - this will be amazing for modders and players, providing new tools to mod the game. We've done several playtests and the workflow is becoming more intuitive and simpler while maintaining freedom and flexibility * VS 2 - focusing on survival, planets, and real gameplay (at least the first stages). We're transitioning from polishing small creative mode details to the bigger picture of actual gameplay - turning SE2 into a game about space colonization with exploration, combat, and engineering. For me, this is the most important part and one of the main reasons for making SE2 - to reimagine the SE experience without constraints * Animations continue to see incremental improvements: * The debug gun now has better positioning and distance * We still plan to improve jump animation, uphill and downhill walk/run animations, tool usage (drill, welder, etc.), stopping animations, and more * First-person camera and animations are already very good, about 90% of our target quality ## AI People * I've started working on my own AI NPCs experiments and my own LTM (Long-Term Memory) system * It's incredibly fun to be back programming after 10 years of CEO-ing - being in those fast iteration loops (idea → experiment → feedback) * AI-assisted coding makes you tremendously productive these days * I'll be sharing my progress later

**SUMMARY:** * **Cargo Ships & Unknown Signals Overhaul** * **New Prototech: Fusion Reactor** * **Tons of Quality of Life Improvements** * **Fieldwork Pack** * **The Great Skin Hunt** * **...and much more!** * * * Hello, Engineers! The Fieldwork update is here! We’ve improved PvE Encounters, including **a full rework of Cargo Ship and Unknown Signal encounters**. This update also adds the new **Prototech Fusion Reactor** , a Small Oxygen Tank, and a Large Grid Small Connector - along with a wide range of quality of life fixes and improvements. The **Fieldwork Pack** includes new decorative blocks with visuals ideal for building secret bunkers, mad scientist labs, mobile research outposts, and more. Perfect for engineers working off the grid. # Free Content We’re bringing you all the important gameplay changes for free in our Fieldwork Update. ### PvE Encounters All the Cargo Ship encounters and all Unknown Signals have been overhauled. You do not need to start a new world to experience them. **Cargo Ships Overhaul** NPC Cargo Ships have been completely revamped and updated for a fresh new experience. These grids now make use of modern weapon systems, AI blocks, and communicate using Broadcast Controllers. They’re designed to sit between the simpler Unknown Signal encounters and the more dangerous Factorum threats - offering a mid-tier challenge and rewards. The factions are randomly generated when you create a world. These include traders, builders, miners, military groups, pirate factions, and two special global factions: The Factorum and Unknown. This system hasn’t changed in this update - but the ships they use have. Cargo ships now use the same faction-based system and colors. This means ships will inherit the colors of the faction they belong to, adding more visual variety. Pirate factions are an exception - instead of their usual black color, they now use random paint schemes to reflect their scavenger nature, suggesting they steal parts and ships from other factions rather than build their own. Cargo ships can now call for reinforcements via their antennas if your reputation with that faction is negative. Some ships may appear lightly defended at first, but once you go hostile, they’ll dispatch additional drones to respond. Each faction type has individual behaviors and 2 to 4 unique drone variants, adding more tactical depth and variety to these encounters. * **Trade Factions:** Least hostile. Tend to flee on sight. Lightly armed. * **Mining Factions:** Tolerate nearby players but may become hostile if approached. Often flee rather than fight. * **Builder Factions:** Behave similarly to mining factions. * **Military Factions:** Do not like being approached. Will pursue players who get too close. * **Pirate Factions:** Hostile on sight. Will engage whenever possible. Some larger ships can launch salvage-seeking drones. * **Unknown Faction:** Rare and unique spawns. **Unknown Signals Overhaul** New grids for all Unknown Signals. Like Cargo Ships, these grids now take advantage of modern blocks and we also made adjustments to their loot. **Strong Unknown Signals Overhaul** Strong Unknown Signals are now composed entirely of Large Grid blocks. Their location is visible to all players on the server, and they have a chance to contain high-end loot and salvage - making them valuable targets worth cooperating to take down... or competing over. **Improvements to Planetary Encounter Spawning** We’ve made improvements to the spawn system for Planetary Encounters which should make these encounters spawn more reliably and frequently, ensuring players regularly have content to explore on the surface of planets. **The Great Skin Hunt** Starting today and running through May 30, we’ve substantially increased the drop rates for all skins on Steam from Unknown Signals. Strong Unknown Signals, which have a chance to drop the rarest skins, are especially rewarding during this period. We’ve also reduced the cooldown between possible skin drops, so you’ll have more chances to earn cosmetic rewards as you play. Happy hunting, Engineers! ### New Free Blocks **Prototech Fusion Reactor** (1 block, L grid) A highly efficient power generator which utilizes hydrogen as a fuel source. It can provide large amounts of power to grids. Challenge the Factorum to obtain one for yourself! **Small Oxygen Tank** (1 block, S grid) A compact oxygen tank perfect for exploring low oxygen environments. **Large Grid Small Connector** (1 block, L grid) This block serves as an adapter which allows Small Grids utilizing the Small Connector to dock directly to Large Grids. **Refill Station** (2 blocks, L grid + 1 block, S grid) This block allows engineers to quickly refill their suit’s oxygen, hydrogen, and energy. Any player can refill from these stations, regardless of faction standing or ownership - making them great for cooperative play and the PvPvE on the servers. Want to call a temporary truce and team up with a rival faction to take down a hostile encounter or Strong Unknown Signal? Now you can. ### Improvements and Quality of Life Changes ** ** **Added Additional Set Value Actions** We’ve added several new toolbar actions allowing for better manipulation and automation of the following settings: * Thrusters: Set Thrust Override * Wheels: Set propulsion Override, Set Steering Override * Lights: Set Light Color, Set Radius, Set Blink Interval * AI Flight Block: Set Speed **Added Support for Keyboard Binding Modifiers** Keybinding options have been expanded, with more support for multiple key combinations. The default keyboard layout for block rotations now mirrors the scheme used in Space Engineers 2, allowing for easier transitions between sessions in both games. **Action Slot UI Improvements** Action Slots in automation blocks have been completely reworked for better clarity and ease of use. It’s now much easier to tell what each slot does, making automation easier than ever. **Projector Model & Functionality Improvements** Building from a Projector Block just got easier! The block’s model has been reworked with directional indicators, making initial placement and blueprint control easier. Additionally, we’ve added options to pinpoint unfinished or missing blocks on the projected grid. **Experimental Mode Changes** We’ve made some changes to Experimental Mode. * Experimental Mode is now turned on/off automatically when joining sessions that have Experimental Mode enabled or disabled. * Mods are no longer considered Experimental, allowing players to engage in modded content without the need to turn on experimental mode and all of its associated features. * There are three new Experimental mode World settings: Enable Share Inertia Tensor, Enable Unsafe Piston Impulses, Enable Unsafe Rotor Impulses. These were previously available when Experimental Mode was enabled, but can now be individually toggled if needed. * Adjustments have been made to total PCU values on Xbox, which should result in a more stable experience. **More QoL Changes:  ** * Added Support for Multiple GPS Selection * Added Terrain Clearing Mode Option to the Drills * Added Search Options in Admin/Block Menus * Added Carousel Scrolling in Radial Menus * Admin Menu Improvements & Added Admin PCU Tools * Added New Loading Screen Images, Background Videos * …and more! For full Changelog continue **HERE** ### Free DLC Content Additions We are always looking for ways to improve, and that includes adding value to prior releases. During this update, we are adding new content to existing DLCs, those who already own these DLCs will get this content for free, as part of the update. **Additional Bridge Blocks** (Added to the **Contact Pack**) (7 blocks, L grid) Additional blocks featuring reinforced windows, designed to be combined into the ideal bridge for a large grid ship. ## Fieldwork Pack Similar to our previous major releases, we hope you will take this opportunity to support the continued development of Space Engineers. This DLC pack consists of cosmetic items that enrich your game visually. None of the features in this package provide any advantage to players who purchase this DLC. The price of the **Fieldwork Pack** is $4.99 USD or your regional equivalent. Show your continued support for Space Engineers and check out the Fieldwork Pack. This package includes: **Lab Desks** (6 blocks, L grid) A collection of modular workstations perfect for laboratories and research outposts. **Lab Experiments** (3 blocks, L grid) Essential for any scientific facility, these decorative blocks show signs of active experimentation and ongoing research efforts. **Lab Vat** (1 block, L grid) A unique variant of the Cryo Chamber block, this sealed containment unit preserves offline players. **Lab Freezer** (1 block, L grid) A storage unit perfect for preserving samples and medical supplies. **Lab Door** (2 blocks, L grid) A slim glass door which provides secure access to various areas of your laboratory. **Lab O2/H2 Generator** (1 block, L grid + 1 block, S grid) This block generates oxygen and hydrogen with visible electrolysis equipment showcasing the process at work. **Lab Small Hydrogen Tank** (1 block, L grid) Portable hydrogen storage for small-scale systems. **Lab Small Oxygen Tank** (1 block, L grid) Oxygen tanks suited for laboratories and support modules. **Lab Hydrogen Tank** (1 block, S grid) A high capacity hydrogen storage unit for Small Grids. **Round Passages** (7 blocks, L grid) Segments of tunnels. Ideal for bunker interiors and modular labs. **Pipes** (7 blocks, L grid) A set of decorative pipe blocks useful for adding detail to utility spaces. **Decorative Floors** (5 blocks, L grid + 2 blocks, S grid) A set of floor blocks which add panelling and texture to walkways, maintenance areas, and rooms. **Cargo Access Terminal** (2 blocks, L grid) Secure access points for cargo management. **Exhaust Cap** (1 block, L grid + 1 block, S grid) A low-profile exhaust vent with a variety of visual effects options. ## What’s Next Survival Mode. We’re expanding the survival experience with new gameplay systems in our next update. Environmental hazards will affect how you explore and build, while managing food supplies and maintaining farm plots will become key to staying alive in the frontier of space. All of these features will be optional and configurable when creating your world, so you can tailor survival to fit your playstyle - whether you're looking for a hardcore challenge or a more relaxed experience. We’re looking forward to sharing more soon! ## Community Hub & Spotlights Check out our Community Hub! * Official Keen Workshop * Monthly Spotlights * Creator Spotlights * Official Guides * and much more! ## Hiring If you’re interested in working on awesome games like **Space Engineers**  or our in-house engine VRAGE3, we’d love to hear from you! We are currently in the Research and development phase, exploring new features of the VRAGE3 engine. Our goal is to support extremely large and fully dynamic and destructible environments, including planets, large spaceships, and any other creations built by the players. If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers or our **in-house game engine** , and **love solving unique challenges** , we’d love to hear from you! Check out the open positions at Keen Software House and don’t forget to send us your English CV/resume and cover letter. Remote collaboration is possible! Our team is global. Finding the best candidates to join Keen Software House means exploring every possible solution, including remote work. While we strive to provide team members with the best possible work-life balance here in Prague at our incredible Oranzerie offices, we understand that it is not always possible to transition, therefore we are very remote-friendly. Here’s a map of where our teammates live. If you want to let me know your feedback, please get in touch via my personal email address marek.rosa@keenswh.com, or use our Keen Software House support site. I welcome all of the feedback we receive and we will use it to learn and provide better services to our players. ## Follow our social media to get the latest news! * **Space Engineers& Keen Software House Connect Page** ** **** Thank you for reading this blog!** Best, **Marek Rosa** CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI **Personal bio:** _Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development._ _Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine._ _Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system._ _Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe._

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 1 * The Fieldwork Update release is around the corner! ## Space Engineers 2 * VS 1.2 was released on Monday and it seems players are happy with our choices: target based grid control, off-center camera, and more! * Dampener curves - A month ago (after we reworked the target based grid control and also the thrusters), I felt that the deceleration/dampening of the gyro and thrusters didn't feel good, the follow (slowing down) was too long and slow, and I wanted something steeper, with stronger end - but at the same time not instant cut and not linear feel. So I scheduled a call with Logan (one of our gameplay programmers), to configure those curves and playtest it, but after a few minutes we realized the curves actually feel quite good (both thrusters and gyros), so we left it as it is (what you have in VS 1.2). I think that they got fixed by designers in the meantime, after configuring gyro and thruster parameters a bit. I was quite relieved because this could have turned into a never-ending battle. * Mike (our concept artist) is finishing the concept of one of the main characters. What do you say? He belongs to the Legion of Engineers faction. * Had a discussion with Mikko (our level designer) and the designers, and we will try to add simple objectives to the Creative Mode, like repair this ship and transfer it to that cave station, or fly through an obstacle course, shoot the target figurines, etc. The reason is to give players some goals, something to do beyond open-ended creation. The plan now is roughly 1 hour of objective-based gameplay, and we will evaluate it later. Most likely in VS 1.6 (PS: everything is subject to change) I am looking forward to this. We already have a prototype of our Mission Scripting Framework done, and it worked on some missions, but now the focus is VS 2, so there wasn't time to develop it further. However, it seems that the objectives for Creative mode can be done with what we currently have. * We want SE2 to be much more goal oriented, with specific measures and progression players will want to strive for. SE1 is more open ended, players make their own goals. SE2 will have a meta loop and progression, with some measures that players can understand and strive for. This week we were finishing discussions on this topic with the designers, and I feel very good about the current direction of it. Will let you know later. * We finished the design of safe speed. Safe speed is already in the game, collisions under 20 m/s don't cause damage. But we need to go further: we need to communicate it well on the HUD, plus there will be an "adaptive cruise control" system for setting up the max speed (so you don't go beyond safe speed), or you match your speed with some other grid, etc. * We set the main principles of the new build planner, block packages, and area welding. It's a huge topic, and it still has to be written as a design doc, but in general: * Players can use assembler to output "block packages" (which is basically a block inside the inventory, so we will rename it to blocks). This will reduce the complexity of thinking, because you will see you have 3 gyros in your inventory, so you know you can weld three gyros. You don't have to go to the lower level of components. Of course, the component system from SE1 will stay as it is. Block packages are here just as another layer on how to simplify things. * We will also keep "backpack building" we already prototyped in SE2: building from raw ore, where the backpack automatically turns the ore into components and you weld the block without worrying what kind of components you need. * Build planner will automatically add blocks you are projecting to the planner queue, and then you can with one click retrieve those queued items from some inventory or order their production. We really want to streamline this process, make it as intuitive as possible, so players can just use it without thinking. This is one of the things that bothered me in SE1. * Area welding: different welders will offer the ability to weld an area (more blocks at the same time) instead of point welding, where only one block at a time is welded and only where you point at.

    **SUMMARY:** * **Target-based Grid Control** * **Off-center 3rd Person Camera** * **Paint Gun Undo-Redo** * **Improved Visuals for Partial Copy/Paste** * **Jetpack 2.0** * **…and much more!** * * * Hello, Engineers! Vertical Slice 1.2 is here and it brings another round of improvements to Space Engineers 2. This update introduces target-based ship controls, undo/redo for the paint gun, improved visuals for partial copy/paste, and an important improvement of jetpack boost mode. You'll also find the new off-center third-person camera that gives you clearer visibility by keeping your character's head to the side, so it doesn't block your crosshair and target view. For ships, a similar vertical offset keeps your view unobstructed. And as always - there’s plenty more under the hood. Let’s take a look! #### Vertical Slice 1.2 Features ### ### Off-center 3rd Person Camera The new off-center third-person camera gives you better visibility and more control when piloting ships or moving on foot. By default, the camera is set to the right side, but you can cycle between right, center, and left using ALT+V. We’ve also lowered the minimum camera distance, making it easier to see in tight spaces without switching to first-person. ### Target-based Grid Control We've added target-based grid control to make flying ships feel more responsive and intuitive. When you rotate your ship toward a point in space using the mouse, new on-screen UI indicators are showing your current rotation and orientation. This makes precision piloting and maneuvering easier than ever. Unlike the previous version, which directly translated mouse movement to ship torque (making heavy ships require excessive mouse movement and feeling unresponsive), this new system ensures your ship responds consistently regardless of its mass. ### Paint Gun Undo-Redo The paint gun now supports undo and redo, letting you quickly revert or reapply recent color changes. Whether you're experimenting with new designs or fixing mistakes, this feature makes painting more user friendly. ### Improved Visuals for Partial Copy/Paste Partial copy/paste now has improved visuals, making it easier to see exactly which blocks you're copying and how they'll be placed. This helps with precision building and reduces guesswork when working with complex structures. ### Jetpack 2.0 Jetpack 2.0 brings a more refined and responsive feel to movement. Boosting now has a short charge-up time, with a new charging indicator on the hydrogen bar and an orange highlight when ready. We've also added improved visual effects like camera shake and enhanced sound effects to make jetpack movement feel more powerful and immersive. ### Additional Improvements * Added Debug Gun model, muzzle effects * Debug gun now damages Voxels * Added scroll through toolbars (CTRL + ALT + Mouse Wheel) * Added multiple sound effects (example: GUI/UI sounds, toolbar sounds, radial menu sounds, grid impact sounds, explosions) * Added visual icons to Dynamic Hits * Added multiple first-person and third-person animations (jumping, debug gun, paint gun) * Improved Voxel destruction effects * Shifted 3rd person camera view when sitting in the cockpit * Added First Person view character shadows * Added Inverse Kinematics for character model (still work in progress in edge cases) There are many additional improvements and fixes in **Vertical Slice 1.2**  - you can explore everything included in the detailed **Changelog.** ** ** #### Work in Progress / Ongoing Improvements While your feedback is invaluable, **some features are not yet ready for your input.**  These systems and mechanics are temporary solutions or placeholders, and we’re already **hard at work redesigning and refining them.**  We ask for your patience while we bring these elements to their full potential. Features and improvements we are actively working on: * Color picker will be included in undo-redo for paint gun in a future update * Character is not holding a Gun correctly while using the jetpack * After entering a cockpit for the first time after starting the game, the character may peek through the cockpit - this will be fixed in an upcoming update. * Keyboard and mouse controls are not customizable yet, but they will be! * Toolbar block groups and sizes (block selection via R key) are a temporary mechanism and will be redesigned in a near update. * We’re aware of incompatibility at launch of Space Engineers 2 on Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 built-in Arc GPUs. We are working with Intel to enable the game experience and will provide relevant updates as development progresses. * Performance * Performance optimization is ongoing. For Alpha release, we’re targeting 16x Red Ship grids at 60 FPS on recommended hardware. * Autosave may cause brief lags during gameplay. * Performance optimizations of ship collisions and destruction are ongoing, so it won’t be lag-free at this moment. We will be continuously improving it in the following updates. * PCU values per block may appear higher compared to Space Engineers 1, reflecting SE2's increased detail and more precise performance measurements. While the current total PCU limit is set at 400,000 in VS1, we plan to raise this threshold in future updates as we implement scheduled optimization improvements. * Space Engineers 2 Workshop * In-game Blueprint interface - Additional features and improvements will be introduced based on player feedback. * Displaying Steam Workshop Collections in-game is planned. * Blueprint screen refresh can be slow in some cases - it should be fixed in the next update. * Your owned Private items are not currently visible in the in-game Workshop browser. * We are addressing edge cases where re-publishing, renaming, tag display in the Steam interface, and sorting may not work as intended. * Offline mode improvements - we are working on better handling when Steam is offline. * The current GUI (Graphical User Interface) and HUD (Heads-Up Display) are works in progress. Our team is prioritizing core functionality first. Once we've confirmed all features are working as intended, we'll enhance the visual design and overall aesthetics. * Some blocks are decorative-only for now (for example, the Assembler is present but cannot produce components) * The inventory system will be implemented in a future update * Fracture models will receive additional visual updates in future versions. * The paint tool’s limited palette is temporary; future updates will include RGB/HSV color settings and custom palettes. * Work on enhanced sound effects is ongoing, including jetpack audio * The Alpha releases in English language, more localizations will follow * Tutorials will be added closer to the end of development. This is just the start of an incredible journey, and we want to thank everyone who’s joining us on it. Your creativity and passion are what make this community so special. #### What’s Next We are now working on **Vertical Slice 1.5** , which will include **modding support** and many small features based on your feedback. We’ll be releasing our **VRAGE3 tools** , and we can’t wait to see what you create with them! After that comes **Vertical Slice 1.6** , which will be addressing more player feedback and modding improvements. #### How to share your feedback? The best way to provide your feedback is through our **Support Portal**. You can always find a direct link to the support portal from within the game - just press F1 to access the help screen! This platform is your direct line to the developers and the Space Engineers community. Here, you can: * Create a Bugreport * Create a ticket with your Feedback/Idea * Vote on other ideas or bug reports * Comment and Interact with fellow players * Suggest solutions and provide valuable feedback to help shape the future of Space Engineers 2 ### Suggestions If you have ideas or suggestions for the game, we want to hear them! Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping the Space Engineers experience, and your contributions will be just as crucial for Space Engineers 2. Take a moment to share your ideas and help us improve - we value your time and input! ### Bug Reports Encountered a technical issue? Let us know by submitting a bug report. When reporting bugs, please: * Provide a thorough description of the issue. * Include reliable reproduction steps if possible. * Attach any relevant log files, screenshots, or videos. * Share a save file of your world, if applicable, to help us investigate further. These details are essential to help us resolve issues effectively. Even if you can’t provide reproduction steps, the more information you include, the better! ### Don’t Forget to Vote! Before submitting new feedback or bug reports, use the search feature to see if a similar topic already exists. If you find one, don’t hesitate to vote for the topic to show it’s important to you! If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to start a new topic. Every vote, suggestion, and report counts and helps us prioritize updates and improvements. The support portal is the best and most direct way to help shape Space Engineers 2. We’re looking forward to hearing from you ### Post-release Support We will continuously monitor Space Engineers 2 stability after the release and fix any problematic cases that lead to game issues. #### Marek’s Dev Diaries Marek Rosa - Keen Software House founder, CEO, and Game Director shares a weekly Dev Diary every Thursday, offering a **behind-the-scenes look at Space Engineers 2 development.** These diaries dive into the latest challenges, solutions, and ideas shaping the game. They are Marek's unfiltered thoughts, meaning details may change as development evolves. If you enjoy insights into game creation (and don’t mind potential spoilers), be sure to **check them out!** #### Space Engineers 2 Links * 🤩 Play Now on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1133870/Space_Engineers_2/ * 🛠️ Feedback & Support - https://support.keenswh.com/ * 🗺️ Roadmap: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/roadmap-2/#current * 🛰️ Discord: https://discord.gg/keenswh * 📫 Newsletter: https://www.keenswh.com/newsletter * ➡️ Connect and find us on your platform of choice - https://www.keenswh.com/connect/ **Thank you for reading this blog!** Best, **Marek Rosa** CEO, Game Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI **Personal bio:** _Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development._ _Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine._ _Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system._ _Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe._

    **SUMMARY:** * **Target-based Grid Control** * **Off-center 3rd Person Camera** * **Paint Gun Undo-Redo** * **Improved Visuals for Partial Copy/Paste** * **Jetpack 2.0** * **…and much more!** * * * Hello, Engineers! This is our first **Vertical Slice update**  since the Space Engineers 2 Alpha release, and we’re excited to bring you a whole set of new features - and improvements based on your feedback. This update adds **in-game UGC Workshop support**  with **Steam Workshop integration** , making it easier to share and discover **Blueprints and Worlds.**  We’ve also introduced **mouse sensitivity controls** , an **inverted mouse axis option** , and a **new grid pasting mode  **with improved pivot controls. On top of that, we’ve added **advanced world**  **settings**  for all saves and **improved performance when pasting and placing grids.**  We’re just getting started, and there’s plenty more to come! #### Vertical Slice 1.2 Features ### ### Off-center 3rd Person Camera The new off-center third-person camera gives you better visibility and more control when piloting ships or moving on foot. By default, the camera is set to the right side, but you can cycle between right, center, and left using ALT+V. We’ve also lowered the minimum camera distance, making it easier to see in tight spaces without switching to first-person. ### Target-based Grid Control We've added target-based grid control to make flying ships feel more responsive and intuitive. When you rotate your ship toward a point in space using the mouse, new on-screen UI indicators are showing your current rotation and orientation. This makes precision piloting and maneuvering easier than ever. Unlike the previous version, which directly translated mouse movement to ship torque (making heavy ships require excessive mouse movement and feeling unresponsive), this new system ensures your ship responds consistently regardless of its mass. ### Paint Gun Undo-Redo The paint gun now supports undo and redo, letting you quickly revert or reapply recent color changes. Whether you're experimenting with new designs or fixing mistakes, this feature makes painting more user friendly. ### Improved Visuals for Partial Copy/Paste Partial copy/paste now has improved visuals, making it easier to see exactly which blocks you're copying and how they'll be placed. This helps with precision building and reduces guesswork when working with complex structures. ### Jetpack 2.0 Jetpack 2.0 brings a more refined and responsive feel to movement. Boosting now has a short charge-up time, with a new charging indicator on the hydrogen bar and an orange highlight when ready. We've also added improved visual effects like camera shake and enhanced sound effects to make jetpack movement feel more powerful and immersive. ### Additional Improvements * Added Debug Gun model, muzzle effects * Debug gun now damages Voxels * Added scroll through toolbars (CTRL + ALT + Mouse Wheel) * Added multiple sound effects (example: GUI/UI sounds, toolbar sounds, radial menu sounds, grid impact sounds, explosions) * Added visual icons to Dynamic Hits * Added multiple first-person and third-person animations (jumping, debug gun, paint gun) * Improved Voxel destruction effects * Shifted 3rd person camera view when sitting in the cockpit * Added First Person view character shadows * Added Inverse Kinematics for character model (still work in progress in edge cases) There are many additional improvements and fixes in **Vertical Slice 1.2**  - you can explore everything included in the detailed **Changelog.** ** ** #### Work in Progress / Ongoing Improvements While your feedback is invaluable, **some features are not yet ready for your input.**  These systems and mechanics are temporary solutions or placeholders, and we’re already **hard at work redesigning and refining them.**  We ask for your patience while we bring these elements to their full potential. Features and improvements we are actively working on: * Color picker will be included in undo-redo for paint gun in a future update * Character is not holding a Gun correctly while using the jetpack * After entering a cockpit for the first time after starting the game, the character may peek through the cockpit - this will be fixed in an upcoming update. * Keyboard and mouse controls are not customizable yet, but they will be! * Toolbar block groups and sizes (block selection via R key) are a temporary mechanism and will be redesigned in a near update. * We’re aware of incompatibility at launch of Space Engineers 2 on Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 built-in Arc GPUs. We are working with Intel to enable the game experience and will provide relevant updates as development progresses. * Performance * Performance optimization is ongoing. For Alpha release, we’re targeting 16x Red Ship grids at 60 FPS on recommended hardware. * Autosave may cause brief lags during gameplay. * Performance optimizations of ship collisions and destruction are ongoing, so it won’t be lag-free at this moment. We will be continuously improving it in the following updates. * PCU values per block may appear higher compared to Space Engineers 1, reflecting SE2's increased detail and more precise performance measurements. While the current total PCU limit is set at 400,000 in VS1, we plan to raise this threshold in future updates as we implement scheduled optimization improvements. * Space Engineers 2 Workshop * In-game Blueprint interface - Additional features and improvements will be introduced based on player feedback. * Displaying Steam Workshop Collections in-game is planned. * Blueprint screen refresh can be slow in some cases - it should be fixed in the next update. * Your owned Private items are not currently visible in the in-game Workshop browser. * We are addressing edge cases where re-publishing, renaming, tag display in the Steam interface, and sorting may not work as intended. * Offline mode improvements - we are working on better handling when Steam is offline. * The current GUI (Graphical User Interface) and HUD (Heads-Up Display) are works in progress. Our team is prioritizing core functionality first. Once we've confirmed all features are working as intended, we'll enhance the visual design and overall aesthetics. * Some blocks are decorative-only for now (for example, the Assembler is present but cannot produce components) * The inventory system will be implemented in a future update * Fracture models will receive additional visual updates in future versions. * The paint tool’s limited palette is temporary; future updates will include RGB/HSV color settings and custom palettes. * Work on enhanced sound effects is ongoing, including jetpack audio * The Alpha releases in English language, more localizations will follow * Tutorials will be added closer to the end of development. This is just the start of an incredible journey, and we want to thank everyone who’s joining us on it. Your creativity and passion are what make this community so special. #### What’s Next Additional Vertical Slices will follow in the months after, each expanding the game's features and content. This development process will continue over the next few years until we achieve our full vision for Space Engineers 2. We are now working on **Vertical Slice 1.2** , which will include **improved mechanics**  (for example Jetpack “2.0”), **interface refinements** , and many small features based on your feedback. After that comes **Vertical Slice 1.5** , with **modding support**  as the main feature. We’ll be releasing our **VRAGE3 tools** , and we can’t wait to see what you create with them! #### How to share your feedback? The best way to provide your feedback is through our **Support Portal**. You can always find a direct link to the support portal from within the game - just press F1 to access the help screen! This platform is your direct line to the developers and the Space Engineers community. Here, you can: * Create a Bugreport * Create a ticket with your Feedback/Idea * Vote on other ideas or bug reports * Comment and Interact with fellow players * Suggest solutions and provide valuable feedback to help shape the future of Space Engineers 2 ### Suggestions If you have ideas or suggestions for the game, we want to hear them! Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping the Space Engineers experience, and your contributions will be just as crucial for Space Engineers 2. Take a moment to share your ideas and help us improve - we value your time and input! ### Bug Reports Encountered a technical issue? Let us know by submitting a bug report. When reporting bugs, please: * Provide a thorough description of the issue. * Include reliable reproduction steps if possible. * Attach any relevant log files, screenshots, or videos. * Share a save file of your world, if applicable, to help us investigate further. These details are essential to help us resolve issues effectively. Even if you can’t provide reproduction steps, the more information you include, the better! ### Don’t Forget to Vote! Before submitting new feedback or bug reports, use the search feature to see if a similar topic already exists. If you find one, don’t hesitate to vote for the topic to show it’s important to you! If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to start a new topic. Every vote, suggestion, and report counts and helps us prioritize updates and improvements. The support portal is the best and most direct way to help shape Space Engineers 2. We’re looking forward to hearing from you ### Post-release Support We will continuously monitor Space Engineers 2 stability after the release and fix any problematic cases that lead to game issues. #### Marek’s Dev Diaries Marek Rosa - Keen Software House founder, CEO, and Game Director shares a weekly Dev Diary every Thursday, offering a **behind-the-scenes look at Space Engineers 2 development.** These diaries dive into the latest challenges, solutions, and ideas shaping the game. They are Marek's unfiltered thoughts, meaning details may change as development evolves. If you enjoy insights into game creation (and don’t mind potential spoilers), be sure to **check them out!** #### Space Engineers 2 Links * 🤩 Play Now on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1133870/Space_Engineers_2/ * 🛠️ Feedback & Support - https://support.keenswh.com/ * 🗺️ Roadmap: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/roadmap-2/#current * 🛰️ Discord: https://discord.gg/keenswh * 📫 Newsletter: https://www.keenswh.com/newsletter * ➡️ Connect and find us on your platform of choice - https://www.keenswh.com/connect/ **Thank you for reading this blog!** Best, **Marek Rosa** CEO, Game Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI **Personal bio:** _Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development._ _Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine._ _Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system._ _Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe._

## What is this Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest. ## Why am I doing it I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this. ## Space Engineers 2 * VS 1.2 will be releasing in a few days, on Monday April 14 * In survival, players will build in projection mode (so first as a projection, and then weld it). We need a particle effect for it, so here's one prototype. * The new IK is great, but when you walk up stairs or ramp, in first person mode, the camera goes up and down, and what you stop it continues in the movement for a tiny moment, and this is precisely what we wanted to clean up in first person mode (no secondary movements in first person mode, just clean abstract camera sliding through space). So we will look on this in the future in the polishing phase * This week we had our regular playtest, and things I focused on where: * Consumables - healing via medikit (automatic or manual) * Death - from health damage or collision, and respawn * Caves on the planets - we have a couple of caves but also a CSG merging algorithm, so we can merge (add or cut) many of them one through each other and create unlimited variations. They look good, realistic. What needs to get improved is the voxel material (stone) inside of the mountains (planet), it doesn't look pretty. * Shooting from the debug gun has now correct recoil and camera shake. But I also realized that the way we portray the gun on the screen is not what I am used to in other FPS games - so we will move the hand a bit forward, and more to the center. Right now it's obscuring too much of the screen space and also the angle feels off to me. Here I used new ChatGPT  image generation model to illustrate how it could look (the input was the screenshot from game + prompt to move it further from camera and more to the center) * Nobody ever mentioned it but I think there's an audio lag in our GUI mouse over sound effect. Like, when you hover your mouse over buttons, it doesn't cling instantly, it feels laggy. We will be looking at it. * You will be able to switch between the toolbars via ALT + CTRL + Mouse wheel. I hope in future we find some simpler shortcut. * We also wanted to playtest ore detection mechanics, but that one got postponed to the next playtest. * The deco prototyping is going better than I hoped for (these are the blocks that are not our usual big Deco blocks; they more like small things you can use to make your interiors look not so blocky and simple; they are not purely decorative like a painting or vase, because they have structural function). I expect players will use them to create rich looking blueprints! * Equip and unequip animation is coming along nicely as well. * More Flora! * And as always, I'm amazed by the beautiful things our players are creating!