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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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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.
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