Marek Rosa - dev blog

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Space Engineers: Sparks of the Future

SUMMARY:

New blocks

Hinge Block
Small Grid Door
3D Letters

Automatic Weather system
Sparks of the Future Station
Premium content
FAQ

Hello, Engineers!

Sparks of the Future explores our fascination with science and science fiction and delivers on that with a vision of hi-tech visuals in the Space Engineers universe.

We are really excited about exploring all of the possibilities this genre opens to us. Sparks of the Future takes us to completely new horizons in block design and stylization. Our goal is to unleash your creative potential, and inspire you to take your creations to a completely new level!

Whether it's a vibrant high-tech space station located among an asteroid cluster, a classic sci-fi themed space cafe, or just a cool looking spaceship bristling with Ion thrusters and neon armor - we hope all of this will add to your story in a world of high technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnPlscfSS_Q

Free Content

Hinge Block
Ready? Set. Go! Approach complex constructs from a new direction!

Small Grid Door
The small grid door perfectly fits your modest constructions.

3D Letters
Name your spaceships and space stations and nobody will doubt who's the creator.

Automatic Weather System
All Planets with an atmosphere will experience weather in various degrees. The weather depends on the biomes on the planet, so get ready for unexpected showers! Certain types will also affect survival elements like the efficiency of solar panels and wind turbines.
You can find more info on the Automatic Weather here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2139821766

LCD Rotate Image Function

5 LCD Posters
Cool posters to decorate your Sci-Fi interiors and exteriors! Each of the new posters comes in three variations: Square, Horizontal and Vertical orientation which allows using them in the correct aspect ratio on all types of LCD panels regardless of their placement orientation in the world.

Sparks of the Future Station
“Good news engineer! We have the perfect weekend getaway just for you!”
Explore the Sparks of the Future Station! Sure to impress even the most discerning eye, Sparks of the Future station has everything you need to make the most of your deep space down time.

Enjoy the game with this new scenario. The Sparks of the Future Station showcases new Sci-Fi blocks as premium content. You’ll be able to build with these new blocks only if you are the owner of the DLC. You may play on a server which includes the DLC package.

Sparks of the Future Station: Extended Edition World is available here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2140265076

Sparks of the Future Pack

Similar to our previous major releases, we decided to give you an opportunity to support the further development of Space Engineers. We have created a pack which consists of cosmetic items to enrich your game visually. You can experience them in the free Sparks of the Future scenario. None of the things in the package brings any advantage to players who purchase this DLC. The price of the Sparks of the Future Pack is $3.99 USD, or your regional Steam equivalent, so if you wish to support us, check out the Sparks of the Future Pack.

The package includes the following items:

Sci-Fi LCD Panels: A truly massive LCD panels for the biggest visual impact.

Neon Tubes: Completely customizable neon tubes.

Sci-Fi Ion Thrusters: Upgraded Sci-Fi Ion thruster and thruster flame.

Sci-Fi Atmospheric Thrusters: Upgraded Sci-Fi atmospheric thrusters.

Sci-Fi Interior Wall: Give your builds an all new, Sci-Fi feel.

Bar Counter: Relax with faction mates at a custom Bar Counter.

Sci-Fi Control Panel: A new, custom, control panel.

Sci-Fi 1-Button Panel: One button panel with customizable LCD.

Sci-Fi 4-Button Panel: Four button panel with customizable LCD’s.

Sci-Fi Sliding Door: Small grid sliding door variation.

Sci-Fi Armor Skin: Update your builds with a new Sci-Fi skin!

2 Neon Armor Skins: The grid has never looked so good! There are two versions of this armor skin: 1 with colorable armor and 1 with colorable neon stripes.

8 new character emotes: “Whatever”, “Yelling”, “Charge”, “Dance Disco 1”,
“Dance Disco 2”, “Looking around”, “Stretching”, “Come here baby!”

All the items in the pack are cosmetic only. We’ll be more than happy if you will send us the screenshots of how you used the items from the pack in the game. We will post the most creative ones on our social media.

What’s next?

We plan to continue with the development of Space Engineers for both PC and Xbox versions. We plan to align the content between PC and Xbox, so all players on Xbox will have the same content available. Our focus is also on further performance improvements and optimizations on both platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why are you releasing another DLC?
A: Releasing another DLC gives us the opportunity to explore new ideas and provide more unique content the community wants. All players will be able to interact with the blocks, but only those who own the pack will be able to build them.

Q: Should we now expect that we will get a new DLC every three months?
A: Free and paid content releases support the continued development of Space Engineers, as well as bringing new things to the game. All paid DLCs are not pay-to-win, but rather cosmetic. We think this is the right way to bring interesting content to the game and keep the game improving. We bring a lot of free content to all players. This content is usually highly requested by our community.

Q: Can we expect some special promotions in the future?
A: We are always looking at new ways to bring Space Engineers to a wider audience. Special promotions are good opportunities for this. We have a number of exciting promotions planned for the future, which includes both game and DLC content!

Many Thanks to the Modding Community!

We are always impressed by the innovation of our modding community! We would like to thank these members of the Space Engineers community for continuing to inspire us through their ideas, suggestions, and hard work.

Hiring

If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers, 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!

Follow our social media to get the latest news!

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.

Thank you for reading this blog!

Best,
Marek Rosa
CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House
CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI

For more news:
Space Engineers: www.SpaceEngineersGame.com
Keen Software House: www.keenswh.com
Medieval Engineers: www.MedievalEngineers.com
GoodAI: www.GoodAI.com
General AI Challenge: www.General-AI-Challenge.org

Personal bio:
Marek Rosa is the CEO and CTO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and the CEO and founder of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (4 million copies sold). Both companies are based in Prague, Czech Republic.

Marek has been interested in artificial intelligence since childhood. He started his career as a programmer but later transitioned to a leadership role. After the success of the Keen Software House titles, Marek was able to personally fund GoodAI, his new general AI research company building human-level artificial intelligence.

GoodAI started in January 2014 and has over 30 research scientists, engineers, and consultants working across its Research and Applied teams.

At this time, Marek is developing Space Engineers, as well as leading daily research and development on recursive self-improvement based general AI architecture - Badger.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Space Engineers for Xbox: First Update

SUMMARY:

What’s new:

New planets
Increased player counts in multiplayer
Increased PCU limits

What’s next:

Frostbite DLC for Xbox
Dedicated servers
Continued support

Hello, Engineers!

After the Space Engineers Xbox Release on April 15th, we have received a ton of positive feedback from you. There were also a lot of suggestions and comments, so first of all, let me thank you for that.

With today’s release, we are addressing the most pressing issues and suggestions from you. I hope you’ll enjoy all the changes we are bringing to our Space Engineers Xbox version.

What’s this release bringing you

This release includes a host of new changes and fixes:

Improved stability and implemented a number of critical bug fixes. Many of the listed items are community suggestions! See the Space Engineers Support website.

New planets: Europa, Triton, Alien, Titan & Variants of the Star System Scenario with even deadlier meteor showers!

Experimental Mode bringing an increase in player counts & PCU limits

Player counts in multiplayer: Xbox One player will now be able to play in a four person multiplayer (previously 2) and Xbox X players will be able to play in a 6 person multiplayer (previously 4)
PCU limits: single player limit moved from 100k to 200k. Multiplayer is changing from 50k to 100k

Increased Graphical options for the Xbox One and Xbox One S: Grass, Antialiasing, Greater visibility, and improved shading.

Performance Notes

The performance depends on the complexity of your world and which type of Xbox you’re playing on. Simple worlds run smoothly on Xbox One and Xbox One S, but a more complex world with rich object interactions could present some performance issues even on the Xbox One X.

What’s next?

We plan to keep updating, developing and supporting the Xbox One version of Space Engineers, just like we have been doing for the PC version for the past 6+ years.

The next step is the Frostbite DLC which is currently being finalized for the Xbox version.

After Frostbite release we want to bring the following features to the Xbox One version of Space Engineers:

Dedicated servers
Limited scripting support

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Will I be able to play Frostbite DLC on Xbox?
We do plan to release the Frostbite DLC for Xbox in the near future. Frostbite DLC was released on PC in March 2020.

2. Why is there no scripting / mod support?
On consoles, there are strict rules regarding any code being executed on the console. For example, there is no support for JIT compilation. In other words, we can not execute any code which is not pre-compiled in the game’s binary and certified by Microsoft.
We will be looking into ways for limited scripts support in the game..

3. Will you implement Dedicated Servers, add more planet types, etc.?
Our main focus right now is to make sure the game is stable and reliable. In the long term, we will be looking into ways how to improve the game even further. It is vital for us to listen to the community and act accordingly. Please use our support site’s the Xbox section to give us feedback and vote: https://support.keenswh.com/

4. Is there an Xbox Beta program available?
Yes, Beta is available to all owners of the game. Just head to the link below to read details on how to get onboard.
https://forums.keenswh.com/threads/xbox-community-beta.7403905/

Follow our social media to get the latest news!

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Space Engineers: Xbox Release

SUMMARY:

Space Engineers for Xbox released today!
How did the pre-orders go?
What’s inside the Xbox version?
How has the Xbox version contributed to the PC version?

Hello, Engineers!

Finally, after 5 years and more than 4 million sold copies, the waiting is over!

Starting today, you can play Space Engineers on Xbox!

The Space Engineers Packages

Space Engineers Ultimate Edition 2019 ($29.99 USD) - BUY HERE
The Space Engineers Ultimate Edition 2019 includes all of the DLCs for Space Engineers, all the decorative blocks and cosmetic items released in 2019 on PC, but not including Frostbite DLC released in March 2020.

Space Engineers Base Version ($19.99 USD) - BUY HERE
The Space Engineers Base Version is the vanilla version of the game with no cosmetic DLC.

Individual DLCs ($3.99 USD each)
In case you want to own only a specific DLC pack, you can buy each DLC individually in the Xbox store. It’s only up to you how you’ll decorate your space ship.

How did the pre-orders go?

The pre-orders went better than we expected.

More than 50.000 players bought the game during the pre-orders.

All of them had a chance to participate in the public tests, so I’d like to thank them for great feedback and reviews.

What’s inside the Xbox version?

We strived to bring all of the key features from the PC version to the Xbox.

However, these are the main differences:

Multi-player

Xbox One and Xbox One S will support 2 player multiplayer (lobby)
Xbox One X will support 4 player multiplayer (lobby)
No dedicated servers (*we are looking into the possibility of supporting dedicated servers in the future)

Graphics

Xbox One X features higher graphic settings (improved texture quality, better models, improved post processing) compared to the Xbox One S and original Xbox One.

Features

Only a safe mode on Xbox (experimental features are not enabled on Xbox)
Mods are not supported (e.g. scripts, textures, blocks, animations)
Running scripts in programmable blocks are not supported
Save games and config are stored in cloud for each user separately
Some large asteroids are not available
Unknown signals are not supported
Official translations: English, Russian Chinese
All Armors cost 2 PCUs

Scenarios

Third party scenarios are not supported
Official supported scenarios: First Jump, Learning to Survive & Never Surrender
Not supported: Lost Colony

Controller support

Workshop

You can share your safe-mode worlds and blueprints with other players. You can upload your creations right from the game or from any browser, in case you want to move them from PC.

We’ve also added the brand new feature, Workshop Browser for Xbox, which will help you with discovery and subscribing to the worlds and blueprints.

This was made possible by awesome cooperation with mod.io platform. Thank you guys!

Performance Notes

The performance depends on the complexity of your world and which type of Xbox you’re playing on. Simple worlds run smoothly on Xbox One and Xbox One S, but a more complex world with rich object interactions could present some performance issues even on the Xbox One X.

Future of Space Engineers on Xbox One

We plan to keep updating, developing and supporting the Xbox One version of Space Engineers, just like we have been doing for the PC version for the past 6+ years.

This means that we will be releasing all major updates and DLCs. First one will be the Frostbite DLC.

We are finalizing the first hot-fix for the Xbox release of Space Engineers. We expect this hot-fix will go live in the mid May.

Update 194.3

Updated planets (Triton, Alien, Europa, Titan)
Experimental mode (allowing higher PCU & Player Count)
Bug Fixes (including a fix for falling through planets)
Improved Game Stability
Frostbite DLC

We are also investigating the possibility of bringing the following features to the Xbox One version of Space Engineers:

Dedicated servers
PCU limit removal (for a limited experimental mode)
Incorporation of some popular scripts into the vanilla game

How has the Xbox version contributed to the PC version?

PC players will also benefit from the massive optimizations that our team performed on the Xbox version, especially the dedicated server users who are playing in a big world.

All the optimizations are being released on the PC version in one of the upcoming releases.

Here are some interesting numbers I’d like to share with you.

Before optimizations - The graph shows the measurements for campaign Mission 3 - Ruined Camp, on old Xbox on original (unoptimized) code version. The green line represents the sim speed 1.0.

After optimizations - The above graph from the same campaign on the same Xbox kit, but running on an optimized code version. The game runs more than 5 times faster than before. This was possible thanks to enormous work by our team who did an awesome job!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will I be able to play Frostbite DLC on Xbox?
A: We do plan to release the Frostbite DLC for Xbox in the near future. Frostbite DLC was released on PC in March 2020.

Q: Why is there no scripting / mod support?
A: On consoles, there are strict rules regarding any code being executed on the console. For example, there is no support for JIT compilation. In other words, we can not execute any code which is not pre-compiled in the game’s binary and certified by Microsoft.
We will be looking into ways to include the most popular scripts in the game though.

Q: Will you implement Dedicated Servers, add more planet types, etc.?
A: Our main focus right now is to make sure the game is stable and reliable. In the long term, we will be looking into ways how to improve the game even further. It is vital for us to listen to the community and act accordingly. Please use our support site’s the Xbox section to give us feedback and vote: https://support.keenswh.com/

Q: Will there be an Xbox Beta program available?
A: We had a great experience with Private Beta available to our pre-order players. We will continue using Xbox Insider Hub to allow players to get the latest Beta version of the game and give us feedback prior to any release, starting now. You can already give us feedback for the next Frostbite DLC update.