Thursday, May 14, 2015

Space Engineers – full source code access, total modifications and 100,000 USD fund

Today we have a very important announcement for our modders and our community. We decided to give you 100% complete access to Space Engineers’ source code. This comes as a continuation of our decision to give more freedom to modders and community.

Please do not confuse this with “open source” or “free software”: While we are opening the possibility to read and alter Space Engineers and VRAGE source code, we’re not making Space Engineers or VRAGE free.

I have spoken about ideas like this in my previous blog post - http://blog.marekrosa.org/2014/09/programming-is-coming-to-space-engineers_15.html but back then we were assuming we would open only some parts of the game. Later we came to the conclusion that opening the entire code base will be much better for everyone.

Modders can now develop the same way Keen Software House developers do (this however does not mean we will stop working on the game).

During the last few months we have been removing parts of the obfuscation on the Space Engineers executable and libraries. After that we  uploaded the source code of Space Engineers and VRAGE engine on GitHub as a private repository, let selected modders look at it and provide us with  feedback, and today we’re making the repository public.

There are very few game studios that have ever done this, probably none during their early access period. It’s an experiment that someone has to try, and the chances that it will be beneficial for the future of Space Engineers is high and worth taking the risk.

Pros:
  • Total conversions are now possible
  • More and better content created by modders
  • Allowing people to have more fun with our game by letting them modify it while we keep adding core features and updates just like we did for the last 2 years
  • Modders can make server-side mods easily
  • Modders can contribute to Space Engineer’s core development if they want
  • Modders can extend the official ModAPI interface and we will merge their changes with the core game

Cons:
  • “Competitors” can steal our ideas and algorithms. Our answer: if it is so easy to clone our games and development methods, then we probably aren’t doing anything special. We believe that our competitive advantage is in being leaders, not followers.
  • Hackers will have an easier time cheating in multi-player. Our answer: this is true, but with new multiplayer, the server will have authority and will validate everything sent by clients. If our implementation has flaws, open access to our source code and the visibility of potential flaws will push us to fix these cases faster.
  • We can be accused of going open source and abandoning the development of Space Engineers. Our answer is definitely NO. As we stated above, this is mostly for giving complete freedom to our modders while we continue the game’s development without any changes (through weekly updates and keeping our development plan as described in our previous blog post). Space Engineers is still selling very well and only a crazy person would abandon the game! We just want to give people the chance to modify all aspects of our game and experiment with it while we keep doing what we are doing.

In the worst case scenario, we will revert back to obfuscating the source code and with our frequent update routine the non-obfuscated source code will soon become old and obsolete.

NOTE: we are organizing an IAmA on Reddit today at 20:00 CET / 14:00 EST where you can ask us more questions in case something hasn’t been explained clearly enough (you can read the IAmA here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/35yv9f/we_are_keen_software_house_developers_of_space/).

How it works?


Go to GitHub, download and unpack the source codes, open it in Visual Studio Community Edition (free), modify the source code, launch the game! See this video guide:



This new type of mods can’t be uploaded on Steam Workshop (unlike ModAPI mods) because of security risks. We are assuming that modders will find ways to share their mods with players. Server side mods will be installed on servers by server administrators, so it’s not necessary to distribute them to clients.

Modders will be able to contribute to ModAPI in vanilla game. It often happens that modders want to create a  mod, but they are unable to do it because ModAPI has a limited interface. In this case, they will simply add support for it (usually it means creating a small public interface for an existing feature). We will review their changes and when it meets quality and security requirements, we’ll merge it with the core game.

General discussion, suggestions and questions can be posted on the dedicated Source Code sub-forum: http://forum.keenswh.com/forums/source-code.423135/

What kind of mods can be made?


Workshop mods: Nothing changes for workshop mods, except modders who wants to get involved in ModAPI improvement now have a chance.

Total conversion mods: These mods can ignore the limits of ModAPI and modify anything in the game. Because we’re unable to guarantee security, these mods can’t be uploaded to Steam Workshop and must be distributed in a different way. Games like Counter-Strike, DOTA and DayZ were created in similar fashion.

When an author of a total conversion mod wants to release his mod on Steam (as a standalone game or Space Engineers DLC/mod) we’d be happy to help him with that. Contact us: info@keenswh.com

Standalone games: if you decide that modding is not for you and you want to build a brand new game based on Space Engineers’ and/or VRAGE source code and assets, don’t hesitate to contact us: info@keenswh.com


What are modders saying?


Digi: “This will open the possibility for a lot of extra improvements to the game and its modding API, from the fans that want to get involved.

Digi is the author of several very popular mods, including Helmet 3D hud and Gravity collector. He also contributed to ModAPI improvement. His workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/id/hunterdigi/myworkshopfiles/?appid=244850

Tyrsis: “I personally would love to modify some things, as I'm limited to responding to events / sending sync packets in order to make things happen on the client. Having more control at the source level would be interesting.”

Tyrsis is author of SEServerExtender and very popular mods including Automated inventory sorting and GPS and waypoints. His workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198023356762/myworkshopfiles/?appid=244850

Malware: “I'm personally very happy to be granted access to the source code, but I'm a bit worried what will happen if you release it to everybody.

Malware is a very active member on GitHub, he already contributed by adding several features to ModAPI. His workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/id/mal-ware/myworkshopfiles/?appid=244850


$100,000 fund


To support our modding community even more, we reserved $100,000 of our own money as a fund for modders who want to build total conversion mods based on Space Engineers or VRAGE engine.

We’re considering several ways how this fund could work: grants with no strings attached (see how Epic does it with UDK – https://www.unrealengine.com/unrealdevgrants), zero interest loans and Kickstarter support. We can provide PR, marketing and promotion on our social media.

Why are we doing this? We believe that our VRAGE engine is unique in certain aspects and it would be great to see what other people can create with it. VRAGE supports fully dynamic and volumetric environments where players can build and destroy everything around; our game world is unlimited in size and can be procedurally generated.
More info about VRAGE: http://www.keenswh.com/vrage.html

Who are we looking for? Anyone who’s interested in our technology and wants to create game or total conversion using VRAGE engine or Space Engineers. We’re looking for people who are enthusiastic about the same things as we are; game development, sandbox games, destructible environments and unlimited gameplay experience.


Legal notes



If you don’t want to read the lawyer mumbo jumbo, please just keep in mind the following:
  • The source code and art assets must not to be mistaken for free software, an open source in a free-software activist understanding, copy-left or public domain software. All source code and art assets remain copyrighted and licensed by KEEN SWH LTD. and you are allowed to use them (modify, tweak, make a derivative work, distribute, etc.) only under following conditions.
  • The source code, modifications or derivative works can be distributed only if they are intended to be used as a mod for Space Engineers, and only if valid customers would be able to use them. You are not allowed to bypass this restriction and create a standalone application or use our code in your projects.
  • In other words, everyone who wants to develop and/or use mods based on our source code is required to own a valid Steam version of Space Engineers. You are not allowed to use our source code in an application other than Space Engineers. You are not allowed to remove the Steam integration from the code.
  • You are not allowed to distribute original art assets (textures, models, fonts, etc.) except if you won’t be able to make your modifications without our original files (e.g. painting a mustache on our astronaut texture and then distributing it as a mod to Space Engineers is allowed)
  • You are allowed to share the source files with other developers (crediting us when logical/reasonable), downloading and compiling the game locally, modifying and tweaking the game locally, and even publicly forking, modifying, and tweaking the game source on GitHub.
  • The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software.
  • Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
  • By making a pull request on our GitHub repository, you're stating that you're the author of these changes or have rights to the changes you've made and you're giving us the right to use it in any way.
  • Commercial usage is allowed only after you obtain an agreement from us: info@keenswh.com
  • We reserve the right to change this license at any time with or without notice, with immediate and/or retroactive effect. We believe that what we ask is reasonable, so please don't try to bypass it. We're trying to be open and honest, and we hope people treat us the same way back.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment with the source code. If you break something, you can always revert by downloading it again.
  • If there's anything legal you're wondering about that wasn’t answered: don't do it or ask us about it. If there's anything you don't understand or you consider confusing, please email us your suggestions: info@keenswh.com
  • That's it! No more rules. If the above wasn't clear, here's a summary: use this source code only for developing mods for Space Engineers.


Conclusion


I would like to end by saying again that there is no need to fear that we are abandoning Space Engineers’ development. We are very concentrated on the game’s development and on the players’ suggestions. We assure you that we will continue at the same pace as we have done for 2 years and deliver a game that all our players will love playing! If you see someone who doesn’t fully understand our arguments, please refer them to this blog post. Thank you!

In case you have more questions or if something hasn’t been explained clearly enough, we are organizing an IAmA on Reddit today at 20:00 CET / 14:00 EST (you can read the IAmA here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/35yv9f/we_are_keen_software_house_developers_of_space/). Also, please don’t hesitate to ask your questions in the comment section below. We may compile a FAQ later.

SPECIAL NOTE: we noticed that many of you are eager to see planets, so this is a small preview from the development (seamless transition, 100km+ in size, procedurally generated, deformable/destructible, almost infinite amount, gravity and atmosphere... still waiting for trees, grass, etc.) :)






---

Thank you for reading this!

Please keep posting your feedback and suggestions under this blog post or our forum http://forum.keenswh.com/forums/source-code.423135/. We can’t reply to every comment that you send, but I can assure you that we read as many as possible.

Thanks!
Marek Rosa

---

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Space Engineers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpaceEngineersG
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Medieval Engineers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MedievalEng

112 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I hate people who do ads here.

      Delete
    2. people who post ads on this site should be dammed to forever suffer with low simulation speeds, 5 fps, and ships exploding without reason

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    3. Holy moly. I've been off space engineers for a while, but these planets + multiplayer are going to yank me right back in.
      Just a couple of questions:
      Is the max speed going to increase, since we have 100km planets to traverse? And if it is, how are you going to solve the bullet-through-paper and other problems?
      How will planets effect stations?
      Are there going to be longer range antennas? Long range laser weaponry?
      Will oxygen farms require some sort of planet-side resource?

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    4. Some of your questions are answered here: http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/04/guest-post-by-ondrej-petrzilka-space_17.html?m=1

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    5. Plantes!!! yes yes yes! Marek rosa!!!

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    6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    7. wow i impressed of planets on space engineers does the draw distance bring down ur pc when using planets

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  2. Those Planets LOOK AWESOME!

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  3. THAT PLANET LOOKS F**KING AWESOME!!!!

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  4. Planets!!! Aaaahhh!!!! Awesome :D
    When?

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  5. Is near!!
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x9QZPmPaAM2M8TjHfJzwlGyRgvNqkZ0fcg/view?usp=sharing

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    Replies
    1. Nice! GET HYPED FOR PLANETS!

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  6. I still dont belive that, thanks SE team!!!

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  7. Totally stoked about the planets! To be honest, the announcement that Keen would be releasing its source code for SE concerned me a bit, but it really does allow modders to implement things into the game in ways they werent able to before.

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  8. I love it :) I imagine right now, myself in a car on a planet with grinders on the front and a forest ahead of me... Cut them down! :D (Yes, i'm kinda evil)

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  9. Keen House i have been building ships and vehicles for planets. The wonder i see in these few screen shots it brings me tears of joy thank you.

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    Replies
    1. I just built a cool landing module with an all terrain vehicle, so I'd be ready for the planets too. Don't know why, but planets get me all excited and stuff, more than all the other news combined.

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  10. Will their be atmospheric disturbance upon entry/exit of the planets and could their possibly be random weather events

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    Replies
    1. This would be so extremely FUC*IN AWESOME!!!
      It would be epic to change the difficulty/realism of the disturbance. (To make it a real challenge)

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    2. Wish I could play over here on Mac.:(

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    3. Its sad just watching the progress over here but I can't play it. Please make it available on Mac.:(

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    4. Joining, waiting Mac version to...

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  11. Holy shit! KSH is making history it seems!

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  12. Dude, wow! Is this the gift you were talking about? This is HUGE! This looks amazing, now EVERYONE can contribute their ideas! I can't wait to get going with this, you guys are truly the best! I had NEVER expected anything like this. I never expected a game company to open up a game still in its high season like that. I know it's not GPL and all, but this is pretty damn opensource if you ask me! On Github, too! I can get going right away! Thank you, thank you so much, from the bottom of every fan and coder out there. Not many gamedevelopers realize the untapped potential of a large community of enthusiastic fans and modders, but you guys are right on top of it! This will make the game eternal, even long after you guys stopped developing, people will be working on this.

    As for the planets, holy fucking shit, that's a whole different class of sandbox game.. I really can't wait for those to be in the main game! This will make it a whole different game to play by alone; imagine starting on a planet in a medieval-like setting, and slowly evolving towards being able to build spaceships after researching the technologies, and at last, taking off, only to start a whole new chapter in your gameplay!
    This is amazing, this game is truly something different than anything else out there.

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  13. So, would be acutally possible to implement solar systems?
    Like the real ones. With a star in the middle and moving planets.

    If so then my thoughts on progressing through the game would be you start in the asteroid circle of a solar system. You build your ships, a base, a telescope(not for manually search, but mandatory for travelling big distances) that automatically can scan the galaxy and documents all solar systems in a specific range on a solar map.
    You can then decide what you want to visit.

    Maybe try your luck on the nearest planet?
    Or go to a distant system that looks more promising?

    If you find a nice planet to live on you can share the coordinates with other players, so they can visit it aswell(like in Starbound where the world you play in is just a giant world everyone plays on, so you can share coordinates) .

    It would also be great if you can visit all the systems you can see in the skybox, so every star is a system. But i guess this whole idea is a little bit big ;)

    And another question: Can you accelerate with the gravity of the planets?
    Greetings

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    Replies
    1. Those planets are huge. It's probably a huge affort to just spawn them. Now you want them to move? I mean it would be possible, i would guess. But on what Pc? Mine certainly not. And the Pc of 100,000 other probably neither

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    2. Moving them should only be as intense as changing their respective translation matrices (Which isn't intense at all, Literally a calculator can do that)

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    3. Moving them should only be as intense as changing their respective translation matrices (Which isn't intense at all, Literally a calculator can do that)

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    4. @Thrmperror
      You forget that this is a physics engine. The Planet could actively collide with something. So this option must be checked every update. For a huge planet is that intense, i would guess.

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    5. The planet wouldn't be checking for collisions. Everything else would be.
      It's doable. Especially if their path is clear of any asteroids.

      The bigger problem is relativity, I think. With everything moving all the time, they'd have to implement orbital mechanics similar to KSP. And that could be tedious. For devs and players both.

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  14. Wow! I really think Space Engineers is a "culture" changer, the open source will open possibilities to everyone, and the WIP planets look amazing. Any idea when we'll be able to make first landing? :)

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    1. They are not going open source read their second paragraph

      "Please do not confuse this with “open source” or “free software”: While we are opening the possibility to read and alter Space Engineers and VRAGE source code, we’re not making Space Engineers or VRAGE free."

      NOT MAKING OPEN SOURCE :D

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    2. Well technically it is open source in the purest sense of the term but I think they want to make sure that people don't confuse it with the Open Source Initiative's liberal licenses. Something like this would probably be closer to the Microsoft shared licenses where Microsoft shares the source code but exclusively reserves all rights.

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    3. Did you even read the article? It's not open source moron.

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    4. You are the moron Dachshund103, by definition if they give public access to the source then it is open source.

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    5. Anonymous, you are wrong Dach is correct. You clearly don't understand what Open Source is or means. Giving the public access to source does not mean its open source. Open Source code means a whole lot of things that don't apply with what these guys have done. Do some research Open Source means Free to use for ANYTHING you want, which means ROYALTY FREE. That is not at all the case here.

      Delete
    6. Lots of people use the word Open Source to indicate that the sourcecode is available.
      I don't really blame them, because 'open source' sounds like 'sourcecode is open to view and modify', and open source does not necessarily have to mean FOSS, which doesn't necessarily have to mean Libre, which doesn't necessarily mean GPL is used, etc. All of which in turn don't necessarily mean it's free as in beer, just free as in freedom to modify and redistribute. Just look at Redhat and CentOS.
      The only requirement "Full Sourcecode Access" doesn't meet is freedom to redistribute, the entire reason they're opening up the code is to allow people to modify it.
      That said, technically it's not Open Source as defined by the Open Source Initiative, no, because you aren't allowed to redistribute it, as that wouldn't fit their current business model.

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  15. This is brilliant, aboslutely brilliant.

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  16. Anybody want to offer help with creating "Little Engineers" with 3D printing support directly from game? Contact us at: http://www.spaceengineersprints.com/

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  17. Marek, this is amazing - thank you for your dedication, your honesty, your care and consideration of your community and fans, and above all, for the excellent work you're doing.

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  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  19. That are good news, but you could publish first of all the planets without trees? after all there are in the universe many planets which do not carry vegitation. (ok, so far only the earth is known as a inhabited planet . But that's another matter)

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    Replies
    1. I think they said that there will be barren planets as well.

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    2. I totally agree, the quicker I get my feet on a planet the better. :)
      But yeah, they mentioned that some will be without life. Also, I think grinders will be the tool for cutting down all the trees and vegetation then.

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  20. i really hope that planets will have day and night cycle

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  21. wow looks super

    i fount this

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

    music is from space engineers, is that a possible follower from space engineers ?

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    Replies
    1. The Video is from 2012....

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    2. thats an interesting video, (realizes its the dark angels rock from WH40K) wait a minute, WHYYYYY

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    3. Published on 30 Nov 2012

      This is rough visualisation of famous Germany castle Neuschwanstein in our VRage voxel engine. VRage is the game engine written in XNA and used in popular game MinerWars 2081.

      http://realtimemadness.blogspot.cz/

      Delete
  22. AND I FUCKIN' LIKE IT!

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  23. I'm disappointed by the lack of 64-bit support in the source code release. Hopefully you guys can get that sorted out!

    I'm very excited for planetary bodies. You guys should add a new 'Buildings' workshop item category that can be discovered on planets or used to generate cities.

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  24. Best Game Company Ever!! As an older gamer, this is a dream come true. The amount of amazing things that this game represents in the Gaming Culture is beyond words. Thank you, for being who you are as people and for being the best gaming company I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. Your game is by far my favorite game of all time and you are only getting better and better. Keep up the Great work!!! :)

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  25. Hopefully someone will make a ladder mod now!! Nice planets by the way

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  26. That all looks amazing. Hoping for some really great mods to come out as result of this! And that planet looks absolutely amazing. Can't wait for them to be released to the public! Hopefully soon?

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  27. To give the source code for such a highly successful game out to the community to mod and create as they see fit is just truly fantastic. I know SE has been a huge hit for yourselves but the way you care about us users - well all I can say is you don't see it every day. You guys should feel very proud of yourselves. You're very different from a lot of the rest of the gaming development corporates and viva la difference. Thank you very much.

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  28. So, since i see planets are coming along nicely, hows DX11 support coming along?

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  29. This is the beggining of abandonware.

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  30. Oh yes, baby, I can see the 'Alien' coming.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/

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  31. This is truly an act to look up to, as a small time modder /dev you guys are something to truly appreciate.

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  32. Not to detract from the very good news of the open source stuff but HOLY CRAP those planets look beautiful!

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  33. The planets look nice but it looks like the surface structure is too irregular when it should have continents, Also it needs oceans.

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    Replies
    1. OMG, that s a nice idea, but i don t think the dev s have thougth anout that yet. How could they add water?

      Delete
    2. Future Update:
      Water
      Food
      Hunger Bar
      Thirst Bar

      (I hope that doesnt happen because oxygen, energy, and health are enough to keep track of.

      Delete
  34. Awesome. Rock on. Thank you for continuing to innovate, and for pushing the boundaries of software development in the gaming market. You are commended for taking the risk and going for it.

    BTW, please tell whomever wrote the comment at the top of Base6Directions.cs that they're absolutely right. The XML serializer does make one very crabby. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  35. For the Open Source Code, please Marek, please. Just open it to some selected trustworthy modders that has contribute to the game with their mods. Don't open it to everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I love the game and dev's decisions are really awesome but i must ask why it is take too long this game nearly three years old but still in early access
    Note: I never seen another early access game as stable as this one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d6yBHDvKUw

      Delete
  37. Hahaha, I read the post (what a GREAT thing, this is!) and I loved it.
    Then I saw the planets WIP images. I new that from that point onward, 99% of the comments would be about them.
    You've doomed us all to the hype, KSH! XD
    (Although, to be honest, if there was nothing about planets then I would expect maybe 50% of the comments to be demanding where they were... tough crowd, these people...)

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  38. Great work. It's a brave move opening up the game like this, but I think you've got the community respect to back it.

    Can't wait to see planets.

    It would be a great way to start the game for new people. Don't have to worry about oxygen, or power, or gravity.
    Just start building minecraft style and figure out the more complicated stuff as you go.

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  39. Please, fix wheels. Now wheels vehicules slide when try turn.

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  40. Keen is definately trail blazing here. Only other con I see is cracked pirate versions, ive previously encounted references to those, and at least one caused my dedicated server to crash. I personally would have added some small closed source runtime, SDK or library module that would at least force TC and modders to let you know before building a stand alone. It would allow keen some measure of steering their game without really causing issues for programmers. I would love to have a crack at adding an economy, mmo stype functionality or the ability to communicate with/accept commands from an external website - although my programming skills are too stale to have any hope of that now, it would be nice to see other more competant people working in similar directions. Good luck with it keen. This could be awesome.

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  41. How about we port the source to MonoGame, so we can run SE on Mac/Linux/BSD/Android/iOS/Win8/Win10/WP/... ?
    Is that even allowed?!?!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you can't because with this you can't play the game there are still a few things you need for that but you can't run it on those other things without that

      Delete
  42. a question can you mod yur own scenarios now

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  43. Sounds Awesome! Hopefully someone who knows how to code can come up with a way to walk around my ship while moving.

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  44. This is really cool of you guys.

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  45. Ok what about heat shielding are we getting that to before the planets yes or no

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  46. Pretty cool, I expect that we will see all kinds of interesting things coming out of the mod community now.

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  47. Fantastic move!

    My introduction to this game was a tweet. I'm a parent, programmer, and I don't play any games of this genre or kind. My kids love these sorts of games. After reading about the source release, I went over to Steam and purchased a license without a second thought (I realized that I didn't even read the description until after I had finished entering my credit card information)

    I've been trying to find a way to get my kids to make the connection that learning the craft of software engineering is a worthwhile thing. Being able to build and demonstrate to them that, "Hey, if you learn this stuff, look what you can do." and follow it up with exercises that involve making changes and seeing those changes affect the game directly will be a great tool.

    Here's hoping ridiculously large community forms around this game and that your customers provide you with mods that do things your team hadn't imagined. As your post eloquently states, there is risk in doing this, and I'm sure the decision wasn't made lightly.

    I can already see the wheels spinning in the comments around things like "Why don't you support this or that platform?" Well, because supporting "this or that platform" costs money -- hardware, developers familiar with the ins and outs of those platforms, QA and other folks... when such an investment might not have an adequate return to warrant the cost. Now you've empowered that group to explore porting on their own, at their time expense.

    Building/Creative games like this could really benefit from source release. I compare it to Lego or other "building toys" the kids play with. I can go to the store and buy a box of blocks in particular shapes and sizes, but I can't build them a factory so that they can change the design of the blocks to fit their specific desires. You just did. Thanks for that.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it's great to see that someone is taking this risk that could have great returns in more than money.

      This could be the beginning of a trend that could put real working code in the hands of young people so that they can see what REAL programming looks like.

      Punch cards were on their way out and "clunker and bangers" were becoming common when I got started with computers.

      The last coils of paper tapes i had for mass storage went into the dustbin many years ago.

      I sometimes think of dusting off the old coding hat just to see what i can do with the new multi-threading technology.

      The most important thing to teach people is trouble shooting procedure because programming is just a matter of arranging instructions and conditional branching, and then looking for typos and sequencing errors.

      Programming is not hard, it's just tedious.
      The more people doing it, the better the art of coding will be.
      This is a step towards spreading the knowledge.

      Thank you.

      Delete
  48. Bravo!
    KSH rocks!

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  49. Im impressed because of the planets... But when will they be finally be released?
    They seem to be in a very releasable and playable state...

    Btw. Keen SWH rocks !!

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  50. Hopefully planets coming soon but images look very impressive and awesome. Can't wait to see them coming + other new features and blocks. The only thing that is somehow missing is some kind of a story making it very interesting for player who like to explore, discover. That is something that is missing to make it much more interesting (for me).

    I don't know if you have plans for this but it would be cool. Before Space Engineers was released I wrote a story and much more detailed an alien race with it's own language, grammar, called Suki. If you're interested let me know.

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    Replies
    1. With a game like this, the players make up their own stories. Look at minecraft for example. That has no story what so ever, yet people make up their own story for that game all the time. I think the loading screen quotes are story enough.

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  51. As I started playing this game it just looked interesting. It looked a bit like Minecraft, just with SO much more possibilities. I just have to say, it was worth the 15€ I paid. Every. Single. Cent.
    It started WAY ago with a little game on my mobile (can't remember the name), most important to know about it: you could make your own designs and it would behave different. It wasn't just a game were you put "the Lasers Class II instead of Class I" in, your design, really looked and behaved uniquely. This was the one and only game I could find that featured this kind of thing. I REALLY wanted another one. Then came Space Engineers. First off I was amazed that I was experiencing next to no bugs. My first bug encounter was after playing 20 hours and it resolved with restarting the world (I never encountered it again).
    Then I got kind of bored.
    Then multiplayer came out. Now I have 570 hours ingame and 13 of my 22 friends on steam own this game.
    Some time ago I developed interest in the game's developers. I thought "Hm, why don't I see what kind of people are developing my favourite game?". I was amazed. I have never, emphasis on NEVER, never ever seen developers working this close with the community. After playing World of Tanks and getting more and more pissed at these assholes of devs I really didn't expect anything. But what I found left me truly amazed. Then I found out about the community. Whereas in other games the players threaten your lives, insult your mother and adjudge you to be gay and brainless, here I found a community with which you can have discussion, debate about what could be, what would be nice and so on... All without being called a "brainless moron who fucks his mom".
    But the list goes on: with every update, with every little thing I heard about the development of the game, about the developers themselves, I got to experience how a game SHOULD be developed, how the community for whom the game is being made should be integrated. And now this. I honestly don't know if releasing the source code to everybody was a good thing to do. I doubt the developers know how it will turn out exactly. But, oh my god. This is awesome. This is truly awesome. You guys are really doing a grea- wait no, you guys are doing the BEST job. More than I could ever imagine in my wildest dreams. Well, that's all for now :D Thanks for making this game possible.



    Also: Planets!

    WHEEEEEEEEE :D

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  52. Awesome :D I will certainly take advantage of it!

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  53. Waiting for Multiplayercode rework, before starting to mod space engineers

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  54. Will we be able to build structures over long distances without them slowly getting further from the ground?

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    Replies
    1. Foundation construction is the quintessential code of building design, you dig.

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  55. Enter planet have more !! And the evil AI to himself attacked the base !!

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  56. Just wanted to say, I've been looking at this for a few weeks on the wish list. After all the recent frustration of F2P models from games like MWO etc, the fact you opened it up despite the risk is something I applaud. I'm getting Space Engineers today.

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  57. A company that cares about their customers and their game, not only about the $ they earn. Thats rare these days. Every gamer should spread the word about this.

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  58. Aaaahh, that planet... I can't wait, It's fully destructeble I take it?

    Now all I need is a "Death Star" Superlaser...

    ;-)

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  59. Do you think you could add some kind of reentry effects to ships and characters that are entering the planets atmosphere. That would be epic!

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  60. VRAGE editor is under special copyright license?

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  61. the real question is will the planets rotate so there will be day/night?

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  62. The other Sofft sandal which is produced with the sheep leather has it curves all in the suitable place. Palermo Black suede is made working with the sheep leather and is considerably additional luxuriant than any other typical sandal.


    http://www.birkenstockoutletvogue.com

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  63. This is Great Wonderful coding Technique.. Great Thanks.

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  64. Hello Marek!
    First of all, thank you for what you pleases me by updating and improvement of this great game with great potential, improving and adding more and more new features in its engine. For a long time I think about to learn programming and it will be very interesting to see the source code of your game as a great example.

    I have a small question about your current developments relating to the planets: I'm a fan of the game "Kerbal Space Program" and I'd like to see in the game are some difficulties with the entry into the atmosphere and then the landing, as well as difficulties in overcoming atmosphere and gravity to exit into orbit, so that it looks more or less honest in terms of physics and realism.

    Is it possible to expect any more or less complex concept, allows us to build scenarios such as the ship crashed on the planet and the need to build a new one ship, but with a sufficiently powerful engines to overcome the atmosphere and gravity?

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  65. hello...i would like to add few awesome source codes for games with which you can easily build one by yourself. http://goo.gl/VxvsId

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  66. Will SE eventually support Linux?

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  67. Nice to be visiting your blog again, it has been months for me. Well this article that i've been waited for so long. I need this article to complete my assignment in the college, and it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share.

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  68. Great game!!! However, the current source code on GitHub does not compile properly under MS Visual Studio 2019 in x86. It used to compile great in VS 2013 but since upgraded to VS2019, I get a whole ton of compilation errors!!! Checking the forums only states to copy all the dlls to the source tree but that sounds crazy!

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