Thursday, October 24, 2019

Space Engineers Major Update: 6th Anniversary & Decorative Pack II

SUMMARY:
  • Space Engineers 6th anniversary
  • Space Engineers won the TECHNOLOGY category at the CEEGA!
  • Decorative Pack II
  • Discount on DLCs
  • Xbox News & Optimizations and improved controller support for PC version
  • FAQs


UPDATE: On Wednesday, October 30th. 2019 we removed the Small Control Seat from Decorative Pack II to the base version of the game; it is now available for free to all players.

Hello, Engineers!

It’s hard to believe, but Space Engineers was released six years ago. It seems like yesterday, but I think the time always runs very fast with the things you love. It would take the entire blog post to mention all names and people who contributed to the success of Space Engineers. But it were not only my colleagues who I’d like to thank, it’s also you, our players and modders, who helped us to shape the game, gave us great ideas and who constantly provided us with feedback.

The first official trailer from 8/2013: 


Last week, Space Engineers was awarded as the best game in the Technology category at the Central and Eastern European Game Awards! The game has been nominated because of the successful “Out of early access” release earlier this year. I am really proud of my team and the fact that our work is still being recognized.


But coming back to our actual work, we’ve spent the last couple of months working on another major update, which we are releasing today. We planned this release with the Space Engineers Anniversary, so we can also give you something more than a major update. 

What will you find in this update?


This update is full of new things, improvements and surprises. We combined the things which were inspired by you, with the things we think you will like. All these things are free of charge, so without any further delay, here is the content of this major release:

Small Ladder Block
The small ladder block has been requested by the community for a long time, which is why we have decided to put it into the game. This block will allow you to build even more interesting creations and we’d love to know about them, so please tag us across our social media. 


New World Scenario (Lost Colony)
Do you remember the winner of our Video Competition back in June of this year? Yes, it was ”Imagining Space Engineers 2” by Smokki. What would you say if we hired Smokki to design a brand new world, where you can discover new areas and search for the things which were never in Space Engineers before? The world that tells you the story and takes you to the places you could not find before.

Well, we did exactly that. I’m super happy to present you the new world, fully designed by Smokki, which is becoming part of our vanilla game. I would like to say a BIG thank you to Smokki for his outstanding work. 


New Armor Skins
Our art team is able to find an inspiration almost everywhere. They prepared the Battered Armor and Rusty Armor for this release, so we hope you’ll enjoy them all.


The Decorative Pack II

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 designed to enrich your game visually. The package is the second edition of the Decorative Pack, which was released back in April this year. None of the things in the package brings any advantage to players who purchase this DLC. The price of the Decorative Pack II is $3.99 USD, or your regional Steam equivalent, so if you wish to support us, check out the Decorative Pack II on Steam.

The package includes the following items:

Dispenser
Jukebox
Small Control Seat
Lab Equipment
Shower
Window Walls
Medical Station
Transparent LCD
Grated Catwalks
Grated Stairs and Half Stairs
Railings
Rotating Light
Freight

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.

Discount on DLCs

We would like to celebrate the sixth anniversary of Space Engineers by giving you the special limited-time discount for not only the base game, but also for our existing DLCs; please note: this does not include Decorative Pack #2. You will find 30% discount on all previously released DLCs and also on all our games. This promotion will last from Thursday, October 24th (10 am PST) through to Monday, November 4th (10 am PST), 2019.

FAQ

Q: Why are you releasing another decorative pack?
A: The reason for releasing another decorative pack is that we still felt that there were some interesting blocks that our community wants. However, we understand that not everyone is interested in it, so we decided to release it as a second decorative pack. All players will be able to interact with the blocks, but only those who own the pack will be able to build with them.

Q: Should we now expect that we will get new pack every three months?
A: The way of bringing free and paid content in major releases is helping us to support the Space Engineers development, as well as to bring new things into 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 improving Space Engineers.

Q: Can we expect some special promotions outside of the anniversary?
A: We are always looking at the ways of how to bring the game and its content to the wide audience. Special promotions are good opportunities for this. And even though this is the first time of having DLCs in discount, we will definitely come up with interesting promotions in the future, which will include both games and DLCs.

Q: Are you already thinking about a new project?
A: We are already thinking about our next project, which we’ll start to work on in the future. There are three projects on the short list and we are now analyzing them.

News about the Space Engineers Xbox One Version

Our team has already finished the Space Engineers Xbox MVP version and this version is being tested currently. We are also in very close discussions with Microsoft about the next steps and specific details for the Xbox One version of Space Engineers. If you are interested in becoming one of our testers, feel free to contact us at info@keenswh.com. Our team will get in touch with you about the details and next steps. You can also watch my interview with Captain Jack where we spoke about the Space Engineers Xbox One port.

With this release, we are also releasing the Xbox optimizations and improved controller support, which is a big step towards the full Xbox One implementation. Please note that these changes are in development and in progress. Our team is still working on it and we’ll welcome all your feedback about these new features.





Merchandising


We would like to remind you that our fantastic Space Engineers merchandise is available at the Keen Software House E-shop.



Our shop has many designs to choose from and it’s easy to use.


Anniversary Video Compilation


We’d also like to thank the following YouTubers and streamers for submitting footage for the Space Engineers Anniversary Video Compilation:

Ball&ChainGaming
Captain Jack
Cosmic Chimp
EpikTek
Kanajashi
Morphologis
Rabenschild
Splitsie

We’re proud to hear all of these engineers’ stories associated with the game, and we’re sure there will be lots of memorable moments in Space Engineers to enjoy in the future!


What’s next?


This is the fourth major update being released after the game moved out of Early Access. Our focus is on bringing you new game improvements and decoratives, so you can enjoy the game even more. Our focus is also on the game stability and performance. Our team really enjoyed working on this update, because all of the work was based on our community’s feedback. I hope you’ll also enjoy all of the new things in Space Engineers. 

If you enjoy this update, please consider writing a review.

Looking at our upcoming plans, our main focus is going to be the Xbox One version of Space Engineers.

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.


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 here: https://www.keenswh.com/jobs.html and don’t forget to send us your English CV/resume and cover letter.

Please note: while we prefer candidates who are able to live and work in Prague, Czech Republic, we are open to working remotely with candidates who are applying for senior positions.


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
Medieval Engineers: www.MedievalEngineers.com
General AI Challenge: www.General-AI-Challenge.org
AI Roadmap Institute: www.RoadmapInstitute.org
GoodAI: www.GoodAI.com
Keen Software House: www.keenswh.com
GoodAI Applied: https://www.goodai.com/goodai-applied

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 their best-seller Space Engineers (3 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 both Space Engineers and Medieval Engineers, as well as daily research and development on recursive self-improvement based general AI architecture.

28 comments:

  1. How can you claim "All the items in the pack are cosmetic only" when you have the only small control seat locked behind a paywall?

    I thought you'd learnt the lesson from the release of the last pack with the Industrial Cockpit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Gordon. We just removed the Small Control Seat from the Decorative Pack II and moved it to the base game. For more info, please see this link: https://steamcommunity.com/games/244850/announcements/detail/1603772016004111876
      Thanks for your feedback!

      Delete
  2. so much useless stuff money grabbing again what happened to the combat update you promised us. now I know why I uninstalled this game you still fail to listen to the community. the community last update stated they wanted more vanilla weapons as the current weapons are tedious and boring now how in the future of space would you still use gatling guns and missiles. I really hope you do actually finally listen to your community and bring a combat update rather than a stupid cosmetic dlc. sorry if you don't like this review but im blunt and im honest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. We still have lots of exciting features coming to Space Engineers in the future. Please keep in mind that we're continuing to release free updates for all players and optional DLC that is designed to not split the Space Engineers player-base.

      Delete
  3. my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Gordon.

    We really appreciate your feedback. :)

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good stuff in this update and congratulations to 6 years been there since 2013 :). I'm not a big fan of paid mini DLC every couple month though. I'd much prefer a 1 time payment and "be done with it" like an extended game version or a season pass that includes all present and future DLC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! And we appreciate your feedback.

      Delete
  6. Nah... the DLC packs are perfectly priced considering the base game itself is dirt cheap and can offer 1000's of hours of game-play. I think there is nothing wrong with the current implementation.

    I'd be willing to pay prices comparable to AAA titles for Space Engineers, and then even more for DLC. Excellent titles are worth good money, and I'm surprised Space Engineers is so affordable! Keep up the good work Keen! I look forward to seeing what other packs you have in the future. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the dlc is useless though, and they put a critical functional block (small control) and are missing clasic space stuff lasers / railgus
      their is nothing to do endgame besides summon lord clang
      also the most powerful weapon in the game is a guy in a spacesuit with some plates

      Delete
    2. Thanks for your feedback and continued support. :)

      Delete
  7. cant play the game anymore, recent update has made the game overload my graphics card when ever i open a terminal on my ships. i cant see planets either, though that issue has been goin on for a lot longer. i can no longer get my money worth out of the game as its in a state of unplayability for my lower end pc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're sorry to hear that. Please make sure your game is up-to-date, as we released a hotfix on October 30th. If your issues persists, please message us via: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/general so we can assist you ASAP.

      Delete
  8. so maybe alot off people have ask for it why is there no any rope mods so you can use it to hoist stuff

    ReplyDelete
  9. That would be cool! Make sure you submit your idea here: https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers/general
    so the Space Engineers Team and community can vote, as well as comment on it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. anything about Medieval Engineers? anything?

    ReplyDelete
  11. What about Medieval Engineers? There hasn't appeared to be any progress in quite a few months.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ?When is it coming on xbox?like this year

    ReplyDelete
  13. How can I be come a test for the xbox1 version?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I would love to try and be a tester for the xbox1 version. I always watch YouTubers play the game been watching the YouTubers play this game for a few years now I would love to be able to test and get my hands on it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please can you allocate me to be one of your testers for the xbox one. I've love watching youtubers play the game and after waiting years for it to come out I would love to play it for myself and give personal feedback!

      Delete
  15. Any chance of getting the xbox version for doing feedback,
    I've played the pc version and thought it was fantastic, I moved away from pc because it always takes ages to load up so I'd be very interested in playing the game again but on Xbox,plus I'm always looking for bugs and stuff that could be improved in the game.

    Please let me know asap

    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hello, it would be nice to add this mod to the classic Live Camera Feeds game.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Replies
    1. From what I can tell it should come out about 12 months after xbox release day, that's if Im reading info correctly, so don't quote me.

      Delete