"Need to create" - Builder, accelerationist, and CEO at http://KeenSWH.com and http://GoodAI.com - Working on AI Game, Space Engineers, VRAGE3 engine and Memetic Badger
PlayStation pre-orders are happening RIGHT NOW and early access to Space Engineers will start in just a few short weeks (May 11th). Don't miss your chance to be the first to step foot on alien worlds!
We are extremely excited about the response so far and looking forward to PlayStation players finally getting a chance to become Space Engineers. With full crossplay, Xbox, PC, and now PlayStation players can team up and explore Space Engineers on their platform of choice!
As our wishlist and pre-order campaigns have rolled out we have had a variety of questions from new and old community members alike. While we have addressed questions across platforms, we feel that some of the recurring questions can be best addressed with a single post. We hope that this helps add clarity and state curiosity!
So, let's answer some questions!
Pre-order Price Change
During our initial rollout, prices for the Space Engineers base game as well as the Ultimate Edition were incorrect and higher than initially intended. We have since worked with PlayStation to correct this.
Prices are now consistent across all platforms (19.99 USD or your regional equivalent).
We have adjusted the price on all storefronts and prices should now appear correctly.
PlayStation will automatically issue a refund for the difference in price.
Our apologies for any confusion this may have caused.
Finding Space Engineers on PS4 &PS5
Finding the correct version of Space Engineers for your purchase is fairly straightforward.
If you head to the store via browser you will be able to get the PlayStation 5 version of Space Engineers by either following our provided link, or by simply heading to the store and searching “Space Engineers”.
Thanks to PlayStation Cross-buy, this purchase works on both PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5 - you can play Space Engineers on both platforms.
Alternatively, you can find Space Engineers by searching PlayStation™Store while on your PlayStation console.
Open the PlayStation™Store on your PlayStation®4 or PlayStation®5.
Head to the Search feature and enter “Space Engineers”.
The correct version will be available for purchase and install.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will the PlayStation version be different from the PC version?
A: No, we expect this release to stay true to our vision of Space Engineers and include all of the core features we see on PC. Nevertheless, we had to reduce some complexity settings to deliver the smooth performance on the PlayStation 4 hardware.
Q: Will the PlayStation version be different from the Xbox version?
A: No. Console ports are identical and performing very similarly to their generation counterparts (Xbox One = PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X = PlayStation 5).
Q: When will Space Engineers release on PlayStation?
A: Our beta release date is May 11th.
Q: Will I be able to play with my friends that have the PC/XBOX version?
A: Our PlayStation release of Space Engineers will launch with Crossplay enabled. PC, Xbox, and PlayStation players will be able to team up on day one!
Q: Will there be dedicated servers?
A: Yes, we will release with Epic Online Services (EOS) servers. These servers will be shared with Xbox and PC players. We are prepared to increase the pool of available public servers as we adjust for increased traffic.
Q: Will there be mod support?
A: Yes, mods will be fully supported with some restrictions. No client side scripting will be available. For Mods and Blueprints we will continue to use Mod.io.
Q: Will there be scripting available?
A: You can execute your script when connected to Dedicated Server which enables support for in-game scripting.
Q: Will there be mouse and keyboard support?
A: Yes.
Q: On official servers, can other players join the server, find and raid my built base? Does everything stay when I log out?
A: Yes, you can create offline protection in the form of “Safe Zones” and ensure your base is safe while you are away.
Q: Will there be options for automated tasks like grinding/welding?
A: Yes, automation is a big focus of our game - especially with our latest update Automatons.
Q: I want to see raw PlayStation footage!
A: OK! PlayStation gameplay footage, in a cross-platform multiplayer server, with PC, Xbox, and PlayStation players all present, simultaneously!
Hiring
If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers or our in-house game engine VRAGE3, 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.
Thank you for reading this blog!
Best, Marek Rosa CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, started in 2010, and best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (nearing 5 million copies sold). Space Engineers has the 4th largest Workshop on Steam with over 500K mods, ships, stations, worlds, and more!
Marek has been interested in game development and artificial intelligence since childhood. He started his career as a programmer and later transitioned to a leadership role. After the success of Keen Software House titles, Marek was able to fund GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 Million personal investment.
Both companies now have over 100 engineers, researchers, artists, and game developers.
Marek's primary focus is the development of Space Engineers, VRAGE3 engine, AI Game, and Memetic Badger.
GoodAI's mission is to develop AGI - as fast as possible - to help humanity and understand the universe. One of the commercial stepping stones is the "AI game," which features LLM-driven NPCs grounded in the game world with developing personalities and long-term memory. GoodAI also works on autonomous agents that can self-improve and solve any task that a human can.
Guest post by Jan Hloušek, VRAGE Engine Lead Programmer at Keen Software House
Hello, Engineers!
In Keen Software House, my team started development of the new engine VRAGE3. It is a new iteration of the Space Engineers engine, with similar goals (sandbox, open world, solar system distances etc.), but very different technology.
We came to the conclusion of writing a new engine after hitting lots of bottlenecks with VRAGE2. First, we investigated other engines, big (Unrealengine5, Unity3d) and small (Unigine, Stride, Flax). But neither of them could support unique use cases without major rewrites.
We started more than a year ago and now I decided to regularly share some of our progress.
So, what changes? The biggest differences are:
Data Oriented architecture, similar to Unity's Entity Component System, but with better interoperability with the Object Oriented world.
GPU driven pipeline - GPU feeding itself with draw calls, freeing CPU significantly (in SE, >3 cores are dedicated to render)
Adoption of new graphics APIs (DirectX12), modern physics (Havok), AI (Kythera AI) and audio (FMOD)
Thread safe parallelization - tasks scheduled based on data dependencies
Dynamic Global Illumination using raytracing
Multiplatform from the start - with every decision, we are taking other platforms in consideration, so the porting is not an afterthought
Deeper modding possibilities (i.e. better in combining Mods, modding of materials, clear API etc.)
Single development tool to author all assets (available to Modders)
Most of the systems are implemented from scratch, with very little code being reused from VRAGE2. And it is shaping up pretty nicely.
Physics Engine Investigations
Before we started with development of VRAGE3, we investigated many 3rd party libraries to save the dev time. First, we started with physics engines. We wanted to improve on issues from Space Engineers Havok2012 which we use in mainly:
Phantom forces
Unstable / wobbly constraint chains
Support for high mass ratios
Below see the footage from our tests with ChaosPhysics, PhysX3, PhysX4, UniginePhysics and Havok 2021. Bear in mind that this is early 2021 footage, some issues may have been improved in the meantime.
Also, PhysX4 can deliver much better simulation stability with articulation joints which we have not used as they do not fit our requirements for various reasons.
Shadows
In the past few months, part of the VRAGE3 team was working on improving direction (sun) shadows. In Space Engineers, we are using shadow cascades supporting planetary scale distances. Let's have a look at some of the improvements we made.
Having clearly defined contours of shadows was our primary goal. We added an antialiasing step analyzing squares of 4 pixels within a certain radius calculating alignment in 4 different directions. The result is stretching the sampling kernel in the appropriate direction.
VRAGE2 / VRAGE3
We also improved Poisson sampling itself using the Fibonacci spiral. This method has better distribution with a lower number of samples.
VRAGE2 / VRAGE3
When blending between cascades instead of having half of the samples from each cascade as in VRAGE2, we are sampling the whole kernel in each cascade. We can get away with that since new sampling has half of the samples with the same radius.
VRAGE2 / VRAGE3
The moire effect in steep angles is reduced similarly as mipmaps texture sampling. Instead of going to a lower mipmap, it simply increases the minimum radius for the kernel.
VRAGE2 / VRAGE3
Finally, since driving or flying some vehicles is usual activity, we stabilized shadows by subtracting the position of a pivot object (i.e. cockpit) from the shadow origin, instead of the camera origin.
VRAGE2 / VRAGE3
All the comparisons are using the same shadow cascade setup and texture resolutions.
Most of the techniques are well known in the rendering community, except for the antialiasing technique, which was developed by our render engineer Landon Townsend.
Local lights
First of all, spot lights with cookies in the scene with solid and transparent surfaces. Improvement over VRAGE2 is a transparent surface support and better shadow quality:
Internally, we implemented light clustering with sparse representation, allowing us to have more lights per tile and better performance over no tiling for spot lights and tiled rendering for point lights in VRAGE2. Clusters are now used for all types of lights. It is also the reason why we can now support transparent surface lighting, where for every pixel, we have to evaluate all the lights in the cluster (instead of the whole tile).
Another improvement is physically correct attenuation using inverse quadratic formula with range mask.
Point lights benefit from the same improvements as well. Additionally supporting cube map shadows:
Capsule lights will be great for lights from neon tubes. This is a new feature over VRAGE2. No shadow support yet.
Capsule light is emitted in all directions equally along the centerline of the capsule. The capsule light is defined by an attenuation radius and length of the capsule, light intensity and transformation.
Area lights will be used for LCD blocks, reflecting their content. They were not supported in VRAGE2 at all. No shadows yet.
Area lights emit light from 2D geometric shapes (most commonly rectangles) from one of its sides. Rect light is defined by transformation, size, barn (size and angle), light intensity and attenuation radius.
Armor Deformation
Armor deformation test with LOD on. Bones are in a 1 meter grid with blocks of arbitrary size.
Water Physics
You can check out the Volumetric Water guest post by Petr Minařík, Senior Lead Programmer at Keen Software House.
Tiling Methods
We are experimenting with new tiling methods to be able to increase the resolution of armor textures, but not having patterns apparent and containing the memory footprint.
Voxel Destruction
Let me present to you a few experiments with Voxel destruction in VRAGE3 with different materials.
This is how crash landing to sand could look like.
And to the rocky surface. Damage to the ship is now disabled, but obviously rock will damage the ship more than sand.
The furrow is created from metaballs (SDFs) composed out of spheres in contact points with radius based on their impulse.
And this guy should lose his pilot license.
This is by no means the final product, we have many ideas how to improve it and will share them soon.
Block Fracturing
We are experimenting with splitting the block in runtime into multiple fractures using a hybrid approach of Havok fractures and artists authored models.
Any fracture piece becomes a debris and despawns after a while. The area of the block where the piece was removed becomes pass-through for rigidbodies, characters and shooting.
Here is an example of shooting (debug menu action) and thus detaching the hit fractures from the block.
This is an example of destruction on contact with another rigid body. Its impulse is propagated to the fracture debris (missing for shooting yet).
Destruction is applicable in all stages of construction of the block.
Here you can see the block being fractured, then deconstructed (still missing the destructed pieces) and later constructed, where at first the overall shape is restored and then new parts start appearing.
Tool Suite
With VRAGE3 we are developing a complete tool suite in the form of editor (to author content of the game and mods) and HUB (to maintain game and mod projects).
Both are developed using AvaloniaUI.
VRAGE3 HUB
ObjectInspector used to edit game prefab
Game definitions are prepared in component-like fashion. Components having distinct functionalities (like inventories, transforms, model rendering, animation etc.). Composing them together will define the block's feature set.
Example of Gravity generator block composition:
ChildTransformComponent
HierarchyComponent
PowerableBlockComponent
GravityGeneratorComponent
BlockModelComponent
BlockRenderComponent (client only)
Edits in inspector are applied realtime to running game through Live link.
Project explorer is used to navigate the definitions and assets in the folder like structure. It has quick navigation features and search / filtering.
Project explorer
Any asset can be previewed, including individual LODs, lighting changes. It uses the same renderer setup as the game does, so it is as close as the final product.
Model preview
Previewing (including live editing of parameters) works for any type of asset type like planets and asteroids.
Voxel storage preview
New material system features variants of standard PBR including parallax, alpha cutout, triplanar, transparent etc. Editor can preview materials on predefined models for quick iterations.
Material preview
Materials can be prepared for different types of target assets (models, voxels...). Editor then offers a different preview model set.
Triplanar material preview on voxel storage
The tool suite is very much work in progress. This is just a sneak peak on the current state. There is still much work pending to have a polished experience and full feature set.
We are always impressed by the innovation of our modding community! We would like to thank 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 or our in-house game engine VRAGE3, 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.
Thank you for reading this blog!
Best, Marek Rosa CEO, Creative Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, started in 2010, and best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (nearing 5 million copies sold). Space Engineers has the 4th largest Workshop on Steam with over 500K mods, ships, stations, worlds, and more!
Marek has been interested in game development and artificial intelligence since childhood. He started his career as a programmer and later transitioned to a leadership role. After the success of Keen Software House titles, Marek was able to fund GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 Million personal investment.
Both companies now have over 100 engineers, researchers, artists, and game developers.
Marek's primary focus is the development of Space Engineers, VRAGE3 engine, AI Game, and Memetic Badger.
GoodAI's mission is to develop AGI - as fast as possible - to help humanity and understand the universe. One of the commercial stepping stones is the "AI game," which features LLM-driven NPCs grounded in the game world with developing personalities and long-term memory. GoodAI also works on autonomous agents that can self-improve and solve any task that a human can.
New blocks in the base game: Event Controller, AI Offensive & Defensive, AI Basic & Recorder, AI Flight
Quality of life changes, combat and UI improvements
New Premium content: Emotion Controller, Saddle Cockpits, Decorative signs, walls and more
Automaton: "A machine that performs a function according to a predetermined set of coded instructions, especially one capable of a range of programmed responses to different circumstances.”
Hello, Engineers!
This update will not only reshape automation, but it will also serve as a basis for continued exploration of the “NPC” concept. Automation has never been so easy! Complex mechanized systems can now be more easily realized through use of the new “Event Controller”. Airlocks, docking clamps, loading bays, and mecha controls are now simpler than ever. The event controller not only provides new functionality, but delivers this functionality in an easy to use and easy to understand block. These powerful new mechanics will create new engineering opportunities and serve as a foundation for future upgrades and improvements to the existing PvE content.
From flight control to combat maneuvers, the AI series of blocks delivers a completely new way to automate every aspect of your Space Engineers experience. Taxi service from space station to planetary surface? Guardian drone to patrol the perimeter while you are away? Perhaps you would like a helper to follow you while mining, or working, and shoulder the load. All of this and so much more is easily accomplished!
Explore a future full of automated and animated allies and enemies. For this Major update we have provided you with the tools you need to define a new era in automation. These new blocks empower your creativity like never before. We cannot wait to see the workshop come ALIVE with new creations.
Free Content
AI Blocks
The AI blocks give you the creative tools to completely change what a “grid” is and custom tailor your own automated creation. These tools can empower your creativity like never before! AI blocks have been added to the base game and allow the easy creation of truly autonomous drones.
This is only the beginning as we continue our exploration of the autonomous.
AI Flight (Move) - 1 block, S + L grid
Designed for flight control in both space and atmosphere. The Flight block enables complex behaviors in-flight as well as detailed control of how your grid will move in both space and atmosphere.
AI Basic (Task) - 1 block, S + L grid
An extended version of the Remote Control block that provides complex functions such as following the player, traveling to a “Home” destination, and of course Autopilot, as well as the original basic behaviors.
AI Recorder (Task) - 1 block, S + L grid
A precision flight path recorder. The recorder can not only log and follow a selection of waypoints, but it is also able to record and replay hotbar actions that trigger on waypoints.
AI Defensive (Combat) - 1 block, S + L grid
Allows for the easy automation of complex defensive behaviors such as when (and how) to flee combat, as well as what locations to fall back to. Additionally, the defensive AI can determine what weapons to use when returning fire, and how to identify a possible threat.
AI Offensive (Combat) - 1 block, S + L grid
The Offensive block is a highly level AI block. Able to perform extremely complex tasks including target identification, targeting priority, and execution of complex attack patterns.
Each block comes in 1x1x1 size with both Large and Small grids variants. Players can build more than one of each Type block on a grid, to create extremely complex and nuanced drones and drone behaviors. Of each Type, only 1 block can be active at the same time.
You asked, we delivered. Often requested in a myriad of different imagined forms, the concept of tracking a change in the state of one block, and taking an action based on that change, is something we have long wanted to tackle. We are very proud to deliver on this concept in what we feel is a comprehensive, but still easy to master, “Event Controller”.
The Event Controller can monitor various block states and trigger toolbar Actions when those values change. This can be used in conjunction with other automation blocks to create logic systems on grids.
The event controller is a powerhouse addition to existing Space Engineers mechanical blocks. The concept of action, reaction, may seem simple on the surface, but when coupled with existing SE solutions, it has the power to simplify the complex, or add much needed functionality to simplistic design.
Willis Ducts
(8 blocks, L grid)
Maintenance Ducts large enough for an engineer to crawl through.
Conveyor Cap
(3 blocks, S + L grid)
Decorative pipe cap for conveyor tubes and cargo ports.
Centered Armor Panels
(2 blocks S + L grid - light & heavy)
An offset armor panel version.
Air Vent
(1 block S + L grid)
A full sized air vent block with conveyor ports on 5 of 6 sides.
2x2 Wheels
(2 blocks, S + L grid)
A 2x2 “vanilla” wheel variant of both large and small grid size.
QOL Change - Small Ship Connector
Small grid “Ejector” block has been changed to Small Connector (including Connector functionality). This is another long-requested item we are happy to deliver.
QOL Change - Turret Controller
Custom Turret Controller now has the much requested “Sun Tracking” option!
QOL Change - Landing Gear lock
Locked Landing Gear no longer takes control of the grids they are attached to.
QOL Change - Weapon Names
Various weapons + corresponding ammo names have been changed for consistency and ease of discovery via the search bar. You can find a full list of all the impacted weapons in the changelog.
The "Forget Target" and "Copy Target" actions have been removed
New action: Focus Locked Target (replacing Copy target) When triggering this action, turrets will prioritize the target that is currently fully target locked by the player
Target Lock Improvement Turrets are now capable of seeing and engaging targets that are fully target locked by the player passively, as long as that target is within each turret's maximum range and Line of Sight. This means turrets will now automatically engage a locked target if it is within the turret’s max range and LoS, and the turret is not already engaging another target.
Added Grey Lead Indicator + "Out of weapon range" text indicator when you are out of range for the selected weapon
Increased Target Locking distance by 500m, totaling 2500m
Turrets: cycle subsystem in toolbar now shows the name of currently selected subsystem
UI improvements: New overlay when manually controlling turrets
Decorative rounded pipe caps added to the Heavy Industry Pack.
Automatons 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 Automatons Pack is $4.99 USD or your regional equivalent. Show your continued support for Space Engineers and check out the Automatons Pack.
This package includes:
Emotion Controller & 16 Emotions (1 block, S + L grid)
Machines can be expressive too! The Emotion Controller allows easy communication of grid states through the event controller. Keep your ships happy.
Saddle Cockpit, Compact Saddle Cockpit
(2 blocks, S grid)
Speed through the landscape on a motorcycle style cockpit. Comes in a 3x3x3 and slightly more compact 3x3x2 version.
Robot Helmet Skin
A new helmet skin with a robotic face.
Plastic Armor Skin
A new “plastic” style armor skin.
Warning Signs
(13 variants L grid, 13 variants S grid)
A sign for every occasion. A collection of warning message signs to adorn your ship, and prevent disaster!
Top Mounted Camera
(1 block, S + L grid)
A larger, armored reskin of the traditional camera block.
Angled Interior Wall
(2 blocks, L grid)
An interior wall angled variant. Used to construct interesting and detailed looking corridors, tunnels or interiors.
Inset Light Block
(1 block, S + L grid)
An Interior wall with an integrated light. Add lights in a tight corridor or when space is at a premium.
Pipework Block
(2 blocks, L grid)
A new decorative pipework block, for added visual appeal.
Access Panels
(4 blocks, S + L grid)
Control panel block, with access hatch.
Air Vent Fan
(2 blocks, S + L grid)
A massive industrial fan variant of the air vent. Includes half-block and full block versions.
Automaton Programmable Block
(1 block, S+L grid)
“Server rack” style Programmable Block variant with a console and LCD panel.
Automaton Timer Block
(1 block, S+L grid)
Following the Programmable Block theme, a “server rack” style timer block.
Automaton Sensor
(1 block, S + L grid)
A larger, armored reskin of the sensor block.
What's Next - "Bring the world to life"
This is only the beginning! As we continue our exploration of Automation we have some very important items that didn't make it into this update. Breaking with tradition, we would like to share with you some of what's next and what you can expect from future updates.
Room for improvement
We are always looking forward to how we can improve existing systems, and the current pathing and collision detection of drones and Automaton systems are no exception. Not every change we wanted to include could be a part of this update so expect improvements to path-finding and collision detection in the future.
New PvP scenario - Combat Evolved
Soon we will be releasing a new PVP scenario (player versus player scenario)! This will be a very special scenario as our approach to its development will be quite unique. Rather than a single, static release, we would like to evolve this PVP scenario over time, using your feedback to help fine-tune, or even make major overhauls, and develop a PVP scenario that delivers the best possible experience.
Lore:
“Your team has managed to acquire an encrypted data container that could hold the key to gaining an upper hand in this endless conflict. Unfortunately, your enemy is resourceful and has acquired the same encrypted data from an unscrupulous seller. Now, the race is on!
Join The Red team or Blue team, prepare your defenses, and make sure your data container is well defended during decryption. Launch your assault and destroy the enemies data container before they manage to decrypt its secrets!
Choose carefully between fortifying your compound, building up a jump-capable strike force, and infiltration of the enemy base. The enemy’s data container must be destroyed!”
Your feedback will play a pivotal role in its evolution and I am looking forward to play this scenario together with you (or against you)! I will be joining the servers and playing alongside other Space Engineers players.
Why is this PvP scenario so important to me?
One part of my original vision for Space Engineers was to make a game where players create warmachines and then test them in battles against other players. The goal was to merge building and fighting / creation and destruction. Nothing like this is possible in other games. Space Engineers has dynamic and destructible environment, only you have control over how you build your fortification and defense, and only you have control over what offensive machines you build. The number of combinations a match can evolve are limitless.
However, the cost of building is disproportionately high when compared to destruction (which is typically easy and cheap).
An important principle is that the battles should be based on the “Vanilla” Space Engineers experience - nothing that works in the default game should be disabled (e.g. we will not disable welding, we won’t make indestructible voxels or grids, we won’t disable jetpack).
The challenge for players is to use your engineering skills to prepare excellent defenses, and at the same time, to prepare surprises for your enemies.
Naturally, I would like to seek a balance between creation & destruction.
Two steps of my plan:
1) My first step is to create a balanced PvP scenario where both teams have the option of either offense or defense. Both teams should have the same objectives and tools, like a chess match. We cannot expect a competitor to allocate much time to building (it's too time consuming). The first release of the PvP scenario will focus on this stage.
2) The second step will come in a later update and will enable players to spawn grids (blueprints) into the PvP scenario. This empowers competitors to “pre-game” and offsets the cost of creation. Time invested in customization and optimization of designs can be invested outside of a PVP battle, much like it is in survival. Players can then bring these optimized designs directly to the battlefield “on demand” and without slowing play.
We are currently reviewing these concepts. Enabling players to spawn their blueprints in this or future PvP scenario would be an ideal result. We see huge potential in the ability to design and build your ships in creative mode, and at your leisure. Without the stress and time constraints of combat you can refine a design and bring it to “trial by fire” in this evolving PvP scenario.
The gameplay shouldn’t just end with one match. It should extend beyond it. Practically right after the match ends (no matter if your team won or lost), you should start thinking about improving your strategy and preparing for the next match, where you will experiment with different defenses and offenses.
This naturally leads to meta arms-race loop, and should provide a lot of replayability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can we expect more mechanics and QOL changes, not just cosmetics? A: Yes. We hear you and we have big changes, updates, and additions planned for 2023 and beyond.
Q: How do I provide feedback? A: Please contact us with your bugs, and feedback here: https://support.keenswh.com
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 include both game and DLC content!
Q: Are you planning to expand the Automatons update later, add new AI blocks? A: We have ideas for more and we're looking into it.
Q: My drone does not do what I want? Why has it stopped working? A: New Grid AI blocks are complex to set up, sometimes it's hard to debug and understand what is happening or not happening. Checking the block’s console is always a great first step to understanding AI block behavior. Learn more about our new AI blocks here.
Space Engineers available to preorder on PlayStation!
Keen Software House is joining forces with Sony to deliver Space Engineers to PlayStation in 2023.
We feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to share our “Need to Create” and cannot wait to see what new creations are realized with this release.
If you’re interested in working on awesome games like Space Engineers or our in-house game engine VRAGE3, 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.
We are always impressed by the innovation of our modding community! We would like to thank the Space Engineers community for continuing to inspire us through their ideas, suggestions, and hard work.
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
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of GoodAI, a general artificial intelligence R&D company, and Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, started in 2010, and best known for its best-seller Space Engineers (nearing 5 million copies sold). Space Engineers has the 4th largest Workshop on Steam with over 500K mods, ships, stations, worlds, and more!
Marek has been interested in game development and artificial intelligence since childhood. He started his career as a programmer and later transitioned to a leadership role. After the success of Keen Software House titles, Marek was able to fund GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 Million personal investment.
Both companies now have over 100 engineers, researchers, artists, and game developers.
Marek's primary focus is the development of Space Engineers, VRAGE3 engine, AI Game, and Memetic Badger.
GoodAI's mission is to develop AGI - as fast as possible - to help humanity and understand the universe. One of the commercial stepping stones is the "AI game," which features LLM-driven NPCs grounded in the game world with developing personalities and long-term memory. GoodAI also works on autonomous agents that can self-improve and solve any task that a human can.
.png)
