"Need to create" - Builder, accelerationist, and Founder/CEO at KeenSWH.com and GoodAI.com - Working on AI People and LTM, Space Engineers 2, VRAGE3 engine and Resilient Civilization
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
VS 1.2 was released on Monday and it seems players are happy with our choices: target based grid control, off-center camera, and more!
Dampener curves - A month ago (after we reworked the target based grid control and also the thrusters), I felt that the deceleration/dampening of the gyro and thrusters didn't feel good, the follow (slowing down) was too long and slow, and I wanted something steeper, with stronger end - but at the same time not instant cut and not linear feel. So I scheduled a call with Logan (one of our gameplay programmers), to configure those curves and playtest it, but after a few minutes we realized the curves actually feel quite good (both thrusters and gyros), so we left it as it is (what you have in VS 1.2). I think that they got fixed by designers in the meantime, after configuring gyro and thruster parameters a bit. I was quite relieved because this could have turned into a never-ending battle.
Mike (our concept artist) is finishing the concept of one of the main characters. What do you say? He belongs to the Legion of Engineers faction.
Had a discussion with Mikko (our level designer) and the designers, and we will try to add simple objectives to the Creative Mode, like repair this ship and transfer it to that cave station, or fly through an obstacle course, shoot the target figurines, etc. The reason is to give players some goals, something to do beyond open-ended creation. The plan now is roughly 1 hour of objective-based gameplay, and we will evaluate it later. Most likely in VS 1.6 (PS: everything is subject to change) I am looking forward to this. We already have a prototype of our Mission Scripting Framework done, and it worked on some missions, but now the focus is VS 2, so there wasn't time to develop it further. However, it seems that the objectives for Creative mode can be done with what we currently have.
We want SE2 to be much more goal oriented, with specific measures and progression players will want to strive for. SE1 is more open ended, players make their own goals. SE2 will have a meta loop and progression, with some measures that players can understand and strive for. This week we were finishing discussions on this topic with the designers, and I feel very good about the current direction of it. Will let you know later.
We finished the design of safe speed. Safe speed is already in the game, collisions under 20 m/s don't cause damage. But we need to go further: we need to communicate it well on the HUD, plus there will be an "adaptive cruise control" system for setting up the max speed (so you don't go beyond safe speed), or you match your speed with some other grid, etc.
We set the main principles of the new build planner, block packages, and area welding. It's a huge topic, and it still has to be written as a design doc, but in general:
Players can use assembler to output "block packages" (which is basically a block inside the inventory, so we will rename it to blocks). This will reduce the complexity of thinking, because you will see you have 3 gyros in your inventory, so you know you can weld three gyros. You don't have to go to the lower level of components. Of course, the component system from SE1 will stay as it is. Block packages are here just as another layer on how to simplify things.
We will also keep "backpack building" we already prototyped in SE2: building from raw ore, where the backpack automatically turns the ore into components and you weld the block without worrying what kind of components you need.
Build planner will automatically add blocks you are projecting to the planner queue, and then you can with one click retrieve those queued items from some inventory or order their production. We really want to streamline this process, make it as intuitive as possible, so players can just use it without thinking. This is one of the things that bothered me in SE1.
Area welding: different welders will offer the ability to weld an area (more blocks at the same time) instead of point welding, where only one block at a time is welded and only where you point at.
Vertical Slice 1.2 is here and it brings another round of improvements to Space Engineers 2. This update introduces target-based ship controls, undo/redo for the paint gun, improved visuals for partial copy/paste, and an important improvement of jetpack boost mode.
You'll also find the new off-center third-person camera that gives you clearer visibility by keeping your character's head to the side, so it doesn't block your crosshair and target view. For ships, a similar vertical offset keeps your view unobstructed. And as always - there’s plenty more under the hood. Let’s take a look!
Vertical Slice 1.2 Features
Off-center 3rd Person Camera
The new off-center third-person camera gives you better visibility and more control when piloting ships or moving on foot.
By default, the camera is set to the right side, but you can cycle between right, center, and left using ALT+V.
We’ve also lowered the minimum camera distance, making it easier to see in tight spaces without switching to first-person.
Target-based Grid Control
We've added target-based grid control to make flying ships feel more responsive and intuitive. When you rotate your ship toward a point in space using the mouse, new on-screen UI indicators are showing your current rotation and orientation.
This makes precision piloting and maneuvering easier than ever. Unlike the previous version, which directly translated mouse movement to ship torque (making heavy ships require excessive mouse movement and feeling unresponsive), this new system ensures your ship responds consistently regardless of its mass.
Paint Gun Undo-Redo
The paint gun now supports undo and redo, letting you quickly revert or reapply recent color changes. Whether you're experimenting with new designs or fixing mistakes, this feature makes painting more user friendly.
Improved Visuals for Partial Copy/Paste
Partial copy/paste now has improved visuals, making it easier to see exactly which blocks you're copying and how they'll be placed. This helps with precision building and reduces guesswork when working with complex structures.
Jetpack 2.0
Jetpack 2.0 brings a more refined and responsive feel to movement. Boosting now has a short charge-up time, with a new charging indicator on the hydrogen bar and an orange highlight when ready. We've also added improved visual effects like camera shake and enhanced sound effects to make jetpack movement feel more powerful and immersive.
Additional Improvements
Added Debug Gun model, muzzle effects
Debug gun now damages Voxels
Added scroll through toolbars (CTRL + ALT + Mouse Wheel)
Shifted 3rd person camera view when sitting in the cockpit
Added First Person view character shadows
Added Inverse Kinematics for character model (still work in progress in edge cases)
There are many additional improvements and fixes in Vertical Slice 1.2 - you can explore everything included in the detailed Changelog.
Work in Progress / Ongoing Improvements
While your feedback is invaluable, some features are not yet ready for your input. These systems and mechanics are temporary solutions or placeholders, and we’re already hard at work redesigning and refining them. We ask for your patience while we bring these elements to their full potential.
Features and improvements we are actively working on:
Color picker will be included in undo-redo for paint gun in a future update
Character is not holding a Gun correctly while using the jetpack
After entering a cockpit for the first time after starting the game, the character may peek through the cockpit - this will be fixed in an upcoming update.
Keyboard and mouse controls are not customizable yet, but they will be!
Toolbar block groups and sizes (block selection via R key) are a temporary mechanism and will be redesigned in a near update.
We’re aware of incompatibility at launch of Space Engineers 2 on Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 built-in Arc GPUs. We are working with Intel to enable the game experience and will provide relevant updates as development progresses.
Performance
Performance optimization is ongoing. For Alpha release, we’re targeting 16x Red Ship grids at 60 FPS on recommended hardware.
Autosave may cause brief lags during gameplay.
Performance optimizations of ship collisions and destruction are ongoing, so it won’t be lag-free at this moment. We will be continuously improving it in the following updates.
PCU values per block may appear higher compared to Space Engineers 1, reflecting SE2's increased detail and more precise performance measurements. While the current total PCU limit is set at 400,000 in VS1, we plan to raise this threshold in future updates as we implement scheduled optimization improvements.
Space Engineers 2 Workshop
In-game Blueprint interface - Additional features and improvements will be introduced based on player feedback.
Displaying Steam Workshop Collections in-game is planned.
Blueprint screen refresh can be slow in some cases - it should be fixed in the next update.
Your owned Private items are not currently visible in the in-game Workshop browser.
We are addressing edge cases where re-publishing, renaming, tag display in the Steam interface, and sorting may not work as intended.
Offline mode improvements - we are working on better handling when Steam is offline.
The current GUI (Graphical User Interface) and HUD (Heads-Up Display) are works in progress. Our team is prioritizing core functionality first. Once we've confirmed all features are working as intended, we'll enhance the visual design and overall aesthetics.
Some blocks are decorative-only for now (for example, the Assembler is present but cannot produce components)
The inventory system will be implemented in a future update
Fracture models will receive additional visual updates in future versions.
The paint tool’s limited palette is temporary; future updates will include RGB/HSV color settings and custom palettes.
Work on enhanced sound effects is ongoing, including jetpack audio
The Alpha releases in English language, more localizations will follow
Tutorials will be added closer to the end of development.
This is just the start of an incredible journey, and we want to thank everyone who’s joining us on it. Your creativity and passion are what make this community so special.
What’s Next
We are now working on Vertical Slice 1.5, which will include modding support and many small features based on your feedback. We’ll be releasing our VRAGE3 tools, and we can’t wait to see what you create with them! After that comes Vertical Slice 1.6, which will be addressing more player feedback and modding improvements.
How to share your feedback?
The best way to provide your feedback is through our Support Portal. You can always find a direct link to the support portal from within the game - just press F1 to access the help screen!
This platform is your direct line to the developers and the Space Engineers community. Here, you can:
Suggest solutions and provide valuable feedback to help shape the future of Space Engineers 2
Suggestions
If you have ideas or suggestions for the game, we want to hear them! Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping the Space Engineers experience, and your contributions will be just as crucial for Space Engineers 2.
Take a moment to share your ideas and help us improve - we value your time and input!
Bug Reports
Encountered a technical issue? Let us know by submitting a bug report.
When reporting bugs, please:
Provide a thorough description of the issue.
Include reliable reproduction steps if possible.
Attach any relevant log files, screenshots, or videos.
Share a save file of your world, if applicable, to help us investigate further.
These details are essential to help us resolve issues effectively. Even if you can’t provide reproduction steps, the more information you include, the better!
Don’t Forget to Vote!
Before submitting new feedback or bug reports, use the search feature to see if a similar topic already exists. If you find one, don’t hesitate to vote for the topic to show it’s important to you!
If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to start a new topic. Every vote, suggestion, and report counts and helps us prioritize updates and improvements.
The support portal is the best and most direct way to help shape Space Engineers 2. We’re looking forward to hearing from you
Post-release Support
We will continuously monitor Space Engineers 2 stability after the release and fix any problematic cases that lead to game issues.
Marek’s Dev Diaries
Marek Rosa - Keen Software House founder, CEO, and Game Director shares a weekly Dev Diary every Thursday, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Space Engineers 2 development.
These diaries dive into the latest challenges, solutions, and ideas shaping the game. They are Marek's unfiltered thoughts, meaning details may change as development evolves. If you enjoy insights into game creation (and don’t mind potential spoilers), be sure to check them out!
Best, Marek Rosa CEO, Game Director, Founder at Keen Software House CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI
Personal bio:
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development.
Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine.
Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system.
Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe.
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
Space Engineers 2
VS 1.2 will be releasing in a few days, on Monday April 14
In survival, players will build in projection mode (so first as a projection, and then weld it). We need a particle effect for it, so here's one prototype.
The new IK is great, but when you walk up stairs or ramp, in first person mode, the camera goes up and down, and what you stop it continues in the movement for a tiny moment, and this is precisely what we wanted to clean up in first person mode (no secondary movements in first person mode, just clean abstract camera sliding through space). So we will look on this in the future in the polishing phase
This week we had our regular playtest, and things I focused on where:
Consumables - healing via medikit (automatic or manual)
Death - from health damage or collision, and respawn
Caves on the planets - we have a couple of caves but also a CSG merging algorithm, so we can merge (add or cut) many of them one through each other and create unlimited variations. They look good, realistic. What needs to get improved is the voxel material (stone) inside of the mountains (planet), it doesn't look pretty.
Shooting from the debug gun has now correct recoil and camera shake. But I also realized that the way we portray the gun on the screen is not what I am used to in other FPS games - so we will move the hand a bit forward, and more to the center. Right now it's obscuring too much of the screen space and also the angle feels off to me. Here I used new ChatGPT image generation model to illustrate how it could look (the input was the screenshot from game + prompt to move it further from camera and more to the center)
Nobody ever mentioned it but I think there's an audio lag in our GUI mouse over sound effect. Like, when you hover your mouse over buttons, it doesn't cling instantly, it feels laggy. We will be looking at it.
You will be able to switch between the toolbars via ALT + CTRL + Mouse wheel. I hope in future we find some simpler shortcut.
We also wanted to playtest ore detection mechanics, but that one got postponed to the next playtest.
The deco prototyping is going better than I hoped for (these are the blocks that are not our usual big Deco blocks; they more like small things you can use to make your interiors look not so blocky and simple; they are not purely decorative like a painting or vase, because they have structural function). I expect players will use them to create rich looking blueprints!
Equip and unequip animation is coming along nicely as well.
More Flora!
And as always, I'm amazed by the beautiful things our players are creating!
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
Space Engineers 2
We released a much requested set of blocks this week ;)
The team is working on VS 1.2, VS 1.5 and VS 2, but I was focusing on other projects this week so I don’t have that many SE2 updates
We tweaked the 'acceleration-based camera shake' feature, which creates camera movement proportional to acceleration. Higher acceleration produces more shake. The feature is disabled for standard walking/running movements to prevent annoyance, but activates during higher-acceleration scenarios like boost jetpack mode or when piloting ships with powerful thrusters. Our next step is balancing the effect to provide meaningful feedback without becoming overwhelming. We're also carefully considering implementing similar effects for deceleration that enhance immersion without being excessive.
VRAGE Render team is doing few experiments with clouds
GUI and HUD prettification - we had a meeting with UI artist Alek, our game designers and programmers, to discuss specific changes to our GUI and HUD to make it consistent across the entire game, fix some UX issues and inconsistencies, and make it aesthetically pleasing. We ended up with a big list, so I'll mention only some:
Many screens don't have proper layout with good proportions or things like golden ratio
Back button is often over a horizontal line which makes you worry where it belongs (it breaks the Gestalt principle), the same for Load button in the Load game screen
There are too many font sizes so we will narrow it down to max 3-5 sizes and use only those across the entire game
There are too many colors (black, gradient of black, blue, blue with some green, etc.) so we will also narrow them down and make them consistent across the entire game
Text size in HUD (especially the tooltips) is probably too small for console players (they would probably not pass certification) so we need to improve that too
The biggest work will be to polish the screen layout of many screens (G-screen, Terminal, Game options, etc.) to be intuitive, things that belong together to be framed together, proper frame and background
Also we allow players to change the GUI background opacity which may make some screens unreadable on bright scenes, so we will be addressing this too.
I know that many players probably don't worry about this stuff but we want to be proud of our work, and we simply can't leave it like this!
Natiq and Mirko (our artists) are working on planetary textures and biomes. This is a big task, we still have many things we need to improve to make our SE2 planets look amazing. One thing that they proposed and we are considering is the terrain displacement in the far distances. I am not sure yet which way we will go (we can do it only visually, we can do it in terrain data - in voxels) but I think it’s very important for visual pleasure!
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
Space Engineers 2
We have started with weekly updates, adding new blocks every Thursday
I am amazed by everything our players are creatively building in SE2. Some recent examples:
We've started work on improving the jumping animation. The current problem is that we only have one animation, irrelevant of whether the jump starts from the left leg or the right leg. The result is that it feels unnatural and quite bad, to be honest. Our solution will be to detect which leg the character will land on (left or right) and then play the corresponding animation. We will have to do this for walk, run, and sprint animations.
VS 1.2 is almost done. Work is frozen now, so we are just doing the last rounds of testing.
Emotes will come to the game soon, in VS 1.6. But the main motivation isn't just so you can play the emotes. The real reason is that we want to be able to play arbitrary animations in-game. This will allow us to use them in trailer production, have characters do specific things, and move us towards more story-oriented trailers. This system should also include "two-character animations," allowing, for example, two characters to interact during a trailer.
Voxel debris will be coming soon.
Consumables are coming to Survival in VS2.
Flora rendered in the distance.
Wind in grass – I really have to share this, it just feels so amazing!
Target Base Gyro is coming to VS 1.2! (Sorry to mention it so many times, but I think this will improve ship piloting very much.)
Off-center camera (another feature very close to my heart!) coming to VS 1.2 soon!
We are prototyping a new kind of detailed decorative block that will help you design interiors and exteriors to feel more like real places, not just structures made from 25cm armor blocks. Don't get me wrong, 25cm armor blocks are great, but they can sometimes feel too blocky and low-poly. Real environments have a finer level of detail.
Some new foliage:
And here is subsurface scattering on the flora (a special shader that makes it look more real):
AI People
We are moving more and more towards a post-apocalyptic RPG, where you try to survive together with other characters on an island. I am really excited about this; I want to turn this game into a fun experience.
Groundstation (GoodAI Swarms)
In GoodAI, one of our projects focuses on adding AI to drones, aiming to make them intelligent, autonomous, and powerful! Here's a demonstration of one algorithm that allows the recreation of a 3D scene from a video stream while simultaneously locating the drone in space. This demonstration was recorded right here in our office.
Because autonomy is crucial, our drones need to be autonomously rechargeable. So, we created this docking station where a drone can land and automatically recharge its battery, requiring no human operator.
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
Space Engineers 2
Destruction improved a lot. Not just the fracturing system on blocks, but now you can use debug gun to destroy voxels (coming in VS 1.2)
The level of polish we're doing for SE2 is really amazing, and already it feels so good to do things in the game and get satisfaction from environment feedback (visual, audio, physics).
Lukas did amazing work on new and reworked sounds, for example: absolutely amazing idle sounds for blocks (assembler, radio antenna (with a little something in it - go and check it once we release VS 1.2), gravity gen, reactor, etc), jetpack charge up and boost, destruction of solar panels, walking via crouching and sounds of clothes, new GUI and HUD sounds, destruction sounds (there are now so many variants - based on the block type (thin, thick, heavy, solar panel, etc) and also based on the distance to listener).
Target based gyro is done and will be available in VS 1.2. It's a new way of controlling rotation of your ships where you point the cursor and the ship rotates there. It's much more pleasant than the old way. There may be some edge cases (especially when ALT-rotating the camera angle) that we will be testing over time.
We balanced the health and damage thresholds for armor and functional blocks (non-armor blocks), made it more balanced (armor should be stronger than functional blocks) but at the same time you also want to see some damage on armor when you shoot it. Now it feels more balanced.
Acceleration-Based Camera Shakes - basically, camera should shake a little when you are accelerating (increasing speed). It's still not fully done, we will have to do another iteration.
Medbay, Death & Respawning - these are the first parts of Survival that already works. I mean, it has been in the game for at least 12 months, but now as we are preparing for VS2 (Planets and Survival), we need to finalize it all and polish. So now when I enable survival mode in game, I can manually respawn to my medbay (or medbay I selected as my home base), I can change suit color, recharge my health and other stats, and when I die, my backpack floats away.
First person mode and camera position and rotation without unwanted offset - it's done! Now when you look around in character mode in first person, it's just the camera rotating around, no more parallax effect. This is so correct!
Next Thursday we are starting with Weekly Updates. This is a new thing but it's basically similar to what we were doing with weekly patchmasses that some of you will remember. There's one difference: we will be focusing only on adding new blocks, with limited or no functionality (temporary). It's a way to keep new content flowing to the game between our bigger updates (vertical slices).
Every Thursday, I will share a dev diary about what we've been working on over the past few weeks. I'll focus on the interesting challenges and solutions that I encountered. I won't be able to cover everything, but I'll share what caught my interest.
Why am I doing it
I want to bring our community along on this journey, and I simply love writing about things I'm passionate about! This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly. Any plans I mention aren't set in stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don't like spoilers, then don't read this.
Space Engineers 2
On Monday we released our first update (VS 1.1) - Steam Workshop. Now players can share their blueprints and worlds. I can see a lot of activity there.
We are now focusing on VS 1.2 and polishing the last few things, and then the testing period begins.
Our graphics team is hard at work on planetary features planned for Vertical Slice 2. They’re currently focused on improving flora draw distance and developing new foliage for a variety of biomes, including high mountains and savannas.
Today we are finishing the design for Dynamic Music. Here’s a short summary: The music system will feature dynamic tracks based on context, including missions, and sandbox exploration. Music selection will prioritize combat scenarios, playing faction-specific tracks if applicable, or generic combat music otherwise. Location-based ambient music will play when no combat is detected, with unique loops for different planets (Verdur, Byblos, Kemik) and biomes, underwater areas, and space. Combat and danger states will trigger specific loops with a 15-second cooldown before reverting to ambient music, while transitions from danger to combat or ambient to danger/combat are instant.
Adding support for emotes/animations + here you can also see the Inverse Kinematics on character’s feet
We are also streamlining our animation tools
We are improving the 3D UI for Partial copy selection. Currently it’s a bit confusing where the selection volume is because it is rendered without depth-testing. We will enable depth testing and also add more contrasted edges.
More and more survival mechanics are being added (for VS2), for example here is “manual respawn”. The block dropped after death is a current placeholder for the character backpack. ;)
There’s a Brown Dwarf in the center of Almagest System, here’s how it will most likely look (The in-game side is just the first iteration - so far without any added effects).
Space Engineers 1
SE1 team is almost finished with the 206 update, and soon to start working on 207. Looks promising!
Mouse Sensitivity Controls and Inverted Mouse Setting
New Grid Pasting Mode, Pivot Controls
Advanced World Settings
Release Notes
What’s Next
Marek’s Dev Diaries
FAQ
Hello, Engineers!
This is our first Vertical Slice update since the Space Engineers 2 Alpha release, and we’re excited to bring you a whole set of new features - and improvements based on your feedback. This update adds in-game UGC Workshop support with Steam Workshop integration, making it easier to share and discover Blueprints and Worlds. We’ve also introduced mouse sensitivity controls, an inverted mouse axis option, and a new grid pasting mode with improved pivot controls.
On top of that, we’ve added advanced worldsettings for all saves and improved performance when pasting and placing grids. We’re just getting started, and there’s plenty more to come!
Vertical Slice 1.1 Features
Steam Workshop for Blueprints and Worlds
The UGC Workshop, with Steam Workshop integration, allows you to easily share and explore Blueprints and Worlds directly in-game. Mod support is planned for Vertical Slice 1.5. The Space Engineers 1 Steam Workshop is the 4th largest on Steam, with over 500,000 creations, and we hope Space Engineers 2 will one day surpass its older brother!
You can start sharing your blueprints - build something incredible, and show us what you're engineering!
This is just the initial implementation of the Workshop, supporting Blueprints and Worlds. We have many additions and improvements planned, including Workshop Collections and other enhancements to make sharing and discovering content even better.
This is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to see what our amazing community creates!
Mouse Sensitivity Controls and Inverted Mouse Setting
Because you wanted it, we’ve added Mouse Sensitivity Controls and an Inverted Mouse Setting in today’s update!
Keyboard and mouse controls aren’t fully customizable yet, but don’t worry - they will be in a future update!
New Grid Pasting Mode
We’re introducing an improved Grid Pasting Mode, making it easier to place and align copied grids and blueprints. When pasting, you'll now see a projection of the grid in your clipboard, complete with a bounding box selection effect. A new “Pasting” banner will indicate when you're in pasting mode - whether you’ve copied a grid with Ctrl+C, pressed Ctrl+V with a grid in your clipboard, or performed a partial grid copy.
Helpful tooltips and input hints will guide you through the process, and pressing Ctrl+B will now take you directly to the Blueprint Creation screen.
Improved Pivot Controls
We've also refined Pivot Controls to give you more precision when copying and pasting. Now, when you copy, cut, or create a blueprint, the pivot point will automatically be set to the block you aimed at during the action. When pasting, this pivot point will be highlighted, making placement clearer.
Additionally, the snap size of the pivot point now determines the default snap size of the pasted grid or blueprint, giving you better control when positioning structures.
Game Saves - Advanced World Settings
We've added the ability to edit World Save Settings, giving you more control over your game. You can now rename your world, enable or disable Auto-save with a simple checkbox, and view all Autosave backups in one place.
This makes managing your saves easier and more convenient!
There are many additional improvements and fixes in Vertical Slice 1.1 - you can explore everything included in the detailed Changelog.
Work in Progress / Ongoing Improvements
While your feedback is invaluable, some features are not yet ready for your input. These systems and mechanics are temporary solutions or placeholders, and we’re already hard at work redesigning and refining them. We ask for your patience while we bring these elements to their full potential.
We wanted to give you UGC Workshop as soon as possible (so that you can start sharing blueprints and worlds between each other), and we didn’t want to delay its release. But here are a few additional features we are actively working on:
Known Issues - will be hotfixed ASAP
Better communicated response time when placing complex Blueprints in-game.
Corrupted files in "UGCContentCache" can cause a game crash.
Players are not able to re-publish a local item after deleting the published version.
Space Engineers 2 Workshop
In-game Blueprint interface - Additional features and improvements will be introduced based on player feedback.
Published items are Public by default.
Displaying Steam Workshop Collections in-game is planned.
Blueprint screen refresh can be slow in some cases - it should be fixed in the next update.
Your owned Private items are not currently visible in the in-game Workshop browser.
We are addressing edge cases where re-publishing, renaming, tag display in the Steam interface, and sorting may not work as intended.
Offline mode improvements - we are working on better handling when Steam is offline.
Keyboard and mouse controls are not customizable yet, but they will be!
Toolbar block groups and sizes (block selection via R key) are a temporary mechanism and will be redesigned in a near update.
We have additional Symmetry Mode fixes planned for VS1.2
We’re aware of incompatibility at launch of Space Engineers 2 on Intel Arc A-Series and Core Ultra Series 1 built-in Arc GPUs. We are working with Intel to enable the game experience and will provide relevant updates as development progresses.
Some blocks are decorative-only for now (for example, the Assembler is present but cannot produce components)
Performance
Performance optimization is ongoing. For Alpha release, we’re targeting 16x Red Ship grids at 60 FPS on recommended hardware.
Autosave may cause brief lags during gameplay.
Performance optimizations of ship collisions and destruction are ongoing, so it won’t be lag-free at this moment. We will be continuously improving it in the following updates.
PCU values per block may appear higher compared to Space Engineers 1, reflecting SE2's increased detail and more precise performance measurements. While the current total PCU limit is set at 400,000 in VS1, we plan to raise this threshold in future updates as we implement scheduled optimization improvements.
The current GUI (Graphical User Interface) and HUD (Heads-Up Display) are works in progress. Our team is prioritizing core functionality first. Once we've confirmed all features are working as intended, we'll enhance the visual design and overall aesthetics.
The inventory system will be implemented in a future update.
Fracture models will receive additional visual updates in future versions.
Inverse kinematics (IK) is not yet implemented. Animations for uphill/downhill movement, jumping, and tools will be refined in the future update.
Undo/redo functionality for the paint tool is not implemented yet, but internally we already have it, so it will be available in a near update. Changing block colors currently requires switching to the paint tool, but this will be streamlined. In addition, the paint tool’s limited palette is temporary; future updates will include RGB/HSV color settings and custom palettes.
Jetpack mechanics are being polished, including adjustments to boost, acceleration, sound effects, and camera shake is coming in VS 1.2
We continue to experiment with the off-center third-person camera for characters and ships.
Ship controls are functional but will be further refined with target-based gyroscope controls.
Character shadow in first-person mode is disabled temporarily and will be re-enabled in future animation updates.
Work on enhanced sound effects is ongoing, including jetpack audio, debug gun, ship sounds and destructions.
The Alpha releases in English language, more localizations will follow.
Sometimes character peeks through the cockpit - this will be fixed in the following update.
Tutorials will be added closer to the end of development.
We understand that you’re eager to help us improve the game, but there’s no need to create tickets or reports for these features right now. They’re already on our radar, and we’re hard at work bringing them to life in the best way possible. When these features are more fully implemented, your feedback will be welcomed.
This is just the start of an incredible journey, and we want to thank everyone who’s joining us on it. Your creativity and passion are what make this community so special.
What’s Next
Additional Vertical Slices will follow in the months after, each expanding the game's features and content. This development process will continue over the next few years until we achieve our full vision for Space Engineers 2.
We are now working on Vertical Slice 1.2, which will include improved mechanics (for example Jetpack “2.0”), interface refinements, and many small features based on your feedback. After that comes Vertical Slice 1.5, with modding support as the main feature. We’ll be releasing our VRAGE3 tools, and we can’t wait to see what you create with them!
How to share your feedback?
The best way to provide your feedback is through our Support Portal. You can always find a direct link to the support portal from within the game - just press F1 to access the help screen!
This platform is your direct line to the developers and the Space Engineers community. Here, you can:
Suggest solutions and provide valuable feedback to help shape the future of Space Engineers 2
Suggestions
If you have ideas or suggestions for the game, we want to hear them! Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping the Space Engineers experience, and your contributions will be just as crucial for Space Engineers 2.
Take a moment to share your ideas and help us improve - we value your time and input!
Bug Reports
Encountered a technical issue? Let us know by submitting a bug report.
When reporting bugs, please:
Provide a thorough description of the issue.
Include reliable reproduction steps if possible.
Attach any relevant log files, screenshots, or videos.
Share a save file of your world, if applicable, to help us investigate further.
These details are essential to help us resolve issues effectively. Even if you can’t provide reproduction steps, the more information you include, the better!
Don’t Forget to Vote!
Before submitting new feedback or bug reports, use the search feature to see if a similar topic already exists. If you find one, don’t hesitate to vote for the topic to show it’s important to you!
If you don’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to start a new topic. Every vote, suggestion, and report counts and helps us prioritize updates and improvements.
The support portal is the best and most direct way to help shape Space Engineers 2. We’re looking forward to hearing from you
Post-release Support
We will continuously monitor Space Engineers 2 stability after the release and fix any problematic cases that lead to game issues.
Marek’s Dev Diaries
Marek Rosa - Keen Software House founder, CEO, and Game Director shares a weekly Dev Diary every Thursday, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Space Engineers 2 development.
These diaries dive into the latest challenges, solutions, and ideas shaping the game. They are Marek's unfiltered thoughts, meaning details may change as development evolves. If you enjoy insights into game creation (and don’t mind potential spoilers), be sure to check them out!
FAQ
Q: Will VS1 contain all blocks that are currently in Space Engineers 1?
A: SE1 has been in development for over 11 years, so it will take some time for SE2 to reach that level of content. VS1 will contain the most important blocks, but since it's launching in creative mode, most of them won't be functional (for example, the Assembler will not be able to produce components).
Q: What are we getting on January 27, 2025?
A: We will release VS1 (Creative Mode). All other innovations - including planets, survival mode, water, NPCs, campaign, and many more features - will follow in additional vertical slices. Players who join early access will receive all these updates at no extra cost.
However, please note that Space Engineers 1 and 2 use different grid systems, so not all blocks can be transferred directly. Any incompatible grid sections will be automatically replaced with armor blocks.
Q: Why are you making a sequel and new engine instead of simply iterating with SE1?
A: We want SE2 to be a revolutionary step from SE1, unconstrained by the past (SE1 code base became complex and convoluted over the years), backward compatibility in file systems and data structures (e.g., now we have a 25cm unified grid system, so old grids are not easily transferable, and this would break many save files, worlds, and blueprints on Workshop). We also wanted a game/engine architecture that is ready for the next decade, scalable with multiple cores, etc. Sometimes it's best to take what you've learned and start with a clean slate.
Q: Why aren’t you launching Space Engineers 2 with Water? Why not wait until water is done?
A: Water is a complex feature that requires more time to perfect. Rather than delay the entire game, we chose to have a roadmap where we can release meaningful improvements sooner rather than later, so that we can share with our community what we are working on and openly talk about it. We're starting with Creative Mode, followed by Survival and Planets, which is a deliberate order. One of our key improvements in SE2 is the 25cm unified grid system, but we especially want to enhance the accessibility and intuitiveness of the user experience. Beginning with Creative Mode allows us to focus on these core improvements and gather valuable feedback before introducing more complex gameplay elements.
Q: Why are you releasing a Space Engineers 2 (SE2) alpha while Space Engineers 1 (SE1) is actively updated? Isn’t this unusual?
A: We understand this approach isn't typical (but we were never a standard game development studio!). We value our community's involvement and want to develop Space Engineers 2 alongside you. By releasing an alpha early, we can share the development process, gather valuable feedback, and iterate more frequently through vertical slices. This collaborative approach will help us create the best possible experience for everyone. After all, would anyone prefer to wait a few years until we finish SE2 behind closed doors and then release it with a big bang?
Q: What about Space Engineers (SE1)?
A: We continue developing it, the next update will be in the following months.
Q: What About PlayStation/Xbox?
A: At this stage, we’re focusing all our efforts on the PC Alpha. Console release processes are quite different from Steam Early Access, and the current stage of development requires frequent updates that are better suited to PC versions.
However, we absolutely want to bring Space Engineers 2 to PlayStation and Xbox in the future!
Best, Marek Rosa CEO, Game Director, Founder at Keen Software House
CEO, CTO, Founder at GoodAI
Personal bio:
Marek Rosa is the founder and CEO of Keen Software House, an independent game development studio, and GoodAI, a research company focused on general artificial intelligence development.
Keen Software House, established in 2010, developed Space Engineers, which has sold over 5 million copies and maintains the 4th largest Workshop community on Steam with over 500K user creations. The studio is now developing Space Engineers 2, built on their new generation in-house VRAGE3 engine.
Following the success of Keen Software House, Marek founded GoodAI in 2014 with a $10 million personal investment. The company develops autonomous agents and AI technologies, including the AI People game featuring LLM-driven NPCs with long-term memory and evolving personalities. Current projects include Groundstation, a multi-drone system.
Both companies, employing over 100 professionals, work toward advancing technology through gaming and artificial intelligence, with GoodAI's specific focus on developing AGI to help humanity understand and explore the universe.
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