"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
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Marek's Dev Diary: February 13, 2025 - SE2 Workshop, planets, water bug & AI People vision
What is this
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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
Cenda (Jan Hlousek, Tech Director of SE2/VRAGE3) and I spent a week traveling through beautiful South Africa's nature and rural areas and did some field testing of VS2 Planets.
You can see us here, including a music track from SE2 soundtrack:
The SE2 team is finishing VS 1.1 (Workshop). It will go into the final testing round next week and could be released soon after. It will bring Steam Workshop integration and an in-game browser, along with many other improvements - including mouse sensitivity and mouse inversion settings - because you asked us to add it.
Lukas and I were working on sound improvements for VS 1.2, mainly ship sounds (boost sound, speed-dependent sounds) and drill sounds (idle drill, contact with voxels or blocks). It's feeling much better now. Another significant improvement where Lukas went all out are the destruction sounds - when you shoot with the debug gun and incrementally damage blocks, and then when the final stage of block breaks or explodes. He created custom versions of sounds for all types of blocks. It really sounds meaty and satisfying.
We've finally implemented grass and trees into VS2 - of course, this is just the first stage, and we plan to make them several times more beautiful.
The debug gun tool got a new 3D model (we still need to improve the animation and projectile trail rendering).
We are improving the precision of highlight interactions (when you aim at a block and see the highlight), so no invisible occluders will interfere with the raycast from your crosshair.
The water team encountered a funny bug, so I'm sharing it here with you 😀
Gearforge - a brand new block for VS2 Planets and Survival, for our improved survival mechanics.
The SE1 team is finalizing the update 206, and they'll even bring some improvements from SE2 to SE1. I really like this approach. We even joked that this is the only time when stealing is a good thing.
I also love all the new blocks that the SE1 team is creating - they're really a bunch of talented artists!
AI People
We are now working on MVP 1, with a deadline at the end of February.
Currently, AI People is more of a scene-creation tool than the living, breathing world we envisioned. NPCs lack the depth, memories, and goals that would truly make them feel alive, leading to repetitive interactions and a lack of surprising, shareable moments. To address this, we're focusing on three key changes: giving NPCs long-term memories and evolving personalities, implementing a dynamic goal system so they pursue their own agendas, and introducing "Wildcard Events" for unpredictable, shareable moments. We want to create a world where NPCs aren't just responding to you, but forming alliances, starting rebellions, falling in love, and creating stories you'll want to share.
I'm really curious to see how the end result will look and how close we'll get to our original vision: AI People as a living world with goal-oriented, lifelike NPCs.
Marek well I think you should leave the water bubble bug. What if we modders create water people the needs water bubbles to survive. Essentially aliens 🤣😆
Thank you for bringing us through the development process. It's really cool to see what's going on behind the scene and that's really rare to have a company like yours these days. Hope you saw a lot of things during the travel in South Africa!
That MVP 1 you mention - is that something that you're working on for Space Engineers? Because having NPCs like that in the SE world would send this game to the moon.
MVP1 is for AI people (minimum viable prototype). It's an internal name for a new direction of the game, closer to our original vision of RPG life-sim game in a living world full of intelligent NPCs.
I am very excited to see this added to SE2. Will the player be able to give rewards and help correct the NPCs when they aren't doing a task right? It could be a very interesting game mechanic where I have to teach a "freshly awoken" NPC from the colony ship how to mine, or collect resources, or just to move around the base and weld up or repair damaged blocks by being a good example for them and talking to them.
Is there a significant difference between the version of HAVOK used in SE1 and the version used in SE2? If possible, could you explain what improvements have been made?
Thanks for sharing, I like the way your development process is structured. The master project plan (VS) is a smart and presentable way to go. I am looking forward for more of the game to be released, and very exited to see how the pace of major updates ahead, will be.
PLEASE leave the water bug as like a rare Easter egg or something. You know how hilarious a bug like that could be in multiplayer with your friends? The laughs that could be had!
I wonder if the Voxel Hand can be used alongside planet's terrain? in SE1 once there's a hole at your base area, it's permanent damage! It would be pretty cool to use the terrain to make paths, roads, etc. and repair/flatten terrain.
Hello, in the AI people section you said "but forming alliances, starting rebellions". Does that mean in SE2 as the world goes on in time the AI will form new factions we could interact with?, if so that would be crazy stuff.
It's not certain whether we use this AI NPC tech also in SE2. I would love to, but don't want to promise it too early - as there are still technical challenges. But it would be amazing, I agree.
I'm not sure about you, but I got such great value/$ from the first SE (over 11K hours played). Even after purchasing SE2, it's still less $ than some people spend on some AAA games that offer much less. Remember, this is (very) early access, and I'm glad we were given the opportunity to play this early. Thanks Keen!
Hope changing Keybinds is in the next VS update, as I can't effectively play the game without it, and so I'm holding out for that. Keep up the good work! :)
We are looking into the customizable keybinds too... it's just much more complicated task, so it will take longer, and I didn't want to promise it yet.
Marek well I think you should leave the water bubble bug. What if we modders create water people the needs water bubbles to survive. Essentially aliens 🤣😆
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing us through the development process. It's really cool to see what's going on behind the scene and that's really rare to have a company like yours these days. Hope you saw a lot of things during the travel in South Africa!
ReplyDeleteStupid game from a stupid publisher
ReplyDeleteYou should find a new hobby and prob touch some grass. SE2 i still leagues better then alot of the tripple A companies.
DeleteMr. Anon. The one who thinks the game is stupid. I regret to inform you that you are in fact gay.
DeleteI hope you have a good day.
Sincerely,
Mr. Anon
Go play Skull and Crossbones then come back to this forum
DeleteGet back to Minecraft, Mario or some other “triple A” game you enjoy - If you don’t like the game, why, why are you here?
DeleteDear Anon from Feb 13 at 5:23,
DeleteThat's not fair to us gays, we like this game too!
That MVP 1 you mention - is that something that you're working on for Space Engineers? Because having NPCs like that in the SE world would send this game to the moon.
ReplyDeleteMVP1 is for AI people (minimum viable prototype). It's an internal name for a new direction of the game, closer to our original vision of RPG life-sim game in a living world full of intelligent NPCs.
DeleteI am very excited to see this added to SE2. Will the player be able to give rewards and help correct the NPCs when they aren't doing a task right? It could be a very interesting game mechanic where I have to teach a "freshly awoken" NPC from the colony ship how to mine, or collect resources, or just to move around the base and weld up or repair damaged blocks by being a good example for them and talking to them.
DeleteLooking forward to VS3 and the Steam workshop builds!
ReplyDeleteLove the work you guys!! The bug is quite funny! Cant wait to see the future blogs and everything you’ve worked on per week! P.S. The foilage on the planet looks amazing!!! 🤩
ReplyDeleteIs there a significant difference between the version of HAVOK used in SE1 and the version used in SE2? If possible, could you explain what improvements have been made?
ReplyDeleteWill the trees be a resource for building?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, I like the way your development process is structured. The master project plan (VS) is a smart and presentable way to go. I am looking forward for more of the game to be released, and very exited to see how the pace of major updates ahead, will be.
ReplyDeletePLEASE leave the water bug as like a rare Easter egg or something. You know how hilarious a bug like that could be in multiplayer with your friends? The laughs that could be had!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for everything looking nice and good work Devs
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for Factions. Can you have Diplomacy with other Factions make 'em an Enemy/Ally and Trade with them would be Epic. 😄
ReplyDeleteWhen saying AI people is that meaning the NPCs planned for se2? or a team working on AI haha
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Voxel Hand can be used alongside planet's terrain? in SE1 once there's a hole at your base area, it's permanent damage! It would be pretty cool to use the terrain to make paths, roads, etc. and repair/flatten terrain.
ReplyDeleteWould an in-game tool that "restores an area of a terrain back to its original shape" be valuable in the use case you are thinking of?
DeleteI've encountered that Water Bug in VS1 through messing with the game's files. Love it, LOL. Water Engineers?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the updates. They are great!
ReplyDeleteWill the campaign ever be multiplayer? I'd really like to see how the AI would interact with multiple players at once.
ReplyDeleteHello, in the AI people section you said "but forming alliances, starting rebellions". Does that mean in SE2 as the world goes on in time the AI will form new factions we could interact with?, if so that would be crazy stuff.
ReplyDeleteAI People is a game we are developing in GoodAI.
DeleteIt's not certain whether we use this AI NPC tech also in SE2. I would love to, but don't want to promise it too early - as there are still technical challenges. But it would be amazing, I agree.
I think it's talking about a seperate game. There's a game being produced by Keen's sister company called AI people.
DeleteMan if I can piss off a bunch of AI people to have them form an alliance and attack my SE2 base, that would be SO rad! Bring it on!!
ReplyDeleteso, what im hearing is that this game is going to take over a year before i actually feel good about the price i paid for it? .... great >:(
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about you, but I got such great value/$ from the first SE (over 11K hours played). Even after purchasing SE2, it's still less $ than some people spend on some AAA games that offer much less. Remember, this is (very) early access, and I'm glad we were given the opportunity to play this early. Thanks Keen!
DeleteHope changing Keybinds is in the next VS update, as I can't effectively play the game without it, and so I'm holding out for that. Keep up the good work! :)
ReplyDeleteWe are looking into the customizable keybinds too... it's just much more complicated task, so it will take longer, and I didn't want to promise it yet.
DeleteAny chance for oculus / other VR support ?
ReplyDelete