Marek's Dev Diary: February 27, 2025

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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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 1

• Update 206 is nearing completion.
• Here is a little sneak peek from yesterday's team presentation:

Space Engineers 2

• VS 1.1 is almost finished and we are testing it now, release will be soon.
  
  
• Flora impostors for VS 2 - fendering all visible trees as real geometry would be too GPU intensive, so a good practice is to render distant trees as billboard impostors, which are not recognizable to the eye. Here's what the first prototype looks like.
  
  
  
  
• Animation culling - to optimize performance, animation on blocks with animated sub-parts should be culled (disabled) when the player is too far away to see it. This video demonstrates this feature, with the culling distance artificially lowered for visibility.
  
  
  
  
• The water team has made significant progress, with an updated "delete water dam" testing scene that shows improved performance and visual effects. The water surface now appears more realistic, accurately reflecting the velocity of the flowing water and various surface effects.
  
  
  
  
• This screenshot shows how the 25cm unified grid system allows for items to be placed on the Gearforge block's table, and for a light to be positioned on the block itself.
  
  
  
  
  
• Fracture simulation - because it's cool!
  
  
  
  
• Planetary flora progress
  
  
  
  
  
• Modding will come soon to SE2 (in VS 1.5) This is a modded skybox example:
  
  
  
  
• We are working to enhance first-person animations, with a focus on ensuring that the tool or gun remains steady and consistently forward-facing on the screen.
  
  
  
  
• For VS 1.1 we will also refine pivot controls to give you more precision when copying and pasting. 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.
  
  

  

  
  

AI People

• We worked on designing a relationship system for our AI-driven NPCs that creates meaningful interactions while maintaining a deterministic foundation enhanced by LLMs. This system tracks how NPCs relate to players and each other, making characters feel aware of their social connections.
  
  
  
  
  
• AI People is turning into an action RPG set in 2033 after superintelligent AGIs transformed cities and then vanished. Player leads a group of 10 survivors in a fortified estate, managing resources, defending against raiders and malfunctioning AGI tech, and interacting with other settlements.
  
  
  
  
  
• We implemented a Core Memories system where each NPC has up to five key memories that strongly influence their behavior. These one-liners adapt dynamically based on game events and can be affected by player actions or directly edited.
  
  
• We also improved action synchronization to handle over 20 NPCs simultaneously instead of just 5 sequential characters. NPCs now act independently by default and only synchronize when forming groups. This allows multiple individuals and groups to exist concurrently, with the AI Director managing their routines and action plans.