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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
- The Fieldwork Update release is around the corner!
Space Engineers 2
- 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.
I really hope, the new progression and objective system won't restrict me too much. I like accepting optional missions and having to work to unlock blocks and stuff like that, but I would hate it, if I couldn't do what I want and would be forced to do some missions instead of building a ship that I like.
ReplyDeleteSo all I want to say: Please don't restrict our creativity.
Yeah, the creative mode objectives won't be mandatory, you will be able to just ignore them, and build your thing.
DeleteI agree, the moment i see a quest pop up like it’s No Man’s Sky, im turning the game off
DeleteWill there be an option added to make the controls the same as in SE1?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I didn't feel comfortable with the new controls, especially with the roll control on large ships. These changes make the game almost unplayable for me.
You mean, the ship controls we had before? We considered it but for now don't plan to have them, because it would mean to rebalance the gyro also for the old controls and then things get very complicated. So for now we want to keep it simple, easy to maintain, and I really hope you get use to them. They really are better. Or maybe there's some other issues I am not aware of?
DeleteI have a similar issue with the roll controls (Q,E) being way too sensitive making precise roll control impossible.
DeleteYea the new roll controls for me are the annoying part, generally the new controls are great but I feel I can’t roll precisely anymore
DeleteAs they said, the biggest problem is the roll control (Q and E), which is slow to respond to inputs and is very sensitive.
DeleteYeah, the Q/E roll is something we still have to polish. Thanks for the feedback, very helpful!
DeleteHello Marek, a Brazilian engineer here!
ReplyDeleteI just came to thank you for your great work, and the dedication of the whole team.
Tks.
o7
>Dampener curves - A month ago, I felt that the deceleration/dampening of the gyro and thrusters didn't feel good, the follow 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.
ReplyDeleteSo I see you are going for a more arcade-y feel as opposed to Space Engineers 1, but then if you are doing that, I wonder if you would add another feature - a temporary boost (that has the same curve as dampeners) - I feel like it can be a cool feature.
The same streamlining that removes problems could also remove the need to find solutions. It looks like there won't be a point in designing event controller-driven speed safeguards, for example. I think that players who don't want to bother with this should purchase prepared systems or designs from players who want to, or join them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit of a joke, but wouldn't it be convenient if there were no components at all and all blocks were fed ore? Maybe guns could receive powdered materials and forge ammo with the exact weight, explosive power, and energy to reach the target precisely and with minimum waste. Maybe nanomachines could be involved in this somehow. There could be three types of resorcium powder, electronium (electron soup), protonium (proton soup), and neutronium (neutron soup). The player could fill the backpack with dirt and it would be transmutated into high grade uranium by recombining the atoms. The benefit of this would be not having to spend hours or tens of hours looking for ores, a problem all players hate.
I like the idea of optional goals for progression. Right now, limits didn't make sense in a sandbox as you can't predict what someone will be doing next. Other than assembler and refinery there was no tiers in SE1 which meant you kind of needed everything right away.
ReplyDeleteArea welding may be a big thing that brings me back in. One frustrating aspect of SE 1 was spending many many hours building a ship meticulously only to have it mostly or completely destroy destroyed within a few seconds and having to start all over hand welding every single part again. I had always hope for some kind of end game system that would partially automate ship construction.
ReplyDeleteNo one welds by hand in survival SE1, people use automated printers, its a very simple system.
DeleteWill safe speed only work at 20m/s and below or if grids are withing 20m/s of each other? It would be interesting for the sake of matching dampener speed and maneuvering around a moving grid without risking damage to each other. Although I think it's fine with just the former.
ReplyDeleteObjectives are great in Sandboxes btw.. just thinking back to Raft, Subnautica and even C&C:TA.. really focused the teamwork and team building. It's definitely worth having a few brainstorming sessions with your team to see how SP and MP could focus the players. For example, we enjoyed starting on a planet with nothing and trying to get to space to build a space station. Then a refinary farm. Then an assembler farm.
ReplyDeleteOn the stargate server they block tiers. Then trying to upgrade.
Another thing btw I have wondered about.. water seems very cpu/gpu taxing and not a core part of gameplay (maybe I'm wrong on here) why focused there before Survival or most important MP? I know the fluid motion is pretty cool and all but done it make such a difference to the game?