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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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.
General
This week and last week, I've been busy with team quarterly evaluations and other administrative work. While this might seem less exciting than feature updates, team management and leadership are actually crucial topics for me. At Keen Software House, we're building a culture that's trustworthy and accountable, while also being friendly, respectful, and professional.
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| Water Team created Whirlpool in a tub by accident - caused by a small hole in the armor |
Space Engineers 2
The main thing that's been occupying my thoughts is playtesting the First Time User Experience (FTUE) in SE2. The prototype is coming together nicely!
== Spoiler Alert ==
Here's how the FTUE currently works: You spawn on Verdure planet with a GPS marker leading you to a cave. First, you'll need to dig out the entrance. Inside, you'll discover an unfinished small ship with several components shown as projections (thrusters, survival kit, etc.).
Your tasks include:
- Mining ore within the cave
- Using Backpack Building and Projection Building to weld the projected blocks
- Finding batteries from a nearby stack and installing them in the ship for power
- Expanding the cave entrance to fly out
- Flying to a nearby mountain where an abandoned station awaits
- Landing and transferring batteries to power up the station grid
This is where the prototype currently ends, but our goal is to create a 1-2 hour FTUE that concludes at the Orbital Station. After that, the freeform Colonization meta-loop begins.
The experience is guided by:
- HUD objectives
- GPS markers pointing to key locations
Our FTUE design goals (KPIs):
- Teach players the basics
- Make the process enjoyable (mining, welding, cave exploration)
- Achieve first win (repaired ship & flight) within 5 minutes
While the prototype is functional, the team agrees it's currently missing that "WOW factor." We're brainstorming additional elements to make the experience more impactful.
If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!
I really can't wait for Vertical Slice 2 and Survival MP <3
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Well that's one way to know that your water physics are working properly to make a hole and watch it create a whirlpool!
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy that it was by accident! Water physics so good that it behaved properly in a totally accidental way
DeleteI don’t know if you have this already, but one simple idea to bring more Wow to it could be to bring musical queues to that starting scenario. Let’s say when you open the mine and first see the broken down ship, there a big mysterious queue that plays, and when let’s say you start the ship and fly off, you have big adventurous queue that plays. Somewhat like in No man sky when you first reach space or first land on a station
ReplyDeleteThis all the way.
DeleteThe certain wow effect could come from a scripted ship crash? Ship goes down, escape pod shoots out, you land and have to go from there. Would give the player some connection, to their goals, telling them "the mid-term goal is to get back into space"
ReplyDeleteYeeeeees
DeleteOr allow us to use that broken down to strip the components and build something that the player would be proud of. Also, like in SE1, you get dropped out of a ship being destroyed by another faction and find a way back up to space
DeleteYeh this would be great, especially if seamless, maybe spawn in the ship and have to get to the escape pod?
Delete+1
DeleteWhile the FTUE seems promising for an first playthrough and tutorial purposes, I personally would not want that in my main survival world, as this first steps of building the first station and the first ship are my favourite parts of the game that I want to do from scatch. I can accept missions later or design ships to complete missions, but beeing free and building my existance from scatch is very important to me (otherwise, I feel like cheating, as I didn't build up my existance entirely by myself). So I really hope that it will be possible to create custom starting scenarios or at least choose between some premade ones to satisfy the needs of all gamers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! I have had a hard time connecting with a ship that I didn't build or a station I didn't make, and starting from scratch just really does something different. For me it's a lot of fun to explore from nothing, maybe a crashed dropship and nothing but your own decisions to move forward in perhaps a world more harsh and filled with life than in SE1. like creating an epic fortress on a cliff overlooking a jungle maybe there is some type of native population that can attack you. You know the stuff that really adds to diversity creates more opportunity for imagination to shine.
Deletefrom the May 15 dev blog: "Of course, this is just one optional path - you're always free to ignore these suggestions and forge your own way through the universe."
DeleteOne wow factor could be once you get the ship to a certain altitude auto navigation takes over and sends it to the space station.
ReplyDeleteI can’t help but feel that the opening experience to Space Engineers should be…in space.
ReplyDeleteI’ve personally never been interested in playing on the earth-like planets in survival.
I think you could get more wow-factor and more of a sense of urgency if this were more of a Mark Watney-esque situation on a world where you can’t just take off your space suit and lie under the trees.
I'm the opposite, I almost exclusively play on planets. Gravity, the landscape, sun sunrises and sunset, the sense of scale.
DeleteFor a first-time user experience, walking around on gravity is less confusing that floating around in space where you dont even know where is Up.
I think the landscape and atmosphereic light effects can definitely increase the WOW factor
I spent most time in SE1 on planets just because it was easier for orientation and whatnot but I totally agree.
DeletePlanets should be where you go to refuel/upgrade your ship, build your base and mine the base resources in huge quantities.
Maybe collect stuff needed for survival (food/water) from time to time.
Anything needed for more complex parts should be mined (and processed?) in space. Gameplay in space needs to be more interesting, you should actually have something to do in your capital vessel when in space.
Or find crashed ships and abandoned stations on the backside of asteorids or small planets/moons without an atmosphere, maybe hinting an ancient alien-civilisation with resources that can only be gathered from these ships/stations.
One wow could be a oasis, a pool waterfall(future) with a skylight inside the cave to immediately show what this game engine is capable of.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of getting some early wins (like ship flyable in first 5 minutes). I would say it should have just atmosphere thrusters at that point and when you get to the mountain base you’ll need to work a bit there to get to hydrogen thrusters to reach space. If I can drop in and be in space in 10-15 minutes it feels like the planet doesn’t get is opportunity to shine.
ReplyDeleteFor FTUE you want to get engaged with the game with early wins and not a lot of grinding but if you hit space too quickly….
Unless you were sent down to the planet on a mission but crashed, ejected, etc and then are directed to an equip cache in the cave. After you get back to space you resupply and try the planetary mission again (without the crash starting point). Then you have some familiarity with the planet and return more quickly to the surface.
Yes, this ship has only atmospheric thrusters. It will then take another 1 hour (or maybe we will push for 2 hours) to actually build a space ship and fly to the Orbital Station.
DeleteThat sounds good. Another thought I had was your bigger ship crashed (somewhere as you ejected) and you need to fix / repair the little cave ship and work to get back to space for some parts not available on the planet. Then you can drop in the little ship and fix the larger “original” ship. Maybe you need to reach the oribital to even locate your crashed ship. Then you have to decide to drop back and recover the better ship or continue the colonization without it.
DeleteYou'll never be able to pry SE1 from my cold dead hands.... but I really like where SE2 is heading. 😄 You've put together a great team @ KSH.
ReplyDeleteИдея старта исключительно на планете удручает, если представить такой же начальный опыт, но вместо планеты - астероид с заброшенной станцией, а у игрока постепенно заканчивается кислород,(естественно с приемлемой, очень низкой скоростью) это сделало бы старт гораздо более эпичным, а вместо корабля игрок смог бы восстановить спасательную капсулу, на которой бы и долетел до первой планеты (знаю, идея не идеальна, но мне всегда очень нравилось лететь 50 метров до земли на капсуле, это казалось очень иммерсивным опытом)
ReplyDelete"If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!"
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's possible right now, but for me, the "wow" factor in a game is when I realize the immensity/scale of the world I'm in (e.g. you being tiny vs megastructure).
"This is where the prototype currently ends, but our goal is to create a 1-2 hour FTUE that concludes at the Orbital Station."
I don't know if it's possible, but when the player goes there, whether the player controls the ship towards the end of his journeyor via a in-game real-time cutscene : make a huge orbital station ("wow" effect, tiny ship coming to a gigantic station) + beautiful surroundings (adding stars, "sun" flare, etc).
The new player need to feel the huge scale of the game and the possibilities it offers to the player (by showing what the player can create, on a bigger scale).
Similar first-day idea: Is this big Nadir colony ship in the same system at the same time? When the player emerges from the cave, the ship could pass by in a non-threatening way.
Deletewhat is that suit shown here exactly? it says AWB but idk what is it supposed to mean, a faction? an specific kind of suit? also, will we be able to get suits like that?
ReplyDeleteHow the campaign work lume
ReplyDeleteHow would the campaign work like?
ReplyDelete"Water Team created Whirlpool in a tub by accident " - Yeah, right. By accident. :D
ReplyDeleteEnd the FTUE with an actual npc. One of the things about SE1 that has been kind of a letdown (until recently, factotum and the new npc ships did improve on this) is how empty the world feels. Factions are meaningless, you don't see other engineers (unless you're in multiplayer with friends) and all the npc you see are mindless ships.
ReplyDeleteAdd an npc, even if it is just a guy at the station giving you some guidance.you said SE2 will have a campaign, give me a tiny taste of that.
Maybe the guy is the voice guiding you through this FTUE.and at the end you get to see them and do your first NPC interactions.
For me this will tell me "this is more than SE1 with some improvements" than any other feature so far
I wonder, if it's possible to add small "wheeled" phase before flying? Maybe first get working wheeled vehicle, suffer a bit while driving (somewhere below in canyon?) and get to flying ship, and then feel the freedom of flight and no surface restrictions. Maybe that wheeled vehicle will have a drill to free the entrance for the flying ship.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree. Having a rover before a ship makes you really value the ability to fly.
DeleteRegarding the FTUE: It sounds good on paper, it is hinging a lot on how the mechanics actually play, as in how easiy it is to understand, and how well tutorialized are the mechanics like building and projection.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about your approach to narration? I've seen a lot of people hate Goodbot tips, and many people switch off tutorials, so it's a challange to make it in a way that even without narration it could be done, but at the same time people who never played SE can still progress and make things works.
Things I'd consider would be a fully voiced narration, something like a projection. I'm partial towards something like a Subnautica 1 datapad. It's a bit snarky, but overall providing a good, audible tutorial. When it comes to tutorials I always recall how Diablo 3 was approaching it, and they were iterating on trying to find a way that won't just make the player stop the action, but provide information while the action was going. They ended up with NPCs following along the players while they did the exposition fighting along them - not directly applicable to SE2, but the lessons they learned there could be because they were touching on topics like "players don't like to read exposition and tutorials" so reading is out of the question. Voice and narration could be irrittating, but at least not reading.
As I was writing this, a 3rd option came to mind. LARS from Intertellar. Where the settings could be adjusted. Imagine a SE2 tutorial bot or projection that you can set various settings on before it starts tutorializing. Completely new players can have "enhanced" tutorials where there are more details, experienced survivorists can get "moderate settings" where goals are presented, but not everything is explained in detail, and experts who are already familiar with the game, and just get the end goal.
On the subject of the FTUX, I think that it’ll be more meaningful to players if it ties into the meta-narrative. We know generally that this leads into the colonization objective, but is there a clear reason for why the player is there on the planet by themselves, in that specific location, and under those circumstances? Additionally, as far as WOW moments are concerned, it seems only natural to tie this to the new planet tech, right? Like, if you started in a crypto-pod or lifeboat that crashed into a collapsing cavern, and your first objective is to dig out quickly, you can have a lightly time locked situation (get out before the tunnel collapses), and then a huge reward of surfacing the player at whatever breathtaking vista of your choosing. Just some food for thought, but it would be easier to provide feedback by getting to step through it myself. ;)
ReplyDelete"We're brainstorming additional elements to make the experience more impactful."
ReplyDeleteExplosions are nice. :D
Truth be told i would love a crash szenario with wow effect. Starting in a failing ship with the need to enter an ejection capsule seing as you tumble down to the planet your ship explode. Then you start the journey to cave and so on.
ReplyDeleteI think rushing from Earth to space too quickly would really hurt the game.
ReplyDeleteIt’s important to fully saturate and develop the planet first, making the journey to space a real challenge. It would add more value to making rovers and land-based vehicles like tanks and explore the beautiful se2 environment and cave systems.
Essential ores required for space travel could be buried deep underground, pushing players to invest heavily in land-based progression before reaching space. You could even take it further by making space completely unreachable until players shoot down passing spacecraft and salvage their parts.
Also, having an Ark-style research system for progression could really take the game to the next level.
Will your jetpack work straight away or will you learn ground movement first? May be a bit of parqour and bridge building, some swimming and water sliding would not go a miss somewhere down the line. Lessons like, how far can I fall without dying would be good, how now not to crash into a wall when jet packing and crouching behind a wall to avoid being shot. When I die will I go to heaven? Reincarnation and where in the world am I. Watching the Sun rise in the morning.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What is the time difference between my arrival and the first settlers on the migration across space?
I think that wow elements could be things like;
ReplyDelete- An impressive interface: Maybe some cool AI-character interactions that gives you notifications to open with nice sound design and animations.
- If AI: then you can maybe add an "ask how to" mechanism and answer from it (maybe youtube videos/gifs gets shown).
- The AI can be improved in the future: making it a beloved character that you interact with and has some funny-scripted lines in the "main game quests", before free roam. (Think "Jarvis" from Iron Man or the Portal 2 robot). (can also be turned off in non-campaingn/story game) [many cool ideas with this but this text would be long]
- If it's a map thing, "initial scripted music": maybe as you discover the ship in the cave some nice sounding score starts to play. (think that in the star wars movies one of the things that made the wow factor is the music in the background) [this element could be awesome, maybe you get to look over the mountain and an awesome score plays, giving SE a theme song]
- Sounds can also be added for small things like the tutorial pointers, menu, .
- Small film-cuts; How you got to the "spawn point" in the game.
- An impressive looking map: that shows topography of the explored area in a ceratin radius.
Some ideas I've thought of:
ReplyDelete- Scripted Scores (music): Maybe at some point in the experience you get to look over the mountain or/and when you first fly the ship, an awesome score plays. Make a rememberable theme for SE, with a special motif melody. (think that Star Wars music was a big element)
- Extra with music: Maybe you spawn in while it's sunraise and you can enjoy the view with awesome music - Just things that comunnicate to the player how vast the game is and mysterious (inciting the "explorer"-feeling into the player)
- "Sleek/neat sound Fx": For the interface.
- "Cool topografic map": Maybe a map that shows topography and in a certain radius (explored land)
It would be cool to see an animation at the beginning, like landing from an escape pod launched from a ship that failed to jumpdrive and/or was destroyed by a new, unknown enemy or a Factorum ship that followed. I don't know — something to make the game more lore-like.
ReplyDeleteThe cave might contain a large structure. At some point, a hazard might appear, creating time pressure. Then, digging your way out of the cave isn't fast enough. Instead, you'll have to use the ship's weapons to destroy supporting parts of the building. This causes the building to collapse (spectacularly), opening a path to the outside. Perhaps it can be designed in such a way that the flight outwards is also dramatic (for example, you have to avoid further falling debris).
ReplyDeletethose clouds are gonna make spotting a viable LZ quite the nailbiter
ReplyDeleteEverything you all have been doing looks awesome! I am aware the clouds are in development but I am picky, considering that planet has tall mountains and low valleys maybe lower the clouds a bit? and add some low lying fog during sunrise or sunset sometimes. I feel it really adds to the feeling of being up high in the mountains and maybe one tall enough to be over the clouds would be really cool. like Imagine building a base with a lookout on a mountain that's over the clouds overlooking the world, ooh maybe a dogfight above and through the clouds. Like two motherships on a complete ocean world battling above the clouds. lose your engines? crash in the ocean and maybe by chance figure out how to build a boat or sink to the deepest parts of the ocean to never be seen again...
ReplyDeleteHey Marek,
ReplyDeleteConsole player here.
1653hrs in game (on console)
SE1 questions
Could console players get a version of the lost colony scenario?
Could a player created & player voted expansion for the first jump scenario be possible?
Scenarios provide that aspect of the game scripts provides for pc players. It would be amazing if console players were to get more to play.
This is the reason I got a PC so I could have more to do in game. I would also like to see more to do in SE1
DeleteWhat if this first part is on a moon on a hidden spot and the wow factor is a marked on a planet to collect water or other resource. So the wow would be looking to a vast planet for the first time
ReplyDeleteWhat if the wow efect os seeing a planet for the first time? You do exact the same things but on a hidden spot of a moon and the marker is on a planet to get more resource (fuel) so you can build larger ss
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome, maybe exchange the widening part of the cave for the detonation of a small warhead to blow the entrance free! (I love explosions).
ReplyDeleteTo delay getting to space a bit (I think it should not be less than 2 hours, or it will not feel like a big archievement), you should focus a bit on getting the abandoned station operational again and repairing key components. You could also need a few components, that you cant yet produce. So a nearby crash site is marked via GPS, which you have to loot (looting is totally addictive! If you have not yet given it thought, please do. Exploring a crash site and finding valuable materials inside the wreck feel incredibly rewarding, even though the player himself didnt do much! You should definitely(!) have some kind of looting mechanic (e.g. batteries, reactor fuel?). It has too much potential to not be used.)
After you repaired the station and looted a bit, you can build the first spaceship to get to the orbital station.
Another thing you should consider (if you arent already) is making e.g. reactor fuel modular. I think for the battery you already plan this (have battery items that can be inserted into the battery block for power), but for the reactor it would be awesome to be able to swap reactor fuel rods by hand or loot the fuel cells from other ships (without having to grind down the block), leaving them stranded. Generally SE1 was very much not incentivizing you to board another ship, but in SE2 I hope that boarding will be a much more common tactic/mechanic.
Apart from that it sounds really amazing and the fact, that you are giving the FTUE so much thought and are making it so engaging, leads me to believe SE2 will have a much bigger playerbase than SE1 ever had. And I love it!
Keep up the good work Keen, I cant wait!
Why are we on the planet to begin with? One idea I had for wow factor is crashing your pod (kind of like se1, which is just a random pod with no explanation)
ReplyDeleteYou come out of your pod and look up and see perhaps a MASSIVE capital ship(s) coming down, breaking up, fire, and other pods coming out of it. Other pods streaking down over the horizon. Maybe show them being attacked by the 'enemies' or 'environment' Later you would have some resources, once you get there and some corpses to give lore or mystery. Then continue on with your cave/outpost plan
Subnautica and Halo 1 had great wow factors by starting by crashing capitol ships (ok Halo did it in the transition to the 2nd mission, but still)
DeleteImagine comming crashing down during sunrise, landing in a dark valley or cave, then watching the landscape transform with the sunrise as you're trekking towards the crash site
I'm thinking of: if it is the first time you play thé game so you need to learn every thing.
ReplyDeleteSo you have to start with basics first.
Spawn in a wrecked escape cryopods with no tools. (1 crew mate is still in cryostasis)
Then, find a lot box with usefull first item. Medic, energy...
Then go towards the gps point.
Then you may find a not working vaccum room with a box in it. This give you access to the drill
Go for some ore and craft grinder.
Get inside.
After a few walk you see a dead body with PDA
"Be carefull, turret, craft a gun first"
Do the thing to craft a gun.
Blow the turret
Find the warehouse with a rover waiting for you.
Take the rover to the next gps point.
Take ownership of the place by grinding and hacking essentiel elements of course you crafted welder before.
Then, npc ship come to attack you.
After some damage it become unpowered and then you can grind it or repair it.
When done, gps marker lead you to your old cryopod to help crewmate When close to it, a large ship is hovering above. When you try to get close it. Then ship move to outer space after the cryopod explode but if you get too close then the start shooting.
Now you start your journey to know what happened to your mate and roundout where he is now.
How about showing the new element first? For example, an engineer approaches the gate of an underground lake by boat, blows up the gate, and repairs a submerged car. Then, it is preferable to give such missions not only at the beginning, but also in contracts and encounters. This is because it reminds the player of the options, rather than telling them how to do it.
ReplyDeleteIdea for making the FTUE more memorable/interesting:
ReplyDeleteMake the location of the cave at the top of a tall cliff, at the bottom of which is a large wrecked ship (half under water when water gets added). The player then needs to hike down a winding, back and forth trail (possibly with small caves), to get to the bottom to pull the batteries/parts from the wreck to repair the small ship. This will make the launch of the ship feel more impactful because, if you fail, you're going to fall a long way down, and it illustrates how having a vehicle speeds up travel, as you will no longer have to walk and struggle to get the parts you need.
At the abandoned station, tasks should include not just pulling batteries from your small ship, but also, to fix whatever vehicle is going to take you to the orbital facility; dismantling part of you ship AND needing to go back to the wreck for parts; this will make players plan a little; if you take your ship apart first, then you'll have to put it back together to go and get parts from the wreck.
Will your jetpack work straight away or will you learn ground movement first? May be a bit of parqour and bridge building , some swimming and water sliding would not go a miss somewhere down the line. Lessons like, how far can I fall without dying would be good, how now not to crash into a wall when jet packing and crouching behind a wall to avoid being shot. When I die will I go to heaven?
ReplyDeleteI think you could get more wow-factor and more of a sense of urgency if this were more of a Mark Watney-esque situation on a world where you can’t just take off your space suit and lie under the trees.
ReplyDeleteAs other suggested already you could start in a cave where you could make shine the work done on lights, sound effect and water. Then once you're out od the cave you can show off the cloud tech and weather, I think a really crucial part would be the ignition of the engines sound once you repaired the ship. Everyone loves a jet engine sound ramping up
ReplyDeleteThe ship itself must be impressive. The ships in the scenarios are often very boring. They don't demonstrate what's possible in SE. Instead, it seems as if the intention is to avoid confusing the player with complex designs and only show what a ship must have at a minimum. Think of the wow moments in movies when a heroship is shown for the first time. It has to be a ship with which you can imagine many adventures. This is possible even with a small ship. It also has to do with presentation of course.
ReplyDeleteAs a SE1 player, I desperately would appreciate a player hold feature to easily move objects or to hold onto something without needing a ship with landing gear.
ReplyDelete"player hold feature to easily move objects" - something like the gravity gun from Halflife?
Delete"to hold onto something without needing a ship with landing gear" - you mean something like grappling hook?
Even if that's not what they meant, that's what I would want in the game too. It would've been really nice to be able to grab and move stuff as heavy as what player can hold in their backpack
DeleteIf you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!:
ReplyDeleteOoooo don't miss that potential! It should start like in a movie, even if this was just a cutscene imagine this: Show players the full destruction power of your engine can offer, so from the very first moment they would go like woooow.
Introduction - act 0 -
Player start on the red ship in a convoy around couple smaller red ships, they are above destination of drop zone that is why engines are turned off (and locked so new player won't go anywhere - his jetpack should also be turned off for act 0)
Suddenly! Green ship appears - going full mayhem on player escort (gps cordination around red ship armed only with small ammo turrets pointing on roof and bottom of the red ship where access is closed so player will stay in the safe middle level)
Everything is going down for red team, some random explosions are triggered on the ship (triggered by hidden sensors) where player have to evacuate in a dropship (no gyros, only 1 engine pointed for landing triggered to get heavy landing and self destruct of that part)
Player will feel the rush for getting his ass out of the ship before it is game over.
Act 1 - Oryginal scanario
After landing we go to scenario but! Player will have gps where the red ship was, so he will try to get there to see what remains (green ships despawned, semi worked almost scraped red ship spawned on the last position)
Act 2 - reconstruction or salvage
Player will now got himself a task, scrap the remains, or get himself a mission to reconstruct some of the ship for starting large ship with less efford than building from nothing.
In my opinion +1.5h of attention gameplay
Think about putting best music on that - soundtrack is a 30% of success (i've never played Crysis 2, fallout 3 or undertale, but damn they have great songs!)
If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I'd love to hear them!:
ReplyDeleteOoooo don't miss that potential! It should start like in a movie, even if this was just a cutscene imagine this: Show players the full destruction power of your engine can offer, so from the very first moment they would go like woooow.
Introduction - act 0 -
Player start on the red ship in a convoy around couple smaller red ships, they are above destination of drop zone that is why engines are turned off (and locked so new player won't go anywhere)
Suddenly! Green ship appears - going full mayhem on player escort (gps cordination around red ship armed only with small ammo turrets pointing on roof and bottom of the red ship where access is closed so player will stay in the safe middle level)
Everything is going down for red team, some random explosions are triggered on the ship (triggered by hidden sensors) where player have to evacuate in a dropship (no gyros, only 1 engine pointed for landing triggered to get heavy landing and self destruct of that part)
Player will feel the rush for getting his ass out of the ship before its game over.
Act 1 - Oryginal scanario
After landing we go to scenario but! Player will have gps where the red ship was, so he will try to get there to see what remains (green ships despawned, semi worked almost scraped red ship spawned on the last position)
Act 2 - reconstruction or salvage
Player will now got himself a task, scrap the remains, or get himself a mission to reconstruct some of the ship for starting large ship with less efford than building from nothing.
In my opinion +1h of attention gameplay
Think about putting best music on that - soundtrack is a 30% of success (i've never played Crysis 2, fallout 3 or undertale, but damn they have great songs!)
If it’s possible or maybe you’ve already stated it and I missed it but it would be so nice to not have to use merge blocks to combine grids. Like the batteries for example you go to pick them up and transfer them over to the ship it would be nice to be able to actually just place it down or use a “one time use” merge block where it clips it to the grip and then disappears.
ReplyDeleteHey, these are two questions kinda unrelated to the dev diary but I just wanted to ask them first up is the fast travel going to be an option in The world settings or just an option in general second is the water planet going to be entirely water or is it gonna have a few islands?
ReplyDeleteHey two random questions is fast travel gonna be generally an option and is the water planet going to be entirely water is it gonna have a few islands?
ReplyDeleteWith over 6,000 hours in SE1, one of the biggest features I’d love to see in SE2 is the ability to have a crew in single-player or campaign mode. Being able to assign them to different tasks—like welding or grinding—similar to the Build and Repair system or the AI-enabled crew mods in SE1, would be incredible.
ReplyDeleteIt would also be great to have them pilot ships in place of AI blocks, or even alongside them. You could assign crew members to specific roles on your ship—such as gunner, navigator, targeting, or propulsion—enhancing the performance of those systems. Imagine bringing your crew along to board enemy ships or stations, leading to epic gunfights where your goal is to capture or eliminate the enemy captain to take control. That would give handheld weapons a real purpose.
You could start off alone and gradually build up your crew—after all, you didn’t come to the Almagest system with a whole colony ship just to be by yourself.
In my opinion, this is the only real way to eliminate that “empty world” feeling. A simple NPC giving out quests at a station, or basic trading, just won’t cut it.
That said, SE2 is already looking amazing! I’m incredibly excited for survival mode and water mechanics. But please—can we get that in-ship toolbar ASAP? 😄
Absolutely love your work, team—keep it up!
Faithfully yours,
The Australian Engineer
Yup, would give more life and purpose to ships you have built and abandoned and give you that sense of unity without having to recruit like 10 other people.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest strengths of Space Engineers is the sheer scale of the game world so I'd try to reveal it at the right time. I think if a blizzard/sandstorm was what prompted the player to take shelter in the cave, you'd have an opening scene where the player's world seems small. Then, when they fix their ship and fly outside after the weather calms down, they'd emerge to see the true scale of the world for the first time. I think that'd make for a nice wow factor, the giant world being unveiled just as you've found your footing. It'd (ideally) convey a sense of freedom and that the world is your oyster if it was paired with a proper narrative about how space engineers are meant to build and explore and etc...
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ReplyDeleteHello! About FTUE.
ReplyDeleteIntro.
Ship jumps out of hyperspace near a planet (this gives an introduction for that technology is available in the game). The ship got all bells and whistles -- like this is an endgame long range scout ship. The player is on that ship waking from cryosleep in his pod. AI voice guides player how to exit cryopod, asks to do some exercises for medical examination (WASD movement intro). Then asks player to proceed to med bay to restore some health (med block intro). After that AI guides player to the cockpit or the bridge and informs that player received some voice messages along the way and asks to press some buttons to play them (some block with buttons and LCDs with notifications). There are two or three messages to be played. All from humans. First is from engineering academy with congratulations on player’s first personal mission and hopes of brilliant career for such an outstanding graduate etc. This message also briefs player on the mission — he is to change shifts with an engineer assigned to geological exploration and evaluation of the planet that player has arrived to. That gives player some kind of purpose from officials. The second message is from friends and family (just to give a warm feeling). And the third is from and engineer that player is about to meet. He says that the storm is about to break in the base area and that he is sending coordinates of the survey site a few kilometres away from the base that is suitable for landing. And that he will meet player there. AI says that new coordinates are received and asks player to get into the control seat to engage autopilot landing sequence (introduction to control panel). There is only few options on control panel -- engage autopilot, play music, turn the lights on/off. Player can't actually control the ship at this time. During the landing AI reports that the planet has an atmosphere and that ion thrusters are ineffective in such conditions and that the ship is switching to atmospheric thrusters (intro to this game mechanic). After that it reports of another message from the aforementioned engineer. He anxiously says that the survey site is raided with hostiles and that player should change course. AI says that there are no new coordinates to follow and that autopilot is locked and player can't engage manual control. The ship is about to land and player can see some hostile targets on the HUD flying away. There are also some explosions down on the landing platform and some shots hits the ship. AI is reporting damage. There is also some local radio chatter -- hostiles saying some threatening things and engineer says that he is badly shot and sends his GPS. After landing player hurries out of the ship to help engineer (he sighs and groans on the radio channel). The landing site is in really bad shape. The engineer's transport is destroyed. And some cargo containers and survey equipment are burning in flames. When player reaches the engineer's GPS he found that he is badly wounded. Engineer asks to take him to the medbay, but hostiles on the radio say something about final surprise and the whole landing platform blows up with everything on it including player's ship. Engineer swears and says that he's got some kind of a workshop in a nearby cave and that the player can use it. And then he dies. On his body player could find his journal with reports, thoughts, observations and daily routine notes. That gives player some minor introduction to the local lore and maybe some crafting hints. Player could also find some instruments and a backpack on the body, because he left the ship without any. And that leads to FTUE described in the blogpost.
Thank you!
Of course this is just a draft introduction, but it adds several things to the gameplay experience.
Delete1. Player character has a background -- friends, family, academy. He didn't come out of nowhere.
2. It gives player purpose by briefing him with a seemingly simple task -- change shifts with another engineer to survey and explore the planet. That task is about to get tougher in time, ending in thorough research and colonising the whole planetary system. But every journey starts with a little steps.
3. Introduction guides through some basic elements of the game like movement and block interaction.
4. It shows some tech that will be available later in the game -- like jump drive and maybe some other.
5. It shows some game mechanics like the one that some thrusters works only when specific conditions are met.
6. It shows some weather effects on the planet.
7. It gives someone to relate to -- an engineer waiting on a planet to end his shift and hoping to see his family soon. His backstory could come from radio chatter while player's ship is approaching the planet.
8. It shows elements of combat from a distance and how harmful it could be.
9. It shows also that there are some hostile factions in the game and builds a discontent towards them.
10. It gives a brief lore introduction from the dead engineers notes.
It also gives a deep thought later in the game of how cool and beautiful was the ship that took player to his first planet. And how hard and thorough is the process of building the one that could be as beauty and efficient as this first ship which was taken as granted, but was swiftly destroyed.
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DeleteConcerning the part of FTUE that was described in the blog post that player experience is guided by HUD objectives and GPS markers pointing to key locations. I think it would be nice to implement a grumpy old robot character that could be found in the aforementioned cave workshop. That character could follow and guide player throughout the game giving suggestions and commenting the player actions in a grumpy and comedic way like K-2SO or someone similar. That reminds me of a good example from the Star Wars X-Wing game series. SE1 could be compared to the X-Wing vs Tie Fighter game -- no narrative, no characters, no background -- just missions with the core game mechanics. But there is another game in that series -- X-Wing Alliance that uses the same core mechanics, but gives purpose and meaning to thees missions with a narrative through interaction with personal e-mail messages, an old droid that briefs you on some missions, artefacts and memorabilia collected after each mission, chatter with droid and family members throughout the missions and so on. Some of thees narrative techniques could be implemented in SE2.
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