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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
Space Engineers is growing again!
Since the Apex Survival Update, player numbers have been rising – a rare sight for a game over 10 years old.
Big thanks to the SE1 team for making it happen!
With Apex Survival released, the survival gameplay in Space Engineers has completely changed. Systems like food, farming, hazards, and meaningful death mean survival is no longer just about oxygen and hydrogen.
I want to thank our community for already putting together amazing tutorials. It is always impressive how fast you explore, explain, and share your knowledge with others.
These guides will help countless players get into the new systems more smoothly than we could ever manage on our own.
Space Engineers 2
Sounds of Next Frontier
We are excited to announce another music competition, this time as “Sounds of Next Frontier” for Space Engineers 2!
Our past two Music Competitions were some of the most memorable experiences for us, and we can’t wait to hear the musical masterpieces you create this time. Good luck!
Full Details: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/sounds-of-next-frontier-space-engineers-2-music-competition/
Colonization & Map Design
I talked about the colonization meta loop in my previous blog posts, but here is a quick summary:
The heart of Space Engineers 2’s gameplay is the colonization of the Almagest System. The system is divided into regions, each with its own resources, challenges, and opportunities. By completing missions and building infrastructure, you raise your colonization index – a measure of humanity’s foothold in this new star system.
Every project matters: a power station, a mining outpost, even defending against threats. Everything contributes to colonization.
We call this “The New Space Race” – a clear and visible progression path, while still keeping the sandbox freedom that defines Space Engineers.
The story layer will be optional. If you want, you can take missions from NPCs or the Contract Block and push the narrative forward. Or you can ignore it all and just play pure sandbox.
Colonization simply provides a purpose and a sense of progress for those who want it.
Ok, we have the design – so what now?
Now comes the tedious, patient, meticulous programming work needed to make all of this real.
We’re implementing the progression system and the sector map:
Making GPS markers searchable and intuitive:
And building the foundation for planet placement and discoveries:
Once this layer is complete, we’ll make it pretty and have the structure in place to grow and expand colonization into the core experience of Space Engineers 2.
I can’t wait to test this in a real game loop!
Planets Verdure & Kemik
By now you have seen a lot of planet Verdure:
But you probably haven’t seen Vallation Station above it:
And here is Kemik – a desolate, Mars-like planet
Can’t wait to share more next week!
Share your thoughts in the comments below – I read them all, and they’re one of my favorite parts of making SE2.
Zer0’s gonna be all over this one lol
Looking very good! However the colony map looks pretty AI generated and doesn’t really feel like it fits space engineer’s aesthetic imo, but I’m assuming that it’s just a concept image and will look different in the final version.
Space Engineers 1 and Space Engineers 2 will have different aesthetics. It’s not gonna be SE1 with water and better graphics.
so one thing that I do wonder is how are the planets around the sun, when the sun is a skybox. for example kemik and verdure are on opposite sides of the sun, but there couldn’t be a sun in between them when the sun in only there in the skybox.
This system has 2 suns Byblos and Almagest also known as Almagest 1 and Almagest 2. Byblos is a brown dwarf in the center of the system that you can actually fly to. Almagest is a skybox sun for day and night cycle.
Erm actually…. The soundtrack has a song called The Oceans of Byblos. Byblos is the ocean planet. Im a SE fact/lore nerd, sorry, lol.
Can there be multiple star systems linked by some sort of jump points?
Those planet images look really nice. So does the concept for the system map. The surfaces of the planets actually look quite interesting even from space.
sS one thing that I do wonder is how are the planets around the sun, when the sun is a skybox. for example Kemik and Verdure are on opposite sides of the sun, but there couldn’t be a sun in between them when the sun in only there in the skybox.
Those planet images look really nice. So does the concept for the system map. The surfaces of the planets actually look quite interesting, even from space.
NiCE!!
It looks great, I hope we “soon”TM get to explore it ourselves in the game and look around on all the details on the planets and such.
That giant roid next to the space station doesn’t look very safe at all, accident waiting to happen? 😀
I also hope we get more “food stuffs” in SE2 and less “generic”, mind you I love it in SE1… but fruit… give them names, apples, pears etc. vegetables, make them potatoes, kale etc. etc. make it easy for modders to add more + add more recipies… Really like the survival stuff even though I only play it a few hours here n there and progress is slow, I am enjoying my time with it.
I think sectors can add more intuitiveness into the game for non-sandboxers and that can fill up the missing part of the view that other games already have. Good idea. But, in another way, why is the sector map so flat? The universe has more than two dimensions. It’s confusing how sectors project to the world itself? Last question, will space be still unlimited or this sector map will be some sort of limited borders? Im alking about deep space exploration, known from SE1, where you can be for example 4au from the nearest planet, which is really far away from proportions of sectors and Almagest system – how will look player position on this map?
Searchable GPS markers are great, but I’d love to see folders/groups of GPS markers as well, and a way to show/hide all the points in a groups at once.
I agree. Once we start prospecting in SE1 at different sectors, we wish to make folders for all those ore GPS points.
For GPS co-ordinates, it would be a huge QOL addition if we could simply tune a max. visible distance in which the GPS signal will appear.
Will the Vallation Station move like a real space station?
I’m beside myself with excitement for the colonisation aspect. I love spending time in the SE1 Universe, but I’m just not a very creative person, so I sometimes struggle to create a goal, even though I want to just spend more time in the universe, because it’s my safe space and I[‘m comfortable and know how to do almost anything.
The idea of colonisation is wonderful as I assume it will create many and constant goals to achieve. I also hope that they are long enough time sinks, maybe to take a month or more to complete?
Me too!! The colonisation system sounds really exciting!!! I’m pretty good at setting my own goals but sometimes it feels a bit empty. This sounds like a really, really exciting solution!!
The more I read and see the more excited I get!!
I’m loving the work done on the planets, they look stunning. I have had a question that has been on my mind for awhile, will the planets be larger than 120km in SE2?
Everything So far looks glorious. Can’t Wait for vs2. But i have very important question. Will there be oxygen/airtigtness in vs2? Would be nice 😁
Oxygen is already a stat on your hud in SE 2 and is a feature in the game as well as airtightness.
It’s really interesting to see how survival in Space Engineers has evolvedCreating blog comment beyond just managing oxygen and hydrogen—adding food, farming, and hazards makes the experience feel much deeper. I also love how quickly the community has stepped up with guides; it shows how collaborative the SE player base is. Curious to see how these systems keep shaping long-term gameplay strategies.
Saying SE12 is completely changed is a real stretch.
Does “colonization” mean just leaving a build behind, or does it mean actual real AI finally?
The planets are absolutely gorgeous, and I cannot wait to get my hands on them. But one thing I’ve noticed over the years of playing SE1 and seeing the development of SE2, is that you guys are in love with planets that are nothing but Klingon foreheads.
Seeing nothing but ridges and mountain ranges and massive ravines everywhere may look pretty from space, but actually playing in that can sometimes be a bit of a nightmare. I wouldn’t mind seeing a planet that actually has a little less variation to it. Something that has more large plains or open valleys. Maybe a planet that has soft rolling hills in certain areas, too. Add more variation to the terrain other than just “mountains!”.
Other than that, great work as always, and I am truly excited for SE2!
I wonder how the fast travel system, hinted at in the mock-ups, will work?
Will there still be jump drives to transport larger ships great distances? Or will the jump drive be replaced with linked space station like shown in that image? Basically have a station somewhere that has a special block, and as long as the station has power, and you’re in good standing with the faction that controls it you can jump from station to station? Similar to jump-gates in other games? Or is that fast travel just for personal use, teleporting your player character somewhere for pure player convenience?
I like the idea of such a jump-gate system, because it encourages to travel to places and “fix” that gates, while it’s also not too powerful to make travel and transportation obsolete. I’d love it were actual rings which have to fit around your ship, and if you want larger ships you literally have to build larger rings.
Let me put my boots on the ground Commander pleeeaaassssseeeeeee!!!!!
Zdravím, Bude možno vytvořit procedurálně generované systémy (až budete mít hotovo více modelů planet) s různými počty planet a hvězd jako to má například No man´s Sky?
I’d really like the planets to orbit around the Sun instead of just staying in place — it would add a lot to the overall experience
For more hardcore players that want a KSP like experience i agree. However the performance cost would be extremely high.
Speeds in the game would need to be unlocked which would break collisions (Lookup the bullet through paper effect).
With everything moving the baseline computation costs would be a lot higher as everything would need to more aggressively check for collision.
This is a feature better left for modders to implement and optimize.
Hey will caves be a feature on the planets or wip feature for the future?
Love how the map of the system is coming along super excited for how this system will turn out! Are there any plans to add support for planetary maps as well?
the size of the planet in SE2 will still be 120 km or may change in the future
Zer0 is going to be yapping about SE2 lore for the next ten weeks after this post lol
The map is great because it shows the extent of the world. BTW, it looks like a “sector map” – it doesn’t seem to show orbiting celestial bodies. Do the areas on the map actually correspond to the shape of the world? Also, since the Almagest is in the center of the map, does that mean the star is no longer attached to a skybox, but is instead a tangible object shining in the center of the world?
Hopefully I’m wrong, but dosent 10,000km feel a little small in the aspect of SE2, and it seems like instead of jump drives we’ll have jump stations or way point system.
In the video Aaron says that infrastructure matters when it comes to colonization and mentions things like Power stations. Please, please, please create some kind of road building tool or mechanic. I love trying to build a colony in SE1 but trying to have roads between my buildings is a nightmare. In SE1 trying to build a road using voxel tools is the bane of my existence and using blocks isn’t viable.
Hi Marek, it is good to see things moving forward.
It could be the fault of my own expectation, but I was hoping for a map system that could offer tactical planning within the local sector, and for ground based information when on planet side.
The planet Kemik is an obvious case for a system of easy road creation in survival. Several requests for the engineering tools to do this have asked for on the the support page. Flying everywhere does not let you enjoy all of the aspects that a terrain has to offer. Rovers are a big part of SE, it would be a shame if Kemik was a chore to use them on.
Some people have asked for the ability to name features of the geography, would this be something that you would consider in the future?
One question I still have about merging the SE2 campaign and sandbox modes into a single non-creative mode is, “how substantially will the game world’s various regions be different for the player that doesn’t actively pursue the campaign and/or colonization?” I presume there will not be any nonsense like invisible walls keeping one from going into X region until Y and Z are sufficiently colonized. However, if one does do a “pure sandbox” play through, I would expect there to be some sort of significant difference in the experience. Is it simply that most regions are by default less populated by NPCs, other ships, and some POIs without any player engagement in the campaign and/or the colonization mechanics, or are you planning on something else?
not related to this news but can you please rethink the audio system for thrusters?
the sound effect itself is great but the intensity should be dependent on the thrust level and not the ships speed. full thrust = instant noise would be nice to get also secondary thrust mode where w/s keys are slowly shifting the thrust level like in KSP instead of on/off only. I am aware of hotbar function in SE1 but it was always a quite rough setting.