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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
VS2 is primarily a planetary update – but it will also contain all the foundations for survival systems.
One of them is the new Inventory screen, along with all the essential features. Here you can see moving resources, splitting them using a slidebar, or type in an exact number or amount.
We have the first visuals of Delfos, the brown dwarf at the center of the Almagest system. Everything in this system, even the bright star Almagest, is placed around it. The visuals are still a work in progress as we fine-tune the contrast and brightness, but they already highlight the unique atmosphere and color palette that will set Delfos apart from other celestial bodies.
Colonization map implementation for VS2 is starting to take a more concrete in-game shape.
We are fine tuning colors and saturation to give the planets a more vibrant feel. Small touches like this make the terrain, biomes, and skies stand out more, helping each planet feel distinct and alive.
We are also working on voxel material transitions across planetary surfaces. The goal is simple – make sand, soil, rock, and snow biomes blend cleanly at the edges so the terrain reads well both up close and from altitude.
At ground level you should see clear texture detail without hard seams. From far away the same areas should group into readable shapes without turning into noise.
Getting this right takes tuning masks, falloffs, and filters per biome, but it pays off in smoother slopes, cleaner cliff lines, and more natural looking terrain.
We have the first implementation of tree fractures in SE2. When you cut or crash into a tree it now splits into logical pieces with proper colliders, particles, and temporary debris. The next step is tuning – so trees don’t “explode” all over the place. 🤭
When you drill or destroy the roots of a tree, it will fall and break apart. This adds a more natural way to clear forests, and it makes interactions with trees feel more physical and grounded. Again, fine-tuning is in progress.
We are optimizing the performance of flora, caves, and other planetary features as they load on the planet. Step by step, we are getting closer to a smooth experience when exploring and traveling across different biomes.
And I will leave you with more images. I can’t believe how quickly the planets are coming together and how beautiful they are starting to look – all thanks to the work of our talented teams.
Share your thoughts in the comments below – I read them all, and they’re one of my favorite parts of making our games.
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looks impressive.looking forward to have ago and visit those planets.
All the planets ORBIT around Delfos you say?
Ha ha, no.
release?
Same here — I’m waiting for the VS2 release before I start playing.
If they drop the wheel blocks too, the game’s gonna explode in popularity!
Ore atlas looks amazing. Would be great to include additional options for mod makers to tinker a more exclusive experience. For example more modded ores, liquids, perhaps dangerous encounters such as enemies or hazards like extreme heat/cold and radiation.
Or perhaps instead most are “unknown” and the only way to find out is to send a prope of some kind, similar to Mass Effect 2, perhaps with points you gather through the entire colonization progress or a real phychical prope, but that will probably take too much time..
Maybe once in a while certain zones can be highlighted indicating valueable spawns such as a derelict, treasures or rare high concentrared asteroids. During multiplayer that could add some interesting player interactions.
I already think that in the future there should be an aerodynamics system, allowing you to build airplanes and helicopters and pilot them on these planets with incredible landscapes. ‘Simply the best game ever made in this genre.’
Let’s hope we can have grass enabeled without the game crashing.
It all looks so good. cant wait!
Beyond excited to explore planets. They look better than any other space game i’ve seen
Planets are looking better and better. I would love to see variety of alien fauna roaming and flying around.
Sounds of jetpack and flying is AWESOME!!!
Will the colonization map have modding support; changing sector size, position, etc…?
Also how does the map handle more 3D systems? For example, a planet placed significatly higher or lower than the orbital plane.
This is a duplicate
Didn’t realize how long comments took to post and posted another identical comment
Just a clarification: the planets don’t orbit in game, it’s only the part of the backstory. We decided to not do orbital mechanics yet, because it’s a very complex feature, that could also complicate the gameplay, so we will be looking on it in the distant future.
Hold on, so it’s coming!? The “yet” in that message is now my favourite word sent by anyone from KSH lol. Even in the distant future that is SOOOO EXCITING!! Real Solar Systems is by far my favourite mod for Space Engineers 1 and I don’t play without it anymore. It’s completely worth it even with the occasional bugs. A VANILLA implementation for SE2 eventually just sounds… well, I’ll just say you really took the “10x” thing to heart, didn’t you! That is officially the feature I’m most excited about now for SE2, even more so than water physics. Thank you so much for all of your hard work on this game and giving me hope that my dreams for the game will become reality!
No, dude. At no point did he say it’s coming.
He’s not even implying it’s in their plans.
He’s saying he’d like to do it if it ever becomes a realistic possibility, that doesn’t mean you should expect it or even anticipate it.
I’d like to hear that from Marek because it sure sounded like he’s saying they’re going to try to add it in the future to me…
Are there plans for Apex Survival features to be in SE2 like food, water, ETC?
what are the plans for aerodynamics? i recall seing i think it was Jan Hloušek, testing gliding and drag in some early iterations of VRage3
Are Apex Survival features like food, water, etc planned?
i noticed the lack of Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Uranium on the list of ores
is there a reason for their absence?
I know its early days, but is there any plans for gas giants and other types of celestial bodies and enviroments? Rings on planets, nebulae, comets and such would really bring a lot of depth into the game.
The rocky planets made so far look really good, I cant wait to see how the weather system compliments the new planets and engine. SE1s radiation and other weather systems improve the enviroment 100x so I cant wait for SE2’s version.
excited to see the new survival mechanics, hopefully Keen are open to community input if the new systems arent as well liked (although theres definetly plenty to improve, and theyve cooked pretty hard so far)
Tree fractures!! Every post I see some new way you guys are “10xing” Space Engineers for SE2 that I hadn’t even considered as a possibility before. It’s absolutely mind blowing the improvements that you guys are making. And the planets… they’re starting to look as good as even Star Citizen’s! When you guys are done with them they might actually be the best looking planets in any space game… on top of them being fully destructible!
This game is truly going to revolutionize the genre!
Will the colonization map support modding? Can modders add or remove sections or change section positions?
How does the map support 3D systems where planets may be placed significantly lower or higher than the solar system orbital plane?
Yes, system map should be moddable (not sure if already in VS2, but as everything in SE2 is data driven, in theory it should be possible)
Everything I have ever wanted Space Engineers to be is taking shape. Seeing this game at 15 years old and imagining what I could do is a special feeling. 9 years later and the feeling is still there. No other game has ever done this. Thank you for doing these dev diaries and for fueling my passion for engineering.
You know, this one made me curious. Is Delphos going to be light-emmissive? Will planets/asteroids have two shadows on the side Delphos-facing side, one from Delphos and one from Almagest??
How would Delfos be explored? Would there be envirnmental hazards for it? Would we need specific equipment for it?
Wishful thinking since there would be very limited gameplay influence but I’d love to see seasons. Maybe lakes could freeze over in winter and thaw in spring. Seeing the change in trees, flora, and the ground would be really cool.
Also, on the map fog of war for parts of the planet you haven’t been near yet would encourage exploration.
Could the trees after being hit exhibit some ragdoll physics to dampen down the reactive forces?
how long does it take to go to planets with no jump drives?
so, how big the planets are? The world interactible minimap showing you your current location is huuuge! thank you for adding this long awaited feature.