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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
It’s time to give you a clear overview of what you can expect in upcoming VS2.2. This update is a big step forward for Space Engineers 2 – not just in terms of content, but in terms of systems coming online. We’re expanding the Almagest system, introducing new gameplay foundations, and deepening several core mechanics that VS2 laid the groundwork for.
New in Almagest System / Almagest System Exploration
VS2.2 expands the Almagest System with new locations to discover and explore. From new moons to asteroid rings and dangerous sectors, the system is starting to feel larger, more varied, and more alive. Here’s what’s waiting for you out there.
- Moon Palatine (Verdure)
- Moon Caligo (Kemik)
- Asteroid Rings & Clusters
- The Viridian Halo (Verdure)
- The Cryon Ring (Kemik)
- 3 types of Asteroid Fields: Feroid, Ice, Radiant Drift
- Delfos Killing Field
- Nadirae Sector with 4 New Contracts
Features – New System Foundations
VS2.2 is where we begin laying the cornerstones for several major gameplay systems. These are foundational implementations – weapons and combat basics, economy, survival mechanics, planetary events, mechanical blocks – built to establish the core logic and structure they will grow from. The goal here is not to deliver their final form, but to create a solid baseline we can expand, refine, and build upon in future updates.
- Weapons & Combat Basics
- Mechanical Foundations
- Planetary Events
- Weather – Rainstorm
- Weather – Sandstorm
- Meteor Showers
- New Survival Mechanics: Suit Oxygen
- Economy Foundations: Trading & Credits
- Cargo Ships
- Ship Action Toolbar Basics
- Automatic Block Recovery
- Customizable Controls Basics
- Datapads
Features – System Expansions
We’re not just creating new pillars in VS2.2 – we’re also deepening existing mechanics. These expansions make the core gameplay loop smoother, clearer, and more flexible, while building on the foundations we established in VS2.
- Area welding, grinding & ship tools
- Production Lines
- GPS Screen Enhancements
- Volume Slider just for tools (because you asked for it!)
- Contract Rewards & Loot System
- GUI & Hud Improvements
- Production screen
- Contracts UI
- Warfare HUD
- Player HUD enhancements
- Character Animations additions and improvements
- Added tons of new sounds and audio improvements
New Weapons & Tools
- Character Tool: Area Welder
- Character Weapon: Assault Rifle
- Character Weapon: Rocket Launcher
- Grid Weapon: Gatling Cannon
- Grid Weapon: Gatling Turret
New Blocks
- Welder Blocks
- Grinder Blocks
- Large & Small Rotor
- Large & Small Piston
- Trading Block
- Deck Panel
Game Localizations
We’re continuing to improve localization quality and coverage so more engineers can experience the game comfortably in their native language.
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Czech
- French
- German
- Italian
- Polish
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Turkish
Q: No Wheels in VS2.2?
A: We were prototyping wheels for VS2.2, but they need more time to cook. They’re coming – just not in this update.
Q: What is the Economy/Trading Scope?
A: Trading in VS2.2 focuses on base resources and economy systems, not grid-to-grid trading yet. That layer will come later as we expand the system.
Q: What is Suit Oxygen feature?
A: VS2.2 introduces Suit O2 as another survival element. Pressurization and environmental oxygen systems are not included yet.
Q: Will we get support for Blueprint Projections with Subgrids?
A: Copy/pasting projections of blueprints with subgrids is not fully supported YET. You can build on pistons and rotors individually in VS2.2, but when you paste a grid that includes connectors, rotors, or pistons, only the main grid will be projected for now. We are definitely planning proper support for subgrid projections in a future update.
Q: Will we get Production Load Sharing?
A: Production lines are coming in VS2.2 – however, load sharing between multiple production blocks is not implemented yet. If you queue 500 components in one assembler, that single block will process the entire order. Splitting production across multiple blocks is a planned future feature.
Q: Will a New Save be Required to get the new features?
A: Some features introduced in VS2.2 require starting a new game to be visible/present: Credits & Trading, Cargo Ships, New Loot System, Asteroid Rings and Clusters, Moons.
Q: When can we expect the release?
A: One thing I don’t talk about enough is how an update is actually created. Every release goes through the same structured stages:
- Design – This is where we define the scope. What systems are we building? What problems are we solving? What is realistic for this slice? We write specifications and break features into tasks.
- Programming and Art Asset Creation – This is the heavy production phase. Engineers implement systems, mechanics, and backend tools. Artists create models, materials, animations, UI, effects, and audio.
- Feature Freeze – At this point, we stop adding new features to the internal build for the closing update. Even if someone has a great idea, it waits. The focus shifts from expansion to stabilization. Finishing, integrating, and making sure systems work together.
- Code Freeze – No more risky changes. Only bug fixes, performance improvements, and crash fixes. This phase is about removing instability before release.
- Release – When the build is stable enough, we ship. And then the hotfix cycle begins.
It’s also important to understand that not everyone is working on VS2.2 or standing around waiting for release day because their part was done.
Game development is parallel by nature. While part of the programming team is finishing and stabilizing features for VS2.2, designers are already working on VS3 and VS4. The art team is creating assets for upcoming systems. Some engineers have shifted to future features, while others remain focused on polishing and fixing the current slice. QA is waist-deep in testing VS2.2 builds, reproducing bugs, verifying fixes, and stress-testing systems.
Software development is a complex discipline. Entertainment software development – where you are not just implementing known solutions, but trying to invent new systems like planetary-scale volumetric water – is even more demanding. There are unknowns, iteration loops, technical surprises, and constant refinement. Internally, it’s a structured, disciplined process moving forward on multiple fronts at the same time.
Here you can see our release dashboard for VS2.2. Currently, we are at code-freeze stage. We started the final push last week. We’re completing roughly 30 to 40 tickets per day. The number dropped from around 1400 to about 300 – but that first big drop was not magic productivity. That was us cleaning up Jira, closing outdated tickets, merging duplicates. The real grind starts around 500 tickets, and from there you can see the steady daily progress.
As of this moment (Tuesday), 341 tickets remain. We’re getting close
Updated Roadmap – VS2.3
The next major milestone after this update will be VS2.3 – you can expect Wheels, Hinges, Warheads, the Timer Block, Sensor Block, LCDs, Wind Turbines, the Event Controller, further combat improvements, and additional features expanding on the foundations established in our previous updates.
After that comes VS3: Water. Planetary-scale volumetric water, along with all the water gameplay systems and blocks. This update will also add a new water planet, Byblos, to the Almagest system.
Following closely will be VS4: NPCs + Cooperative Multiplayer, adding 4-player gameplay and the first iteration of interactive non-player characters. VS5: Full Multiplayer will complete the foundation for large-scale multiplayer sessions.
Two development teams are working in parallel on VS3 and VS4, so the final release order may depend on which reaches completion first. Either way, we’re pushing forward on all fronts to bring you new features and deeper gameplay as quickly as possible!
Many of the features and improvements planned for the future have been requested and shaped by the suggestions and ideas shared through our Support Portal. Your feedback is incredibly valuable, and we appreciate every suggestion you submit.
Check out our full Roadmap.
Question to you: Which VS2.2 system are you most excited to experiment with first?
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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Love hearing how you guys work, the process, and way you’ve decided to do a VS approach. Its great transparency while also continuing to deliver the content!
I wonder… just for ease of use new players, have you considered having right click be an area weld on the default welder? I’d say visually; the Area welder looks way cooler I would want to only use that XD! …and upgrades to the welder actually increases weld speed AND diameter of the area?
Just an idea for accessibility 🙂 Regardless, amazing work here as always guys
exciting stuff 😊
I’d like to repeat my request for you explaining your vision for contacts. Pretty much all of the ones in the game are awful and I don’t feel it’s worth restarting the world if I have to do them again.
As for V2.2 features, I’m looking forward to the mass welding and probably even more to mass grinding. There are problems with detecting collisions, which means that grinding is not reliable. When trying to reposition, it’s easy to bump into the piece of wreckage you’re trying to salvage, which makes it float away.
The current contracts added with in the VS 2.0 Era of the game are all similar and just welding, grinding as that was the main the focus of VS 2.0 as stated in a previouse Dev diary before VS 2.0 Release. As new features such as combat and mechanic blocks are added new type of contracts that aren’t just move this from A to B or weld and grind this as they will have new mechanics to make more complex contracts. The current once are just basic cause thats all VS 2.0 offered as its focus was the game play of welding and grinding.
The problem with current contracts isn’t the number of mechanics that are in the game but the fact that they do not employ player creativity at all. You can do a ton with just the blocks we have already; the contracts are just not doing it.
Contracts are the main progression mechanic in the game. They can’t be just an afterthought.
Current contracts are very limited because the game mechanics didn’t allow more. But in VS2.2 they will get more interesting, and with more VSs, even more – NPCs, etc. This is early access, not a final game.
It’s really disappointing that there is no Russian language support. I was eagerly waiting for news about localization, and now I’m very upset that it hasn’t been announced. Thousands of Russian-speaking players are looking forward to this game, and the absence of this language in the game is a huge oversight. A massive part of the community plays and speaks Russian. The first game had it, and I don’t understand why they decided not to include it in the second one. This is very frustrating.
Russian, Ukrainian and Simplified Chinese localizations are planned – just not for VS2.2 (Font issues). Thanks for your patience.
It’s very cool, the progress is immediately visible, but still the question haunts me. Large—scale multiplayer is how many people are in one session?
When environmental oxygen and pressurisation will be implemented? it’s not clear will it be in 2.3 or later?
Pressurisation was announced to be coming in VS 3.0 with water awhile ago although that could change.
An absolutely bumper Marek update on my birthday. It’s really insightful. I was hoping for hinges in VS2.2, but do you know what? There is so much stuff packed in, I dont actually mind waiting a bit longer for those. Please thank the team for all their hard work. I cant wait to see the results
Thank you, guys, for your work. Even at this stage, the planets and blocks look magically magnificent. The scale of what’s happening is breathtaking. It’s wonderful to watch the dream gradually become reality. We are all a community of like-minded people who care about space and the creativity embodied in blocks. I look forward to new updates and other localizations, including Russian. I also want to wish Marek patience and continued creative success!
What about sorter blocks? are they on the roadmap? inventory management issues is my number one annoying issue in SE2. Closely followed by the overly aggressive trash cleanup that makes Unknown Signals disappear before youve had a chance to fly to them!
no russian tanslation 🙁
sad
Space Engineers 1 got a partial russian translation a year or so after early access released and formally expanded and finalized in 2018. This will likely be similar for a number of languages. Have some patience, or would you like a really rubbish translation put in?
Appreciate all the work Keen, and genuinely cannot wait to see SE 2 grow through early access and into full release and beyond.
Future update looks great! With welders/grinders it would be much easier to build large ships in survival.
And I have one small suggestion: in current version Verdure and it’s beauty is introduced enough with missions/contracts. But Kemik is not. I flew there only once for titan ore maybe. And if focusing on contracts, that planet appear to be almost unknown and useless. You could add some missions/contracts that require flying there, and maybe not in one place, but travel to multiple locations (beautiful ones?). For example to fly along antenas network and find ones that are broken or have no energy. Or check small unmanned science stations for errors. The same regarding new moons or asteroid fields – I hope there will be also missions requiring travelling to them.
As always, I’d insist in the possibility of taking off our suits for enhanced mobility while in pressurized environments.
Also, I think player UI should reflect the fact we’re looking through an astronaut helmet (info projected on the visor with some degree of curvature).
If we have to create a new save to get some of the new features, or later, for the Byblos update, we will lose our:
– Creations along with their inventories
– GPS locations
– Contracts progress
– Advanced tier character tools.
For ships, this not a big problem, as we can simply load blueprints of them, possibly by temporariliy switching to creative. For stations this is not as easy, as they have to be integrated into the terrain at very specifc locations and with specific orientations. The rest will be lost.
Will there be a tool or an option to import stuff from another save? Maybe integrated in to the community-made Space Editor?
Restarting saves is an unfourtante cost to pay for alpha game and is an expected thing to happen If you are building somthing and expecting to keep playing it through out development then that is unrealistic and you are probably better of waiting for the full release (Due to come late 2027) to play the game properly.
Other then caves every world you load is identicle so copying your base to the same location is possible unless its a cave.
very excited about all the updates. Mech blocks will add a bunch of new possibilities, plus new and more alive environments. Wish we would see some Character inventory cap expansion. I spend more time flying back and forth from storage then anything else in game.
gruller65- can you please do another deeo dive on the plans for combat, are you reworking armor, whats happening with heat,radar and scanning gameplay
So is 2.3 when we will see pressurization/vents?
No as stated in this blog post its just going to be the need to have suit oxygen to survive so you will need to carry oxygen bottles or have a survival kit / medbay with access to oxygen near by.
As per the norm, the godrays. and shadows continue to impress.
The planetary ring update looks good, are yall adding its own dynamic lighting, too?
Please make sure piston and rotor default offsets are ZERO! ie their heads can fit perfectly flush to the grid by default (at 0 offset setting).
Oh and I can recognize the help of ChatGPT in the writing of the blog….
Great job, thanhs for your work!
Love that you guys feature lock yourselves. Ive started moving my “great ideas” at the end of projects. Turns out once you finish the project, those great ideas turn out to be a lot less appealing, saved me tremendous amounts of time!