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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
Are you already subscribed to our newsletter? Make sure you are – the next issue goes out this Saturday, and I think you’ll want to see what we’re about to show.
We’ll be sharing more sneak peeks from our next major update Space Engineers: Economy 2 update, and there are some really nice details in there that I don’t want you to miss.
Space Engineers 2
I’ve been seeing a lot of questions lately asking: “Should I buy Space Engineers 2 right now?” My honest answer is yes. Of course, you could say that’s exactly what a company CEO would say – and you would be right. So instead of only taking my word for it, I’d recommend checking out this video from AndrewmanGaming, who gives a community perspective summary:
One of the things that keeps amazing me is how fast Space Engineers 2 is progressing, and how quickly ideas that once felt far away are becoming real and playable. A great example is this Clang Walker, put together by one of our programmers. Yes – this is already possible in VS 2.2 right now.
This kind of thing makes me really happy, because it shows how much the game is opening up already. All of our teams are doing a great job, and it’s exciting to see everything moving forward so well.
Last week I showed you the new LCD screens, and I wanted to share one more detail that I find really satisfying. The 150 cm version fits perfectly into our planned Wall Insert holes!
We’ve also been continuing work on weapon blocks, and today I want to show a bit more of that process. Here you can see the Large Rocket Turret evolving from concept art to final model. I always like these comparisons because they show how an early idea gradually becomes something real in the game – shaped by gameplay needs, visual language, technical constraints, and a lot of iteration along the way.
And here are the construction stages:
I also want to show you this adorable little guy – your future Small Rocket Turret. It has a very different presence compared to the large version, but it follows the same overall philosophy. We want these blocks to feel functional, readable, and believable as parts of a larger ship or base, while still having enough character to stand out on their own.
Construction Stages:
And now that you’ve seen how rocket turrets look when they are being built, it only feels fair to show the other side of the equation too – here is a video of them getting destroyed:
Question to you: The Small Rocket Turret is adorable, right?
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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a more conditionnal approach :
u like base building : wait for merge block because the amount of unspotable split grids created when buulding a large base is unbearable
u like automation/contraption : wait for hinge, sensor at least
do buy the game if u wanna build a ship and explore beautiful planets
Please add the ability to remove the engineer’s suit. It would also be cool if a mechanic for different suit stages for the engineer was implemented. Sometimes, you just want to take it off and run around lightly on the planet’s surface, or feel safe at your own base where no protection in a spacesuit is required.
Or take a challenge when you can’t just go outside and do whatever, but have to use smallship/drone/outer roboarm.
Strongly agree, removable suits and suit variants would be an amazing boon to the sense of immersion and connection to the world.
Personally, I like the idea. When I play in survival mode and I’m on planets, I don’t use the jetpack. I work like in real life with scaffolding. Just being able to disable the jetpack on planets would be a good starting point for me. Because of this, engineering becomes more complicated and the initial escape from the planet takes longer.
Regarding the suit, I’d divide it into two stages: with the suit, you can do certain things and carry more weight, and without the suit, it’s a bit more complicated due to weight limitations and basic functions.
Guided Missiles?
Check this feedabck post
https://support.keenswh.com/spaceengineers2/pc/topic/53689-guided-missiles
i dont need it if Programmble Block will be in the game
@kaban
PB is for custom-made missiles. I talk about them too in the post. I think they can be used as well in certain situations. The main concern here is to avoid having the same boring “rockets” that were barely used before.
Please add Frit and rubber seal or gasket glazing gaskets and EPDM rubber for windows.
i like the fact that you’ve made 2 stages of the same turret, but it would be even better to have atleast 3. same for gatling gun. I always liked having multiple stages of the same weapon where next stage is straight up better than previous ones, but also more expensive to build and maintain. Imagine bigger gatling turret, but with bigger caliber. You can also add multiple variations of blocks from very light and fragile to very heavy and resilient. That’s a relatively easy was to add more depth to combat.
The little turret is definitaly adorable. I also understand the point about credibility and plausibility. Nevertheless, I find the other designs really good and am almost sad that we’ll only have one version at the beginning. I WANT THEM ALL 🙂
A question along those lines: Are there plans to release more blocks in the 25 cm format (besides the detailing blocks)? Perhaps even functional blocks? The more we can build our custom turrets and drones on a small scale, the better. Of course, I understand that this is also a performance issue.
Love the small turret! I hope it’ll play its role instead of being just a downgrade from the bigger one, such as a cheaper to build/maintain version that is also able to fit into smaller spaces than the large turret, or that it becomes easily hideable when not needed.
One thing I’m uncertain about the design though is whether there is enough space for additional rockets to travel up the middle column and into the tubes, since I see a conveyor port below. The rockets are supposed to be very short, right? So there is enough space inside for them to rotate into the tubes.
I know it probably won’t be visible but having those details thought through makes it feel more believable 🙂
I really like the look of the turrets, but something that takes away from the realism of the game is how they would reload. Especially the small turret.
I don’t know the full size of the rockets, but I imagine they would be too large to be passed through the vertical rotors. It also looks like there are ports on the back to manually load more rockets?
If I can make a suggestion; it would be great to have ports in the base rotor that line up with the back reload ports when aimed 90 degrees vertical. This way you can have the reload animation after 2 or 3 volleys reset rotations to this vertical pose, hold for 2 seconds as rockets are loaded, then return to locked target.
I feel this would give a better sense of realism and mechanical feel.
What really struck me with the small rocket turret is the idea of having that turret as an inset device. Idle, it would appear to be a standard armor block, but when armed the sides withdraw and the turret is revealed and is functional. Reload of the empty turret would occur after it returns to the idle state inside the cube. Then it would pop open again and reveal itself for more havoc.
This is already something you can engineer in-game yourself and automating it feels like this would remove the need for engineering in a game called Space Engineers. Then it would just be called Space 😜
Love the small rocket turret. very cute!
Are there any updates on a fix for pistons causing flight issues? Also, i woukd really love to be able to combine pistons end-to-end so I can reach greater heights. Right now its not possible due to it tipping over (Klang).
Oh and I would give my right arm for button functionality!
Thanks to you and the team for all uour hard work!
The small turret looks great, but I’m guessing this time it’s using small pipes for automatic reloading so I don’t have to load them one by one. I really need the block with the gap in the middle XD. It could be included in a weekly update; I need it to optimize pipe routing.
A question for the team: have you considered using angled pipes? It would save me from having so many elbows that look awful.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Is there ever a case in which you’d want to use the small turret? With grid sizes being compatible, it’d make sense to always go for the big stuff no?
I imagine the small turret will be used for mid sized ships or heavy fighters to add some firepower. Since most people won’t have ships large enough to support or house a large turret I think the small turret makes sense.
I think it’s about time for you guys to go over what combat should be in the game now that we’re starting to get multiple combat blocks I’m getting a little nervous. That combat is gonna be looking almost exactly the same as the first game and that would be a big shame.
I would love to see you guys do a live stream going over what combat should be or maybe a long write up on the plans for combat in the future
I made a video (im hei shipyards/gruller65 ) and I’m working on another one right now going over my ideas for a combat system, but I would really like to see you guys talk about it I think that this could be one of the biggest changes that you make to the game
Especially if you make armor work a little bit more realistically there’s some type of scanning mechanics along with minor heat gameplay
Especially making armor more realistic, I think would solve a lot of the issues from the first game or one shot shots happen
If you don’t want to get one shot it, you have to design armor specifically
For example, using angled armor is significantly more useful and durable because they could potentially bounce rounds off of it
I love what you guys are doing and you continue to impress me
All the rocket launcher designs are fantastic! It’s so sad that so many of them will be discarded. I think they should all be implemented, not just as cosmetic variants, but as upgraded models or options with different strengths. If various elements, not just weapons, were like that, it would lead to the game’s development. Please consider enriching the base game rather than leaving it to mod packs. Of course, expansion packs for SE1 would also be welcome!
Question, is there any plan to have the rockets affected by gravity? I was playing around with the rocket launcher available in-game right now and it felt kind of weird when it flew completely straight despite being well within planetary gravity. I know that’s how SE1 worked, but SE2 is a different game.
It would be cool, and I think it’d definitely feel a bit nicer. I know it’s a lot more on the calculation side for the AI on the turrets and thus a lot more work, but it would be a neat addition; and from what I’ve seen you have a very capable team.