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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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 1 is not slowing down!
You can expect update 210: Prosperity to be released in July/August 2026 as a thematic companion to Economy 2, focused on further improving the economy, contracts, and station service systems we introduced recently. But that’s not all… there are a few surprises in there too.
After that, we are already planning Space Engineers major update 211: Warfare 3 for Q4 2026. I will share more details when we are ready, but I wanted to make one thing clear: Space Engineers 1 is still very much alive!
We’ll be sharing more sneak peeks from our next major update in our newsletter, and there are some really nice details in there that I don’t want you to miss!
Space Engineers 2
Our next major update VS2.3: “Drive, Automate & Detonate” is almost here- releasing in June/July, It will bring the final Mechanical Blocks (Wheels & Hinges), destructive Warheads, and core Automation tools (Timer, Sensor, Event Controller) to the game!
VS2.3 Event Controller
The new and improved Event Controller is one of the main VS2.3 features I am most excited about, because it turns your grids into systems that can react to what is happening around them. It will be huge!
In Space Engineers 2, the Event Controller is built on top of new VRAGE3 systems that let it track many different grid and block parameters. For players, this opens up a lot of practical engineering. You can make hangars react to doors and connectors, warning lights react to power or fuel levels, vehicles react to speed or terrain conditions, weapons systems react to ammo or targets, and automation chains react without needing complicated manual setups.
Grid Parameters
- Blocks Added
- Blocks Removed
- Atmosphere %
- Linear Speed
- Angular Speed
- Mass
- Gravity
- Dampeners enabled
- Total Power Consumption % (includes Hydrogen consumption)
- Altitude
Block Parameters
- Last Value
- Functional/Not Functional
- Integrity
- Enabled
- Supplied
- Inventory Filled (%)
- Opened (for doors)
- Resource Consumption (% of Max)
- Resource Production ( % of Max)
- Stored Resource (%) – for batteries/tanks
- Occupied – character in cockpit
- Rotor angle
- Piston distance
- Ready To Align – for connectors
- Ready To Connect – for connectors, landing gear
- Connected – for connectors, landing gear, hinges, rotors
- Producing – for production blocks
- Ores detected – count of ore nodes for ore detectors
- Weapon Ammo – for block weapons
- Weapon Shot – triggers when the weapon fires
- Weapon target acquired – for turrets
- Entity entered/exited area – for sensors
- Timer activated
- Move left/right/up/down (separate float actions, analog)
- Look up/left/roll/etc. (float actions, analog)
- Velocity forward/right/up
The Event Controller also supports logic modes, so you can decide whether all selected blocks must match a condition, or whether any of them is enough. It also has separate true and false toolbars, which makes it much easier to build systems that both activate and reset themselves.
This is exactly the kind of block I love in Space Engineers: simple to understand, but very powerful once players start combining it with sensors, timers, buttons, hinges, wheels, warheads, and everything else VS2.3 adds. Emergent complexity!
Do you want to send out an ore probe to mark ore deposits for you? No problem, here you go!
Do you want to set up your own custom turrets using just the Event Controller? No problem!
Have an idea for a Lidar Drone? Just make it!
Convoy with automated trailer legs? Set it up!
And together with new Timers and LCDs you can nicely group your ship logic centre into your own thematic Server Racks. 😉
Wind Physics
In VS2.3, sandstorms will become more than just something you see – they will become something you have to engineer around!
We introduced visual wind effects in the previous major update, and now strong wind will have real physical / gameplay consequences. It can push airborne characters, dynamic grids, floating objects, loose debris, and fractures. Static grids are safe, so your bases will not suddenly fly away. But ships, rovers, crates, and anything not properly secured can be affected when the weather gets rough.
This makes planetary flight more interesting. A nimble ship may be fast and convenient, but during strong wind or a sandstorm, staying stable in the air becomes much harder. Dampeners will fight the wind, mass will help, and broad flat surfaces will catch more force. In practice, this creates a real reason to build heavier, more stable vehicles, mobile bases, and rovers for dangerous weather conditions.
You can also use the environment to your advantage. Wind is affected by terrain and structures, so mountains, valleys, hangars, and large buildings can act as windbreaks. If you park behind cover or build proper shelter, you can reduce or even block the wind force.
I really like this direction because it makes the weather more than a visual effect. It becomes part of the engineering problem. The planet is not just a place where you build – it pushes back.
LCDs
The new LCD panels in Space Engineers 2 will also be more flexible than simple static screens. We are adding functionality for dynamically changing the images displayed on the panels, which opens the door to more interactive and reactive status displays.
The system is also fully data-driven. This means modders will be able to define new LCD block types with different layouts, resolutions, and visual styles by editing definitions, without needing code changes. This is important for us because LCDs are one of those blocks that players and modders always find new uses for, so we want the foundation to be flexible from the start.
Art Team
The art team has been working on the new small and large Rocket Launcher models.
We are adding better-fitting thruster particle effects for landing, so dust, smoke, and surface reactions feel more natural when ships touch down on various surfaces.
We are also adding dynamic decals not only for for bullet hits, but also for drills impacting voxels, explosions, and wheels – so the world reacts more visibly to what you are doing.
GoodAI Swarm Robotics
We’ve finished the V2 prototype of Prometheus, our autonomous drone!
It flies, explores, and scans on its own – no GPS, no pilot, no signal required. The kind of environments where most drones become expensive paperweights are exactly where it’s built to work: indoors, in the dark, close to obstacles, off the grid.
We’re now moving from prototype to real-world pilots, and we’re looking for partners to test it with: fire brigades and disaster response, industrial inspection, construction, critical-infrastructure security.
We’re building this in Europe, for Europe. Autonomy at this level is strategically important – this technology will exist, and the question is who builds it and where. We’d rather it be us, here.
If that’s you – or you want to follow where this goes – get in touch!
Full overview and videos: https://www.goodai.com/swarm-robotics/
Question to you: What parts of your creations will you automate 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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Great work this week. Spot on with the small details that add immersion like dust from thrusters, and the decals. Its shaping up to be a beautiful and deep game.
Wind is a huge step in its right direction and already very advanced. I really hope you keep adding more planetary weather + physics to differentiate it from space more.
Agreed. The wind alone adds so much to the experience! And it surely won’t “scare off” any players for being too complex of a system to deal with. Whatever brings more opportunity, immersive alibi, or simply need to engineer into space (enfineers) 2, will likely be a good thing for the game. Besides, as long as much of this stuff is tied to a setting, then there’s nothing to really complain about! 🙂
I’m looking to do or have done a super simple aerodynamic drag mod based purely on any given ship’s 3-sided areal projection, some atmosphere dependent coefficient of drag, and that ship’s velocity vector. It will go nicely along with this addition of wind, and it, too, will prompt players to think just a little bit more about their engineering designs.
Marek, You are doing such a good job with both IP’s. I have never once doubt my trust that the sequel would be a dissapointment, because in the back of my head In always trusted the talent of everyone at Keen and you behind the wheel to guide your vision!
Thank you and everyone at Keen for listening to the community and staying true to your trademark!
Hi Marek,
First off, I just want to say how much I’m enjoying following the development of your game—the work you’ve put in so far is truly impressive, and I’m excited to see where it’s heading.
I know this might be a bit off-topic from today’s dev blog, but I had a couple of ideas I wanted to share. For waterfalls, one landmark that could serve as incredible inspiration is Victoria Falls—one of the largest waterfalls in the world. It flows into a massive gorge, which I think would be an amazing environment to explore and fly around in.
Looking further ahead, another idea could be a planet rich in a rare resource that multiple factions are fiercely fighting over. This would make it a dangerous but rewarding hotspot for players to scavenge crashed ships, with the constant threat of faction conflicts adding tension and strategy. It could give off some Dune: Awakening vibes.
Keep up the fantastic work—I can’t wait to see what’s next!
There are a lot of features I see the Space Engineers 2 team working on that I would hope could be back-ported to Space Engineers 1 and VRAGE2. These event controller events being a good example. The SE2 feature of cockpits being able to drive movement blocks on subgrids, such as those wheel suspensions on the rear rocker body of that twist-suspension test rover is another feature I’d like to see backported to SE1, as well.
It’s great that wind physics have been implemented! Since wind can now move block grids, aerodynamic wings for aircraft can’t be far off. These things are clearly connected. If wind affects objects, the game already has a foundation for working with airflow. I hope we’ll soon be able to build airplanes that stay in the atmosphere through wing lift and thrust from engines that work in only one direction.
Where do I load in outside images to LCDs? They won’t worth much if I still need to mess around with monospace texts or make a mod to add images to them.. We need simple load from disk or dedicate a directory in the SE folder for custom LCD images.. That’s the amount of effort I can spare for adding custom images in se2 in 2026..
I really like the new wind mechanics, they add so much to the gameplay.
On a different note: One action I would really like the gyros to have: Setting the grids orientation to a specific angle in a global coordinate system. Of course for this to be useful Event Controllers also need a way of reading a grids orientation.
With this it would be possible to automatically align a drone with a hub or a carrier without a large script, which would be really useful.
I’m excited for both the LCD and Event Controller blocks. However, I hope some of the issues I have with those blocks are addressed in SE2.
The issues I have with the LCD block are that for players who are not programmers, we never had enough options to get feedback from our ships using the LCD blocks. Simple things like cargo status, power bar status, and info from the refinery and assembly blocks were difficult. If I did not have a script, or kept having to access the block directly by going through the list to find each block just to know what they were doing, and having the ability to access information about my base from a single central place would make it much easier and productive.
As for the Event Controller, it worked as intended in SE, but it was limited by the remote block, which, if you are trying to have it act as a long-range ore detector in space, it could not, since the remote block could not trigger asteroids to spawn. I’m hoping that has changed in SE2 since that was one of the major issues that kept me from doing a kinda nassa like mission where I would send out a robotic space probe to mark points of interest for me to visit them later when I’ve gathered enough resources to build a ship to go there myself.
In lcd panel config, in addition to the main buttons at the bottom, some small buttons near the top copy and paste icon to add selection would be ideal.
a “+” “-” “…” – “(copy)”, “(paste)”
add to selection, remove from selection, edit selection, (visual seperator or hyphen), copy configuration, paste configuration
Very nice. I think what automation still needs though is a counting block maybe. Where you can let it count as a toolbar action and when it reaches a set count it’ll initiate an action itself.
Also that cool little mars truck reminded me that I desperately want a joint block. Something that has the movement freedom of a rotor with two counter axial hinges, but isn’t motorised.