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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
VS2.3 – Event Controller
Logan “Jakaria” Tyran, Game Team: “When deciding events to implement for SE2’s Event Controller, we looked back at SE1 to see what vehicles/automatons player’s built that typically required scripts or complex solutions to what could just be a simple event. This includes mechs, subgrid wheel controllers, cranes, turrets, etc.
I’ve seen some really cool use-cases from our designers already- I implemented the Forward/Back Velocity event with the intention of using it for my own subgrid VTOL ship (to rotate the nacelle approximately in the direction of thrust when hovering), and instead the designer used it to make automatic reversing lights for their car.”
Sam Andrews, Design Team: “Here you can see the Event Controllers being used for scriptless controlling of robotic arm using WASDQE and mouse to control its movement!”
Event Controller set to display “Safe Speed Active” when under 20 m/s; otherwise, it flashes red and displays “Safe Speed Off.
And Event Controller used for Breaking/Parking Lights:
The Art Team is finishing designs of the SE2 Control Panel block – place it wherever you need!
Light Panels
Andre Lopes, Art Team: When creating these light panels, I focused on making them look good in the back, in case the player wants to use them also as decoration. With that in mind, I tried to make sure they all look well stacked, and also have some continuity in the design between sizes. Also tried to shut down emissives when fractured, so that it has better looking destructions.
VS4 – NPCs
Key improvements are being made to the NPC behavior tree, including working voxel surface navigation. It allows NPCs to effectively follow the contours of voxels and asteroids, successfully sticking to the ground.
Patrol & Search Behavior
This behavior dictates that an NPC will patrol its area and investigate if triggered by an alert from sound or partial sight. If the NPC makes direct visual contact with a target during its investigation, it will transition to an attack.
And the Platform Team is developing more internal tools to help us – here you can see our brand new NPC debugdraw.
Question to you: What will be your first Event Controller contraption?
Share your thoughts in the comments below – I read them all, and they’re one of my favorite parts of making our games.
Subscribe and get an email whenever I publish a new post!
So player input is considered an event as well. Interesting approach.
I’d like to know more about how exactly different input events are mapped. Axis, scroll wheel, button press and button hold, differences between mouse and controllers and so on.
As far as I understand, the event controller triggers only 2 state slots upon reaching a certain threshold? I’d like to know if there will be a way to map continuous values between functional blocks. For example, map a piston extension percentage to a hinge angle.