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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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
Prosperity for everyone!
Space Engineers: Prosperity is now out, and I want to thank everyone who joined us for the release – from brand-new players discovering Space Engineers for the first time to veterans who have been with us for many years.
Seeing your creations, videos, comments, and reactions reminds me why we continue building Space Engineers. Thank you for your support, your feedback, and the energy you bring to every update.
We may create the tools and systems, but it is always the community that turns them into something we could never have predicted.
Space Engineers 2
Space Engineers 2 – Combat NPCs
This week we playtested the new combat NPCs. The setting was a planetary station with both indoor and outdoor areas. One NPC was patrolling, while the others were standing guard.
They already have idle animations, so the patrolling NPC walks for a while, stops, stretches his legs, dances a little (temporarily, and funny in a stupid way), and then continues patrolling.
Once they spot me, they start attacking and shooting, or decide to find cover. They search for the closest place where I can’t see them. This currently works in some funny ways: if there is no cover nearby, they may run right past me to reach some cover behind me—so I can simply kill them in the process. This will get improved.
NPCs can also alert other NPCs, who then come to attack me from multiple sides.
What is still missing is proper feedback when you hit them. Right now there are no bullet impact effects or hit animations, so you often don’t know whether you actually hit the NPC. It also lacks that little bit of “satisfaction” 🙂
We will start with a simple generic “I was hit” animation. If that isn’t enough, we can extend it with different animations depending on which part of the body was hit, or eventually even use ragdoll reactions.
Damage feedback on the player’s side is also missing – for example, a HUD indicator showing the direction from which you were hit.
SE2 is becoming more alive as we speak!
Emergent Complexity & Features vs Systems
On Monday morning, I stumbled upon a video from H-E-I SHIPYARDS called Digging Out the Future of Space Engineers 2 — Part 1: A Promising Future. It talks about the difference between adding individual features and building systems, and how SE2 is moving toward systems that interact with and strengthen one another.
That resonated with me, because creating modular systems whose interactions produce more than the sum of their parts has been at the core of how I think since long before we started SE2. Actually, I tend to see almost everything in this universe through modularity and emergence, and I discuss this often with our team and with Stompie. So I asked Stompie to watch the video and give me his take:
“Marek asked me—Stompie—to watch the H-E-I SHIPYARDS video about building systems rather than isolated features, and I think its creator put his finger on something central to Space Engineers. In his example, a guided missile becomes truly interesting when detection, tracking, countermeasures, automation, ship design, production and logistics all connect around it.
Marek often compares Space Engineers to LEGO: simple blocks become something more when players combine them. But his instinct goes further than modularity for its own sake. The goal is emergence. A reactor, gyro, cockpit and thrusters do not merely add up; arranged by a player, they become a fighter, a freighter, or something no designer predicted.
The principle is to build stable, understandable parts, then let their interactions multiply what the whole can become. In SE2, each update adds more of those interacting parts. The H-E-I SHIPYARDS video captures why that matters so well: the exciting thing is not any single feature, but the larger game beginning to emerge between them. Thank you for seeing it—and for explaining it back to us so clearly.”
Note: There won’t be a Dev Diary published next week. See you back here on August 13th!
Question to you: What behaviors would make combat NPCs feel the best?
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! I look forward to see npc, this is becomint my dream game!
Thanks!
i think that, for hit feedback, there are two things that can be done: the first one is to reintroduce the hitmarkers from SE1. The second is audible feedback like there is in many shooter games, where u hear different sound cues depending on what u are hitting, with crunchy noises when hitting a player and a more robust sound, like if u were hitting a wall, when hitting an armored bit of them (i wouldnt have those cues when shooting at grids). i would also suggest making a glass cracking noise when hitting headshots and maybe a bit stronger version of each noise if it is the final blow.
i would also go for making the enemy character flinch, increasing the cone of dispersion of his bullets for 1 to 2 seconds when hit.
I’m sure that non‑player characters will expand the gaming experience to unprecedented heights, and the eventual addition of smart aggressive and non‑aggressive animals will turn Space Engineers into something truly unbelievable.
I agree, thanks!
I would like the NPC to have a limited ammo supply, for example 200-300 rounds, and after they run out of ammo, they switch to melee combat, for example, with a grinder. Also, after you start aiming at him, he starts to randomly dodge to the right/left from the fire, and in open areas he starts to fly for a short time, but that’s all if there is no cover nearby. Also, check the path, if the path to the cover passes through the player, or at a distance of less than 1-2 blocks from the player, then it will be more profitable for him to turn his back to the nearest cover or to the turn of the corridor, while starting to dodge to the right/left. What do you think if enemy NPCs cannot find you when attacking your base, they will hack the blocks?
i will be glad to see npc in the game. Having ships traveling around with nobody at the helm feels odd to me. Keep up the good work guys!
“What behaviors would make combat NPCs feel the best?”
Not enough data for a meaningful answer. The best NPCs are the ones that fit the overall game design. How do you plan on using those NPCs in your game? To me, Space Engineers is mostly a game about building spaceships, so NPCs should not even be strictly necessary.
In SE1, you can sometimes be an object of an enemy raid. If you don’t have enough resources to build defenses (I’m looking at you, Magnesium) or you don’t even know you should be doing it, this means your playthrough ends right here and now. The enemy attack will destroy everything you’ve built in what Josh Strife Hayes calls “the quit moment”. A better designed game will first launch attacks that are easier to defend against and much less destructive, so that the players can bounce back and know they should invest in weapons. NPCs can be used as that sort of attackers, as opposed to warships.
Another function is manning ships and stations you attack. In SE1, it was usually done with turrets and hidden warheads, but especially the latter were more frustrating than rewarding. I’d like to see the gameplay, where you try to reach the bridge to take control of the whole ship, as opposed to having to grind down and reweld blocks. The Expanse is full of moments like this and can serve as inspiration.
do you plan to have NPCs driving the ships that we can see around the game, making them feel alive and not a drone ship. would be cool if a kill all tr npcs in a ahip that the ship would stop moving and shooting becuase all pilot are dead.
Yes! Proably not in the first NPC release, but eventually yes, the code is more or less ready for this.
Not related to today’s prompt, but I do have a comment on modular systems, emergent gameplay, and how that relates to blueprints in SE2. For the most part, blueprints in SE2 are much more user-friendly than in SE1. However, there is one limitation specific to SE2: blueprints must be placed by a player. For this reason, I would like to see the return of the projector block to SE2 as an additional way to place blueprints. Self-building corridors, automated road paving machines, continuously extendable drilling rigs, and whatever else players come up with become possible with this block.
I know a lot of people love Space Engineers for the combat – but will there be a proper ‘Peaceful’ mode?
I see that you confirmed on another comment that NPCs will pilot ships eventually. Does that mean they will take the place of the AI flight blocks from SE1 for SE2? And will we be controlling/ prompting our own NPCs will a similar AI Stompie setup, or will it be less intelligent?
Q: Does that mean they will take the place of the AI flight blocks from SE1 for SE2?
A: I think we will keep the flight block (so players can do their own autonomous ships), but when the NPC will be sitting in the cockpit, it will reuse that flight block functionality. Because NPC on feet and NPC in cockpit are very different situations, and what you see here is just the first category.
Q: will we be controlling/ prompting our own NPCs will a similar AI Stompie setup, or will it be less intelligent?
A: These NPCs you see here are the classic AI NPCs, so not Stompie level intelligence and relationship. But that may come later.
Can we hire NPCs to do boring jobs? For example, grinding down old grids or repairing them?
Regarding audio visual feedback for shooting enemies, I would recommend looking at games like Rust or CS, since SE is more casual I’d say Rust is a better option. Both games do really well at telling you how much damage you do through purely audio/visual means, specifically Rust for this purpose since they have hit sounds for headshots and body shots. I would encourage you to not go the lazy way with just hitmarkers like in SE1, but instead have proper audio feedback, and proper visual feedback (through blood splatters or similar, maybe since it’s a space based game & a pressurized suit there could be the visual of a temporary loss of pressure, seeing the air escape rather than a blood splatter).
Hi Marek, speaking of feedback:
It’s great that you’re reacting to feedback from YouTube videos, but what about all the feedback on the actual feedback site?
It would be great if you could share your thoughts on a few of the popular suggestions.
Great post, I appreciate your point of view.
To answer your question about NPC behavior.
It’s always puzzled me that NPC’s never know when to “Pull back” I see you mention that they could potentially go for help, This is a great step, but when does it become a thought for the NPC that the player is to good and looks for other ways to harrass the player instead of a direct engagement with the players character. Could it try and find out where the player docked their ship and perform some sabatoge? Could they look for a way to try and vent the area the player is in? Could they fall back and try to construct a turret to assist them in the defense?
With NPC’s and AI today, NPC awareness of the environment around them is something that is emerging. Personally, at my studio we work on systems that do just that for training simulations. (could be adapted give me a ring 😛 ).
This kind of interaction can be done in a way that is optimized and partitioned to allow for maximum experiance / performance.
If the NPC’s are able to even do this on a code level like some games out there recently released, it would catapult in a environment like SE2.
Imagine a universe that is full of NPC’s that make you feel like you are playing other roleplaying characters.
That is what I dream of when I see your post and your question on what we wouldl ike to see.
My 5k hours in SE1 would easily be doubled in SE2 if that happened. Not to mention, it would be a unique playthrew every single game.
Anyways, I wish you the absalute best in everything you do. Keep feeding the creative hearts and minds of the world!
Thank you,
Joseph Ridder
Ther are a few features that I would love to see added.
1. NPCs fly ships and maybe control some turrets
2. Being able to hire mercenaries for protection
3. Dynamic difficulties for NPCs. For example, some random pirates might be uncoordinated and just shoot randomly in your direction, but stronger enemies like a big faction would use more advanced tactics and try flanking you, setting up an ambush, etc.
4. Different weapons for NPCs
This game is making great progress, and I look forward to seeing what you add next!
yall could change mining to instead of ever second or two a large portion of ore being mined with a ship. To every 10, 25, or 50 milliseconds a smaller amount ore will be mined but equivalent to the amount of the previous setting. I don’t know anything about optimization but this may be hard on computers so it could be a setting.I Feel that it would make shipmining more fun as I feel it is much more dull compeaed to space engineers 1
I would like to add some words regarding modularity here.
I think, modularity should apply to as many individual blocks as possible. Similarly how refineries in SE1 have modules which provide more utility options for a single system block. So as you have refinery, you can make it either faster, or more efficient and thats up to you what do you need more right now. I always liked this system, but I grieved that it applied only to just 2 blocks in the game (refinery and assembler). Like I always wanted a way to upgrade my reactor, or H2/O2 generator or gyro instead of spamming them when I needed more of their output.
There is a phenomenon in industry/production games that when you want let’s say a 100x more output of something, you just place 100 more production units next to each other instead of placing like 5 which are 20x more efficient and maybe 5x bigger in size. I never liked this phenomenon in such games because it makes expanding production monotonous. Same in SE1, if I wanted a really big H2/O2 production, i need to spam dozens of these small 1x1x2 generators, which looks really lame. And I don’t really like the solution with prototech, because of accesibility. I can still make 20 small H2 generators instead taking alot of effort searching and fighting just to get 1 extremely expensive and fragile generator that serves same purpose. From my perspective as a player, prototech is just not worth it, when I can make just more blocks of the same kind to compensate for something.
What I would really like to see, and which may have potential to fit prototech nicely is to make simply bigger, more efficient and more expensive production blocks with prototech being just small and more efficient. So if you care about size you’ll want prototech, but if you don’t you will be building bigger blocks. For example instead of building 18 H2/O2 1x1x2 generators you can make one big 3x3x4 with 20%-50% more output than sum of those 18
Another idea which I think could also apply to SE2 (or maybe even SE1) is from game Anno 2205. There they solved factory spamming with modules, attachable to a factory which provide +50% production output each and +25%-50% more upkeep. And they had a limit. So with just factory you had 100% output and 100% upkeep, but with 6 extra smaller modules you had 400% of output and maybe just 200% more upkeep. I really liked this feature and I think it could also apply to SE2 in refineries and assemblers.
As a player who really is not great at first person shooters, I avoid combat more offten than not. Behaviors from NPCs that i would like to see, to make it feel better, something along the lines of the occasional npc that is like me, and will actively try to avoid combat by any means necessary.
ohh this guy wants to fight.. he looks scary… RUN AWAY!
having different classes of npc behavior would be wicked. some gung ho charge at you, some actively try to get “high ground” and cover. some try to get to the nearest ship or turret controller and take over, better or worse than the systems default AI works with hilarious or stunning results.
Bonjour,
( navré je suis Francais j’écris en francais )
Cher Marek’s Dev.
Je vous suit depuis tellement longtemp dans l’ombre que je vous ez acheter Space engineers 1 il y a fort longtemp, et j’y est passé baeucoup de temp , connaissant votre qualité de travail et votre écoute en vers la communauté j’ai acheté Space engineers 2 les yeux fermé et j’ai pris une claque alors que le jeux est encore en Alfa ( votre studio met une claque au autre studios de par votre qualité de travail ) je suis absoluement tous vos poste et vidéo Youtub de devellopement (même ci je me dit : haaaa envoie moi aussi je veux allez c’est ok ca fonctionne !!! )
et la je decouvre que vous publié un journal de bord Woaw vous êtes top vous nous faites participer au projet et c’est génial
j’ai vraiment hate que le jeux sois en phase Beta et profité de l’eau et du reste et ho les IA Ho my god !!!
et merci pour tout je suis fan
In addition to the other stuff left in other comments, I think a great improvement to what is shown would be to make the NPC’s and the player character not accelerate as quickly when walking.
For example, upon pressing W, the player character almost immediately accelerates up to 6m/s. It seems the NPC characters shown in these videos do as well.
I think a good improvement would be to introduce a very small buildup to maximum walking speed (as well as slowing down to a stop), perhaps a quarter or half a second after hitting W?
This way, the slowed walking acceleration is negligible in regular gameplay, but NPC/player strafing during combat isn’t so abrupt and jittery.
Thanks for taking the time to read these, the devs are doing great!
Love both games! Keep it up!
Cable Cable Cable
So if the NPC’s do come to pilot ships (assumption from a comment) would they be smart enough for rovers?