About This Dev Diary
Every Thursday, I share some of what we’ve been working on – the challenges, solutions, and ideas that caught my attention. This is my unfiltered dev journal, so my thoughts and plans may change quickly, and nothing here is set in stone. And if you don’t like spoilers, don’t read further!
Space Engineers 1
Since our Warfare 3 reveal, we’ve received a lot of questions, many along the same lines: How will all of this actually work?
We sat down with Space Engineers Lead Designer Ryan Keel to pick his brain – this week, we’re talking Jump Detection!
How will Jump Detection in Warfare work?
Jump Detection is an optional world setting that can reveal where large, heavy grids emerge after using a Jump Drive. The heavier the grid and the farther it travels, the stronger its jump signature becomes – allowing nearby players to pick up a temporary GPS marker at its destination.
This opens up new opportunities to hunt down and intercept other players. The feature can be disabled in the world settings, and its thresholds and values are easily accessible and customizable through modding.
We’re excited about the gameplay opportunities and interactions this new feature can bring to multiplayer and PvP servers.
Warfare 3 Pack
Fighter Cockpit Type II (1x S)
Take control of a next-generation fighter from this sleek, sci-fi-inspired cockpit.
Can’t wait? Wishlist the Warfare 3 Pack on Steam right now!
And follow us for more detailed reveals every week as we take a closer look at what’s coming.
Space Engineers 2
Boatmen
The Renegades are not coming alone. Meet the Boatmen – a heavier enemy type that currently serves as leaders within Renegade encounters.
They are built to stand out from regular Renegades, both visually and in the role they play during combat, giving you a much more dangerous target to deal with when a group attacks.
We are still developing and tuning how these encounters come together, but the idea is simple: not every enemy should feel the same, and some should immediately change how you approach a fight. If you see a group of Renegades, you can think about fighting them. If you see a Boatman, run!
NPC Color Masks
We recently added the second color mask to our NPCs, which gives the art team much more freedom to create visual variation without having to make a completely separate material for every character.
We are now experimenting with different color combinations, starting with the Boatmen and Renegades to make individual NPCs feel less repetitive.
Ores Visual Overhaul
I checked in with our art team again, and this time I can show you two more ore reworks: Ice and Gold. The team has been going through the ores one by one, looking at how they read in the world and where their visual identity can be improved.
These are the latest two examples. I like showing this kind of work because even familiar materials can still benefit from another pass. Ice and Gold are next, with the art team giving both a clearer and more distinct look.
Ice
Gold
Question to you: How do you like the Boatmen Suit?
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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Everything is really great, but please finally add differently sized windows to the second game — small, medium, various angles and geometries — so we can create glazing of different shapes and sizes. Also, please finally add the small vehicle control seat that you showed at some point during the concerts for the second game. We are all really looking forward to it, so we can get around the limitations of the large control seat and the single cockpit.
The suit looks cool! Very menacing.
I mentioned before, but I *really* think that jump detection is a golden opportunity to introduce a new physical subsystem. A dedicated “jump detector” block, so that the ability to detect jumps becomes an active choice with a cost (resources, grid power, physical space) and a risk (jump detection can be disabled by cutting off power or damaging/destroying the block). Physical subsystems are so mucb more engaging and lead to so many more memorable moments.