What is this
Every Thursday, I will share Dave’s notes about what we have been working on in the past few weeks. I will focus on the interesting challenges and solutions I faced. I will not be able to cover everything, but I will share my interest.
Why do I do that
I want to bring our society on this journey, and I simply like to write about the things I am excited about! This is the unarmed Dev Journal magazine, so please take into account that what I write here is my thoughts and will be old while you read this, as many things change quickly. Any plans I mention were not appointed to the stone and everything is subject to change. Also, if you don’t like spoilers, do not read this.
Space Engineers 2
The team was almost completed with the VS 1.5 modification (this week must be completed, then it will start a few weeks of test). As this teacher approaches, everyone is now turning the focus towards VS 2 – planets and survival, and I am very excited.
Some of the basic rings in the game are already well during our internal play tests: The raw detector now displays elegant raw sites on your HUD, you can dig raw, and the inventory screen allows a smooth movement of the elements between stocks and networks. During yesterday’s test, we focused on improving the network roll function (Q/E keys) that many of you noticed have not been fully implemented. I am pleased to report that it is now intended.
The art team polishes the Foxel materials for planets – cliff materials, grass, soil, sand and more. I really admire how the planets appear from orbit from 1-2 km distances – the scene to pick up. However, we still have a work to do in the medium-distance range (200-2000 meters), as some material details do not match the scale completely. This is the exact type of Polish that will make a big difference in the final experience.
Convert SE2 to game: Core/Meta Loops & Progression
This topic has become my personal priority. Many systems in SE2 are already solid and worshiped, so it’s now time to “turn it into” with purposeful and satisfactory rings.
Basic episodes In SE2 it includes exploration, engineering, fighting and different groups of these activities. One of the main design principle we implement access is to ensure the first experience in engineering is not largely complicated, which may inhibit the new players. We are doing a design of simple engineering tasks to more complicated challenges as players gain experience, but it is important that players are free to advance in any direction they want. The game will gradually provide more complexity and challenges, but you will never be forced into a specific path.
Allow me to walk for you through a tangible example: Imagine that spawning on a planet, where HUD targets go to drop the ship. The interface is intelligently directed at the locations of the resource. You are raw raw and then use Backpack Building (automatically turns raw raw into ingredients for basic blocks) welding lump mass by mass. Within a few minutes, you built your first ship, and HUD guides you to the next goal. Of course, this is just one optional path – you are always free to ignore these suggestions and form your own way across the universe.
This basic engineering episode creates satisfactory and rewarding moments every few minutes. It is something that the players will repeat regularly, so we move carefully to ensure that it remains attractive. This is just one example – we have many basic rings designed with the same care.
Identification rings Provide long -term goals. You may accept a task, travel to a specific location, solve various challenges (exploration, fighting, engineering), receiving rewards, then applying to the next task. Through this trip, you will lock new areas and enhance your colonial index – a visual map showing the almagest areas that you have already colonized. This provides intuitive and visual reactions without resorting to arbitrary gates.
Progress In SE2 it is not related to arbitrary skill trees or artificial restrictions. Our philosophy is gradually providing complexity, allowing players to learn the game systems organically while providing clear visual indicators for progress. We respect the player’s intelligence while ensuring that the learning curve does not become an educational shelf.
What you described is just a glimpse of the continuous design discussions we are conducting. There is another major topic that we are currently doing with a mental storm that is the combat rings and basic episodes – studying the reason for attacking or defending players, and what challenges will they face, what are the rewards they will receive, the fighting and the optimal distance, and whether the fighting should be automatic or manual. These decisions will mainly constitute the SE2 experience.
What are the aspects of the basic SE2 episodes that you are very excited to try? What other topics do you care about? I would like to hear your thoughts.
Personality: Safari in Botswana
We recently made a three -night weekend to Botswana (an easy option when you live in Cape Town). I always wanted to visit him, but since we had no time for the car, we have chosen this shorter trip.
Botswana is a vast country of less than 3 million citizens. They have a good education, a good judgment, and in general, people seem satisfied in their country (there is a little migration). However, our focus on nature was purely – we stayed in a camp in Delta Okavango and we enjoyed the classic safari experience: morning gaming engines and evening boats riding to monitor wildlife.
We were lucky on the first day to confront the lion’s brothers, whom we followed for about an hour. We have seen them trying to hunt two – first on war and then on giraffes. Both did not succeed. It was great to note how the lions relied on the element of surprise and the abandonment of chase if not successful in the first few seconds. The experience of sitting in a vehicle was only 5 meters away from these wonderful predators without anything between us.
To summarize: Beautiful Botswana, safe, enjoyable wildlife, excellent food, lush green spaces and happy people. We plan to return in the future, but the next time as a road on the way to experience the country more intimate.
