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Space Engineers 2 News

Space Engineers 2: Vertical Slice 1.2 Arrives April 14!



Please join us for Space Engineers 2 Alpha: Vertical Slice 1.2 Release Livestream!



In survival, players will build in projection mode (so first as a projection, and then weld it). We need a particle effect for it, so here's one prototype.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The new IK is great, but when you walk up stairs or ramp, in first person mode, the camera goes up and down, and what you stop it continues in the movement for a tiny moment, and this is precisely what we wanted to clean up in first person mode (no secondary movements in first person mode, just clean abstract camera sliding through space). So we will look on this in the future in the polishing phase.

This week we had our regular playtest, and things I focused on where:
  • Consumables - healing via medikit (automatic or manual)
  • Death - from health damage or collision, and respawn
  • Caves on the planets - we have a couple of caves but also a CSG merging algorithm, so we can merge (add or cut) many of them one through each other and create unlimited variations. They look good, realistic. What needs to get improved is the voxel material (stone) inside of the mountains (planet), it doesn't look pretty.
  • Shooting from the debug gun has now correct recoil and camera shake. But I also realized that the way we portray the gun on the screen is not what I am used to in other FPS games - so we will move the hand a bit forward, and more to the center. Right now it's obscuring too much of the screen space and also the angle feels off to me. Here I used new ChatGPT image generation model to illustrate how it could look (the input was the screenshot from game + prompt to move it further from camera and more to the center)

Nobody ever mentioned it but I think there's an audio lag in our GUI mouse over sound effect. Like, when you hover your mouse over buttons, it doesn't cling instantly, it feels laggy. We will be looking at it.

You will be able to switch between the toolbars via ALT + CTRL + Mouse wheel. I hope in future we find some simpler shortcut.

We also wanted to playtest ore detection mechanics, but that one got postponed to the next playtest.
The deco prototyping is going better than I hoped for (these are the blocks that are not our usual big Deco blocks; they more like small things you can use to make your interiors look not so blocky and simple; they are not purely decorative like a painting or vase, because they have structural function). I expect players will use them to create rich looking blueprints!



Equip and unequip animation is coming along nicely as well.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
More Flora!


And as always, I'm amazed by the beautiful things our players are creating!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1133870/workshop/






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https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614307366
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614306758
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614306629

Weekly Update: Wide & Narrow Grated Stairs


Hello, Engineers!

This week we are introducing two new blocks that will help expand your building options!
The Wide Grated Stairs and Narrow Grated Stairs are now available. These new blocks are designed to match and work with the existing G-Screen-Structural-Catwalks, making it easier to build clean and connected walkways.

Next week, look out for the highly anticipated Vertical Slice 1.2 update, bringing various improvements to mechanics and interface refinements, coming April 14th!!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Please join us for Space Engineers 2 Alpha: Vertical Slice 1.2 Release Livestream!




🛠️ Feedback & Support - https://support.keenswh.com/
🗺️ Roadmap: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/roadmap-2/#current
🛰️ Discord: https://discord.gg/keenswh
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https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614306758
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614306629
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953388622676258

Dev Diary - April 4, 2025

  • We released a much requested set of blocks this week ;)

  • The team is working on VS 1.2, VS 1.5 and VS 2, but I was focusing on other projects this week so I don’t have that many SE2 updates

  • We tweaked the 'acceleration-based camera shake' feature, which creates camera movement proportional to acceleration. Higher acceleration produces more shake.
    The feature is disabled for standard walking/running movements to prevent annoyance, but activates during higher-acceleration scenarios like boost jetpack mode or when piloting ships with powerful thrusters.
    Our next step is balancing the effect to provide meaningful feedback without becoming overwhelming. We're also carefully considering implementing similar effects for deceleration that enhance immersion without being excessive.

  • VRAGE Render team is doing few experiments with clouds



  • GUI and HUD prettification - we had a meeting with UI artist Alek, our game designers and programmers, to discuss specific changes to our GUI and HUD to make it consistent across the entire game, fix some UX issues and inconsistencies, and make it aesthetically pleasing. We ended up with a big list, so I'll mention only some:
    • Many screens don't have proper layout with good proportions or things like golden ratio
    • Back button is often over a horizontal line which makes you worry where it belongs (it breaks the Gestalt principle), the same for Load button in the Load game screen
    • There are too many font sizes so we will narrow it down to max 3-5 sizes and use only those across the entire game
    • There are too many colors (black, gradient of black, blue, blue with some green, etc.) so we will also narrow them down and make them consistent across the entire game
    • Text size in HUD (especially the tooltips) is probably too small for console players (they would probably not pass certification) so we need to improve that too
    • The biggest work will be to polish the screen layout of many screens (G-screen, Terminal, Game options, etc.) to be intuitive, things that belong together to be framed together, proper frame and background
    • Also we allow players to change the GUI background opacity which may make some screens unreadable on bright scenes, so we will be addressing this too.
    • I know that many players probably don't worry about this stuff but we want to be proud of our work, and we simply can't leave it like this!
  • Natiq and Mirko (our artists) are working on planetary textures and biomes. This is a big task, we still have many things we need to improve to make our SE2 planets look amazing. One thing that they proposed and we are considering is the terrain displacement in the far distances. I am not sure yet which way we will go (we can do it only visually, we can do it in terrain data - in voxels) but I think it’s very important for visual pleasure!





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➡️ Connect and find us on your platform of choice: https://www.keenswh.com/connect/




https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512954475614306629
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953388622676258
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953841353753612

Weekly Update: Conveyor Tubes, Adaptors


Hello, Engineers!

This week we’re adding a much-requested set of blocks - Conveyor Tubes and Adaptors. These new blocks let you start wiring up your ships for survival, making them more and more survival-ready as we move toward VS2.

Conveyor Adaptor Straight
A straight conveyor block with large ports on each end and small ports on all four sides - top, bottom, left, and right.

Conveyor Adaptor End
Connects large conveyor ports to small conveyor ports, allowing transitions between conveyor sizes.

Conveyor Tubes (13x)
A set of basic conveyor blocks in both large and small sizes. Some variants include access hatches, which can be used as interaction points for the conveyor system - and in the future, the inventory system.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



Please join us for Space Engineers 2 Developer Livestream!

Image Credits: Hammer-head by fish




🛠️ Feedback & Support - https://support.keenswh.com/
🗺️ Roadmap: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/roadmap-2/#current
🛰️ Discord: https://discord.gg/keenswh
📫 Newsletter: https://www.keenswh.com/newsletter
➡️ Connect and find us on your platform of choice: https://www.keenswh.com/connect/




https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953388622676258
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953841353753612
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953388622676244

Space Engineers 2: Planetary Flora Sneak Peek



We’ve made progress with planetary flora in Space Engineers 2! Wind animations have been added, bringing more life to the environment, and we’ve extended flora draw distance through the VRAGE3 Render system.

Please keep in mind that what you see is still a work-in-progress and not the final version - there’s more to come!

Want to get our teasers early and enjoy exclusive content? Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.keenswh.com/newsletter and be the first to get the latest updates, sneak peeks, and more!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



🛠️ Feedback & Support - https://support.keenswh.com/
🗺️ Roadmap: https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/roadmap-2/#current
🛰️ Discord: https://discord.gg/keenswh
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➡️ Connect and find us on your platform of choice: https://www.keenswh.com/connect/




https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953841353753612
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/512953388622676244
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1133870/announcements/detail/586136154494994350