Space Engineers 2 News

Announcing the “Sounds of Next Frontier” - Space Engineers 2 Music Competition!

[h3]SUMMARY[/h3]

Submission Start: Monday, September 15, 2025
Deadline for Submissions: Monday, November 24, 2025
Create and submit Space Engineers 2 inspired music tracks for your chance to have them implemented into our games and published on our official youtube channel! Winners will also receive additional prizes in the form of Steam gift cards.
The top 10 entries will be chosen by the KeenSWH team.
The winners will be announced on the “Sounds of Next Frontier” livestream with Karel Antonin (music composer of Space Engineers 1 and 2) on Friday, December 12, 2025

Hello Engineers!

We are excited to announce another music competition, this time as “Sounds of Next Frontier” for Space Engineers 2!

Have you got some musical skill and a passion for the stars? This competition gives you the chance to have a music track inspired by Space Engineers 2 that you create featured in our games and on our official youtube channel. On top of this, winners will also receive steam gift cards.

Your entry could evoke classic vibes of the game, or be a truly original take on it! It could be slower or faster, dramatic or relaxed - any music genre you want.

Our past two Music Competitions were some of the most memorable experiences for us, and we can’t wait to hear the musical masterpieces you create this time. Good luck!

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[h3]HOW TO SUBMIT[/h3]

Please submit your entries to [email protected] with the subject line: “Sounds of Next Frontier”
Entries must be submitted in MP3 or WAV format. You can submit your music via Google drive links.
Each contestant can submit as many entries as they like, but each contestant can only win once.
Minimum score length is 60 seconds and the maximum length is 5 minutes.
Submissions that contain “sampled ” or derivative work must include references to the original work.
Do not use any copyrighted material in your music. If you do use copyrighted material in your music track, make sure you have permission to use it or you’re the owner of the copyrighted material.

Make sure that you read the rules carefully, so you know all of the contest guidelines before creating your musical score!

[h3]EVALUATION & RESULTS[/h3]

The period for submissions is beginning Monday, September 15th, 2025 and concluding Monday, November 24, 2025.
During the following period, we will review all submissions to ensure quality and that the rules have been adhered to. From the eligible entries, we will choose 10 winners.
The winners will be announced on Friday, December 12th, 2025.

[h3]PRIZES[/h3]

The winning tracks will be permanently uploaded to our YouTube Channel as individual videos and/or as a compilation.
Winners will receive a EUR 50 Steam gift card.
The winning music tracks will be available in Space Engineers 1 via the sound block and jukebox. (Please note: this is subject to the artistic vision of Keen Software House. Additionally, the authors of the tracks consent to having their submission added to the game when entering this competition.)

[h3]RULES & LEGAL[/h3]

https://2.spaceengineersgame.com/sounds-of-next-frontier-space-engineers-2-music-competition/

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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: September 11, 2025

[h3]Performance Optimizations[/h3]
SE2 and VRAGE3 are constantly undergoing performance optimizations - improving frame rate, reducing memory usage, speeding up loading times, and eliminating performance spikes (lags and stuttering).

Right now, one of my main focuses is scenario loading times. In the picture below you can see our internal reports, where the team tracks how these KPIs (key performance indicators) evolve from version to version (this refers to internal builds, not the public Steam version).
Loading times for scenarios with planets are gradually decreasing, which is very promising. Our current target is to get the Verdure scenario down to 30 seconds or less.

This matters not only for players but also for our team. Imagine loading a scenario dozens or even hundreds of times every day - if that adds up to an hour spent just staring at a loading screen, it directly reduces overall productivity. That’s why loading time optimizations are a top priority for VS2.

In Space Engineers 2 we are working on better deformation LODs. The goal is to keep the destruction and collisions looking detailed and believable, while at the same time achieving amazing performance during grid crashes.

These moments are core to the Space Engineers experience, and I want them to feel both spectacular and smooth, without turning into a slideshow. It’s all about finding the right balance between visual fidelity and simulation speed.

Here are some possible visuals for Safe Zones. We are experimenting with different styles and effects, trying to find a look that is clear and fits the art direction. The visuals must communicate protection without breaking the atmosphere of the world.

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[h3]MateriaLinker[/h3]
Alice Vescio is a member of our SE2 Art Team, working as an Advanced 3D Character Artist here at Keen. Recently, she shared something very cool - her first Python plugin for Marmoset Toolbag, called MateriaLinker.

This tool automatically links all your textures to their corresponding materials in one go. With just one click, it saves a lot of time when setting up PBR maps, and it works across many different naming conventions. There is even a checkbox option that will pull the Opacity Map from the Albedo’s alpha channel and link it directly into the Transparency slot.

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It may sound like a small utility, but things like this make a huge difference in daily workflows. I really like seeing our developers not only creating content for Space Engineers 2, but also pushing the tools and pipelines forward for themselves and the wider community.

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org/2025/09/mareks-dev-diary-september-11-2025/

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Space Engineers 2 VS2 Sneak Peek

So many blocks, so many construction stages, so little time…

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[h3]Join us this Monday for the Space Engineers: Apex Survival Update release![/h3]

[h3]📅 Monday, September 8th, 5 PM UTC[/h3]

🛰️ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/keencommunitynetwork
🛰️ YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/SpaceEngineersGame
https://steamcommunity.com/games/244850/announcements/detail/499453279763169534

Before the update goes live, enjoy exclusive previews from our amazing community.

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Space Engineers 2 Preview: Verdure Sunrise

Hello, Engineers!

Up next on our roadmap is Vertical Slice 2, which introduces the first phase of the Space Engineers 2 survival experience, the colonization and mission system, and two brand-new planets for you to explore: Verdure and Kemik. This early version of survival will lay the groundwork for all the core systems, including the new Almagest colonization features. We're accelerating development to get it into your hands soon, so you can start exploring - and pouring in your feedback, helping us shape the survival experience.

In the meantime, the planets are coming together beautifully, and we think it’s time for a sneak peek. Here’s your first look at the sunrise on Verdure. Still very much a work in progress, but it gives you a taste of the view you might one day call home in the Almagest System.

While you're watching, keep in mind: every inch of the planet is destructible voxel terrain, and volumetric water is coming right after Survival & Planets!

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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!

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Space Engineers 2 Dev Diary: August 28, 2025

Welder character animations and welding particles are being refined right now to be ready for VS2. It’s a small detail on its own, but when you see the sparks, the motion, and the way the character interacts with the block under construction, it adds so much to the feeling of actually building. These incremental steps keep pushing the game closer to the survival experience we want you to have.

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We are also working on ragdoll physics. Right now it’s still a work in progress, but already it makes characters feel more dynamic and reactive. Seeing a body tumble, react to collisions, or get pushed around by the environment brings a new layer of believability.

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Another water development milestone: here you can see our testing “Yellow Submarine.”
Water is all around it – and there is no water inside! At first glance it might seem obvious, even a small thing, but in reality this is a huge milestone for the system.

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We heard you want more of those amazing Verdure screenshots – here you go:

[h3]Space Engineers 1 Free Weekend[/h3]
Also Space Engineers 1 Free Steam weekend starts today!

Full Blog Post: https://blog.marekrosa.org

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