Marek's Dev Diary: February 20, 2025 - SE2: Building the ultimate space-sim & Europe: My vision for a strong, independent future

What is thisEvery 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 itI 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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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 2Why SE2?We’re building SE2 because we believe in the dream of the ultimate space-sim—one that goes beyond anything seen before. We want a game where engineering, survival, and combat truly matter, where every action has weight, and where players can shape their own destiny in a vast, living universe.SE1 was just the beginning. SE2 is our chance to push the boundaries—to create the space game we've always wanted to play. A game where players build, explore, and fight for survival and the colonization of Almagest, a raw and untamed frontier filled with danger and opportunity.This isn’t just a sequel. It’s our vision for the future of space simulation—a world where creativity, skill, and ambition define your fate.SE1 Alpha Footage recreated in SE2FighterPilot O5 has recreated the classic SE1 Alpha Footage in SE2. Thanks very much for the effort and for reading my mind because I was honestly considering asking Janusz to do it.What I worked on this week:Music Design: We designed an adaptive music system to fit different locations and situations—sandbox mode, campaign mode, and dynamic moments based on player actions.Character Art Expansion: We recently hired an amazing new character artist, growing our team. This means SE2 will feature a greater variety of characters, suits, and skins.Character Animations & First-Person Camera: We are improving how the first-person camera moves, making sure it feels natural and immersive. One example: the first-person camera isn't just a single point but behaves more like a position on a stick, which means its rotation also introduces unintended movement. This results in unnatural optics, and we’re working on refining the offset system to make the camera feel more stable and immersive.3D UI Prototyping for Partial Copy-Paste: We have been working on a new 3D UI system for copy-paste mechanics in the game.Jump Animation Improvements: We are working on more natural jump animations—detecting whether the jump starts from the left or right foot, then adjusting fall/landing animations accordingly.We are having a discussion whether projections (blocks or blueprints) should cast shadows or not. My opinion is that they should because it will help with depth perception of the scene, player will be better aware of where exactly is the block/blueprint being projected. For illustration, here’s a screenshot with one bug where only part of the projected block is casting a shadow (the alpha masked grid inside of it).What is your opinion? Leave your comments.Future Plans: Unifying spectator mode and character controls to ensure smooth transitions between gameplay perspectives.AI PeopleWhy AI People?Our vision is to revolutionize AI NPCs and move beyond scripted interactions. We want NPCs that feel alive, form relationships with players, and generate emergent narratives over time. Whether they are your companion, rival, or life partner, every AI character should feel distinct and dynamic.What I worked on this week:Emotion System: We designed an emotion simulation for NPCs where their emotional states change dynamically based on player interactions and inter-NPC communication. These emotions affect behaviors and decisions and are conveyed through HUD, sound, voice, and animations.Daily Plans for Agents: NPCs now follow structured daily routines that adapt dynamically. Initially, we are implementing predefined schedules (e.g., farmer, soldier, etc.), but over time, LLMs will generate personalized daily plans with both structure and variability.LLM API & Perception System: We refined how NPCs interact with the LLM to optimize performance and avoid unnecessary computational load. NPCs now have a Level of Detail (LOD) perception system, meaning they are aware of events in their immediate vicinity while ignoring distant, irrelevant occurrences. This ensures that prompts to the LLM remain efficient and contextually relevant, allowing NPCs to react dynamically to their surroundings without overwhelming the system.Backstory Integration: AI People is set in a world where AGIs emerged in 2030, quickly surpassing human intelligence. Their incomprehensible goals reshaped cities into vast computational centers, disregarding humanity. Society collapsed into chaos, and by 2033, the AGIs mysteriously vanis

Feb 20, 2025 - 13:46

Marek's Dev Diary: February 20, 2025 - SE2: Building the ultimate space-sim & Europe: My vision for a strong, independent future

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 2

Why SE2?

We’re building SE2 because we believe in the dream of the ultimate space-sim—one that goes beyond anything seen before. We want a game where engineering, survival, and combat truly matter, where every action has weight, and where players can shape their own destiny in a vast, living universe.

SE1 was just the beginning. SE2 is our chance to push the boundaries—to create the space game we've always wanted to play. A game where players build, explore, and fight for survival and the colonization of Almagest, a raw and untamed frontier filled with danger and opportunity.

This isn’t just a sequel. It’s our vision for the future of space simulation—a world where creativity, skill, and ambition define your fate.

SE1 Alpha Footage recreated in SE2

FighterPilot O5 has recreated the classic SE1 Alpha Footage in SE2. Thanks very much for the effort and for reading my mind because I was honestly considering asking Janusz to do it.

What I worked on this week:

Music Design: We designed an adaptive music system to fit different locations and situations—sandbox mode, campaign mode, and dynamic moments based on player actions.
Character Art Expansion: We recently hired an amazing new character artist, growing our team. This means SE2 will feature a greater variety of characters, suits, and skins.
Character Animations & First-Person Camera: We are improving how the first-person camera moves, making sure it feels natural and immersive. One example: the first-person camera isn't just a single point but behaves more like a position on a stick, which means its rotation also introduces unintended movement. This results in unnatural optics, and we’re working on refining the offset system to make the camera feel more stable and immersive.
3D UI Prototyping for Partial Copy-Paste: We have been working on a new 3D UI system for copy-paste mechanics in the game.
Jump Animation Improvements: We are working on more natural jump animations—detecting whether the jump starts from the left or right foot, then adjusting fall/landing animations accordingly.
We are having a discussion whether projections (blocks or blueprints) should cast shadows or not. My opinion is that they should because it will help with depth perception of the scene, player will be better aware of where exactly is the block/blueprint being projected. For illustration, here’s a screenshot with one bug where only part of the projected block is casting a shadow (the alpha masked grid inside of it).

What is your opinion? Leave your comments.
Future Plans: Unifying spectator mode and character controls to ensure smooth transitions between gameplay perspectives.

AI People

Why AI People?

Our vision is to revolutionize AI NPCs and move beyond scripted interactions. We want NPCs that feel alive, form relationships with players, and generate emergent narratives over time. Whether they are your companion, rival, or life partner, every AI character should feel distinct and dynamic.

What I worked on this week:

Emotion System: We designed an emotion simulation for NPCs where their emotional states change dynamically based on player interactions and inter-NPC communication. These emotions affect behaviors and decisions and are conveyed through HUD, sound, voice, and animations.
Daily Plans for Agents: NPCs now follow structured daily routines that adapt dynamically. Initially, we are implementing predefined schedules (e.g., farmer, soldier, etc.), but over time, LLMs will generate personalized daily plans with both structure and variability.
LLM API & Perception System: We refined how NPCs interact with the LLM to optimize performance and avoid unnecessary computational load. NPCs now have a Level of Detail (LOD) perception system, meaning they are aware of events in their immediate vicinity while ignoring distant, irrelevant occurrences. This ensures that prompts to the LLM remain efficient and contextually relevant, allowing NPCs to react dynamically to their surroundings without overwhelming the system.
Backstory Integration: AI People is set in a world where AGIs emerged in 2030, quickly surpassing human intelligence. Their incomprehensible goals reshaped cities into vast computational centers, disregarding humanity. Society collapsed into chaos, and by 2033, the AGIs mysteriously vanished, leaving a transformed world behind. Our AI NPCs are aware of this past, shaping their behaviors and interactions within this new reality.
Balancing Player Control & NPC Autonomy: NPCs act independently while collaborating with the player, balancing personal goals with player requests. They can decline unreasonable tasks, prioritize their own needs, and manage schedules realistically. The goal is a dynamic system where players have influence, but NPCs remain true to their character and motivations.

Marek’s Blog: New Visuals

We are working on a long-overdue visual update for this blog—something I’ve wanted to do for years. Our amazing 2D artist, Aleksandar Serafimovski (Alek), has created new concepts that will give the blog a fresh yet timeless aesthetic.

Alek, who is responsible for all 2D art in SE2, websites, banners, and more, has poured his creativity into this redesign. Here is one of the first drafts.

Strong Europe: My Political Vision

A Sovereign, Powerful Europe

Europe must take responsibility for its own future. We cannot remain dependent on external powers for security and economic stability. To build a Great Europe, we need:

A European Army capable of defending itself.
Less regulation to encourage innovation and economic growth.
A cultural shift towards entrepreneurship, ambition, and risk-taking.
Smarter governance—fewer bureaucratic layers, more efficiency.
True unity—a powerful united Europe, not fragmented nationalist states.
Pan-European leadership—visionary leaders who unite the continent through strength and ambition.

With 450 million people, Europe has the potential to be a global economic and military powerhouse. But to achieve this, we must stand on our own.

Final Thoughts

SE2 is evolving rapidly and VS 1.1 will be released in coming weeks. AI People is shaping up to be something truly groundbreaking. At the same time, I remain deeply invested in the future of Europe and believe we must take bold steps toward sovereignty and strength.

I would love to hear your thoughts! Please share your feedback, suggestions, or ideas - what excites you most, and what would you like to see next?