Space Engineers

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Space Engineers
Space Engineers 1.jpg
Original title Space Engineers
Studio Czech RepublicCzech Republic Keen Software House
Publisher Czech RepublicCzech Republic Keen Software House
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 February 28, 2019
platform Windows
Game engine VRAGE 2.0
genre Open world game , simulation game
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
language multilingual, u. a. German
Current version 1,193
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12 and up

Space Engineers ( dt . Space Engineers ) is a voxel -based Sandbox - computer game playing km optionally in an asteroid field or up to 120 by measuring Planets in space. The game is being developed by the Czech developer Keen Software House and was initially available as an early access title. It provides an open world environment in which players can build various functional constructions, such as spaceships. The pre-alpha version was released on October 23, 2013 on Steam . The official release of the finished version took place on February 28, 2019, and accordingly the game left the Early Access program.

Game mechanics

Demonstration of adding new blocks to an existing structure.
An astronaut mines ores on an asteroid with a hand drill.
First person view from the cockpit of a small spaceship.

The game begins by joining a world in multiplayer or by creating a new world of your own in single player. In this case you first have to set the number of asteroids and the equipment available at the beginning. Later in the game, the player controls a single astronaut known as a space engineer. The player can now build a platform on an asteroid, a small or a large spaceship. This starts with placing a landing gear on spaceships or a block on platforms, which can then be expanded with structural, functional, interactive or aesthetic blocks, which also have different sizes. To complete blocks, you need a welder . In addition to the welding machine, there are other tools and weapons. Most blocks can be damaged and deformed in collisions and by weapons. Some blocks have built-on control fields that can be used to display and change the status of other blocks in the structure. Functioning blocks need energy that can be generated in the same structure by nuclear reactors and solar panels , and on planets also by wind turbines. Solar panels produce less energy than nuclear reactors, but these need uranium to generate energy.

There are three types of structures: platforms, small and large spaceships. The size, the resources required and the availability of the blocks depend on the type of structure. You cannot build collectors and refineries on small spaceships, while Gatling cannons can not be used on large spaceships . For this you can place AI-controlled Gatling and rocket guns there. Blocks built on small spaceships are generally smaller than the blocks on platforms and large spaceships. A large block has an edge length of 2.5 meters, a small one 50 cm.

When structures have a cockpit , gyroscope , thrusters, and power source , the player can move and control them. To fly in all directions, the structures must have at least one engine up, down, front, back, left and right.

The player can fly up, down, front, back, left and right in space with the help of his jetpack , which is integrated in the astronaut's suit. It can also rotate clockwise and counterclockwise. With structures as well as with the jetpack, the player can switch the inertia damper on and off. The Jetpack consumes hydrogen from version 01.105 .

If the player turns off his jetpack on a structure or an asteroid with an activated gravitational generator, he will be attracted to the object. As in most first person shooters, the vertical viewing angle is then limited to −90 to 90 degrees. If the player leaves the edge of the structure, he will fall down until the radius of influence of the gravity device ends. At this point the jetpack switches itself on automatically.

Different types of transport ships randomly spawn in different locations and then fly around the world. The spaceships can be captured and looted by the player. Some ships have Gatling guns and others explode if the player tries to take them over. With version 01.062 the so-called "Exploration" feature was introduced, since then ships built by players and selected by the developers can be found randomly in the world. From version 01.100 on there are also pirate drones and ships spawning randomly in the world, which attack the player or his ships and stations.

Creative mode

In creative mode, the player has an infinite amount of resources, can immediately build tools and blocks, is invulnerable and can duplicate ships. In the beginning, Creative Mode was the only game mode in Space Engineers. On November 5, 2015, the so-called "Space Master" mode was introduced, with which server administrators can also use properties of the creative mode in survival mode, for example to manually remove drifting junk.

Survival mode

In survival mode, the player has to mine ore with the hand drill or special ships in asteroids and melt them to build tools, weapons and blocks and to produce energy. In order to build blocks, the player first needs the necessary components, which he can manufacture from the molten ores in the "assembler" or steal from transport ships. To avoid death, the player must regularly recharge his suit energy and health at the infirmary, where he can also change the color of the suit.

Planets

On November 12th, planets were integrated into the game with version 01.108 (see development history ). This feature was announced nine months earlier. With the introduction of the planets, the minimum system requirements were increased. Players whose PC only supports DirectX 9 cannot use this feature.

properties

Planets can have diameters between 19 km (moon) and 120 km. In November 2015 there were six types of planets:

  • Leaning towards the earth : lakes, forests, meadows, mountains and snow inhabited by wolves (breathable atmosphere)
  • Based on Mars : Large dusty deserts & canyons (thin atmosphere without oxygen)
  • "Alien": A strange planet with its own flora, which is home to aggressive spider creatures (officially: Sabiroiden ) (denser atmosphere with little oxygen)
  • Leaning against the moon : gray dust and stone deserts, occurrence of ice (no atmosphere)
  • Based on Europe : consisting mostly of ice (thin atmosphere without oxygen)
  • Based on titanium: also inhabited by sabiroids (thin atmosphere, no oxygen)
  • "Triton": ice planet, uninhabited (oxygen atmosphere)
  • Further planets can be loaded from the Steam Workshop.

With the update, a new type of engine was introduced, so-called atmospheric engines. These only function within the atmosphere and consume energy. In a live stream on Twitch it was said that there are now three specialized types of engines: the previous ion engines, which can be used almost exclusively in space, the hydrogen engines introduced with version 01.105, which require hydrogen instead of energy and due to their significantly higher thrust especially useful in the gravitational field of planets, and the new atmospheric engines. According to chief developer Ondrej Petrzilka, it should be a big step in the future to build the first spaceship that is able to leave a planet; Before stepping into space, life on a planet will be an important part.

Planets are solid, raw materials can be found on them like on asteroids. The generator for landscape and vegetation was taken from the sister game Medieval Engineers. Marek Rosa wrote on his blog that theoretically you could drill a hole from one pole to the other, but that would have to invest a lot of time.

Since liquid water is a great challenge according to the developers, and you have to go through all possible scenarios first to ensure that the game does not become unplayable, instead of lakes of water, frozen lakes can be found on the planets as the source for the the ice required for the production of acid and hydrogen is used.

AI enemies have also been added at the same time as the planets. These are so-called sabiroids , an aggressive spider race that occurs exclusively on the alien planets. There is also a station of the pirates present in the game from version 01.100 on every planet, which incessantly produces drones and sends them towards the player.

Development history

The development of the survival mode began at the end of the summer of 2013. On March 24, 2014 Keen Software House announced that two milestones in the development of the game had been reached: the survival mode and the multiplayer mode .

On May 14, 2015, the development studio made the source code available to the gaming community to enable easier modding or even games based entirely on Space Engineers; a proprietary GitHub repository was activated for this purpose .

On February 18, 2015, Marek Rosa announced in a blog post that they were working on integrating planets and oxygen into the game. Oxygen was introduced on March 19, 2015 with update 1.074. On November 9th, Marek Rosa announced the release of the planets for November 12th in update 1.108. The update was released on November 12th after a two-hour live stream that the developers held on the Twitch streaming platform together with well-known YouTubers from the Space Engineers community . Planets were only released in the DirectX 11 game version . In a video dated December 2, 2015, in which he spoke about the evolution of the planets, Marek Rosa called the planets a "game-changing feature" , even bigger than the two previous milestones survival mode and multiplayer mode.

On November 13, 2014, Headup Games launched a limited edition . In addition to a second license that can be given away, this contains stickers, so-called "Artcards" and the two titles Miner Wars 2081 and Miner Wars Arena, also from Keen Software House . The limited edition cost 11 € more than the download version.

Sales figures

As of February 24, 2014, 250,000 copies of the game had been sold. On October 20, 2014, Keen Software House announced that it had sold one million copies.

reception

Space Engineers was voted fourth best game in 2013 at the IndieDB Game of The Year awards ceremony .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ pcgamer.com
  2. ↑ rockpapershotgun.com
  3. ↑ Marek Rosa: Block Size. In: Forum "General Discussions". Steam Community, October 26, 2013, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Goerge Mamakos: Update 01 062 - Super-large worlds, Procedural asteroids and Exploration. Steam Community, December 25, 2014, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  5. ↑ George Mamakos: Update 01.100 - Drones, Pirate bases, Bugfixes and Planetary teaser. Steam Community, September 18, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  6. ↑ spaceengineersgame.com
  7. ↑ Drui: Update 01.107 - Space Master mode, Building from cockpit, bug fixes. November 5, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  8. ^ A b Marek Rosa: Space Engineers: Planets, oxygen, DirectX 11, optimizations and multi-player. February 18, 2015, accessed November 11, 2015 .
  9. ↑ a b c Marek Rosa: Planets! Because you wanted them. November 12, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  10. ↑ a b c Alice O'Connor: Intergalactic Planetary: Space Engineers adds Planets. Rock, Paper, Shotgun, November 13, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Jordan Erica Webber: Space Engineers gets moddable, destructible Planets. PC Gamer, November 13, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  12. ↑ a b Drui: Update 01.108 - Planets. Keen Software House, November 12, 2015, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  13. ↑ a b Alice O'Connor: Space Engineers Shares Source Code . Rock, paper, shotgun . May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ blog.marekrosa.org
  15. ↑ gamasutra.com
  16. ↑ Marek Rosa: Space Engineers - full source code access, total modifications and 100,000 USD fund . marekrosa.org. May 14, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015: “ Today we have a very important announcement for our modders and our community. We decided to give you 100% complete access to Space Engineers' source code. This comes as a continuation of our decision to give more freedom to modders and community. "
  17. ↑ Space Engineers on github.com
  18. ↑ George Mamakos: Update 1.074 - Oxygen! Keen Software House, March 19, 2015, accessed November 11, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Marek Rosa: Planetary free-fall & no more teasing: Nov 12, 2015. November 9, 2015, accessed on November 11, 2015 .
  20. ^ Marek Rosa: Dev diary: Planets, a game changing feature. YouTube, December 2, 2015, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Tobias Münster: Space Engineers - Box version goes on sale. Gamestar, October 24, 2014, accessed November 15, 2015 .
  22. ↑ dsogaming.com
  23. ↑ spaceengineersgame.com
  24. ↑ indiedb.com