Gaming Space Engineers (now in BETA)

[Will]

http://www.spaceengineersgame.com/

Only in Alpha at the moment but looks interesting. Sort of like Minecraft in space

 

[Urwumpe]

I also have it on my wishlist already... but just observing it for the moment... it looks interesting.

 

[Notebook]

Saw it also on the Steam promos. For Space Engineers they seem very careless with their vehicles...should be fun.

N

 

[orb]

I've put it on my wish list, too. I even got a 25% off discount coupon from Steam for it a few days ago, valid until Nov.5, but I don't know if I buy it by that time (so you can contact me at the beginning of November if you want to use it).

 

[kamaz]

Looks cool.

Is it just me, or are there a lot of new realistic space sims recently?

- KSP
- Race to Mars
- Take on Mars
- Space Engineers

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Looks cool.

Is it just me, or are there a lot of new realistic space sims recently?

- KSP
- Race to Mars
- Take on Mars
- Space Engineers

Yeah, for whatever reason I think space is a new trend in gaming, specifically well done space games. Its great to see

Edit: Did check out the trailer, not sure how realistic it actually is, there might be hovers on the other side of the ship in the trailer, but maybe not...

Dont think the Engineeronaut should be able to run like that unless a fair amount handwavium is being invoked.

 

[Hielor]

I wouldn't really consider Space Engineers to be realistic...

I watched the video and was pretty much sold. Picked up Miner Wars 2081 for the coupon and then bought Space Engineers.

Gameplay at this point is largely lacking, but it's easy to see the promise. It's basically a CAD in space with awesome collisions at this point. Can't wait for more progress...

 

[kamaz]

I wouldn't really consider Space Engineers to be realistic... [...] It's basically a CAD in space with awesome collisions at this point.

Depends what you mean by realistic.

What I mean is that the space environment is roughly correct -- and from the video I watched the physics seems to be okay. Except for the guy running through the corridor, but that can be handwaved with magnetic boots

Yes, the components seem to materialize out of nowhere -- and I like it. Each time I think about building a space station in Orbiter/KSP I am taken back by the amount of launch operations needed.

 

[MattBaker]

- KSP
- Race to Mars
- Take on Mars
- Space Engineers

- Spacebase DF-9

 

[Urwumpe]

- Spacebase DF-9

Not sure I currently recommend this. It freezes now and I can't delete the current game to restart.

 

[Izack]

Very cool! Another one for the wishlist.

 

[C3PO]

Very cool! Another one for the wishlist.

Yes. I put it on my wishlist too, but I would like to get a bit more info on the future plans. I don't have a clear picture of the gameplay. The views and mechanics look awesome, but that's no guarantee for a good game.

 

[Izack]

Yes. I put it on my wishlist too, but I would like to get a bit more info on the future plans. I don't have a clear picture of the gameplay. The views and mechanics look awesome, but that's no guarantee for a good game.

Exactly why I didn't buy it. There is little information on what they plan to do with the game. I'm also thinking they might release an improved version of this as another title for re-purchase, as this seems to be for Miner Wars.

---------- Post added 28-10-13 at 09:24 AM ---------- Previous post was 27-10-13 at 10:28 AM ----------

Oh, screw it. I bought it anyway, after some nagging. Apparently I was being annoying enough that it was worth skipping eating out to get it instead. :lol:

So far, sort of impressed. It's a lot like the things I would raw on graph paper way back in grade school.

 

[Urwumpe]

Oh, screw it. I bought it anyway, after some nagging. Apparently I was being annoying enough that it was worth skipping eating out to get it instead. :lol:

So far, sort of impressed.

Same here Though I only had 30 minutes yesterday for testing it, before leaving for my parents place. But you can see a vision there.

 

[Izack]

Had a few hours today to give it a go:

And since there's nothing else to do:

The collisions are pretty awesome, though sometimes glitchy. Sometimes a large portion of a ship will just sort of quantum tunnel through the other vessel, coming out of the other side undamaged. Momentum also vanishes in some circumstances, like when the cockpit of a small craft is destroyed and the player is ejected; the ejecting vessel halts suddenly. It makes kamikaze runs almost totally ineffective unless the cockpit is the very last object to impact.

---------- Post added 29-10-13 at 11:42 AM ---------- Previous post was 28-10-13 at 06:01 PM ----------

Big dumb impactor punches a hole through the wall:

Same impactor tore a smaller vessel in half. I retrieved the unpowered front end by chasing it down and attaching a reactor and gyroscope to it:

The MMU controls really need work. I'd like to be able to set the maximum allowed velocity so that things going more than 5.7m/s won't be lost forever (and so it doesn't take multiple eternities to get from one construction to the next). The ability to turn kill-rotation and kill-velocity on and off without shutting down everything would also be great.

---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 AM ----------

On another note, it's incredibly annoying to be unable to rotate in certain axes just because your feet are brushing up against a wall.

 

[Artlav]

Tried it, pretty good game.
Reminds me of Cave Game, the early Minecraft, only in space.
Definitely can have potential.

Physics are somewhat awkward - they can't seem to settle on frames of reference, so if you run and jump across space from ship to ship, you will float fast as expected, but then the jetpack will turn on, and limit your velocity.

The velocity limiting gets in the way - it's always relative to the global frame of reference, so if you walk on a flying ship and turn on the jetpack you'll slam into a wall - velocity limit on it is wrt global.
Chasing tumbling ships is hard for the same reason - ships auto-brake (to global zero, what else) if there is no input.

All in all, it needs a lot of polishing, and we, the realistic space geeks, should really give input to them if we want these awkwardnesses to be fixed.

 

[orb]

Momentum also vanishes in some circumstances, like when the cockpit of a small craft is destroyed and the player is ejected; the ejecting vessel halts suddenly. It makes kamikaze runs almost totally ineffective unless the cockpit is the very last object to impact.

I guess the new update 01.004.011 released today can change that:

• Inertial dampeners on a ship can be turned on/off - press key 'X' (when off, ship won't auto-decelerate)

 

[orb]

I'd like to be able to set the maximum allowed velocity so that things going more than 5.7m/s won't be lost forever (and so it doesn't take multiple eternities to get from one construction to the next).

From my little testing since yesterday, you can move a little faster if you move in 2 directions at the same time (and 45 degrees to the target), e.g. forward and left -- 8 m/s.


On a good note, today's update added magnetic landing gears, so small ships can be landed in larger ship's hangar bay without flying away or crashing in the wall when the big ship moves, or they can be docked together.



And by the way, my first ship construction so far (if I don't count 12 engines attached only to a cockpit and generators to move faster than with a jetpack) -- a small asteroid-to-asteroid ferry:

 

[Izack]

From my little testing since yesterday, you can move a little faster if you move in 2 directions at the same time (and 45 degrees to the target), e.g. forward and left -- 8 m/s.

Yes, I've been using this trick in many games that only limit velocity by axis. It doesn't work with forward-up, though, as moving up and down for some reason disables forward-backward thrusters.

This update seems nice, but has anyone else noticed that collisions seem a bit more glitchy now? I get entire ships disappearing sometimes with only small chunks of debris, and strange distortions of damaged hull, like total flattening of one axis, or one side of every part in a constructed ship being distorted in exactly the same way on the same side.

 

[Hielor]

For faster travel between constructions, gravity tubes. Check the steam workshop for an example...