Planetary landings, first-person shooting and space walks are all there for the taking. Space Engineers has blasted out of alpha and entered its beta phase, after three long years spent on Steam Early Access program.
Virtual trips into the cosmos are rather popular these days, so check out our list of space games for the best.
The new update adds a bunch of fresh stuff, from a complete block redesign to a tutorial campaign, and even improved multiplayer netcode.
Developers Keen Software promise that this is only the beginning too, and there will be more optimisations, tweaks and new content coming in the future. There’s a new HUD in the works as I type.
Keen see this beta launch as the solid foundation from which to build out the rest of the game. Get a handle on the changes in the video embedded above.
Head over here for the full patch notes, but you can look below to see a list of the new features added in the beta phase, including magnetic boots and drive-by turret shooting.
- New Multiplayer netcode
- Total Block Redesign; every block has been completely reworked (textures/LODs/etc.)
- New and redesigned Tools and Weapons look
- New and redesigned look for Components, Voxels
- Physics improvements
- Render improvements
- Added Campaign containing 5 missions
- Added Voice Chat (dependent on antenna network, it can be enabled by pressing U)
- Added Magnetic Boots
- Drone AI Improvements (strafing, ramming when without ammo, can use static weapons, targeting, waypoints)
- Drive-by Turret shooting (shooting from turrets while moving with vehicles/ships)
- Improved building (block size is automatically picked by the grid that you are pointing to; you can change the size manually by pressing the block button on your toolbar again)
- Double Click makes a hand tool keep working continually
- Interacting with highlighted stuff by pressing LMB and interacting with control panel RMB (only with empty hands)
- Added Corner Lights, Corner LCDs (thanks Arindel!)
- Enabled interior lights for small ships
- Added Advanced Admin Tools in the Space Master menu (thanks Rexxar!)
- Redesigned permissions ingame, added new Scripter and Moderator roles
- Added Zoom function to all turrets
- Customizable Fonts
- Added ambient occlusion setting in the Graphics Options
- Decals are now visible from inside the Cockpits
- Voxel hand can be used by Space Master
- Added Steam Achievements: http://steamcommunity.com/stats/244850/achievements/
- Raycast improvements (thanks Rexxar!): http://forum.keenswh.com/threads/new-camera-raycast-and-sensor-api.7389290/
- Created a new way for mods to store custom data inside entities: http://forums.keenswh.com/threads/modapi-changes-12-8.7389842/
- Added new toggle for Sensor for detecting subgrids
- Added a new button to rotors that allows a small rotor head to be added
- Re-worked remote access menu to be more user friendly and accessible
- Added support for CompilationSymbols arguments in Teamcity
- Whitelisted items (so they can be edited in scripts to avoid conflicts)
- Added Monospace Font (thanks @Krypt! 🙂 )
- Trees can now be cut down using the grinder/drill tool
- Added “Loading Wheel” when pasting a blueprint
- Added Workshop tag “Campaign”
- GitHub Updated