Marek's Dev Diary: July 3, 2025

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 This is my unfiltered dev journal, so please keep in mind that what I write here are my thoughts and will be outdated by the time you read this, as so many things change quickly.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.

General

This week and last week, I’ve been busy with team quarterly evaluations and other administrative work. While this might seem less exciting than feature updates, team management and leadership are actually crucial topics for me. At Keen Software House, we’re building a culture that’s trustworthy and accountable, while also being friendly, respectful, and professional.

These quarterly evaluations aren’t just bureaucracy – they’re how we ensure everyone on the team knows where they stand, what they’re doing well, and where they can grow. It’s about creating an environment where people can do their best work and feel valued. I might dig deeper into our approach to leadership in a future diary (lessons learned, what doesn’t work, what does work).

Water Team created Whirlpool in a tub by accident – caused by a small hole in the armor

Space Engineers 2

The main thing that’s been occupying my thoughts is playtesting the First Time User Experience (FTUE) in SE2. The prototype is coming together nicely!

== Spoiler Alert ==

Here’s how the FTUE currently works: You spawn on Verdure planet with a GPS marker leading you to a cave. First, you’ll need to dig out the entrance. Inside, you’ll discover an unfinished small ship with several components shown as projections (thrusters, survival kit, etc.).

Your tasks include:

Mining ore within the cave
Using Backpack Building and Projection Building to weld the projected blocks
Finding batteries from a nearby stack and installing them in the ship for power
Expanding the cave entrance to fly out
Flying to a nearby mountain where an abandoned station awaits
Landing and transferring batteries to power up the station grid

This is where the prototype currently ends, but our goal is to create a 1-2 hour FTUE that concludes at the Orbital Station. After that, the freeform Colonization meta-loop begins.

The experience is guided by:

HUD objectives
GPS markers pointing to key locations

Our FTUE design goals (KPIs):

Teach players the basics
Make the process enjoyable (mining, welding, cave exploration)
Achieve first win (repaired ship & flight) within 5 minutes

The FTUE will evolve with future updates. Once we add water mechanics, we might revisit and redesign it entirely – we’ll see when we get there.

While the prototype is functional, the team agrees it’s currently missing that “WOW factor.” We’re brainstorming additional elements to make the experience more impactful.

If you have ideas for what would make this first experience more memorable, I’d love to hear them!