Space Engine by Cosmographic Software

[RooksBailey]

There was a surprising post that popped up on my Facebook feed a few days ago that announced that the devs of the beloved Space Engine are now a corporation!

At the end of February, the SpaceEngine team formed Cosmographic Software LLC. We're based in the United States, but have people from around the globe working together remotely.

While a lot has changed, the most important things have stayed the same: Vladimir remains in charge, and continues to work on the code himself, just like before. He’s still very much involved in all aspects of daily operations, and is ultimately responsible for final say on creative and technical decisions.

But the other developments have given the rest of us significantly more freedom to help him with the game, and to do a lot of things we might not have been able to before. It’s good news!

They are currently working on a roadmap:

And in an effort to better communicate with you, work has also begun toward some form of public roadmap, so we can help keep you up to date on what we're planning for the future. We’re not sure yet exactly what this will look like, but it’s something we’re working on, and you will likely hear more about in the months ahead.

The goal here is honesty: as a small, independent developer, we're going to encounter setbacks and issues along the way. But we don't want to hide that: we appreciate our users and our community, and we know that a level of transparency can be extremely healthy for everyone involved.

Keep an eye out for the next update (coming soon!) and more from us in the weeks and months ahead! It's going to be a busy Summer.

This all sounds very promising. The formation of a corporation and the work on a roadmap all suggest to me that the core engine is now in a good enough spot that work on the long anticipated game aspects of SE can now begin. Best of luck, Cosmographic Software!

Space Engine is currently on sale on Steam through May 30.

Honestly, I forgot all about this title over the last few years because development had seemed to slow down. But with the above announcement, I've reinstalled and I am now remembering why I lost hours to this title just by having fun jumping from star to star, galaxy to galaxy, and taking screenshots of my discoveries. It is surprisingly addictive!

Tonight, I chose a random galaxy, and a random star in that galaxy. I found a nice neptune gas giant with pretty rings (the new ring system is beautiful!):

Same planet, but a close-up of one of the shepherd moons. It has a flying saucer like shape, which I found interesting. I put the screenshot through a black and white filter because it made it look like one of the NASA shots from a probe.

I might use that one as desktop wallpaper.

This last shot is from a small, rocky moon that orbits a different gas giant but in the same system. The local star created a diamond ring effect with the gas giant:

Darn, now I am addicted again.

 

[Space Menace]

A really nice experience this sandbox title.
(not really a sandbox, but you know what I mean).

 

[Old Duck]

I own this, but I really miss Elite-like exploration gameplay, where I have a flyable ship that takes time to travel from point A to B. It doesn't have to be exactly like Elite - for example, it might be a version of Star Trek warp drive that lets me fly around. I know it sounds weird, but the instant fast travel kinda takes all the fun away for me.

 

[RooksBailey]

I own this, but I really miss Elite-like exploration gameplay, where I have a flyable ship that takes time to travel from point A to B. It doesn't have to be exactly like Elite - for example, it might be a version of Star Trek warp drive that lets me fly around. I know it sounds weird, but the instant fast travel kinda takes all the fun away for me.

I completely understand what you are saying. I feel the same way! While there is a "simulator" mode, I find it too obtuse to be fun at the moment. Something more like Elite's flight system would be great. Hopefully, this will be implemented at some point. Imagining some of the core aspects of Elite being incorporated into SE is a heady thought! [Not to keep kicking that long dead horse, but Frontier would have better spent their time perfecting their (Cobra) space engine than wandering off with some of this other stuff we've gotten over the years.]

One thing I would like to see are prop assets. I would love to see a library of assets - space stations, lunar bases, astronauts, etc. - that can be spawned just for photographic reasons. There is already a growing steam workshop library of space ships for that purpose, now I would like to see the same for surface props. Maybe they already exist but I just haven't found them yet. I remember a few years ago a fella was working on such a thing but getting the props to align properly with the surface of a body was proving too fiddly to make it fun.

I used a spaceship as a prop last night:

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Space Engine is a game? I thought it was a tool. Screenshot generator. Terrain generator. Cartography trainer whathaveyou. What's the core game loop?

 

[RooksBailey]

It doesn't have to be a binary either/or choice. Something that is a tool can also be a game. Gamers often refer to certain titles being "a sandbox," but what is a literal sandbox? Just a box with sand in it! Where's the game loop in that? Yet, sandboxes, both literal and digital, are a form of amusement, which is the strict definition of "a game." Even SE's devs refer to it as a game: "But the other developments have given the rest of us significantly more freedom to help him with the game..."

For me, Space Engine is like the exploration portion of Elite, but with a richer "sandbox." The gameplay loop may be limited to discover-->catalog (i.e, screenshots), but it is there for me, nonetheless.

Speaking of, today's discovery:

Lake Mead National Reservoir in a few more years? Or an arid subterra with a surface temperature of 117 F.

(It's the latter. It's being baked by its blue star).

I've been having fun using the auto-exposure setting than the HDR setting because auto gives a more realistic (i.e., unaided eye) image.

 

[Hank]

I DL'd SpaceEngine soon after I bought into ED early access after reading some comments about it. I thought/think its an amazing space exploration "system or application". It was not a game back then; more an astronomy program.

It had a space craft feature (back then) but I could not figure it out after hours of trying. Its very newtonian but the ship controls and UI were really bad imho. I kept it on my previous gaming rig for a long time but have not revisited it in a few years. Just using the "go to" function kept me busy for hours as I explored systems and planets in other galaxies.

GL HF

 

[Juniper]

I re-bought this a week or so ago, having bought it on release but refunded it because on a 4K screen the text and icons were impossible to see.

They finally added 4K scaleable UI in the last release, so that was my cue. The developers even contacted me personally to say that it was in beta a few weeks ago.

There's two things I like about this. 1) It shows that feedback does work, and 2) they follow through on their promises even if it takes a while.

Having more people involved can only be a +ve for this title - whether it ends up being a "game" or not. It's beautiful as it stands.

 

[Neutronium]

I've been following this project since 2011. And I am amazed each and every time by its progress and development:

SpaceEngine - [Dev Blog] General Relativity 3: Volumetric Accretion Disks and Live Event! - Steam News

In this post we talk about volumetric accretion disks, part of our upcoming "General Relativity" update. We also announce an upcoming live event, we hope you'll join us!

store.steampowered.com

Just look at the quality of the volumetric accretion disk of a black hole at medium settings (WIP):

All this is by a handful of developers.

 

[Hank]

Thank you. That is amazing. That program has been amazing since its birth. I just bought four games and now I'm going to have to figure what to do next.

GL HF

 

[Old Duck]

Well now that I've fully embraced this game (yes, I figured out how to "play" SE), I guess I should use this "official" thread for my SE screenshots rather than clutter the "Other Games" thread.

I found a pretty amazing ELW the other day, with lots of different topography, including rivers!!

One of the things that has made SE fun for me is the ability to actually fly ships. To add icing to the cake, some of the best ships are imports from another favorite game of mine - X4 Foundations!

Someday when I figure out the ship / station builder tool, I could see importing more X4 assets into SE, things like jump gates and stations. I could probably recreate entire systems from X4, allowing me to finally experience the X4 universe in a realistic planetary simulation - the best of both worlds!

 

[Hank]

spaceengine is on gog
I just found out, wonderful news

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0W7U-RKpmw

Is this what you people have found ? or is there an easier way ?
The link below looks like the ship mode back when I last played. Plus, it is pointing at The Expanse ship speed while trying to simulate the Epstein drive with SE.

Source: https://youtu.be/SIaGXcEnC74

SpaceEngine Space Flight School

Is it really better now ? (I'm still looking for some good vids). I saw an OA vid when 0.99 was released but that was a few years ago.
More info:

Ettore_BilBo's Hangar - SpaceEngine

forum.spaceengine.org

Have a nice day

Edit: changed link to another vid and added another

 

[Hank]

Revival time
Removed by me. double post sorta

Edit: GL HF

 

[Old Duck]

Is this what you people have found ? or is there an easier way ?

It's super-easy on Steam - I just grab the ships I want off the Steam Workshop (simple click) and then use the game's built in ship manager to insert a ship into Space Engine and take control over it.

As for flight model, it seems to vary by ship. There appears to be proper orbital physics and even "warp drive" physics, but I've mostly been "flying" in camera mode, and then when I find a really nice planet, I'll insert a ship there to explore the surface. It's a bit "cheaty", but for what I want out of SE, it works for me. I've yet to figure out this warp drive feature in-ship, as it seems a bit complex.

Oh, and not all ships are designed to be flown. Many are there as props for cool screenshots, and thus lack a proper cockpit / bridge. Technically you can fly any ship in 3rd person camera, but I like a cockpit wrapped around me when flying.

ps - missed your first post on this (busy time of year)