Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Microsoft are bringing Maneater back to Game Pass. Yesterday they unveiled the next batches of Game Pass additions and two are returnees, with the delightful fighty platformer Indivisible accompanying brutal shark 'em up Maneater. What's more important is that it's adding the game with the cutest little Nurglings, grimdark retro-styled FPS Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun. The rhetoric of 'purging xenos and heretics' surely doesn't apply to these darling babies. Read on for all the games coming to (and going from) Game Pass over the next few weeks.
]]>Space Engineers feels ancient to me at this point, but it seems only to grow in popularity. Its developers continue to support the game, too: today saw the release of the 1.199 major update and the Heavy Industry DLC pack. The changes are largely cosmetic, but it's good stuff if you like building big factories full of pipes.
]]>When the historians of the future cast their cyber-eyes over the deluge of stupidity we encrusted upon the primitive internet, they will see that our fables, our moral storytelling, was mostly conducted with flashing colours and double-jumps. Yes, videogames have adopted the moralistic finger-wagging of fairytales and Victorian novels, for better or for worse. They have taught us a lot about ourselves and our place in the world. Here are 13 of the "best" moral lessons from PC games. Yes, you may take notes.
]]>For reasons, Space Engineers got its hooks into me last week. I had plans to fly around in space exploring, salvaging, and maybe pirating some rich jerks. But I started on a Mars-y orange planet (I am assured that Mars is not actually red, just its atmosphere), and had to get to space first. Well, first I had to figure out how the game worked, which was needlessly difficult, but whinge moan complain, that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about what I built.
]]>Everyone loves a good RPG right? Compelling dialogue, interesting choices, the gradual accumulation of power to defeat a big baddie. Problem is proper, deep ones take years to make and are becoming rarer all the time. So what’s the solution? Simple: hack other games into being RPGs!
I’m not talking about modding, or other feats of technological wizardry. I'm taking about shoe-horning an RPG into existing games in the name of fun, with just your imagination. I recently put this into practise as the Game Master, ODD the robot, on the adventures of the Wastes Of Space. I helped some of RPS's staffers have some ridiculous space RPG shenanigans, in a sandbox game about physics and engineering. And you can make your own fun just like this! How you may ask? Well, with these five surprisingly detailed steps.
]]>COMMANDER'S LOG: SPACE TIME 9333333333333-[[[[[CHECKSUM ERROR:ℂlⓞ匚Ҝ'? Ｂ?ⓁĻ??ⓚ?єᵈ}}#....[
Alice B: Oh no. I'm back here. It takes me a minute to work out where "here" is, but my hindbrain's way ahead of me, already shuddering in revulsion. I'm in the bloody spider. Or rather, the gigantic vessel that looked like one. The name comes to my tongue like acid reflux: The Loveless. My self-built prison, and my only hope of escape from this life. There's the revulsion again, as I remember more. The planet. The drills. Those godawful, squabbling buffoons who call themselves my crew. The helper android, ODD. And the mission.
The mission! Adrenaline surges through me, and I lurch from my bed. The mission! We were mining gold, for those heartless suits who sent us here to the rotten edge of space. A ton of the wretched stuff, or else they were going to send drones to liquidate us. When I went to sleep, we were way under quota, and our time was almost up. We've got to get to work! I'm punching in an emergency broadcast to the crew, when I stop in my tracks. The space clock's looking a bit funny. In fact, everything's looking a bit funny. That's when Security Officer Crowley wakes up, and things get really weird.
]]>Previously on Wastes of Space: Science officer Cox went rogue, sabotaging the moving base Loveless while the others slept, and fleeing to set up shop by himself in the distant mountains. After an initial panic, Commander Bee and Security Officer Crowley got the damage under control, and even got the base moving at last. After the inevitable flip onto its back, it got underway properly and set off on a mission of vengeance, only to be menaced by a sinister black aircraft...
]]>Previously on Wastes of Space: Hapless astronauts Alice B, Alice L, Matt and Nate were duped into signing up for a one-way mission to the distant exoplanet known as Horace’s World. Alas, they were not there to make new lives for themselves among the stars, as they believed - they were indentured labour, bound to mine 1,000kg of gold and launch it into orbit for their sponsor: the rapacious megacorp Royal Planetary Services.
Despite their foibles (Science Officer Matt believes he is a god, while Security Officer Nate - who turned out to be a clone of Science Officer Matt - is fixated on dungeons), they’ve managed to survive against the odds, thanks to the help of the enigmatic android ODD. When we left them last, the colonists had just bedded down for the night in the belly of their freshly built mobile mining base, the Loveless...
]]>Last time on Wastes of Space: In need of a mobile base, the gang started building a colossal metal spider called the Loveless, in homage to Commander Bee's favourite film. Real spiders showed up, causing some consternation, and a lovely bedroom was build inside the giant spider's bum.
SECURITY OFFICER’S LOG: SPACE TIME 10438494-3383398
Nate: Today starts like every other day on Horace’s world: I open up my space laptop, open my space mail, and stare vacantly at the latest missive from Brent, wondering how we’ll ever fulfill this maniac’s thirst for gold.
]]>Last time on Wastes of Space: While the rest of their crew languished indoors with moon mumps, Matt and Nate built cars and had a big silly race. They even tried to become friends, but it all got a bit toxically masculine and led to seething resentment. In any case, Matt won, and was awarded the rights to design the colonists’ new mobile base...
]]>Last time on Wastes Of Space: The RPS crew managed to firm up their toehold in the alien hills of Horace’s World, under the tutelage of their peculiar assistance droid, ODD. Survey Officer Ligz went on an ill-fated mineral-seeking expedition, Science Officer Cox decided he was a god, and the increasingly authoritarian Security Officer Crowley used all the crew’s metal to make a hooning great space prison.
]]>Last time on Wastes of Space: After having been dumped on the alien backwater known as Horace’s World with barely any kit and even less of a plan, Alice, Matt and Nate finally managed to meet up, thanks to their robot friend ODD (and his Vengabus). In one place at last, they laid the foundations of their colony, and began the backbreaking work of taming the final frontier. Also, Matt learned to fly, and they built a car called the Eiffel 69.
]]>Last time on Wastes of Space: Alice, Matt and Nate were sent into the black with no training; three chumps signed on as “bronze level” colonists with Royal Planetary Services, and commissioned to find riches at the wild edge of space. After making landfall on an unnamed world, they found themselves separated, but in radio contact with the enigmatic robot ODD. Despite helpful instructions from their new friend, they were repeatedly savaged by wolves, and turned into smears of red on the mountains by jetpack accidents. As night fell, things were looking bleak.
]]>Earlier this week, four lucky inhabitants of the RPS Treehouse were selected to travel… to Space. Our mission was to colonise a distant world, using only our wits, our brawn, and the game Space Engineers. None of us had ever played it before, and all we knew about it was that it was reputed to be as complicated as it was unforgiving. But humanity didn’t reach the moon via careful planning and risk assessment, did it? To hell with the odds: it was time to leap into the void.
]]>I've always admired how Space Engineers stuck to its guns - while it may have added a couple small scripted scenarios, it's still just a game about building, with no overarching plot. Even as it exits early access today and launches in full, Keen Software's game about being an astronaut engineer remains a true sandbox. Players bodge together improvised spacecraft (optionally with friends) and make their own fun. Whether that fun involves solitary mining and construction or multiplayer team shooter scenarios is up to the players. See the launch trailer below.
]]>Build-o-banter space sandbox Space Engineers is a game I'd forgotten was still in early access, seeing as we've been able to fly ships shaped like sharks and Homer Simpson and such since 2013, but it is. Keen Software House last night announced that Space Engineers will finally blast off next Thursday, February 28th. Much like the big daddy of build-o-banter sandboxes, Minecraft, it sounds like the distinction between early access and out won't mean much and development will continue but hey. This will be the point, Keen say, that they "have a solid foundation" to build upon.
]]>Popular sci-fi construction sandbox Space Engineers has always been fun to play solo, but multiplayer with more than a handful of players was a frequently miserable, laggy experience until today. Developers Keen Software reckon that with today's patch - update 1.187 - they've finally cracked it. They've even snuck in a few new features, such as multiplayer safe-zones (where you can't wantonly break stuff or shoot each other), plus a new female model for your virtual space-person.
]]>The best thing about video games, experts agree, is particle effects that spray, ping, spang, billow, and zbloom all over the place. Crafty space sandbox Space Engineers has recognised this in its latest big early access update, adding a new particle system which showers sparks, glimmers, and clouds all over the place. As it right and good. The update also spruces up the game's looks overall, making it simultaneously fancier and closer to its bold and blocky original look. The update also brings a new physics system for wheels, making spacecars less likely to freak out or flip while you're admiring the particle effects they kick up.
]]>Space Engineers [official site] is still in early access but has now officially reached beta status. I believe means Keen's software rocket is still risky enough that they wouldn't send humans up but if a few monkeys explode in the name of progress, so be it. Perhaps one such monkey is you. The update blasting the space craft-o-build-a-sandbox into beta has brought new multiplayer netcode, a tutorial campaign, redesigned and rebuilt blocks, magnetic boots, improvements to rendering and physics, and other such neat-o improvements.
]]>I haven't played anything like enough of sandbox building/exploration game Space Engineers [official site], but the recent addition of explorable planets looks like a solid gold reason to. They arrived back in November, but this new video makes a strong case for why they demand more attention.
]]>Last month, Keen Software House added planets and moons to their Early Access intergalactic sandbox adventure Space Engineers [official site] as "a result of some early access player feedback". In what Keen's founder Marek Rosa labels a "game-changing feature", players can now manipulate the landscape as they see fit - leaving behind a persistent footprint in their wake. In a new developer diary, Rosa explains how he and his team arrived at the decision to add the game's most ambitious feature yet.
]]>As well as trying to trap a brain inside a computer, Keen Software House want to squeeze the whole dang universe into one too. Their latest Early Access update to Space Engineers [official site] last night added diddy 'planets' and moons to its sandbox space, so you can now leap off your spaceship and plummet all the way down onto a planetoid, if that's a thing you want to do. When their AI escapes, it'll fire us at planets with a spacegun as revenge for trapping it, so we better get used to the idea. Or you could land to explore, build, fight, and all that, I guess. Whatever.
]]>Of all the fanciful claims made of video game technology, my favourite has always been neural nets and artificial brains. Imagine if video game men were alive! Your soldiers would learn from battle! They'd write letters to their virtual families - which you can read! Gasp as the life leaves their little digital eyes, and wonder what they believe comes next! Oh, it's always a load of tosh.
You'll excuse me if my meatbrain smirks as I respond "Whaaat?" to Space Engineers developers Keen Software House announcing plans to make an AI brain "which operates at the level of a human brain and can adapt and learn any new task". Bit late for an April Fool, isn't it?
]]>145,000 lines of code got the Apollo Mission to the Moon, or so The Internet tells me. It takes a fair few more than that to crash a spaceshark into Space Station Homer's crotch. Don't believe me? Fine, go count the lines yourself.
Space Engineers [official site] developers Keen Software House are giving people access to their sandbox space sim's source code, letting folks tinker with the game way more than its mod tools allow. Keen also announced they plan to put up $100,000 (£63k) to support folks making total conversions. Crumbs!
]]>It was only when Marsh prematurely evaluated all over Medieval Engineers [official site] that I realised its initial Steam Early Access launch lacked multiplayer. I'm inattentive, me. But developers Keen Software House (them lot also behind Space Engineers) had shown multiplayer in its trailers and screenshots and I'd blithely assumed... that doesn't matter now.
Multiplayer arrived in the castle-building/smashing sandbox yesterday for both its creative and survival modes. You can now smash your pal's castle to pieces.
]]>While Space Engineers is still in Early Access, developers Keen Software House are looking for more engineering opportunities. Today they announced Medieval Engineers. Given that I used to cheekily describe Space Engineers as "a Minecraftbut in space," I don't know where this leaves me. Medieval engineers in their leather aprons will dig and landscape, of course, but it'll also have mechanical gadgets, and physics-based building and destruction with structural integrity. You can design siege engines to smash your mate's castle, for starters. Come watch that in the trailer.
]]>Even as a casual observer of the genre, I get excited when sandbox block 'em ups add programmable bits. Some of Minecraft's redstone devices are staggering in their scale and mechanical complexity, and I suspect we'll see some awfully clever things in Space Engineers. An update last week added programmable blocks which are properly programmable, running C# code, which I imagine will power all sorts of delightful devices and cruel creations for me to enjoy seeing in videos. Folks have already made virtual viruses that e.g. disable ships and arm their warheads.
]]>Space Engineers. I haven't been back since I accidentally broke Craig's space shark and sent a gigantic Han Solo hurtling into the distant reaches of space but there are now exploration-based plans afoot.
The plans talk a lot about ships and stations in the game. Marek Rosa of developers Keen Software House said in a blog post earlier in December, "The exploration feature will add a practically infinite number of ships and stations to the game world, so there will always be something new to discover, explore, acquire and conquer."
]]>Each Monday, Chris Livingston visits an early access game and reports back with stories about whatever he finds inside. This week, space-based gathering, crafting, and dying in Space Engineers' new survival mode.
There's a large red and white spaceship, its front end crumpled after what must have been a spectacular nosedive. There's a tiny yellow space engineer inspecting the wreck, armed with only a handful of tools. There's the inky blackness of outer space, the comforting glow of a distant sun, and an asteroid field of stationary rocks, chock-full of ore and minerals to mine. As the astronaut floats there, enchanted by the view, he notices a few of the asteroids -- quite a few, in fact -- have given up waiting for him to visit them and taken a more proactive stance. They're delivering themselves to him. Well, at him, anyway. In an awful hurry.
]]>I have seen things in Space Engineers, readers. Horrible, crotch-related things. I got so wrapped up in seeing those things that I didn't actually notice if there was any sort of game in there. Now I'm fine with pure building and messing about being considered gaming, but if you absolutely insist on there being some drama then the newly released Survival mode might be for you. There are a number of toggles that you can set, as well as plenty of starting scenarios to launch from, but the basic gist is everything needs energy, and if you don't have enough of it you'll die. Better get engineering.
]]>I wanted to know what state Space Engineers was in, because it's been a few months since I last tried it out and it was already pretty impressive back then. How much could a game about building space ships and flying them change in a few months?
Well, on my first playthrough I was slinging ships across the void, watching as they met and crumpled and cooing at the damage model and simple building tools. Since then they've added multiplayer and Steam Workshop support, which was how I ended I ended up flying a spaceship the form of a shark into the crotch of a monolithic Homer Simpson. I apologise in advance.
]]>There's not a lot to do in Space Engineers, but this is the first Early Access game I've played in a while that works, and, well, isn't completely broken. In fact, it's given me a bit of hope: the content is light, and it has crashed a few times, but it doesn't feel like a game being held together by good intentions and hope. It's the kind of offering you might pay for. And it's a surprisingly slick demonstration of building and destruction. In space.
]]>Do you want to be an engineer? I can understand if you don't really feel like it's your cup of tea - especially if you'd rather be a professional tea brewer. But what about a space engineer? Well of course you're saying yes now. Space makes everything better, except breathing. Happily, Space Engineers would rather suck the life from your lungs via the good old-fashioned method: time. It wants all of your hours, and it looks like it could well offer some pretty tantalizing reasons to hand them over. But skepticism is still healthy, especially in the wake of developer Keen Software House's lackluster Miner Wars 2081. Steam Early Access, then, offers a chance to see if Space Engineers is really on the right track.
]]>Oh Space Engineers, let me count the ways. For one, you're a hyper-ambitious extraterrestrial builder rooted in near-future NASA technology, but also, you're not going to Kickstarter. Not that I have anything against crowdfunding drives per se, but it's nice when a game doesn't thrust its clanking cup in our direction from time-to-time. But yes, the game looks quite excellent, with a physics engine that takes me back to my days as a starry eyed tot playing with toy rockets. "RrrrrrrmmmmmKABLLLOOOOOMMMMMSPLRRRSSSSHH," I'd snarl as I set countless imaginary pilots on collision courses with certain doom. Space Engineers "Crash Test" video is just like that, only it looks even better than these things did in my head.
]]>I reckon I'd be happy to do most things in space. Things that I'd normally consider to be chores or hard labour would become pleasurable, at least for a while, which is probably why Space Engineers makes welding, joining and glazing seem like the best jobs in the world. It looks superb, as you'll see in the video below, but don't just rely on images. Here are some words:
Space Engineers utilizes a realistic volumetric-based physics engine: all objects can be assembled, disassembled, damaged and destroyed. [It] is inspired by reality and by how things work. Think about modern-day NASA technology extrapolated 60 years into the future. Space Engineers strives to follow the laws of physics and doesn't use technologies that wouldn't be feasible in the near future.
Oh yes. I kept waiting for the press release to mention crowd-funding but it doesn't. Watch.
]]>
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