Marek’s Dev Diary: September 10, 2026

News

10/09/2026

Lighting Changes

We are continuing to tune the lighting in Space Engineers 2. One important change is that we can now use separate lighting settings for planetary environments and for space. This means we can push the look of planets further without changing how the game looks once you leave the atmosphere.

For planets, we are experimenting with stronger saturation and contrast to make vegetation, terrain, rocks, and distant landscape features easier to read. The goal is not to make the game artificially colorful, but to get more definition between the different parts of the environment while keeping the realistic direction we want for Space Engineers 2.

Here you can see some before and after comparisons from our current work. This is still being tuned, but I think separating planetary and space lighting gives us much better control over both environments.

Ore Visual Overhaul

We are also revisiting how ores look in the terrain. Iron, Nickel, Silicon, Cobalt, and Copper are all being refined so they are easier to recognize visually when you encounter them.

The main thing we are working on right now is their color identity. We are increasing and adjusting saturation so each ore has a more distinct appearance instead of different deposits blending together too easily. I want experienced players to eventually recognize an ore from its appearance at a glance, without having to stop and inspect every patch of terrain.

This is a relatively small visual change compared to some of the larger systems we are working on, but for me it is an important usability detail. Mining is something you will do constantly, so the materials themselves should become familiar and recognizable parts of the world.