General feedback and quality of life suggestions

Greetings,

before I make a few suggestions about the game, I'd just like to provide feedback and say that at this point, it is in a very good state. The gameplay is engaging and I am experiencing very little in terms of connection issues in multiplayer. Thanks!

My biggest complaint is probably about lighting mechanics. I am finding it extremely difficult to properly light up an area and I think that there are a few changes that could be made. Currently, (i) the transition between lit and unlit space (either by sun or artificial light sources) is very fast and (ii) artificial lights very commonly shine through walls and ruin the exterior or an adjacent room. Abandoning the "ball of light" model and making it so that light reflects off and diffuses on surfaces would, in my view, solve both of these issues, as well as make it far easier to illuminate larger rooms with less light sources. The "glare," a coloured tint to all blocks that appears when a player is standing next to an emissive, is quite similar to what I have in mind. I often use it more commonly than conventional light because of this, although I do think that it should be toned down a bit in the future. Staying on the topic of light, please extend the maximum range of rotating lights - at bearable intensities (under 5) the light barely goes past ten blocks, which limits its usability on planets.

I would suggest adding some variance to block skins. They are by far one of the best additions in the game, so it is a shame that any organised larger amounts of non-armor blocks (batteries come to mind) inevitably become an eyesore since their texture repeats over and over again.

There would be a point to be made about fixing some unpredictability with the physics engine, had it not been massively improved in a recent patch. Thanks a lot for that. Astronaut skidding still happens a bit too frequently for my taste, but, as said, it is much better than it was in the past.

I remain deeply unsatisfied with the block selection menu ever since it was overhauled a few years ago, even though it probably is not advisable to roll back such a large amount of progress. One thing that would make it easier to use for us Alpha people would be showing the category of a block when searching for it, so I can find it more easily the next time. For example, say I cannot locate the Gravity Generator and search for it - showing that it is grouped under Artificial Mass will probably help avoid that scenario in the future.

Remaining on the topic of changes from Alpha, would it be possible to add an option (like a checkbox in "Game" settings or something) to remove the distinction between Interact / Inventory buttons and have it like before, with the Inventory button also used to access terminals? It frustrates me to this day that pressing K and pointing at a terminal only shows me my astronaut inventory and nothing more.

One last thing in terms of improvements is just general optimisation. The game is very demanding on the hardware side even with low settings and many gamers are discouraged from playing by that.

In terms of adding new content, I would appreciate some modular computers that are design-compatible with desks from the Decorative Pack. There is an ancient mod on the Workshop by kolt16 called the Command Console Pack which is essentially what I imagine these blocks to be like.

A great thing to have with planets (and it seems that planets will get a lot of love in the upcoming Scrap Race update, looking forward to that! especially the Offroad Wheels, those could solve some problems I have with normal ones) would be a mapping system, perhaps as part of the GPS screen. Either completely monochrome, only with lines designating elevation changes; or fully coloured in, depending on elevation or biome, perhaps?

I imagine that it is not at all feasible to do at this time, but porting this game to VR in an immersive way (being able to touch buttons on the terminal screens or grab ledges) would be awesome. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one, even though it would be way too much coding to do.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on Space Engineers. I hope some of it sounds good to you and could see the light of day sometime in the future.

With kind regards, Alex

P.S.: Putting this at the bottom of the text since it is not as important, but as a musician I would greatly appreciate any sort of notes, however rudimentary, for the soundtrack. It is without exaggeration one of the best ones I have ever heard and it would be great to be able to play something from it myself.