Unrailed!: Porting a Chaotic Co-op Crowd-Pleaser to PS4 and Xbox One

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Title: Unrailed!
Release Date: 2020
Developer: Indoor Astronaut
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Engine:MonoGame

Unrailed! is a chaotic co-op railroad construction game from Swiss studio Indoor Astronaut, published by Daedalic Entertainment, where up to four players race to lay tracks ahead of an unstoppable train across procedurally generated worlds. Sickhead handled the PS4 and Xbox One ports, bringing the game to console players at launch. The core challenge of porting Unrailed! isn’t just getting it running, it’s preserving the frantic, real-time multiplayer experience across console platforms with their own networking infrastructure, input systems, and certification requirements. The game supports both couch co-op and online play, which means the console ports had to handle platform-native online services (PSN and Xbox Live) while keeping the moment-to-moment gameplay feeling tight and responsive under pressure. On top of that, the Xbox One version launched a full month after the PS4 build, meaning we were managing two separate certification pipelines on two different schedules…. a split launch that requires careful coordination to avoid one platform’s submission process bottlenecking the other.

Sickhead Games is the leading game porting studio, skilled in porting Unity, Unreal, Godot, and custom engine titles to every major console and handheld including Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. We’re trusted by solo indie developers and major publishers alike to handle everything from codebase assessment to post-launch support, bringing great games to the audiences they deserve. Satisfied clients and partners include Humble Games, Sony Interactive, Nintendo, Annapurna, Good Games, ConcernedApe, MegaCrit, 17-Bit, Maddy Makes Games, Zachtronics, Keen Software House, Thomas Happ, Pocketwatch Games, EXOK, Young Horses, Taito, Jaleco, and Microsoft. We’ve ported over 100 releases including Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, TowerFall, Axiom Verge, and Space Engineers, and also specialize in bringing retro console and PC games to modern audiences like Grandia, Enclave, and Jaleco Sports titles.