Door Kickers: Action Squad: Porting The Tactical Co-op Side-Scroller

Door Kickers: Action Squad, a tactical co-op side-scroller by KillHouse Games, ported to PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch by Sickhead Games

Title: Door Kickers: Action Squad
Release Date: 2019
Developer: KillHouse Games
Publisher: KillHouse Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Engine: Custom C++ Engine

Door Kickers: Action Squad is a tactical side-scrolling shooter from Romanian indie studio KillHouse Games. It launched on PC in September 2018 to strong reviews, with co-op play at the heart of the experience.

The game ran on KillHouse’s custom 2D C++ engine, built on DirectX 9 with no existing console support. Its co-op networking was also built for PC, so every online feature had to be rebuilt around each console’s platform services.

Rather than rewriting the renderer, we built a DirectX 9 compatibility layer tailored to the features the game actually uses, with native backends for each console. This kept the engine code largely untouched and the scope tight. We then ported the co-op networking to PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Nintendo Switch Online and local wireless play.

We shipped the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions on October 24, 2019, with Nintendo Switch following just days later.


Sickhead Games is the leading game porting studio, bringing Unity, Unreal, Godot, and custom engine titles to console and handheld including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. From codebase assessment to post-launch support, we're trusted by solo indies and major publishers alike, including 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 shipped over 100 releases, among them Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Axiom Verge, Space Engineers, and Celeste. We specialize in bringing retro masterpieces, indie darlings, and PC classics to modern audiences like Grandia, Enclave, and Jaleco Sports titles.