Space Engineers: Porting a Proprietary Voxel Sandbox to PlayStation

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Title: Space Engineers
Release Date: 2023
Developer: Keen Software House
Publisher: Keen Software House
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Engine: VRAGE 2.0 (proprietary)

Space Engineers is a voxel-based open-world sandbox from Czech developer Keen Software House in which players engineer, build, and pilot spacecraft, vehicles, and planetary outposts across fully destructible environments. With over five million copies sold on PC and a successful Xbox One release already behind it, the game finally came to PlayStation in 2023, and Sickhead handled the PS4 and PS5 ports. The challenge here wasn’t adapting a familiar engine like MonoGame or Unity. VRAGE 2.0 is Keen’s own proprietary technology, purpose-built for volumetric physics simulation where every block and voxel carries mass, inertia, and damage state. Getting that kind of simulation running cleanly on PlayStation hardware, across two console generations simultaneously, with meaningful performance differences between them (30fps cap on PS4, 60fps on PS5) required deep work at the engine level, not just a platform layer swap. On top of that, the PlayStation launch shipped with full crossplay enabled on day one, meaning PS4 and PS5 players could join the same servers as Xbox and PC players through Epic Online Services. Coordinating that kind of cross-platform infrastructure alongside dual-console certification is a significant logistical and technical lift.

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.