Keen Software House

Keen Software House
Video game developer
Industry Video games
Founded 2010
Headquarters Prague, Czech Republic
Key people
 Marek Rosa
Products Miner Wars 2081, Miner Wars Arena, Space Engineers, Medieval Engineers
Number of employees
 50[1]
Website KeenSWH.com

Keen Software House is an independent video game developing company based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company was founded by Marek Rosa in 2010 as a team of volunteers and in 2011 it was transformed to company.

Keen Software House’s technological know-how and proprietary VRAGE game engine has allowed the Company to create games that leverage elements of science into the gameplay. The studio’s first game, Miner Wars 2081, focused on an open world with destructible terrain, while the second game, Space Engineers, presents volumetric physics as gameplay in a space-based environment focused on engineering, construction, and maintenance of space ships and stations. The Company’s proprietary VRAGE game engine powers both the titles, and is currently in iteration 2.0. Additionally, they have created a separate team charged with development of Medieval Engineers - utilitizing similar rendering styles, while adding in weight and block based destruction / deformation with physics based calculations set in Castle building era. It offers the Single - Multiplayer experience including planets; from Space Engineers but with territory based grid system where clans can battle for ground to build on. Realistic mechanical contraptions such as catapults can be created to real time damage structures.

Games

All games by Keen Software House
Title Year Platform(s) Genre Description
Miner Wars Arena 2012 Windows, OS X Arcade Game Arcade action game inspired by the game Tunnelers.[2]
Miner Wars 2081 2012 Windows, Xbox 360[3] Space simulator 6DOF action game.
Space Engineers 2013 (early access) Windows, Xbox One Sandbox game A game about engineering, construction and maintenance of space works [4]
Medieval Engineers 2015 (early access) Windows Sandbox game A game about engineering, construction and maintenance of architectural works and mechanical equipment using medieval technology [5]

Miner Wars 2081

The first big project for Keen Software House was Miner Wars 2081, which was presented at Game Developers Conference in 2012.[6] The game received mixed reviews by critics.[7][8] MinerWars 2081 is an action-survival space-shooter set in the year 2081, 10 years after the destruction of all planetary objects in the Solar System. The story introduces the player to many types of missions: rescue, exploration, revenge, base defense, theft, transportation, stealth, search and destroy, pure harvesting or racing.

Open Sourcing

The source code for Miner Wars 2081 was released in March, 2013, under a commercial (non-copyleft, restricted-use) license.[9] The code may only be redistributed to allow for "mods" of the original game, and the code must continue to perform a license-ownership check.

Space Engineers

The studio's second project, Space Engineers, is a voxel-based sandbox game that launched on Steam Early Access in October 23, 2013,[10] and presents the player with an open world asteroid field wherein they can mine resources, build ships and stations, play with physics, and much more. Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction and maintenance of space works.[11] The game is a Top seller on the Steam distribution platform, officially moving more than 500,000 copies by May 6, 2014.[12] Space Engineers was well-received by both critics and players.

Space Engineers is updated on a weekly basis based on stated development goals and community feedback. Since launch has received major updates that include survival mode, multiplayer, dedicated server support and more.

Space Engineers is open to community creation and modding, and as a result, the game continues to grow in unusual and exciting ways. Fans have recreated ships from favorite movies, TV shows and games—such as Mass Effect, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Star Wars – as well as unique mods such as car racing tracks, soda machines, recycling ships and more.

On October 20, 2014, Keen Software House announced that Space Engineers has sold over 1,000,000 copies.[13]

On May 14, 2015, Keen Software House announced they are providing open access (but not making the game free) to the source code to accelerate mod development.[14]

Medieval Engineers

On January 13, 2015, Keen Software House announced their third title and second engineering game named Medieval Engineers.[5] It was also announced that the game will be available on Steam Early Access.

Medieval Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction and the maintenance of architectural works and mechanical equipment using medieval technology. Players build cities, castles and fortifications; construct mechanical devices and engines; perform landscaping and underground mining.

Medieval Engineers is inspired by real medieval technology and the way people built architectural and mechanical works in medieval times. Medieval Engineers strives to follow the laws of physics and real history and doesn't use technologies that were not available in 5th to 15th century.

VRAGE

Keen Software House developed and utilizes a video game engine called VRAGE™. VRAGE stands for “volumetric rage” and/or “voxel rage”.[15]

The first iteration of VRAGE, VRAGE 1.0, was built and tailored specifically for Miner Wars 2081 and the game’s need for destructible voxel terrain and an open-world. With the open source release in 2013 of Miner Wars 2081, the VRAGE 1.0 engine was also open sourced, under a restrictive commercial license.[9] The second iteration of the engine, VRAGE 2.0 is currently in development and powers the studio’s latest games, Space Engineers and Medieval Engineers.

VRAGE 2.0’s core feature is volumetricity within the environment. Volumetric objects are structures composed from block-like modules interlocked in a grid. Volumetric objects behave like real physical objects with mass, inertia and velocity. Individual modules have real volume and storage capacity and can be assembled, disassembled, deformed and destroyed. Due to Medieval Engineers development, VRAGE received a fresh upgrade: structural integrity and DirectX 11 rendering.

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/06/keen-software-house-is-moving-and_24.html
  2. ↑ "Miner Wars Arena". Arena.minerwars.com. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  3. ↑ "Miner Wars 2081 for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  4. ↑ "Announcement Press Release - Space Engineers" (Press release). Spaceengineersgame.com. 2013-09-09. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  5. 1 2 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/234063/Keen_Software_House_announces_Medieval_Engineers_thestudiorsquos_second_engineering_title.php
  6. ↑ "Keen Software House - Press Release: Meet the Miner Wars Team at GDC in San Francisco(960250)" (Press release). Gamershell.com. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  7. ↑ "Miner Wars 2081 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  8. ↑ "czech". Hodnoceniher.cz. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
  9. 1 2 "Miner Wars 2081 on Github". Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  10. ↑ http://www.spaceengineersgame.com/space-engineers-ndash-released-on-steam-early-access.html
  11. ↑ http://www.spaceengineersgame.com/about1.html
  12. ↑ http://www.gamershell.com/companies/keen_software_house/1311887.html
  13. ↑ http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/228152/SPACE_ENGINEERS_REACHES_ONE_MILLION_COPIES_SOLD.php
  14. ↑ Marek Rosa Blog. Marek Rosa http://blog.marekrosa.org/2015/05/space-engineers-full-source-code-access_40.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ http://www.keenswh.com/vrage.html
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