Indie developer Keen Software House has decided to open the source code for its voxel-based construction game Space Engineers to the public, in an attempt to make things easier for the modding community.
In addition, the team is putting aside $100,000 to fund modders who want to build total conversion mods based on the game’s engine.
Mods have played a large part in the game’s enduring popularity since it launched back in October 2013, so it’s nice to see Keen Software return the favour; Space Engneers currently has more than 3,000 mods and 100,000 items uploaded on Steam Workshop, making it one of the top five games with the most Workshop items on Valve’s retail platform.
“We’ve been working for months to find a way to give our community a bigger role in Space Engineers development. We finally decided that the best way was to give them 100% access to the game’s source code”, said Marek Rosa, CEO and founder of Keen Software House.
“We are also aware of the risks that this decision has but our team is prepared to face any challenge that may appear. We are very concentrated on the game’s development and I assure you that we will continue at the same pace as we have done for 2 years and deliver a game that everyone will love playing!”
Rosa talks more about the initiative over on his blog. Though he admits there are risks – the game will potentially be more vulnerable to cheating players, and there’s a possibility that competitors could steal or copy code – he writes that “the chances that it will be beneficial for the future of Space Engineers is high and worth taking the risk.”
You can grab Space Engineers from Steam, where it’s still in Early Access, or from the game’s official website.