Space Engineers

Space Engineers is 3D singleplayer and multiplayer sandbox game, which doesn't have a specific end goal. Instead, the players (Space Engineers - Astronauts) are encouraged to create their own goals, which they have to achieve, by utilising engineering, in space and/or planetery environments (including asteroids and moons). More specifically, the players use a combination strategically placed "blocks", game mechanics and system interactions, to gradually build up to their goal. For example, creating a space ship that can go to space.

Although, for players that want a more specific end goal, the game includes some built-in npc interactions, but it also provides a collection of pre-included story driven scenarios to choose from, while also providing the ability to use custom instances created by other users, both based around the core game. Expanding on that, the game furthermore offers the ability of using custom player made scripts and/or mods, to enchance or build on the already existing in-game vanilla content, which are also sometimes used in custom made scenarios. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the players can also share their builds amongst them, through the use of blueprints, has two modes, survival and creative, and that the game has the unique characteristic, compared to other games in its genre, to be able to allow players to fully interact with their creations, without any major limitations.

Space Engineers was developed and published by the indie video game developer Keen Software House based in the Czech Republic. Implemented as a voxel-based sandbox game set in an asteroid field in space, built on their own game engine, VRAGE 2. Its core feature is volumetricity of the environment. Volumetric objects are structures composed from block-like modules interlocked in a grid and match the scale of the player character.

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 repaired or destroyed.

Space Engineers won the "4th best Indie Game of 2013" award from IndieDB, an honorable mention in the "Indie of the Year 2014" and first place in "Indie of the Year 2015".