Tech
Retro Engine® & Retro Software Development Kit (RSDK™)
RSDK is Evening Star's in-house 2D/3D engine and tool stack built with a lean and adaptable design ethos.
RSDK has its roots in creating 2D pixel art titles lauded for their attention to detail and authenticity, employing a highly portable software renderer capable of a comprehensive suite of raster effects commonly seen on 16 and 32-bit era consoles.
Now in its 7th iteration, the engine has evolved to also include a modern 3D pipeline in order to realize the full depth of the games our studio wishes to create. We value low friction experimentation with non-photo-realistic rendering techniques and felt that current 'off-the-shelf' engines were too focused on workflows based on realism, heavy assets and ballooning file-sizes. To that end, Retro Engine's 3D pipeline features a robust set of APIs and authoring tools uniquely suited for creating stylistic 3D games, and leverages automation where possible to allow our team to punch above our weight.
Games Powered By Retro Engine
Q&A
Who created Retro Engine?
The history of Retro Engine began when Christian Whitehead first began development in 2008. Since 2019, Retro Engine & RSDK have become property of Evening Star.
How can I use Retro Engine?
Retro Engine & RSDK are not currently available to the general public. However, we have licensed the engine to commercial partners in the past on a case by case basis.
Wasn't Penny's Big Breakaway built on a different engine?
In 2025, we retroactively began referring to that engine as Retro Engine v6. Instead of continuing to exist in separate 2D and 3D engines, the pixel art functionality from Retro Engine v5 and the 3D functionality from Retro Engine v6 are merged into a single engine in Retro Engine v7. You can read more about the name change on the blog.
Can I ask something else about Retro Engine, or talk to the team about it?
Sure, contact us and we will do our best to answer your question. Please understand however, we may opt not to answer certain questions depending on confidentiality of proprietary information. Also, please indicate on the form if you are making a Press or Media Inquiry.
Retro Engine in Action
Example 2D content in RSDK v5
Example 3D content in RSDK v6