''The Universim'' is a 2024

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

god game A god game is an artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine and supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character (as in ''Spore''), and pla ...

developed and published by Crytivo for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

MacOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

. Designed by Alexander Koshelkov, it has the player take the role of God to guide the development of civilization throughout the ages. Development was funded by a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign in April 2014. ''The Universim'' was released in

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

for

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

in 2018.

Synopsis

The Universim is a planet management game where the player takes the role of the "Creator", and guides the development of

civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...

. Each planet is randomly generated and can be colonised given enough time and technology. Initially the game starts in the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

where the player needs to build basic shelters and invent fire. Buildings and society evolve as civilization progresses unlocking new buildings and technologies. Firstly an Epicenter must be built and other buildings will be developed around it. Standard housing is built automatically but the location of special buildings like Power Plants and Farms has to be specified by the player. Resources such as food, clothing and power must be managed in order to speed up development, survive long winters and cope with natural disasters. Eventually you can guide your civilization past the

Modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

to the Space era where it is possible to colonize other planets and harvest valuable resources from these planets. Each planet on Universim is dynamic and evolves throughout the game. There is

weather simulation Numerical weather prediction (NWP) uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of computer simulation in the ...

including changing seasons and natural disasters. Meteor crashes and forest fires can wreak havoc upon civilizations, while long winters can slow development. Many planets have alien inhabitants, some are friendly but others are not and have to be defended against. Your citizens, known as "Nuggets", have the ability to make their own decisions and do things their own way; this can create dangerous problems and even lead to wars which the player can attempt to stop. As well as managing development the player also has to keep their civilization loyal and under control. The players influence is based on two elements which are Power and Wrath. Power comes from successful completion of tasks and allows the player to alter the world e.g. change the weather. Wrath is generated when the Nuggets fail to complete tasks, this allows the player to unleash destruction on the world to scare the Nuggets into action.

Development

In April 2014, Crytivo Games started a

campaign for ''The Universim'' aiming to raise $320,000, which raised a total of $387,345. On June 13, 2014,

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

put a minimum reserve of $1 million on the Crytivo Games account which meant none of their funds could be accessed until their account reached a balance of $1 million. By May 15, 2015, they took to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

in an attempt to break PayPal's silence and access their pledged funds. In June 2015, Crytivo Games brought ''The Universim'' to E3 to advertise the game and get feedback from the public. A pre-alpha version of the game was released on September 15, 2015 and was available to anyone who bought access to the alpha tier of the game. This preview included a mainly spectator version of the game where players could explore a planet and construct several different buildings. The total gameplay time was about 20 minutes. On August 2, 2016, the alpha version was released after a major update. The alpha version includes more control over the population (referred to as "Nuggets"); most of the

buildings and mechanics are present, some in-depth functionality like injuries and healthcare are in place, and in-game tutorials were added. Adding new buildings and technologies with each update, Crytivo added the

Medieval era In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

in October 2017,

in December 2018, and the Space era in December 2021. ''The Universim'' was designed using a custom engine referred to as Prometheus, which in turn is based upon the

Unity Engine Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variet ...

. On January 22, 2024, ''The Universim'' was fully released, adding a complete storyline and space exploration.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Universim, The 2024 video games Indie games Simulation video games Kickstarter-funded video games Windows games MacOS games Linux games God games Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games Crytivo games

Synopsis

Development

See also

References

External links