''Universe Sandbox'' is a series of

simulation video games Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

. In ''Universe Sandbox'', users can see the

effects of gravity Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, a ...

on objects in the universe and run scale

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 ...

s of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

, various

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...

or other simulations, while at the same time interacting and maintaining control over

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

, time, and other objects in the universe, such as

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s, and

black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...

s. The original ''Universe Sandbox'' was only released for

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 ...

, but an updated version was released for Windows,

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 ...

in 2015. ''Universe Sandbox'' was designed by Dan Dixon, who released the first version in May 2008. Dixon worked full-time on the project since 2010, founding the company Giant Army the following year. Since then, he has hired eight additional designers for the company. Work on a new version of the game, originally titled ''Universe Sandbox²'', began in 2014. In November 2018, the original ''Universe Sandbox'' was renamed to ''Universe Sandbox Legacy'', and the new version was then renamed to ''Universe Sandbox'' in December.

Simulations

Both realistic and fictional simulations appear in ''Universe Sandbox'', with each area of outer space being placed by default or according to the player's preference. Real simulations include the Solar System, which includes the eight planets, five minor planets, 160+ moons, and hundreds of asteroids; and predictions of future events such as the Andromeda and

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

galaxy collision which will occur in 3.8 to 4.5 billion years. During gameplay, the player may be introduced to the regions that include the 100 largest bodies in the Solar System, the nearest 1000 stars to the Sun or the nearest 70 galaxies to the Milky Way. A visual size comparison of the largest known stars and planets can be explored, and real time animations of events like the Apophis asteroid passing near Earth in the year 2029 can be watched. Comets can be observed colliding into planets, such as the Shoemaker Levy 9's collision with Jupiter. The trans-Neptunian object 2008 KV42 with a

retrograde motion Retrograde motion in astronomy is, in general, orbital or rotational motion of an object in the direction opposite the rotation of its primary, that is, the central object (right figure). It may also describe other motions such as precession ...

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

can be seen in a simulation. Moons are able to be converged into planets, and may be able to affect the planet's atmosphere or minerals. Players are able to view the Rho Cancri (55 Cancri) star in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

; they can see the five known planets in the system. The Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft can be seen in its encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Visual

Lagrange points In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the gravitational influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves t ...

of the Earth and Moon can be seen, along with the

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

and

star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravity, gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally calle ...

. The

gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic events occurring in distant Galaxy, galaxies which represent the brightest and most powerful class of explosion in the universe. These extreme Electromagnetic radiation, ele ...

locations, found in distant galaxies, can be found.

Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

s are shown in real time.

Reception

Both games have received near-universal acclaim. Duncan Geere of '' PC Gamer UK'' gave it an 84/100 and spoke positively of the game, "Universe Sandbox is not going to change your life. It is not going to make you cry, and it won't sit in the top of your most-played list in Steam for weeks. But if you like the idea of an interactive orrery that you can rip apart and put back together in whatever way you like, and you're happy to feed it with a bit of imagination, it's hard to find a better way to spend £6." Jules of ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' said in their review, "I've seen some pretty wonderful interactive programs that allow you and your family to explore the vast regions of the universe, but nothing nearly as enthralling as Universe Sandbox. ..Unlike most astronomy software that just shows you what the sky looks like or where the planets are, Universe Sandbox is a powerful gravity simulator."

Remake

In 2014, the team began working on a complete remake of ''Universe Sandbox'' featuring an entirely different game engine, originally titled ''Universe Sandbox².'' Some of the new features include atmospheres being shown on planets, simulation of planet compositions and surfaces, dynamic and procedurally generated textures on stars and gas giants, a more realistic and graphic collision system, 3D charts in chart mode, simulation of

stellar evolution Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is consi ...

, procedural detail in rings/particles, visualization of black holes, simulation of fluid-like objects (such as gas clouds, surface water, nebulae and

protoplanetary disk A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may not be considered an accretion disk; while the two are sim ...

s, and planetary collisions) and much more. The team demonstrated many of these features at the Unite 2012 conference. On November 15, 2018, the feature to share simulations through Steam Workshop was added. Such simulations like Planet X crashing into Earth, Venus and Mars as the planets were billions of years ago are possible. In December 2018, the game was renamed from ''Universe Sandbox²'' to ''Universe Sandbox,'' citing disputes over the game's pronunciation.

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Free and open-source software, Astronomy, Stars, Outer space Astronomy software 2008 software Educational software for macOS Educational software for Linux Windows games MacOS games Linux games IOS games Android (operating system) games Virtual reality games Space simulators Realistic space simulators Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2008 Physics-based video games

Simulations

Reception

Remake

See also

References

External links