
Universe Sandbox - hoag
http://universesandbox.com/
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Latty
For what it's worth, I own the first version of this and while it's
interesting, it doesn't grip me in the way a game needs to. It's something you
mess around with for a bit, enjoy, then forget. Might be really useful in
trying to create a universe for a fiction, say, but I feel you need some
personal motivation to play this (I didn't find my initial 'that's interesting
and cool' was enough over time).

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TrevorJ
I think that's a pretty apt description of _any_ sandbox game. Some people
find the genre really fun and interesting, but it's really a matter of
preference.

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Reedx
Even games like SimCity and Minecraft?

The genre is interesting in that it includes stuff that could barely be
considered a game (more like toys). No progression, goals, challenge or reward
really. But then there are some like SimCity which I would consider more
engaging than most games of any genre.

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joshschreuder
I think it depends on how creative you are. I wouldn't describe myself as
creative, and I am not a big fan of sandbox style games.

In fact, open world games in general tend to be worse for me than more linear
style titles. The freedom of choice is overwhelming.

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gabemart
> I think it depends on how creative you are. I wouldn't describe myself as
> creative, and I am not a big fan of sandbox style games.

I don't think it depends on how creative you are; I think it depends on what
kind of experience you are looking for in a video game.

I think everyone enjoys being creative to an extent, everyone enjoys more
analytical thinking to an extent and everyone enjoys more instinctive
activities that create a state of "flow" to an extent. These extents vary from
person to person and can be very large or very small.

But equally, everyone's daily life, job and routine requires creativity,
analytical thinking and instinctual behaviour to greater and lesser degrees.

The kind of video games people enjoy can't be divided simply into "games for
creative people" and "games for analytical people". The kind of experiences
people seek out or enjoy are a result of the complex interplay between their
natural proclivities and how those proclivities are stimulated, drained or
left idle by the rest of their lives.

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jimmcslim
I wonder if this can simulate the view of the sky from a planet's surface,
given an interesting planetary system. I'd like to simulate what the day/night
phases look like on the namesake planet of Kim Stanley Robinson's "Aurora"
that I have just read... the moon orbiting a super-earth itself orbiting Tau
Ceti.

Or for that matter, the planet in some science fiction novel (can't remember
the name) that orbits in some weird trinary (or higher) system and only has
nightfall once a century (triggering a social breakdown everytime it occurs).

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honestcoyote
What you want is Space Engine [en.spaceengine.org/]. Also a sandbox. Allows
you to fly from star to star, galaxy to galaxy, with billions of planets,
nebulae, black holes, clusters, etc. to choose from.

As an example: tonight I had a few minutes to kill so I visited a small desert
(Mars-like) planet with a thin ring located in an orbit around dual stars
located in a globular cluster. By day, one sun rose and then another.
Absolutely scorching the broad plains and distant mountains. Night eventually
fell and the sky was burning with the crimson light of the thousands of red
giants in the cluster and the brilliant white light of the galactic center.
The light was broken slightly by the silhouette of the rings' arc overhead.
Was quite beautiful.

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flippyhead
Nicely spoke! You should write sci-fi

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honestcoyote
Thank you!

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Laaw
I don't love how the preview was done with the kinds of things I'd probably
try in the first few hours.

I _would_ love seeing what a couple hundred (or more) hours devoted to this
could create.

It's kind of like the carnival games -- there needs to be a person showing me
how "easy" it is, to suck me in.

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sixothree
My favorite feature of Universe Sandbox is completely silly. It's the light
pulse. You can send out a pulse at the speed of light and watch it expand and
overtake other bodies.

It's really nifty for visualizing just how slow light speed really is in a
cosmic sense.

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gus_massa
Is the simulation accurate enough to simulate complex starting scenarios, for
example the scenario of the planetary migration:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System#Planetary_migration)

> _According to the nebular hypothesis, the outer two planets are in the
> "wrong place". Uranus and Neptune (known as the "ice giants") exist in a
> region where the reduced density of the solar nebula and longer orbital
> times render their formation highly implausible. The two are instead thought
> to have formed in orbits near Jupiter and Saturn, where more material was
> available, and to have migrated outward to their current positions over
> hundreds of millions of years._

I don't expect that it get exactly the current situation, but at least that
it's possible to see something similar.

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LesZedCB
If this had oculus or some other VR support I would be in 100%. I love an N
body physics sim, especially one with nice graphics, so I would pay dearly to
be able to experience it at full scale. It's a lifelong dream.

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FrankenPC
Can you create a focused, high intensity gamma ray burst and blast a planet
with it? What about sending a white dwarf careening through our solar system?

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coddingtonbear
I can't really speak to gamma ray bursts, but you can definitely shoot
astronomical bodies through solar systems, into planets, or their moons.

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zanewill9
Beautiful beautiful program. Some of the preset scenarios are great (i.e.
galaxy's colliding, Jupiters moons)

(also, often on sale on Steam)

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hoag
This is freaking amazing

