Development
Next-Generation Graphics Coming Soon
Jun 27th
Prepare to immerse yourself in a universe more awe-inspiring and realistic than ever before with our next-generation Universe Sandbox graphics update. Over the past year and a half, we’ve been replacing our decade-old graphics technology with a state-of-the-art system that sets the stage for future enhancements.
While there’s still more to be done before it’s ready for release, we’re excited to give you a sneak peek at our progress.
Stay tuned to our Steam Forum and Discord server where we’ll be announcing a preview version you can try before it’s released to everyone. In the meantime, you can check out our 2024 Roadmap to learn more about what we have planned.
The color of hot objects is more accurately based on their temperatures.
Spacecraft and other human-scale objects will interact with light more realistically.
Gas clouds no longer create sharp intersections when passing over planets.
Objects will only glow in areas where they’re hot instead of the entire object glowing based on average temperature.
Hot objects will emit light based on their temperature.
More accurate lighting at a distance for more realistic and cinematic views.
Explore the beauty of the universe more awesomely than ever.
We fixed that annoying issue where stars look like they’re being eclipsed when seen from the surface of a planet.
Stars appear brighter, realistically obscuring surface detail.
Our new graphics renderer is still a work in progress, and final appearances may look different. We can’t wait to share space in a new light with you.
Join our community discussions on our Steam Forum and our official Discord community.
Eclipsed Improvements | Update 34.1
Mar 5th
If Update 34.1 does not download automatically, follow these update instructions. If you don’t own Universe Sandbox, you can buy it via our website.
2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Watch the Moon completely block out the Sun across parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada in our simulation of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. Check it out under:
Home > Open > Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024
Learn more about this eclipse.
Chaotic Collisional Aftermath
Immerse yourself in chaos as gas clouds expand and rock fragments collide in the aftermath of collisions. We’ve updated our particle system to preserve performance while simulating fuller, more realistic collisions.
Custom Habitable Range
Customize the habitable temperature and atmospheric pressure of your planets for more unique vegetation and city lights coverage.
More Highlights
Explore the chaos of the fictional planetary system of Trisolaris from The Three-Body Problem. The number of objects gravitationally interacting makes it impossible to predict the planet’s orbits, called the three-body problem.
All gasses in a planet’s atmosphere now contribute to its color and opacity instead of just the 4 gasses with the most mass.
An object’s material composition now just shows the list of materials currently in the object by default. We’ve also added an Add New Materials button.
Use the new Hide Dust Clouds toggle to look at planet surfaces and see collisions through thick clouds of dust.
The object properties panel has been greatly optimized, making it faster to open and switch objects.
Completely swap one material on a planet for another with one tap. What would Earth look like if you switched out all the water for methane?
This update is brought to you by our completely new build system, which automatically creates different versions of Universe Sandbox whenever one of our team members updates the code it’s built on, allowing us to test and release new features even faster.
Listen to your favorite Universe Sandbox track over and over again by looping them under
Settings > Audio > Music Controls > Loop Track
Check out the full list of What’s New in Update 34.1
Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.
Universe Sandbox on GeForce NOW
Dec 21st
Universe Sandbox is now available to play on GeForce NOW, NVIDIA’s cloud-based game streaming service!
GeForce NOW connects to digital PC game stores like Steam so you can play games you already own in the cloud and stream them to any compatible device in real time.
Bend the laws of gravity, collide planets, boil away oceans, fire epic space lasers, and customize your universe in real time with cloud-based gaming streamed directly to any supported device. And check out our newest update to simulate, construct, and terraform planets and atmospheres more realistically than ever with new materials including oxygen and methane!
If you own Universe Sandbox on Steam, you can play Universe Sandbox on GeForce NOW by
- Launching GeForce NOW in your browser or downloading the GeForce NOW application
- Creating a free account (free accounts may have multi-hour waits before you are able to play. You can skip the queue with a paid account)
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce-now/memberships/ - Linking your Steam account
- Going to your Games library
- Playing Universe Sandbox
Learn more on NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW page.
Any saved simulations and objects you have will be accessible in GeForce NOW, and any saved simulations you create while playing through the service will be available after your session.
If you don’t own Universe Sandbox, you can buy it via our website or Steam.
Terraforming | Update 34
Dec 14th
If Update 34 does not download automatically, follow these update instructions. If you don’t own Universe Sandbox, you can buy it via our website.
Simulate, construct, and terraform planets and atmospheres more realistically than ever before with new materials! Planet sizes, atmospheric heating, gas and liquid colors, and more are now simulated based on the mass and phase of each material in a planet’s composition.
Learn more about how we simulate materials in two new guides
Home > Guides > Tutorials > Playing with Materials
Home > Guides > Science > Terraforming Mars
New Materials
Terraform planets, rain down oceans, and expand atmospheres with 8 new materials (for a total of 12) using the Material or Planetscaping tools, or adjust the materials directly under
Properties > Composition
In addition to silicate, iron, hydrogen, and water, we are now simulating helium, carbon dioxide, oxygen, sulfur dioxide, methane, nitrogen, argon, and ammonia.
Planet Atmospheres
Create pleasant Earth-like or oppressive Venus-like atmospheres by adjusting the mix of materials in the atmosphere. Atmosphere colors are based on the amount of gas in a specific area, with thicker atmospheres being harder to see through.
Material Collisions
Bombard planets with materials to see their atmospheres and oceans indefinitely altered. Watch oceans boil, creating vapor-filled atmospheres. Impacts create shockwaves that push gases and punch holes in the atmosphere.
Object Size from Composition
We’re using complex models of materials under the intense heat and pressure inside planets to compute realistic planet sizes.
More Highlights
Material colors are based on their real-life properties. Materials blend on the surface of planets and moons so you can watch oceans and gas clouds mix in real time. You can also customize material colors under
View > Advanced View Settings > Materials
Adding materials beyond water allows us to simulate Titan’s methane lakes. In the future, these new materials will also be the foundation for simulating life.
The 4 materials with the most mass will automatically be simulated across an object’s surface, indicated by a dot, similar to how water was simulated. You can also override this and choose any 4 materials to simulate across an object’s surface.
We’ve added a collection of material simulations so you can compare how they change phase between solid, liquid, and gas
Home > Open > Materials
The simulation below shows Earth with different materials in each column and a different amount of that material as a liquid in each row. Some evaporate immediately, and some stay liquid under Earth-like conditions.
Easily change the atmospheres of custom planets, old and new, using atmosphere presets of known terrestrial planets. This interface is a work in progress.
Materials masses can be viewed and adjusted by phase (solid, liquid, gas) or collectively at once under an object’s Composition.
More accessible View toggles make it easy to turn on surface lock, illuminate the dark side of planets, or toggle the visibility of atmospheres and clouds.
City Lights and Vegetation now require a habitable gas pressure of 0.6 to 1.6 bars and a new habitable temperature of -25 °C to 55 °C (previously -55 °C to 55 °C) and to appear when set to “If Habitable.”
Use object Markers (formerly called Icons) to clearly see the position and movement of objects and particles in a simulation, like nebula in a galaxy, under
View > Markers
Check out the full list of What’s New in Update 34
Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.
Known Limitations & Planned Improvements
- Only water vapor and gaseous carbon dioxide contribute to our simple atmospheric heating model. We plan to add heating from methane and other greenhouse gases in the future.
- Silicate and iron can only exist on the inside of a planet, not on the surface or in the atmosphere.
- To minimize the impact to performance, only a maximum of 4 materials can be simulated flowing across an object’s surface at a time. We plan to increase the number of materials simulated on object surfaces in the future.
- When a new material replaces one of the 4 simulated materials, it is evenly distributed over the surface, which can cause an atmosphere to seemingly “pop” into existence.
- Materials not simulated across the surface of objects do affect their atmospheric heating, but do not affect the atmosphere opacity.
- Planning updates to the materials interface, including:
- Viewing materials as a percentage of the mass
- Updated Phase Diagram interface
- Updated Atmosphere Preset selection interface
- Better explanation of the Composition cutaway view
- Add the ability to easily replace one material with another
- The maximum speed liquids and gases can flow across object surfaces is slower than the maximum speed of material phase changes and simulation speed.
- Computing planet radii from their composition does not take into account the object’s surface temperature (so heating a gas giant won’t make it expand, for example).
- Phase changes (like evaporation) do not affect the surface temperature of an object.
- Materials in small asteroids do not undergo phase changes.
- Materials transferred during collisions are currently always transferred in the liquid phase (although they can change phase quickly after being transferred).
- The color of Titan’s atmosphere is not fully simulated because they are caused by tiny amounts of organic particles called tholins that are not simulated in Universe Sandbox. We plan to simulate the colors of hazes like those in Titan’s atmosphere in the future.
Terraforming Preview | Adding More Materials to Universe Sandbox
Oct 24th
Our new composition system, including eight new materials, like oxygen and methane, is still in active development and has not been released, but you can opt-in to a preview version now on Steam. Every planet in Universe Sandbox is simulated with a combination of materials, like iron and water, that are used to compute properties like planet radius and water flow. However, our current composition system is too simple to simulate phenomena like lakes of liquid methane on Saturn’s moon Titan. Our new system will allow you to realistically simulate planet surfaces and atmospheres, accurately terraform planets, and more.
Try the Terraforming | Update 34 preview right now!
Eight new materials and our new composition system are now available for testing and feedback. Learn how to opt-in to a preview version on Steam:
https://universesandbox.com/support/previewversion
Material Properties in Universe Sandbox
Current Composition System
Universe Sandbox’s current composition system uses four materials (iron, silicate, water, and hydrogen) each with a set of physical properties including
- Density – to compute an object’s mass and radius and determine where materials are within a planet (for example, iron is the densest so it’s at the core).
- Thermal capacity – energy required to increase the material’s temperature by one degree. Used to determine the Surface Heat Capacity of a planet.
- Molecular weight – average mass of a molecule of the material. Used to create clouds of evaporating gas called volatiles.
Water, the only material currently simulated across an object’s surface, has some additional properties
- Boiling point – temperature where a material changes from a liquid to a gas
- Melting point – temperature where a material changes from a solid to a liquid
- Mass of the material in each phase (solid, liquid, or gas)
- Liquid and solid density, heat of fusion, and heat of vaporization – to determine how fast water flows, evaporates, and freezes on planet surfaces
- Realistic (and customizable) colors
New Composition System
Our new composition system has 12 materials: iron, silicate, water, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, oxygen, sulfur dioxide, methane, nitrogen, argon, and ammonia. These are the materials necessary to simulate the most interesting internal, liquid, and atmospheric properties of most objects in our Solar System. Many, like oxygen and carbon dioxide, will also be necessary for life simulation.
Each material has all the properties described above, and they will update in real-time according to the conditions on the planet (though iron and silicate will only exist inside planets and won’t have customizable colors). Want to know the freezing point of carbon dioxide or see how fast it’s evaporating on your custom planet? We’ll simulate it in real time.
Using New Materials for Simulation
Material Phases
In our new system, all new materials can exist inside of, on the surface of, or in the atmosphere of a planet. A material’s phase will be simulated based on its temperature and pressure using something called a phase diagram. Our phase diagrams, which show a material’s state at different temperatures and pressures, are based on data taken in labs as well as geological and astrophysical models of planets. Check out the real-life phase diagram of water from Wikipedia as an example, pictured below.
We plan to show the phase diagrams we’re using to simulate each material eventually, but right now, they’re primarily for testing. Our phase diagrams have been simplified for performance reasons but still closely reflect the scientific phase diagrams. You can compare our water phase diagram below, which has been edited for clarity, to the real-life phase diagram of water above.
Planet Interiors
The cores of planets are hot and under intense pressure. These extreme conditions affect a material’s phase and density and thus the volume the material takes up in a planet’s interior. We’re using realistic models of planet density to compute and dynamically update planet radii from their compositions.
The graphs above show Earth’s density based on depth (or radius) in Universe Sandbox (top) compared to a scientifically researched model (bottom). While our in-game model is simplified, both graphs have the same shape and similar densities when compared to the radius. Comparing models allows us to check the integrity of our in-game model.
Our new composition model is more realistic but does not account for the porosity, or amount of tiny holes, of the internal structure of some objects, like the Moon. This means our model simulates some object radii slightly smaller than in real life. To account for this, we’ve added a porosity factor, which is usually an increase of a few percent, to adjust known object radii to match their real values.
The materials on the inside of planets, including iron and silicate (which are only simulated in planet interiors), do not mix together like materials on the surface or in atmospheres. Instead, we simulate planet interiors with layers of individual materials to accurately compute their radii.
Surfaces
Planets can be constructed with any (or all) of the materials available in Universe Sandbox using the Planetscaping tool, Material tool, or an object’s Composition tab. The four materials with the most mass are automatically simulated across an object’s surface, similar to how water is simulated now. You’ll also be able to override this and choose which four materials to simulate across an object’s surface regardless of mass.
Surface materials freeze into ices, evaporate to become part of the atmosphere, and melt or condensate to flow together and form oceans. This allows us to realistically simulate phenomena like the lakes of liquid methane on Saturn’s moon Titan and plumes of gas evaporating into the atmosphere during collisions.
We plan to increase the number of simulated surface materials in the future, but we’re still determining the best way to do that without decreasing performance. For now, we’ve found that four materials allow for realistic simulation and fun experimentation without significantly affecting performance.
We simulate material colors on the surface and in the atmosphere based on their thickness and scientific measurements of how much light they absorb and emit. The colors of materials in each phase are also customizable across the simulation. For example, liquid water has the same base color on all planets (not including other color changes from the atmosphere or starlight).
Our material color simulation only simulates single material colors and doesn’t include any complex particles that might normally be suspended in them in real life. This means Venus and Titan may not look completely realistic yet because their atmosphere color comes from tiny amounts of complex materials not in Universe Sandbox. We are actively working on the best way to realistically simulate these colors.
Atmospheres
Atmosphere color, opacity, amount of atmospheric heating (the greenhouse effect), and amount of Rayleigh scattering (which determines how light scatters in the atmosphere and is what makes Earth’s daytime sky appear blue) on planets is realistically simulated from the mixture of gasses in a planet’s atmosphere.
You can create realistic Earth-like atmospheres for habitable planets and oppressive Venus-like atmospheres just based on their compositions. Currently in Universe Sandbox, this is only possible by manually changing a planet’s Infrared Emissivity, which can increase the amount of heat the atmosphere of a planet retains.
The color and opacity are simulated locally throughout a planet’s atmosphere. If you add lots of oxygen in a single region of a planet’s atmosphere, it will get more opaque and change color based on the amount of oxygen in just that area.
New Minimum Operating System Requirements
To add new materials and eventually simulate more than four materials across planet surfaces, we will be dropping support for Windows 7 when this feature is released.
While it is never fun to have support dropped, this will affect just 0.25% of our users and will allow us to leverage newer computational methods to increase the performance of our surface simulation.
We’ll make sure all users who are affected by this change will be able to access the final version of Universe Sandbox with Windows 7 support.
What’s Still Being Worked On?
We’ve been prioritizing designing the properties, data views, and tools for you to easily construct atmospheres, build and terraform planets, and track these materials, but the interface for using them is still a work in progress.
Planets saved in previous versions of Universe Sandbox will only have the previous four materials, which will look and behave differently in our new composition system. Imagine Earth with a pure hydrogen atmosphere – not very realistic. We’re still trying to make this process as smooth as possible, and eventually, you’ll be able to easily update your planet’s atmosphere to be similar to Earth, Venus, Mars, or Titan.
And like any new feature, there may be bugs we have yet to find and fix – and you can help!
Try the Terraforming | Update 34 preview right now!
Eight new materials and our new composition system are now available for testing and feedback. Learn how to opt-in to a preview version on Steam:
https://universesandbox.com/support/previewversion
Let us know what you think and show us what you do with these new materials!
Join our community discussions on our Steam Forum and our official Discord community.
Universe Sandbox for Mobile | Development Challenges | Update 2
Aug 23rd
Bringing the complete Universe Sandbox experience to mobile is an exciting and challenging project, and while development was stalled while hiring a new user interface engineer, we are back on track! While we still don’t have a release date for Universe Sandbox on mobile, we want to share our recent progress and current obstacles.
For an overview of our plans for Universe Sandbox on mobile devices, you can read our first Mobile DevLog.
Pocket-Sized Complexities
We’ve been thinking about Universe Sandbox mobile for a long time and have been developing our panels and buttons to be easy to view and use on small screens for years. In fact, Universe Sandbox mobile is built from the exact same code as the version you already know and love, so it will have the same features and user interface as the desktop experience.
This shared codebase means you can enjoy any new features and improvements we add to Universe Sandbox on any device, whether you’re on a desktop, laptop, VR headset, phone, or tablet.
While these are seemingly simple goals, they create complex design challenges:
- How to automatically arrange panels and adjust your view so you can focus on controlling the simulation, not having to manage the user interface
- Switching between multiple panels, like an object’s properties, data views, and guide instructions, on small screens in landscape and portrait modes
- Overhauling our simulation tools (like explode, laser, and planetscaping), to adapt to all screen sizes
Under New (Layout) Management
While most other simulators and games have a different user interface for their mobile and desktop versions, we want ours to use the exact same interface for all platforms. We think we’re among the first to do this, but if you know of another or have done this with your game, please let us know! You can see what Universe Sandbox mobile might look like right now (including why we haven’t released it yet) by resizing the Universe Sandbox window on your computer to the size of your phone (since our user interface dynamically responds to your window size).
While we are still making performance improvements so Universe Sandbox can run smoothly on phones, our primary obstacle in mobile development is ensuring our interface is usable on a small touch screen like a phone. We’ve started tackling it by designing a system to intelligently hide and reveal panels as they open and close, which we’re calling our Dynamic Layout System.
While creating this system will take time, it should allow future improvements and new features to work in Universe Sandbox without any extra development, regardless of whether you’re playing on mobile or desktop. That means we’ll have more time to work on new features instead of spending time implementing the same feature in two different ways.
Current Progress
We’ve been researching the best way to create this dynamic panel management system and have made significant progress implementing it within Universe Sandbox.
There’s still other work to be done, and we do not have a release date or official price for mobile, but we’re still planning on it being a one-time paid app with no ads or in-app purchases.
We have yet to finalize the minimum device requirements for the mobile version, but it will likely require a modern device with decent specs. We will share more about hardware requirements as soon as we finalize them.
Taking a feature-rich, user-interface-heavy desktop game and porting it to mobile presents many challenges, but we are excited to tackle them and create an experience unlike any other at your fingertips.
To receive updates about mobile, like this one, sign up for our mailing list:
http://universesandbox.com/mobile/
Join our community discussions on our Steam Forum and our official Discord community.
Gravity Simulation Upgrade | Update 33
Aug 16th
If Update 33 does not download automatically, follow these update instructions. If you don’t own Universe Sandbox, you can buy it via our website.
Gravity Simulation
We’ve completely overhauled our gravity simulation to increase accuracy, stability, and overall performance. Run simulations at higher speeds than ever before while maintaining gravitational accuracy.
Many simulations can now be run at noticeably higher simulation speeds. Try increasing the simulation speed of the Solar System simulation or your own custom simulation.
Before
After
The Hubble Space Telescope used to crash into or fly away from Earth at simulation speeds greater than a couple days per second. Now it maintains a stable orbit at much higher simulation speeds.
Choreography simulations, where moons are distributed evenly over a pre-computed path creating a unique design, are much more stable and create the desired patterns, like this fish, before becoming gravitationally unstable and falling apart, as expected.
We’ve also added more controls so you can fine-tune the balance between maximum simulation speed and gravitational accuracy. Learn more in our updated guide
Guides > Tutorials > Advanced Simulation Speed Controls
More Highlights
Small objects colliding with gas giants now create more realistic impacts with smaller, gradually growing impact areas
Object selection has been completely rewritten. It’s now much easier to select objects in crowded simulations with lots of dust clouds and fragments.
Check out the full list of What’s New in Update 33
Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.
The Future of Universe Sandbox on Linux
Jul 12th
Our latest release, Update 32.3, will be our last with a native Linux version of Universe Sandbox. Future Linux versions of Universe Sandbox on Steam will be powered by Valve’s Proton, software built into Steam that allows Windows games to run on Linux.
If you are a Steam Linux player, no action is required to continue playing Universe Sandbox. This change should be seamless.
We know this may be disappointing, but after internal testing and user feedback, we have found that playing Universe Sandbox through Proton on Linux machines provides a better overall experience. Valve has put a tremendous amount of energy into developing Proton, which has made this decision much easier. As a small indie team, the upkeep of a Linux version was disproportionately high compared to the size of the Linux player base (just over 0.5% of all players).
Due to the limitations of the Steam platform, we can no longer provide access to older native Linux versions. If you are a Steam player who needs access to the last Linux native version (Update 32.3), please contact us.
If you are a GOG or Itch player, older releases will remain available in their respective download sections. We recommend GOG and Itch players on Linux use either Heroic Games Launcher or Lutris for future versions.
Grand Collision Unification | Update 32.3
Jun 29th
If Update 32.3 does not download automatically, follow these update instructions. If you don’t own Universe Sandbox, you can buy it via our website.
We’ve combined our two previously separate collision methods improving collisions so shockwaves now realistically eject fragments as they spread across gas giants during collisions. Interface panels, such as graphs, data maps, and object properties, are now remembered when you open saved simulations. We’ve also added new astronomical discoveries to explore, like the galaxy-sized detector used to find new evidence of supermassive black holes.
Unified Collisions
Collisions are more realistic, with shockwaves propagating across gas giant surfaces and fragment ejection direction based on impact angle with our new unified collision system. This new collision solution combines our two previous separate collision methods.
Saving Your Interface
Pick up right where you left off with the properties panel open, or include a temperature graph in a shared simulation to show a planet heating up from a close encounter with a star. Saved simulations now remember the state of the interface panels. See it in action in
Open > Core > A Tidally Heated Habitable Moon or Tidally Locked Earth
Searching for Supermassive Black Holes
On June 28, 2023, evidence for a signal generated from all supermassive black hole pairs from across the universe was announced by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves. Explore the galaxy-sized detector they used and learn how they found this evidence in our new guide
Guides > Discoveries > Searching for Supermassive Black Holes
More Highlights
See the dwarf planet Quaoar’s newly discovered rings in the new simulation
Open > Solar System > Quaoar with Rings
We’ve also added a simulation of the dwarf planet Haumea’s rings, which were discovered back in 2017, in the simulation
Open > Solar System > Haumea with Rings
Manipulate the temperature of the universe and learn about the cosmic microwave background, a type of faint radiation spread across space, in our new guide
Guides > Science > Cosmic Microwave Background
Display settings have been updated to include more options for exclusive fullscreen, fullscreen borderless, and windowed resolutions
Additional Actions have been added to the Properties panel of objects so you can easily Fly To, Follow, or Land on objects
Default temperature unit can now be changed to °F, only °C, or only K under
Settings > General > Temperature Units
Check out the full list of What’s New in Update 32.3
Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.
Universe Sandbox Roadmap: 2023 & Beyond
Mar 31st
We’re working to give you more power to understand and control the complex phenomena of the universe. Our roadmap for 2023 includes simulating the lakes of liquid methane on Titan, hot planets emitting light, and realistically colliding spacecraft and bananas. But before we dive in, let’s recap some accomplishments from last year.
Highlights From 2022
In 2022, we put out 9 updates for Universe Sandbox. These included many new features, but some of our favorites are
- Spinning up planets so fast they break apart using the new Force Spin tool
- Exploring constellations for 10 different cultures
- Customizing the look and topography of planets and moons with a library of realistic color and height maps
- Fundamental improvements to our planetary collision system
Check out our 2022 Retrospective for more on what we did last year.
So What’s the Plan for 2023?
- Add more materials for constructing & simulating planets & atmospheres
- Overhaul our under-the-hood physics architecture to improve accuracy and performance
- Simulate light emission from hot planets
- Continue work on bringing Universe Sandbox to phones and tablets
- Improve our development tools to identify issues quickly and provide a more bug-free experience
Many of our projects, like bringing Universe Sandbox to phones and tablets, have been in development for months or years. While we plan to work on everything we discuss here in 2023, complications may cause features to be delayed, and our priorities may change.
More Materials & Composition Simulation
We’re expanding the number of materials in Universe Sandbox you can use to simulate, construct, and terraform planets and atmospheres realistically. For example, new materials like methane will allow us to fully simulate lakes of liquid methane on Titan. We’re also adding advanced simulation to compute planet radii based on the pressure and temperature of each material in the planet’s composition. Ever wonder how big the Moon would be if it were made entirely of oxygen? Soon you’ll be able to find out.
- A (Multi) Material World
- Planet radii and atmospheres will be realistically simulated based on the mass and phase (solid, liquid, and gas) of each material in their composition.
- Simulation of an atmosphere’s heating (the greenhouse effect), color, and opacity, including Venus-like atmospheres, will be based on their material composition.
- Designing the properties, data views, and tools for you to construct atmospheres, build and terraform planets, and track these materials is a crucial part of our development process.
- Physics-based Phases
- The phase of each material in a planet’s composition will be realistically determined based on its pressure and temperature. Make a planet entirely out of water and see the phases from the inside out (our current model says it would be 100% liquid inside).
- Material phase models are based on geological and astrophysical measurements and research.
- Planet radii will then be calculated based on the phase and density of each material that makes up a planet’s composition. If you change the composition, the radius will change with it.
- The phase of each material in a planet’s composition will be realistically determined based on its pressure and temperature. Make a planet entirely out of water and see the phases from the inside out (our current model says it would be 100% liquid inside).
- Tracking Materials
- Materials will have customizable colors based on their physical properties that will blend on the surface of objects. Watch oceans of methane mix with oceans of oxygen in real time.
Physics Fundamentals
Our project to add everyday object collisions, like throwing a banana at a car, led us to first rewrite our physics architecture. Realistically smashing satellites together is part of continuous efforts to improve the realism and performance of Universe Sandbox.
- New Physics Architecture
- Overhauling our custom N-body (gravity) simulation will improve gravity-related accuracy, stability, and performance. Tight orbits like the Hubble Space Telescope around Earth should be stable at simulation speeds as high as a month per second (instead of a few days).
- These updates are the foundation for future physics improvements, like spaceships.
- Everyday Object Collisions
- Currently, when objects collide, they’re treated as spheres. We’re working on adding new physics so that everyday objects, simple shapes like dice and pyramids, but also complex shapes like sledgehammers and spacecraft, will collide according to their unique forms. This is often known as rigid body collision physics.
- Improved Planetary Collisions
- We’re researching methods to allow objects to stretch and deform, like two fluids mixing, during collisions, to improve upon the sphere absorbing method we currently use. Stay tuned for a status update later this year.
- Meteors & Shooting Stars
- To simulate meteors and shooting stars, we’re working on allowing objects to burn up while traveling through a planet’s atmosphere. We’re exploring ways of applying this drag force to objects passing through gas clouds and liquids too. Currently, atmospheres have no effect on objects as they pass through them.
- Advanced Game Engine Features
- As an ongoing project to optimize our simulation, we’re transitioning to the Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS) from Unity, the game engine we use to build Universe Sandbox. We’re excited about the expected performance gains.
Lights in Space
We want to light up the universe – by allowing hot planets and moons to emit light. We’re also planning a massive graphics overhaul that will change how you see the Universe (Sandbox).
- Light ‘em Up
- Light – it’s not just for stars anymore. Hot planets will emit light based on their temperature so you can light up your simulation by setting Earth to 1000 °C.
- This lighting system will eventually allow you to place and customize lights anywhere in the simulation so you can illuminate your universe without stars.
- Untitled Graphics Overhaul
- We don’t want to say too much yet, but we’re working on a massive update to our graphics system that the whole team is very excited about.
Universe Sandbox on Tablets & Phones
We’re stepping up our development for Universe Sandbox on mobile devices (for iOS and Android) after some delays last year. You can read about our plans in our first Mobile DevLog, and be on the lookout for more updates in the future.
- Small Screen Experience
- The primary obstacle in mobile development is adapting our interface that works well on a large screen to work on a small touch screen (like a phone).
- We’re building a system to intelligently resize, hide, and reveal panels as needed. Our goal is to reduce the need for you to spend time managing the user interface so you can focus on bending the simulation to your will.
- All of the Above
- Universe Sandbox on mobile is built from the same codebase as the desktop version and will have the same features.
- Performance is also critical, and we’re working to make Universe Sandbox run smoothly on mobile devices no matter the simulation.
Enhancing Our Developer Toolkit
We’re creating new internal tools to make developing and releasing updates of Universe Sandbox faster. These include systems to analyze your feedback and automate testing for bugs and issues.
- Testing 1, 2, 3
- Creating tests that run automatically to check our collision physics, simulation performance, and more will help us catch issues before they’re released. These tests record data and images we can use to find bugs more easily.
- Tracking Feedback
- Your in-game feedback and issue reports help us improve Universe Sandbox, and there’s a lot to review. We’re transitioning to a new system to sort and analyze your feedback more efficiently.
- Building the Sandbox
- We’ve revamped our automated build system. This system creates a new version of Universe Sandbox in the cloud every time a change is made by one of our team members.
- This automation saves each of us 10-15 minutes each time we want to review a change.
- With a single button, we can also release new updates to all digital stores that sell Universe Sandbox. This process used to take many hours and involved dozens of manual steps, so this makes it possible to release more updates faster.
- This new system easily makes versions of Universe Sandbox we can test on phones and tablets (iOS and Android) too.
- We’ve revamped our automated build system. This system creates a new version of Universe Sandbox in the cloud every time a change is made by one of our team members.
- New Trailer
- We’re producing a new Universe Sandbox trailer fabricated entirely in-game. We’ll be able to capture it with a single button press, making it easier to iterate on the trailer over time to show off the latest features and improvements.
- You will be able to play this new trailer inside Universe Sandbox, breaking out of it to experiment or explore every shot and simulation.
And Beyond
We’re always thinking about the future of Universe Sandbox. Our longer-term goals include gamepad support, life simulation, and more planet customization options. These are still in early development, and we don’t have a timeline for their release (because software development is hard, and not even our astrophysicists can predict all of the complexities of simulating the universe).
- Custom Textures
- We want to give you more control over the appearance of your planet. Satisfy your world-building desires by creating a planet using custom maps or images, like a picture of your dog.
- Gamepad Support
- What could be better than playing Universe Sandbox from the comfort of your couch? We’re working on adding gamepad support for more ways to control your universe. This will improve our Steam Deck support and has the potential to support other gamepad-based systems in the future.
- Life Simulation
- Our expanded materials improvement is the cornerstone of our plans for life simulation. Once Universe Sandbox includes the essentials for life, like oxygen and carbon dioxide, we will be able to explore simulating simple life that will spread across the surface of a planet.
We’re excited for the year ahead and can’t wait to make Universe Sandbox even better!