Universe Sandbox News

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Collisions and surface simulation already run smoothly in Universe Sandbox on mobile devices.

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.

Making our user interface work in portrait mode is an added challenge when adapting it for small screens.

[h3]Pocket-Sized Complexities[/h3]
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 or 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, including

• 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
  

Dynamically resizing panels (this tool panel is cut off) and automatically moving the center of your view so you can always see what you're looking at (moving the Sun hidden behind the tool panel to the empty space on the left) is just one example of the user interface work we still need to do. This is a work in progress.

[h3]Under New (Layout) Management[/h3]
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).

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Showing multiple panels simultaneously in both landscape and portrait orientations while still seeing the simulation on a small screen is one of the biggest challenges of mobile development. This is a work in progress.

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.

One new design we have is a step to confirm placing an object, helping it end up where you want it. This is a work in progress.

[h3]Current Progress[/h3]
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/

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Earth and Moon collide in Universe Sandbox on a mobile device. While collisions and surface simulations already run smoothly, our guide panels still need to be updated to work with our new Dynamic Layout System.

Join our community discussions on our Steam Forum and our official Discord community.

[h4]Gravity Simulation[/h4]
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.


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

[h4]More Highlights[/h4]
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.

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.


[h4]Unified Collisions[/h4]
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.


[h4]Saving Your Interface[/h4]
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

[h4]Searching for Supermassive Black Holes[/h4]
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

[h4]More Highlights[/h4]
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.

The Milky Way galaxy with a trail for every nebula in the galaxy using our upcoming physics architecture improvements. Currently, trails are only shown for some nebulae due to performance limitations. The colors show how many times the orbit of a nebula must be computed to maintain physical accuracy. Blue means fewer computations, while red means more.

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.

[h2]Highlights From 2022[/h2]
Demonstrating highlights from 2022, including the Force Spin tool, Settle Water button, and Auto Simulation Speed.

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.

[h2]So What’s the Plan for 2023?[/h2]

• 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.

[h3]More Materials & Composition Simulation[/h3]
Titan with realistic lakes of liquid methane. Titan’s properties include the amount of methane and the percentage in each phase (solid, liquid, and gas). Material colors are manually adjusted to help see the lakes. This feature and interface are a work in progress.

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.
    
  This graph shows the calculated density of the materials of Earth based on their depth. You can see the density of Earth increases as you move towards its core. The cut-away view of Earth shows the individual materials, temperature, and phase of each material from the inside out. This feature and interface are a work in progress.
• 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.
    
  Liquid materials added to the surface of a planet with the Planetscaping tool will blend over time. Artificial coloring is used here to help differentiate materials. This feature and interface are a work in progress.
• 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.
    

[h3]Physics Fundamentals[/h3]
While many moons orbiting Earth and colliding are beautiful, the more objects in a simulation, the more computationally demanding it is.

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.
    
  
  

  
  

  Before - Our current gravity simulation has small inaccuracies, so the trails of these moons don't show a fish.
  

  
  

  After - Improvements to our gravity simulation allow these moons to orbit with trails that clearly show a fish.
  

  
  
• 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.
    
  A meteor burns up as it flies through Earth’s atmosphere. Adding atmospheric drag is a work in progress.
• 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.
    

[h3]Lights in Space[/h3]
As moons collide, they get hot enough to glow and emit light on the surrounding moons. Non-stellar objects emitting light is a work in progress.

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.
    

[h3]Universe Sandbox on Tablets & Phones[/h3]
The first step of the Welcome to Universe Sandbox guide playing on a smartphone in portrait mode. Universe Sandbox on phones and tablets is a work in progress and is still being developed.

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.
    

[h3]Enhancing Our Developer Toolkit[/h3]
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An initial selection of scenes we’re considering for our new in-game Universe Sandbox trailer. Our new trailer is a work in progress.

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.
    
• 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.
    

[h3]And Beyond[/h3]
A habitable planet with vegetation that dies off after an asteroid impact. Vegetation response to temperature is already implemented, but in the future, additional factors beyond collisions will impact vegetation habitability.

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!

Watch a green comet pass by Earth for the first time in 50,000 years, see an asteroid swing by Earth in one of the closest ever encounters, and explore a hypothetical planet from the 1800s disproven by Einstein’s theory of relativity. Speaking of comets, asteroids, and planets…

A comet, an asteroid, and a hypothetical planet walk into the Solar System. The hypothetical planet says to the comet, “Why so green?” The comet says, “It’s the radiation from the Sun evaporating the carbon on my surface. You’d know that if you were as close to the Sun as people thought you were.” The hypothetical planet turns red with anger and ceases to exist. The asteroid says, “Phew, that was a close one!”


[h4]A Green Comet[/h4]
The green comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), recently passed by the Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Explore its path and watch this once-in-a-lifetime event occur over and over with our new simulation
The Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in 2023

[h4]Close Encounters of the Asteroid Kind[/h4]
Asteroid 2023 BU performed a close pass of Earth (though it posed no threat), only 2,200 km from the surface. That’s just under half the length of the United States! Watch one of the closest asteroid encounters ever recorded in our new simulation 
Asteroid 2023 BU Close Encounter in 2023

[h4]The Non-Existent Planet[/h4]
In the 1800s, many astronomers thought there was a planet, dubbed Vulcan, between Mercury and the Sun. Mercury’s orbit was observed to wobble slightly more than predicted, and Vulcan was hypothesized to explain this. We now know Vulcan does not exist, and general relativity causes the additional wobble, but you can see Vulcan’s proposed orbit in the new simulation
Hypothetical Planet Vulcan

[h4]More Highlights[/h4]
Landing (press "c") on the surface of a planet now always points you toward the horizon. Taking off returns you to your previous position instead of in front of the planet.



On February 3, 2023, astronomers announced the discovery of 12 more moons orbiting Jupiter. Learn about these new moons in our new simulation
Jupiter’s New Moons 2023
Or explore the history of the discovery of all of Jupiter’s 92 moons in our guide
History of Jupiter’s Moons


We added a Spherical Cow to Universe Sandbox! This refers to a joke that when physicists want to make a problem easier to handle, they sometimes simplify it so much it’s no longer realistic.



Experience 100 spherical cows hitting Earth at lightspeed in our new sim
Earth & 100 Spherical Cows at the Speed of Light
Because why not?


Check out the full list of What's New in Update 32.2

Please report any issues on our Steam forum, on Discord, or in-game via Home > Send Feedback.