Universe Sandbox 2023 Retrospective

We’ve got a lot planned for 2024, including a massive graphics upgrade, collision and cratering improvements, getting Universe Sandbox on mobile devices (iOS & Android), and more! We’ll go into more exciting details in our (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/230290/view/6501581293008131627), but first, let’s reflect on some achievements from 2023.

1

Spherical cow

We added one new human-scale object last year - a spherical cow. A spherical cow 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.

4

Significant updates to Universe Sandbox

• A Comet, an Asteroid, and a Planet Walk into the Solar System | (https://universesandbox.com/blog/2023/03/comet-asteroid-planet-solar-system/) | March 2023

• Added a spherical cow and many simulations including the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) passing by Earth.

• Grand Collision Unification | (https://universesandbox.com/blog/2023/06/grand-collision-unification-update-32-3/) | June 2023

• Combined our two previous collision models for more realistic shockwaves, heating, and overall destruction.

• Gravity Simulation Upgrade | (https://universesandbox.com/blog/2023/08/gravity-simulation-upgrade-update-33/) | August 2023

• Overhauled our gravity simulation to increase accuracy, stability, and performance to run simulations even faster.

• Terraforming | (https://universesandbox.com/blog/2023/12/terraforming-update-34/) | December 2023

• Added 8 new materials (for a total of 12), including oxygen and carbon dioxide, to realistically simulate, construct, and terraform planets and atmospheres.

• Finally simulating the lakes of liquid methane on Titan.

The Gravity Simulation Upgrade and Terraforming were major milestones from our 2023 Roadmap post.

8

New materials

We added

• Helium

• Carbon dioxide

• Oxygen

• Sulfur dioxide

• Methane

• Nitrogen

• Argon

• Ammonia

Alongside the existing materials, silicate, iron, hydrogen, and water to Universe Sandbox. Now you can terraform planets and simulate atmospheres more realistically than ever.

36

New simulations and guides added to Universe Sandbox

Check out the 31 new simulations, including the Bombard Moon with Materials (below), and 5 new guides, including Terraforming Mars and Searching for Supermassive Black Holes, under Home > Open and Home > Guides

727

Highest number of concurrent users in Universe Sandbox

Easily surpassing the previous highest number of 648 on December 24, 2021. January 30, 2023 must have been a great day to cause celestial havoc.

2,336

Positive Steam reviews in 2023

We’re truly amazed and humbled that we are rated “Overwhelmingly Positive,” both recently and all-time on Steam. Over 96% of all reviews we’ve received are positive.

2,405

New code commits, or changes, made to Universe Sandbox through GitHub, the platform we use to maintain and manage our code

The most code commits occurred during the week of December 3, right before Terraforming | Update 34 was released, with 87 commits. A single commit can be a simple typo correction or a whole new feature

9,757

Discord users on our server

It’s great to see your constructive discussion and creations on our server, which has grown by almost 20% in the last year. 10,000 is so close, let’s hit 12,000 this year! Join us on Discord.

15,747

Simulations shared in the

(https://steamcommunity.com/app/230290/workshop/) in 2023

That's more than 43 simulations shared every single day! There are over 50,000 total simulations shared on the Steam Workshop for you to explore and be inspired by.

25,326

Files uploaded on our team messaging app, Slack, in 2023

That’s more than 3 times as many as last year, including screenshots and videos of features in progress, log files for resolving issues, and images of bugs, like those below.

A moon bounces off a planet instead of colliding with it while testing new collision physics (new collision physics are work in progress).

Experimenting with new graphics rendering technology made Earth a bit lumpy (don’t worry, it’s a sphere again).

56,466

Messages sent on Slack in 2023

Giant Army has been entirely remote since its founding in 2011, and with 13 team members across 4 continents and 6 time zones, messaging on Slack is how we get most of our work done.

592,638*

Times the ‘Welcome to Universe Sandbox’ guide was played in 2023

Whether you’re a new player or just wanted a refresher, we hope you enjoyed learning about the beauty of our universe. And how to destroy it.

1,005,262*

Times the Planetscaping tool was used in 2023

The Planetscaping tool became even more powerful with the ability to add individual materials. Seeing the passion and attention to detail you all put into customizing planets is fantastic.

1,380,778*

Times supernovas went off in Universe Sandbox in 2023

Astronomers estimate there will be 1 supernova in the Milky Way every 100 years. They also think there are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Assuming all galaxies have a similar number of supernovas, about a billion occur each year.

We got about 1% of the way there in 2023. Turns out that even with everybody working together, recreating everything happening in the universe is hard.

6,265,426*

New simulations created in Universe Sandbox in 2023

That’s about one new simulation created every 5 seconds.

31,394,000+

Views of Universe Sandbox videos and shorts on YouTube

Getting an exact view count of every YouTube video that featured Universe Sandbox in 2023 is almost impossible, but we think this is a reasonable estimate (the actual number is larger). We appreciate every video posted and are glad so many people enjoy them!

Check out two of our most prolific YouTubers, Space Chip and Neptunian Guy.

***** Due to a change in our analytics system, we have extrapolated 2023’s numbers based on the total increase in player activity on Steam.

What's Next?

We’re already working on a major graphics upgrade, getting Universe Sandbox on mobile devices (iOS and Android), overhauling the framework that Universe Sandbox is built on, and more! Be on the lookout for more details in our 2024 Roadmap post.

Collisions and surface simulation already run smoothly in Universe Sandbox on mobile devices. This video was taken before Terraforming | Update 34. Universe Sandbox on mobile will have the same features as on desktop.

And Most Importantly

Thank you. All of your kind words, feedback, and excitement inspire us to continue our mission of creating a realistic, interactive simulation of the amazing universe we find ourselves in. We believe that giving people the power of unlimited creation and destruction is the best way to discover its awesomeness.

We’re able to keep improving Universe Sandbox year after year because of your support, and we are truly grateful. There is so much more we want to bring to Universe Sandbox, and we can’t wait to do it.

The Universe Sandbox Team Dan, Chris, Georg, Jonathan, Rappo, Mat, Jacob, Erika, Brendan, Anders, Brent, Pavel, and Conrad