Here I show where the game stands. From top to bottom: what has already shipped, what I am building now and what comes next. I do not put dates on it: each part comes out when it is ready.
Updated on October 9, 2026
The game takes place in a spiral galaxy the size of the Milky Way, with real stars and real physics. The sky map is public, news takes time to arrive and the universe keeps going when you log off.
Up next · Universe
About 100 billion systems in a realistic barred spiral, with a bulge, a bar, arms and voids. Each neighborhood of stars takes shape when someone reaches it and stays recorded for good. There are no fixed regions: the only borders on the map are the ones nations draw.
Up next · Universe
The mix of stars is the real one: red dwarfs everywhere and big blue stars extremely rare. A star's type sets the light that reaches its planets, its flares, where the habitable zone lies and how rich in elements the system is.
Up next · Universe
Only humans, in a fictional galaxy, shortly after a one-way exodus with no contact with home. Real physics applies, plus the jump drive and a few costly exceptions such as shields.
Up next · Universe
Gravity, temperature, pressure and atmosphere change what you can build and extract. The public map shows the astronomy, the environment and a rough hint of resources, nothing more. Food only grows on fertile planets.
Up next · Universe
A 3D map seen from above, with each star's height marked and the range of the selected ship drawn around it. Stars and planets are public. Fleets and markets only show up with presence or sensors.
Up next · Universe
Each system has planets, moons, stations, belts and the jump point, linked by travel slower than light. Orbits are real, so distances inside a system change over each planet's year.
Up next · Universe
What happens far away reaches you late, something like one minute per jump of distance. Relays built by players make information instant inside their network.
Up next · Universe
Rare astronomical objects and natural phenomena, with no characters behind them, are the only events the game creates by itself. Nature can change conditions in parts of the galaxy.
You found a single company and start in a neutral core on the rim of the galaxy, with a settler's quota and time to learn. Every step toward the center takes longer and costs more, but the space there is richer and more dangerous.
Up next · Universe
Everyone arrives in the same core, on the rim of the galaxy, and no nation can ever take it. If it fills up, the game opens a second core in an empty area. It only holds weak deposits, and the closer you get to the center, the richer and more dangerous space becomes.
Up next · Universe
The ark ship that brought humanity here rests in the core as a landmark and a meeting point, with no function in play. At the Big Bang, landmarks like it are the only things already built. Everything else is built by players.
Research produces blueprints that belong to you. You can keep them secret or license them, known recipes get better versions and each nation protects patents under its own law.
On the horizon · Universe
The settled frontier spreads out from the core in a slow wave, driven by drive range, research and fuel. The richest and most dangerous space lies toward the center of the galaxy.
The permanent universe begins from scratch, with nothing carried over from alpha and beta, and it will never be reset. Economy, nations and war are ready on day one.
On the horizon · Universe
Launch only happens once the economy, nations and basic war have been proven in alpha and beta. The universe starts from scratch and, from then on, it is permanent.
On the horizon · Universe
From the Big Bang on, stars, planets and their environments are fixed. Anything new is added on top without rewriting what exists, and the rules for deposits can only change where nobody has prospected yet.
What comes after launch and is already on my list: shortcuts across the galaxy, unions of nations, tools for those who build on top of the game and more to do in the universe.
On the horizon · Universe
I am still working out what there is to discover in a universe without NPCs. The idea is that exploration data can be sold and that whoever gets there first gets the credit.
With every new version I come back and update this page: things move from Up next to In progress and then to Shipped. When I change my mind about something, it changes here too. Whatever is marked Still thinking is something I have not decided yet.
The foundation is already live, and I am building the rest in the open, in front of whoever plays. Download the current version →