I love games and simulations that allow me to explore. The larger the game world the better. I actually am one of the minority it seems that still loves Spore though it saddens me that EA gutted Will Wright's original vision. That said, Wright had stated that it would take 78 years real time to visit every planet in the galaxy provided one played non-stop. Daggerfall is three times the size of Great Britain, FUEL is a huge game. Fate has approximately 3 billion levels. Guess what? these games are infinitessimally small compared to something I found last week and downloaded. It is called Space Engine. It is humanly impossible to see everything in this simulation. Why? Perhaps you might want to visit the site and find out why. It is a FREE simulator that will eventually become a game. Fair warning: you need a pretty powerful PC to run it, but you will truly go where no kone has gone before.

http://en.spaceengine.org/

Engage!!!

Sounds a lot like Noctis IV

http://anynowhere.com/bb/posts.php?t=409

I'll check it out once I get my PC set up at home.

And I'm filled with eternal dispair that Noctis V never eventuated.

Karl

My friend will absolutely love this. Thanks for sharing it.

Vlad (are you the Vladimir Romanyuk in question? If so, kudos on this project) This looks really freakin' cool. Seriously. But I wonder at this point, what is there to do with this other than cruise the universe and look at various celestial objects? Don't get me wrong, I think it's damned impressive, but I'm just wondering what there is here to keep one's interest for longer than a couple hours?

Thanks for info. I'm getting a new comp tomorrow and this is one of the first thing to try. :-)

Looks like a nice app to have on the rig for informative, contemplative and overall relaxing sessions of free roaming the Universe.

Thanks for the post. Will look into this...

Here's something you might like to check out, Vlad:

http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/games/avww-features

Hi All,

No I am not the Vlad(imir) that is the designer of this excellent software - I wish I was. :)

I see that a few of you played Noctis IV and like I had, waited impatiently for Alex to release Noctis V. It was a blast and at the time there was nothing quite like it. After a while, I had heard of Celestia. It's an excellent program but I was looking for something that instilled a sense of exploring a universe similar to the way Noctis IV did it. Despite the primitive look, that program had a way of drawing you knto the seemingly infinite. Space Engine however is a different beast as those of you who have visited the site know.

The question was asked what could keep somebody interested for more than a few hours. Good question!

1. It is being developed into a full fledged game so that alone should at least keep people interested in following its progress. And I should add that this game will be similar to a Star Trek like experience with battles, exploration, seeking out new life, etc. but on an intergalactic scale.
2. It's not really like Celestia (which by the way has slowed development) in that you just cruise around and look at objects. It really is a program of exploration. Every single planet you find you can land on and explore. I don't want to spoil the fun, but, if you are an aficionado of stunning space art and/or speculation as to what's out there, this simulation-soon to be game, will get you hooked.
3. It's the Universe!

Carnival73, I have A Valley Without Wind and really like it. I read recently on Rock Papaer Shotgun that a version 2 is in the works!

I realize that I am sounding like a snake oil salesman here, but since the program is free, you have nothing to lose but 500Mb of HD space. (Ughhh bad pun NOT intended)