Have you ever wanted to be a spaceship Captain, facing real challenges and making meaningful choices; a Helmsman, evading missiles while keeping the enemy in your sights; a Tactical Officer, bringing destruction to your foes and managing away teams; a Science Officer, fighting an information war and directing researchers; or a Chief Engineer, pushing systems to their limits and overseeing technicians. If the answer is yes, Universe or Nothing is your game.

We want you to help shape the future of Universe or Nothing, join us for development discussion and updates on our forums or Facebook page.

Universe or Nothing is a command level space sim game featuring an expansive campaign with singleplayer and full cooperative play. Lean back in the Captain’s chair and give the orders, or drop into any of the roles on your bridge to take direct control. Travel silently on low power to ambush the enemy, or go in with guns blazing to overwhelm them. Carefully disable enemy ships to capture prisoners and maximise your salvage, or blow them out of the void to be sure of a quick get-away. Use strategically placed away teams to gather intel, or hack enemy comm arrays to discover the location of vulnerable assets. How to win the war is up to you, but win it you must. All the universe... or nothing, which shall it be?


As Captain you will be able to command and control four roles on the bridge of your ship; Helm, Tactics, Science and Engineering. Commanding involves issuing orders to your bridge crew, controlling means you take their seat and do it yourself.


A good helm officer understands the theory of flight in zero G, but a great one knows just when to fire thrusters to avoid that incoming tactical nuke. Your pilot will need to read the current situation and have the reflexes to react to it, protecting the ship with evasive manoeuvres while keeping the enemy within the firing arc of your turrets.


They say a good tactical officer has a plan to kill everyone they meet, and a great one has plans to kill people they’ve only thought about meeting. Keep an eye on them though - they tend to take risks and push the ship beyond it’s limits. While on at least one occasion this has helped repel an invasion fleet, this practice has also resulted in many a ship becoming just another wreck drifting in the void...


Science officers are the kind of people who interrupt delicate diplomatic transmissions to inform their captain that the enemy ship is displaying unusual power fluctuations in it’s aft scanning array. Now, sometimes this is nothing but a scientific curiosity, but occasionally it’s an indication that the enemy is about to burn a hole in your hull. The trick for any captain is in knowing which is which...


The best engineers all share a common delusion - that the ship they are assigned to could explode at any moment. They’ll tell you that pushing the laser turrets any further could cause a catastrophic failure in the core, or that an emergency jump to cruise speed will rip the engine nacelles from their moorings. Don’t worry too much - it almost always turns out just fine. Almost always.

Features

  • Command a spaceship through an expansive campaign featuring dynamically generated content. Fully simulated systems allow you to play any way you want to, from loud and aggressive to silent and deadly.
  • Issue orders to, or directly control, four roles on the bridge of your ship; Helm, Tactical, Science and Engineering. Each role offers its own unique engaging experience, with a focus on “easy to pick up, difficult to master”.
  • Invite your friends on Steam to join your crew, taking over one or more roles on your bridge.
  • Fully realised 3D space with physics (velocity and momentum).
  • Optimised multiplayer networking designed for seamless internet play.
  • Customise your ship with systems (weapons, sensors, shields and engines) purchased from stations or salvaged from wrecks.
  • Extensive modding support with full Steam Workshop integration.


Universe or Nothing will be available on Steam in 2017, or via bootlegged holocube if you’re in the Centauri system. Find out more at universeornothing.com.

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My name is Mark, and I am obsessed with making the space sim of my dreams. That sim is Universe or Nothing, and this is an introduction to it.

What is Universe or Nothing?

Universe or Nothing is a space sim which allows you to be a Captain, facing real challenges and making meaningful choices; a Helmsman, evading missiles while keeping the enemy in your sights; a Tactical Officer, bringing destruction to your foes and managing away teams; a Science Officer, fighting an information war and directing researchers; or a Chief Engineer, pushing systems to their limits and overseeing technicians.

What is the gameplay like?

As Captain you will be able to command and control four roles on the bridge of your ship; Helm, Tactical Ops, Science and Engineering. Commanding involves issuing orders to your bridge crew from your Captains console, controlling means you take their console and do it yourself. You can invite friends on Steam to take over one or more roles on your ship for a compelling cooperative experience.

The game will feature an expansive dynamic campaign, played over a large seamless map, and smaller scripted scenario maps (kobayashi maru anyone?).

Where is development at?

A huge amount of pre-production has gone into Universe or Nothing. I began working on the game in 2012 and have since been refining everything about it. I have built all of the game's base systems, including multiplayer networking, physics, graphics, and simulation systems (power, energy signatures, damage etc.).

Our concept artist Isaac Hannaford, who was lead concept artist on many of the Halo games as well as Destiny, has created beautiful ship designs for us. The first two can be seen in his illustration "Ambush at Pentalux" (click here to view it).

We have two part-time contributors who have helped me with design and development. These are our writer Pádraig, who has helped to flesh out the game's universe and narrative (you can read two of his Universe or Nothing fiction shorts here and here) and second developer David, who has helped to refine the gameplay systems and who is developing the game's AI (AI is his specialty).

I have so far completed two of the console UI designs, Tactical Ops and Engineering (click on each to see it in full size).

Future Development

So far all development has been done in my own time using what funds I could spare. I have gotten to a point where I know what the game is, how it works technically, and what designs I will use. My only issue is time.

In order to complete Universe or Nothing in a reasonable time period I need to work on it full time, and I need to bring Pádraig, David and at least one other artist on-board full-time as well.

That means Universe or Nothing needs funding. I have spoken to some publishers and while they think the game is really cool, and that the progress we've made is impressive, they do not invest in niche games and we are not a proven team. Two of them asked us to pitch a more accessible version, for a larger audience, but that does not interest me.

I think our best option at this point is Kickstarter, but I'm not rushing into it. I've been working on having as much to show as possible, and that time is close.

I want to help

We have a small but dedicated community on our forums and Facebook page. These brilliant people have helped me shape the game into what it is now.

In order for Universe or Nothing to be a success we need our community to grow, and I would love you to join us in shaping the future.

Thanks for reading!

Mark

Video DevLog #2 - Engineering Power Wheel Presets

Video DevLog #2 - Engineering Power Wheel Presets

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UNION is a multi-crew space sim where up to five players command a single spaceship. In this video DevLog we demonstrate the Engineering Power Wheel Presets...

Video DevLog #1 and the launch of our forums

Video DevLog #1 and the launch of our forums

News

Our first in a bi-weekly series of video DevLogs. These DevLogs will hopefully give you a deeper insight into what UNION is and where it is going. This...

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November Update: A Million Ways to Die in Space

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Where we talk about a little about simulating a spaceship, and our helm view.

OCTOBER 2015 UPDATE (INCLUDING MODDING DETAILS)

OCTOBER 2015 UPDATE (INCLUDING MODDING DETAILS)

News 4 comments

Where we talk a little about our UI and how you will able to mod UNION.

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 119)
Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Hi all,

We have been focusing on development and have really let our IndieDB page slip. I have updated the page with our new name, details and art and I will post a full article during the week, which will contain all of our news/developments and show, for the first time, the completed Engineering UI design.

If you would like to see our updates from the past few months, you can find them on our forum: Universeornothing.com

Thanks for reading!

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Guest
Guest

can you be first person and walk around the ship..or, well, the bridge at least? like.. immersion into being a spaceship captain? i don't much care for the 3rd person view, but if there was a bridge with consoles and a window... take my money.

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Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Hi there!

UNION is played with your computer screen(s) used for the console(s) on the bridge of the ship. There are exterior views of the ship, but they are all from cameras which are fixed to the hull and turrets.

On a basic level we are creating a submarine sim, like the Silent Hunter games (see this video for an example of that Youtu.be).

We would love to, and are fully capable of, add a 3D bridge which you and the other players can share. However we can also do that if we secure enough funding.

Thanks for your interest!

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Guest
Guest

CANT WAIT TO PLAY AAHAHA so cool
Is there a way to Support you?
Is there sill a way to sign up for Alpha ?

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Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Hey! Thanks for the kind words. :)

We're not signing up anyone else for the closed alpha at the moment, we'll post info on our plans closer to the time.

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Guest
Guest

Looks like Guns of Icarus, but in space.

...I've been waiting for exactly that.

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Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Yeah, it's not a million miles off GoI. :D

Thanks!

Reply Good karma+1 vote
bloodaxe95
bloodaxe95

Hey, Bloodaxe here!

I was wondering about the Captain position, and the Science/Comms position.

Does a captain work in the same way as a captain in Artemis? Like, he doesn't use a computer himself, but he sits in a chair and watches the big screen, whilst he tells others to manage what information to display there at any given time? And then based upon the information he gets from the big screen, and his crew, he gives orders and makes tactical decisions?

And the Science/Comms, how does communication work between player space ships? Would it be possible to do it a bit star-trek style? Like, if you have a camera plugged in, your comms could choose to display the captain and his crew to the enemy/friend on their big-screen if the accept a comms invite? Or will the chatting between ships be purely text-based?

Thanks in advance ^^

Reply Good karma Bad karma+2 votes
Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Hey bloodaxe95,

Sorry for the delay in responding, we've been very busy lately and are just catching up.

Yeah the Captain is a hands off role in UNION. It can be shared with any of the other roles too though (you could be the Helm officer and Captain, for example).

Getting VoIP (voice) chat working well is a big challenge, and one which I do not believe we will be able to take on before release. I would love to do it at some stage though.

So for now, communication will happen via text and menus.

Thanks!

Reply Good karma+1 vote
Toshiro1966
Toshiro1966

Love the concept. Like what I see so far. Definitely will get this when it's ready. Too bad I have to wait till next year.
Love to participate in an alpha. But I am sure you have filled out your testers. If you need perspective from a middle aged gamer let me know. Lol. Also voted on steam.

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Faerdan Creator
Faerdan

Thanks for checking in, it's great to hear from people who are interested in UNION. The support we've received is pretty amazing too.

We have already about 300 people signed up for the alpha, these are mostly people who were early supporters here on IndieDB. We may include others in the alpha, but we are not sure how that would be arranged. We will post details closer to the alpha release date, later this year.

In the mean time we will be sharing the development process with everyone here.

Thanks!

- Mark / Faerdan

Reply Good karma+1 vote
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