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[vdapps]

Universe Quest aims to be ever-evolving, community driven software with gaming and social elements for fans of rocketry and space exploration. The goal of Universe Quest is to have all important space exploration missions, rockets, engines, launch sites, etc., on one place, in nice-looking interactive package. Sand-boxed gaming elements and social elements will be there to keep community more involved. Main value of Universe Quest should be in its technical and historical accuracy, so it can serve also like nice interactive encyclopedia for everyone being interested in the area.

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Reference audiences which Universe Quest will try to appeal are:

1. Enthusiasts which appreciate having comprehensive interactive encyclopedia of everything rocketry and space exploration related
2. Players of games like: Kerbal Space Program, Universe Sandbox, Space Engine, Elite: Dangerous, etc..

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You can find latest version of Universe Quest here:
https://vdapps.net/universequest

Universe Quest is also on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/universe.quest

..also on Facebook (English):
https://facebook.com/UniverseQuestEN

..and there is also Spanish FB page:
https://facebook.com/UniverseQuestES

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Few actual shots:

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Being a big fan of rocketry and space exploration, I'm working on this project as hobby, 2-3 hours daily, apart from my main job. I'll try to find funding for this project, so I can focus more time and resources on it.

If you like the idea of Universe Quest and you want to give it some support, you can do it by buying my previous game Universe Quiz. It's a small quiz game about astronomy, initially made for Windows Phone, but now ported to Steam and Microsoft Store. See links below:

Universe Quiz on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1211100/Universe_Quiz/
Universe Quiz on MS Store: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/universe-quiz/9mv40cc14ktg

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See you in orbit.

[vdapps]

Very early screenshot with visuals just bonkers now. It's just to present what type of info (among others) Universe Quest will contain.

Wondering how many nerds into it, like me, I'll find.

[JobLeonard]

So the idea is that it's going to be like a gamified Encarta for rocketry?

[vdapps]

Exactly.

1. Comprehensive encyclopedia / database with focus on rocketry and space exploration, so it can serve good for anyone interested in area.

2. Gaming and social elements, so it's not just boring encyclopedia. I.e. leveling can unlock some stuff which is not important from educational purpose, but it's nice to have and keep involved (rocket models, art, insignia, rank, etc..)

Focus of Universe Quest is mainly on space exploration. Reason is that there were thousands of rocket launches and majority of them just comm sats or secret military sats. I don't want to flood user with that. Focus is what's important from scientific and space exploration perspective.

Example: Thor-Agena rocket has some hundred launches for military Corona reconnaissance program. I'm not placing every launch from that program there, but I will place brief description of Corona program, along with all tech details of Thor-Agena rocket (I don't want to miss any orbital rocket). On the other hand, Pioneer or Mariner programs were purely scientific and space exploration focused. So every one launch from those programs will be there with big focus on detail.

[JobLeonard]

Gaming and social elements, so it's not just boring encyclopedia. I.e. leveling can unlock some stuff which is not important from educational purpose, but it's nice to have and keep involved (rocket models, art, insignia, rank, etc..)

I wonder if gamification is truly necessary - maybe a sort-of sandbox is enough? I mean, everyone remembers playing with planetary orbits in Encarta

[Rogod]

Yea I'm inclined to agree with JobLeonard; the idea of expanding upon a quiz game with unlockables still sounds terribly dull to me - I'd be far more inclined to investigate a really good interactive encyclopedia made for the modern age (like a universe sandbox). There is something to be said for those old CD-rom fore-runners to Wikipedia; the interactivity and "cool visuals" they boasted always helped solidify the concepts for me, even with 90s hardware limitations. (Immediately engaging educational programs that come to mind: 3D Dinosaur Adventure, 3D Human Body, Exploring Civilizations, RedShift, etc.)

[vdapps]

Thanks for your feedback JobLeonard and Rogod! I really appreciate it and I must say that yeah, you're right with that sand box.

I really not meant 'gaming' like was in 'Universe Quiz' game (which was just very simple principle), but more like 'mini-games' in sand-boxed environment or 'achievements' you can earn (for collectors, completionists). So apart of having space exploration relevant encyclopedic info always at hand from the beginning, you can just spent some time there with something enjoyable. So Universe Sandbox is nice example. In other words, those 'gaming' or 'social' elements will not block you from comprehensive content, will be optional.

[JobLeonard]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! Minigames to challenge yourself sounds a lot better for sure!

[vdapps]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! Minigames to challenge yourself sounds a lot better for sure!

Yeah, and that's why I wrote in Universe Quest overview - community driven end ever evolving. I want to listen to feedback from community to see what has positive feedback. 'Gaming', 'achievements' and 'social' elements can change direction more freely, depending on feedback from users, at the same time I can still retain its educational and encyclopedic value unchanged (being comprehensive interactive encyclopedia of everything rocketry and space exploration related is my fixed anchor).

[vdapps]

Quick visual upgrade. Background is taken from Universe Quiz (it's in fact cropped part of NASA's image of Andromeda galaxy in ultra-violet). Sorry for worse readability, it's just effect of scaling down image to place it here on forum.

Fed Universe Quest with first data. Added all important mission events from 1944 (first time when space was reached with V-2 rocket by nazis, even if reaching space was not their intention I guess), up to year 1959. For now, those are just mission overviews (basic data you can see in table + brief overview text + one image), later I want to be more detailed.

Edit: I still see that I not scaled down image enough so it's still needed to scroll it horizontally. I guess, if I scale enough to fit, it would be unreadable completely.

[vdapps]

Quick small update: implemented sorting capability for all columns, ascending/descending. If 2 values in sort column are the same, 2nd sorting parameter is always 'Launch date' (to keep things in chronological order per sort group).

And attaching picture of my notebook, which I use to write down tasks, notes, priorities, etc. Can't imagine better one.

[JobLeonard]

Ah, the joys of sorting! And that's cute notebook, very on-brand

[Sp1ke]

As title suggests it is for fans of space exploration and rocket engineering.
Sounds promising and it may be one of kind game, but I'm not sure about whole encyklopedia thing.
Maybe it would be better to concentrate and polish rocket engineering?
It could be some kind of game where you program a track of spaceship through solar system using gravity force of planets to gain speed or to loose it and complete mission by find yourself in the place where you should be.

[vdapps]

As title suggests it is for fans of space exploration and rocket engineering.
Sounds promising and it may be one of kind game, but I'm not sure about whole encyklopedia thing.
Maybe it would be better to concentrate and polish rocket engineering?
It could be some kind of game where you program a track of spaceship through solar system using gravity force of planets to gain speed or to loose it and complete mission by find yourself in the place where you should be.

Hi, thx for feedback! In fact, this encyclopedic/educational value is something which I consider as fixed anchor and gaming/social elements are something which I plan to have more 'community driven' (will be adapted to what players will like most). However, I don't know how many users/players will value this educational content. It's not like I'm super confident, that it'll be super-duper, having such encyclopedia at hand. It's my personal involvement which drives this encyclopedic part.

Idea behind is that I was not able to find any modern SW doing that. There are lot of groups around FB, or Discord channels, full of aficionados sharing everything from first Sputnik to last SpaceX. But if you want everything related to rocketry and space exploration you just have to search wiki or google, but hard to find something where you have everything relevant under one solid package.

So I'm trying to fill this gap. If response from community will be weak, I'll not continue. However, I'm going to challenge that, and I'll want to offer it to both space/rocketry fans but also to players (like fans of KSP, Universe Sandbox, Space Engine, etc..)

[vdapps]

Added wonky main menu. It will expand with more features added, visuals will change as well.

Now working hardly on tables factorization as missions table shown on previous screenshots was bit awkwardly coded (columns were hand-edited in editor, rows were spawned programmatically). As Universe Quest will contain lot of info, I need proper, robust, tables management.

[Sp1ke]

As title suggests it is for fans of space exploration and rocket engineering.
Sounds promising and it may be one of kind game, but I'm not sure about whole encyklopedia thing.
Maybe it would be better to concentrate and polish rocket engineering?
It could be some kind of game where you program a track of spaceship through solar system using gravity force of planets to gain speed or to loose it and complete mission by find yourself in the place where you should be.

Hi, thx for feedback! In fact, this encyclopedic/educational value is something which I consider as fixed anchor and gaming/social elements are something which I plan to have more 'community driven' (will be adapted to what players will like most). However, I don't know how many users/players will value this educational content. It's not like I'm super confident, that it'll be super-duper, having such encyclopedia at hand. It's my personal involvement which drives this encyclopedic part.

Idea behind is that I was not able to find any modern SW doing that. There are lot of groups around FB, or Discord channels, full of aficionados sharing everything from first Sputnik to last SpaceX. But if you want everything related to rocketry and space exploration you just have to search wiki or google, but hard to find something where you have everything relevant under one solid package.

So I'm trying to fill this gap. If response from community will be weak, I'll not continue. However, I'm going to challenge that, and I'll want to offer it to both space/rocketry fans but also to players (like fans of KSP, Universe Sandbox, Space Engine, etc..)

I also love cosmology, rocket science and current state and as a fan of science fiction future travel in space. But when I started my project which was about a clash of theory of Relativity with quantum mechanics I knew I must be very careful not to clutter gameplay with too much of technical detail. Problem was that very simplistic nature of this two
theories had to be explained to gamer to fully understand ending. When some testers played and read documentary they muttered something like this: "will it be on a test?" Even after finish I don't know if I succeeded. Maybe I should make an encyclopedia too, but I doubt that ordinary casual gamer would feel need to check some unknown term. They usually want to gain knowledge in subtle low doses which do not hamper flow of the game.

[vdapps]

Totally agree to be careful to not drown player in overhaul of data and scientific mumbo jumbo. In your case it was even more difficult, it's hard-core physics. In my case it'll be more like for collectionists. Complete sets of relevant space exploration missions and orbital rockets at hand, so it will have also this educational / encyclopedic value. But of course I don't want to compromise gaming part as I realize that having only data and nothing more will not suffice to drag many users into UQ.

[vdapps]

Done with tables factorization. Previously, 'Missions' table was bit hard-coded (columns were hard-coded, rows were spawned from data file, sorting were just custom callbacks with full table re-creation).

Once I wanted to place new 'Rockets' table, I realized that it'll be far more effective to develop new 'GuiTable' element for my editor, which will generate everything from some simple input description data (generate columns, rows, auto compute sizes, support for scroll, sorting, with custom callbacks for clicks or hovering over elements).

So, I migrated 'Missions' to new table and started filling 'Rockets' table. Here's small screenshot.

Btw, which you like more? Old black background or rather blue background for tables and texts ? (this blue reminds me a bit BSOD, but it's easier to read text on it IMO )

[vdapps]

Filled 'Rockets' table with everything important suborbital / orbital up to 1959 to have some first initial seed of data. So, I have there all important missions and rockets starting from first space launch (V-2 in 1944) up to end of 50-ties.

It's slow work, as to be historically and technically precise, one must  do lot of research, many times double-check / cross-check several sources. I had days when after 4 hours, I had just 5 new entries in table.

I did some brainstorming about streamlining my work. On the one side, there's feeding Universe Quest with data, which takes lot of time, on the other side, also I need to progress with engine (so it can slowly but steadily look better). To all of that, I want to resume my backup project RTG, even if on smaller scale. If I can keep steady 4hours per day for development, with good schedule it should be possible. Ufff.

[JobLeonard]

Ouch, that doesn't sound like it will scale for a one-man team, no

Any ideas how you're going to handle it?