A child’s-eye view of the universe: Curiosmos makes space simulation fun

In this primordial take on the life simulator, you bring about the creation of an entire solar system

Meteors hurtling at planet-decimating speeds, luminous balls of hot gas, black holes from which not even light can escape: outer space can fuel nightmares, yet for Céline Veltman, a 28-year-old Dutch game-maker who spent her childhood stargazing, it is the stuff of dreams. She’s translating this wide-eyed wonder at the universe into a video game with the grandest of ambitions: the creation of a solar system. Rocks collide with one another, chemical reactions occur: lo, a planet – and life itself – is born in the depths of the cosmos.

The bright, illustrative visuals of Curiosmos are more children’s picture book than Terrence Malick, an expression of Veltman’s aims for the project and its moment of inception. “I want to make everyone as enthusiastic about space as I am,” she says, talking ebulliently about supernovae and protoplanetary disks.