Hope I'll get to play it when it's done, hopefully before my hair turns grey.
Seriously, that's ambitious and I highly doubt it'll ever be possible. Then if it is, how many bugs we'll have to deal with? A world the "actual" size of the Earth and that's just the starting point? Then expand to neighboring systems, then the galaxy, then other galaxies? I did get a glimpse of the meaning of an actual game that size by just mindlessly "exploring" the vastness of space in Space Engine. Eventually, maybe before even leaving the starting planet (or Earth if that's the planet in question we start on) you'd feel overwhelmed and intimidated by the scale of things you can do and it'll turn you off, and then you'll start missing a more linear-friendly, story-driven game that leads you to the next step, rather than feeling like there's too many goals or basically none at all and you can spend the next year just having your character sit down on a beach and enjoying a "live and let live" life style after you completed your first big city, or nation.
Might sound negative, but I have yet to explore all the nooks and crannies of Morrowind, I have yet to finish all the quests in Oblivion. I never actually completed Fallout 3 (too busy modding it and constantly adding to it, rather than playing it). I stopped playing Skyrim in part due to being overwhelmed by how many things I'd have to do, being the completionist gamer type that I am in similar games (eventually I'd want to see everything and do everything there is). I also remember getting bored with a game called Spore, which had a similar goal to that of this "Universe Project", only a bit smaller in scale I guess. That's excluding the hardware limitations. What such a grand, universal (literally) scaled game will it be developed on? An 8-core CPU, 12GB RAM SLi high-end GPU setup? What will be the recommended specs? Will it run "just as well" on older systems? Will they reach enough gamers in their targeted audience by reducing the hardware-wise common denominator? Do they really expect to create that very game they envision via Kickstarter?
So many questions...
I just doubt that such a game is even feasible software-wise, how many years will their small team of coders be ripping their hair off to just complete the starting planet, let alone let me become my own astronaut and be the first man to walk on Mars and having the social changes occur back on Earth? What happens if I leave Earth behind? Will it be automated by the infinite amount of A.I. tasks going on? How many planets will I be able to fill up with advanced civilizations before the game crashes?
And, ultimately, the "point", what is the "point" in creating even just a planet on the real scale to that of the Earth. Will players actually go around and physically walk, run, dive, fly or drive their character(s) and/or vehicles on each and every inches of terrain, ocean (including ocean floor), sky, mountains, forests, tundra and deserts? In the name of mere exploration out of curiosity? Will gamers have the time to invest to see their planet's civilization(s) grow for possibly years even before they start exploring even just the Moon or Mars, let alone get to their "space age", build a ship (or a fleet of them) to finally be able to reach even the next planet within our system? And then what, do we have to teraform Mars to make it habitable? Or will it be streamlined and grassy and have an atmosphere just because we set foot on it? Will they go even further and pretend that an ancient alien civilization existed there and as we explore, set up camps and start drilling on Mars we stumble upon ancient alien tunnels or something?
Pardon me if I don't feel too optimistic. I want to be optimistic though, for such a game, I genuinely would love to see something like that happen (for some reason, even if just for the mere technical and technological accomplishment that it would represent within the gaming and software industry as a whole). But... sorry... I'm not sure that the hardware is there yet for such an epic undertaking of a "game" (or even the software, what engine would be able to basically simulate all of it on such a scale?), heck it wouldn't be a game anymore, more a simulation.
Good luck to them though (I mean it, really, good luck).
Facebook
Twitter