A deep-time space simulation. One game year every ten minutes, whether you watch or not. A hundred thousand real stars. Information moves at the speed of light. The world never pauses.
Twenty-six years in the making. No publisher, no investor, no ads. One maker, one server.
Reading the wire…
Everything below is live in the current build. The six laws come first; the rest is grouped by where it happens. Open a card for the full text and where to find it in the console. One game year is ten real minutes.
Reading the features…
LIGHTCONE runs on one server that never stops. The tick advances a game year every ten minutes, for every world at once, day and night.
There are no ads and no lootboxes, and there never will be. The server, the mail, the catalog and the maker's time are paid for by the players. Support is the only income this world has.
Supporters wear a badge in the world and on this page. Support buys no advantage: the world is identical for every player.
What is already in development. Everything on this chart is committed. Anything not listed belongs on the boards below.
No dates on this chart. Order and scope can change. Supporters read the changes first.
Every build has a date and a letter. What changed, what it affects, nothing else. Newest first.
Reading the changelog…
Three boards. Every post carries its author's portrait, species name, badges, and three dates: the author's colony year, the world year, and the real date.
What the maker is working on, what broke, what is decided. Read these first.
Reading…
Bugs, balance, ideas, interface, praise. One vote per report. Reports that shape the game earn the ⟡ supporter badge.
Submitting needs a game account (that is also the antispam) — sign in first. Voting too.
Reading the board…
The open board. You post as your species, not as an e-mail address.
Speaking needs a game account — sign in.
Listening…
A new civilization takes two minutes: an e-mail, a password, a cradle, and a language for your names. Your first game year begins when the cradle is chosen.
Free. No download. Your e-mail carries the Mind's letters: a weekly digest while you are away, plus a letter when a crisis or a once-only window opens. One click unsubscribes; an impactor warning still reaches a confirmed address.
◈ BEGIN — CHOOSE YOUR CRADLEOne shared universe keeps one chronicle. Each first is claimed once, by one people, and is never reassigned. Some are still unclaimed.
Reading the chronicle…