Omnitrend's Universe

Universe (sometimes called Omnitrend's Universe) is a science fiction space trading and combat game by Omnitrend Software. It was created by William G M Leslie and Thomas R Carbone. The first version was programmed in valFORTH on an Atari 800, based on a board game created by Leslie. It was Omnitrend's first game.

The game starts off on the planet Axia within the Local Group, a settlement that took place centuries ago thanks to the discovery of an alien hyperspace booster. This technology allowed the Local Group to be settled with supplies being sent from Earth using the booster. However, the supplies have stopped arriving and the player must now search for a second hyperspace booster that was reported in the area.

The game begins with a loan from the bank to finance a spaceship. Several models are available and offer different capabilities and cargo space. Once the ship is purchased and outfitted, the player then travels to different planets and engages in trading, mining, or piracy.

Universe is a very involving game, like requiring the player to calculate hyperjump coordinates for the navigation computer and calculate minimum orbits for planets in order to launch shuttles. The speed of the game tended to bog down when graphics were involved and when the game performed calculations involving orbital mechanics. On the Atari, having only one disk drive resulted in numerous disk swaps.