Chunky Orbits is a free gravity sandbox where you toss boulders, comets and white dwarfs into space and watch them pull each other into orbit.
Chunky Orbits is a physics simulation from Brainblinks (Don Whitaker) that models free-floating objects in space using real-world gravity. Every object pulls on every other one, and you get to set the whole system in motion. It is distributed through SideQuest, and its listing there is dated December 2016; the changelog shows the Quest conversion arrived in October 2019.
How it plays
Think of it as a playground for gravity. You fill your own universe with cosmic chunks and watch what happens:
- throw out boulders, white dwarfs, comets and fiery chunks
- add trails to rocks to trace their paths
- clear objects with a sparkly photon cannon that doubles as a delete tool
- spawn a random cluster of boulders and watch them clump into bigger groups
- launch a super-massive white dwarf to see how it pulls on everything else
- build a small solar system and try to get as many chunks as possible into orbit
The developer admits the throwing release is still tricky and suggests a pushing motion for launching objects. The Quest port moved the game from SteamVR to the Oculus SDK and added default Oculus hands, later updates fixed music and orbit issues, and an April 2020 update kept it working with Quest firmware v16.
Comfort
SideQuest rates Chunky Orbits as comfortable, which suits a slow sandbox meant for watching the universe at work.
How to get it and what to know
- Price: free.
- Installed from SideQuest by sideloading; see our guide to sideloading on Meta Quest.
- Also on itch.io and on Steam for SteamVR.
- Supported headsets: Meta Quest headsets such as the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, plus Oculus Rift, Valve Index and HTC Vive headsets.
- Rated 4.9 out of 5 by 28 SideQuest users.
