Originally submitted to the IGF main competition last year, Solar 2 is an open-universe sandbox game that allows players build their own planetary system using other planets and asteroids which are floating freely in space. Any object that comes close to your planet will automatically start to orbit around it, provided that its mass is smaller than yours and it doesn't already belong to another system. You can absorb orbiting planets to gain mass at the push of a button, although it's recommended that you keep a few planets around to encourage the growth of civilization and advancement of military and defensive mechanisms.

The universe (being as infinite as it is) does have a few other inhabited systems as well, and you'll encounter quite a number of them as you move your system around to explore the far reaches of space. Some of them will turn aggressive when approached, sending attack ships and firing lasers at whatever that threatens their peace or supremacy. It's extremely fun to watch how these intergalactic wars play out, plus enslaving planets and aliens from the losing side is pretty satisfying in its own way too.

Solar 2 will be out for the PC in June 2011, and the Xbox Live Indie Games version will be released a little later after that.