Hi Everyone

As we approach the end of early access and the 1.0 launch of Nexus 5X, we wanted to share a bit of detail about the core design aspirations for the game and the main sources of inspiration for us.

Like many of you, we love the different experiences you can get from video games and tabletop games. We love sitting in our bedrooms/offices playing games on a screen, but also sitting down in a room with friends for an epic face-to-face strategy game that could go on for hours.

The idea behind Nexus 5X was to combine these two ways to play into a new 5X format. As a video game we can keep all the deep, crunchy decisions, social interaction, alliances and backstabbery from a large-scale, strategy game, but by allowing players to play simultaneously (and having the computer take care of the book-keeping and busy work) we could reduce game times to about one hour! This makes it easier to carve out the time for a group to sit down and play together and even get through multiple games in one sitting to really up the rivalry!

So the core design objectives for Nexus 5X were to create a genuine 4X experience that was playable start to finish in about one hour AND to translate to the digital game space the kind of social chemistry that exists around the table on game night, where the interaction between players has just as much to do with diplomacy and tensions between the players as much as what is happening on the board.

Every feature of Nexus 5X had to earn its way into the final design based on the degree to which it added fuel to the social fire of the game. This is something that great tabletop games all seem to do well - they bring players into contact with each other in interesting ways, whether through conflict or alliances, shared interests or revenge. We had to think about how every feature of the game not only affects your own empire, engine and rise to power, but also how it contributes to the interactions between players. As a good example, the reason we randomise the available technologies for each player is to encourage players to get out there and collaborate and trade with their neighbours.

We've had a great time designing and developing Nexus 5X and we hope that everyone who discovers the game gets that sense of a great tabletop experience brought to PC gaming whether played solo, or with friends / enemies.

Finally, we want to thank all the gamers who joined us for Early Access. The polish and balancing that has happened during this phase would not have been possible without the feedback that we received daily from the community - thank you to everyone who gave us their time and support for Early Access. We hope that you enjoy the 1.0.

- The Whatboy Team