By Jim Rossignol on October 5th, 2011 at 2:03 pm.
Here’s an interesting thing that has arrived from a number sources into my inbox (thanks, all! I know you aren’t intentionally supporting World Space Week…) – the possibility of a sequel for much-beloved space combat strategy Nexus: The Jupiter Incident from members of the original team, now called Most Wanted Entertainment. They talk about their plans here, but the upshot of it is that are hoping to crowdfund it via the GamesPlant service. They want to raise quite a lot of cash, and I’m a bit sceptical as to whether that is going to happen. Either way, it’s the first serious effort we’ve seen toward a sequel since a tech demo leak (video below) from six years ago. I’ve also posted the more recent Nexus 2 concept trailer below.
Pew! Zap! Planet!
05/10/2011 at 14:08 Jams O'Donnell says:
Mr. Jim, should you not have a World Space Week tag?
Also, I would very much like there to be more of Jupiter Incident. I was going to say I’d prefer another entry in the Imperium Galactica series, believing that it was made by the people who made Jupiter Incident, but Wikipedia tells me I am wrong :(
05/10/2011 at 14:12 Nullkigan says:
Nexus was originally going to be a new Imperium Galactica, which is where the confusion stems from.
Loved the game, I just wished they’d use homeworld style movement disks so I could tell where I was going.
05/10/2011 at 14:20 Gap Gen says:
Nexus was a wonderful game, and it was a massive shame that it never became Imperium Galactica 3 with a free-form campaign. Sure, the writing, voice-acting and story were awful, but the tactical space sim elements worked really well. Picking off a ship’s shields, inserting marines or sending out bombers to blow up subsystems, leaving enemy ships drifting helpless, was a thing of wonder. Of course, if you loaded out the ships incorrectly you could never punch through the enemy shields, at which point you were fucked, but eh.
05/10/2011 at 15:12 snv says:
So? The possibility to fuck up a loadout gave my decisions, when i didnt do so, their value
The steep difficulty is a pro not a con.
05/10/2011 at 15:39 Zenicetus says:
If you mess up a load-out because you misinterpreted the available intel, or didn’t understand your own tech well enough to mazimize it (given the intel), then that’s one thing. I like those kinds of choices-with-consequences in games.
On the other hand, if the game doesn’t give you any information and you have to make choices randomly, then re-load a savegame to see what works…. well, that just seems like poor game design to me. At least, if it’s consistently that way for most missions.
05/10/2011 at 20:43 SoggySilicon says:
I want to say CDV did most of the work on Imperium Galactica (3 for mostly sure), as well as Hegemonia; which are both really good for the time in which they came out. At some point they had been working on Imperium 4, the project was pulled, and later it was rebranded as Nexus. Which was about half of what the game should of been in my not so humble opinion.
06/10/2011 at 09:31 MrMud says:
I felt that the game didnt teach you enough about itself.
I remember trying it and failing miserably serveral times on one of the first levels after the wormhole and I could never understand why.
05/10/2011 at 14:11 Moni says:
Yes! I really like Nexus (but not its stupid subtitle), it has fairly unique gameplay.
Also massive spaceships, it’s mostly the massive spaceships I like.
05/10/2011 at 14:14 Tyrmot says:
Interesting, the original was a fun game (as I recall anyway…)
Where did your nice spaceship art come from?
05/10/2011 at 14:20 Raiyan 1.0 says:
YES!
Nexus was the only tactical space game I could love since Homeworld! I’d love a sequel. :’)
05/10/2011 at 14:20 Redem says:
The original was one of my favourite games of the release year. An excellent game.
05/10/2011 at 14:22 armaankhan says:
I loved Nexus and have been looking for something similar (fully mouse-driven, capital-ship based exploration and combat) for a long time. I really hope they can get funding, then I’ll only have to wait, what, two, maybe three years more?
05/10/2011 at 14:22 Zanchito says:
Oh, yeas, PLEASE!!!! I have money for you right here. See, it wants to go to your pockets!
Nexus was one of the most awesome space games ever. Compelling presentation, nice (if clichéd) story, great effects and made capital ship battles look and feel so very very right.
05/10/2011 at 18:16 Azhrarn says:
Pledge some money to their cause then, if you donate €20 or more you get the game for free if they make it. :) The money won’t be deducted from your account unless they actually reach their €400k goal, so you have nothing to lose basically.
If they meet the target the game will get made and you’ll get it for free, if they don’t meet the target then you won’t loose any money.
05/10/2011 at 14:23 simoroth says:
Project looks interesting, but thats a fairly massive chunk of change they are asking for and not really enough to develop a quality title, I hope they have more funding lined up too.
Also using unlicensed music in a Trailer…. bad move.
05/10/2011 at 14:43 deadly.by.design says:
Do you know what that song is? I’ve heard it before, but can’t recall.
Nevermind. It’s Session from Linkin Park’s Meteora. Probably the only LP song I can stand to listen to more than once.
05/10/2011 at 14:56 MrWolf says:
Sounds like Rob Dougan in the background to me.
05/10/2011 at 14:25 pupsikaso says:
Aphex twin in a trailer for a space game? Yes please.
Also, is the first game available anywhere? I think I’ve missed it.
05/10/2011 at 18:02 Goomich says:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/6420/?snr=1_4_4__13
05/10/2011 at 14:25 Ronlaen says:
Concept trailer looks awesome and the footage gives off a very Battlestar Galactica feel.
05/10/2011 at 17:29 ScottTFrazer says:
I’m actually getting turned off by the whole “zoom-in-shakey-cam” thing. It was cute at first, and makes sense if you’re trying to pass the footage off as filmed by amateurs, but for a control scheme? no.
05/10/2011 at 14:27 qrter says:
Holy shit.. €400.000!
That’s quite a hefty goal to want to achieve through crowdfunding.
05/10/2011 at 14:42 Hanban says:
Think it was about a year ago that I bought Nexus The Jupiter Incident to see if it could remedy some of my Homeworld 3 longing. I do not regret it, wonderful game!
05/10/2011 at 14:50 Baka says:
Nexus had a very fancy starmap of our solar system built in.
I used it to show people about the possibilities of Technology™. It was great.
05/10/2011 at 15:04 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
It really was a cool starmap wasn’t it? Something about it’s bleepy, clicky zoominess and crisp clarity made it seem like an Interface of the Future.
If that was the left-over stub of an empire management part of the game, I would have liked to see it finished.
05/10/2011 at 19:24 DK says:
What made the map of the Sol system so great was the fact that it was real scale. Space is incredible – and that’s very easy for everyone to see when you don’t compress it’s awesomeness.
05/10/2011 at 14:55 Riztro says:
I want this game to get made so much. They’ve been running this crowdfund for about a month I think, and only gotten eight percent, I hope they have some fallbacks.
05/10/2011 at 15:07 Mogglewump says:
Tbh, this is the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in the press so hopefully it might get a bit faster. I suspect that unless there’s a large push fairly soon it won’t get anywhere near the required funding level. If you work out the average funding per person it’s pretty extreme right now.
05/10/2011 at 14:59 Jams O'Donnell says:
A query (or perhaps a tip) to people who say they liked the original & Imperium Galactica — have you tried Haegemonia: Legions of Iron? That was made by the team that made Imperium Galactica 2, and while not as freeform had a lovely atmosphere.
05/10/2011 at 14:59 andycheese says:
Nice Concept Art
05/10/2011 at 15:04 Mogglewump says:
For those interested in seeing the original, it’s available on Steam for about £4.99 I think. If you like it, then go pledge your funding. :)
05/10/2011 at 15:10 staberas says:
wait wait wait were that ships on the second video(0.54) from Babylon 5 ? D:
05/10/2011 at 15:22 Ovno says:
On one hand, ACE I loved the original and the imperium galactica series before it.
On the other the indie game I’m working on has taken a fair amount of inspiration from nexus, so I was hoping it would stay dead ;p
07/10/2011 at 02:08 Dances to Podcasts says:
That’s what you get for using that particular definition of ‘inspiration’. :p
05/10/2011 at 15:26 roryok says:
that first concept ship pic is very pretty
05/10/2011 at 15:44 Gehrschrein says:
This REALLY needs to get more press coverage, quickly!
Nexus is one of the more brilliant spaceship combat games out there and quite a few people have been having wet dreams with a sequel since then (myself included).
05/10/2011 at 15:58 PatrickSwayze says:
To quote BIT from the original TRON movie:
“YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!”
05/10/2011 at 16:00 BobsLawnService says:
This is awesome news and a bit spooky considering how much -’ve been punting the original on the forum and in various comments threads.
I hope they pull it off.
05/10/2011 at 16:16 innokenti says:
Nexus was surprisingly good and sadly short.
A sequel would be incredibly welcome and we really really need a good space-tactics game.
05/10/2011 at 16:34 frenz0rz says:
Spaceships! In SPACE!
But yeah, even though I never quite got into Nexus due to bouncing right off the demo (which I remember finding frustratingly difficult), I’d definately welcome a sequel. Because, well, we need more games with spaceships in them these days.
05/10/2011 at 18:02 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
That was one of the worst demos ever. Very pretty, but pretty much incomprehensible. You were thrown into the deep end of a pitched battle against superior forces, in an interface-heavy game with no indication of how to use the interface. It was about as fair a fight as putting a kitten in a blender.
05/10/2011 at 17:25 matrices says:
Well what happens if they don’t reach their goal? Will donors get their money back?
I imagine that’s what potential donors are wondering, myself included.
05/10/2011 at 20:57 mickygor says:
The money’s not taken out of your account, it’s pledged. If they reach their target, it’s taken out of your account.
05/10/2011 at 17:52 Insidious Rex says:
I remember installing the demo of this game way back when. All I can remember about it is its crushing difficulty and lack of explanation of how to do anything.
Was I just a fool back then? Is it worth me trying again?
05/10/2011 at 19:24 vodka and cookies says:
Neato, not complaining but that trailer completely lifted everything shot wise from Battlestar Galactica (the newer one) at least they had the good sense to rip from them.
05/10/2011 at 22:50 tikey says:
Have you seen this mod for the first one?
http://www.moddb.com/mods/nexus-battlestar-galactica
Just look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLCmFBHVrwo
05/10/2011 at 21:35 Guyver says:
nexus… one of the best space-strategy game i ever played.
i hope they will get an investor or 2.
06/10/2011 at 04:26 stryck9 says:
I am so going to fund this entire thing
07/10/2011 at 21:14 Kayden says:
I found this on another site and I have to post this here since they linked here.
ORIGINAL POST @ VE3D:
DON’T BE FOOLED! I have this video since 9/27/2006 @ 11:46am (the day I downloaded it) and it is MUCH longer! Here is what it says at the start!
archive material
unreleased space engine technology demo
march 2005
I will upload this to my youtube channel and repost when it’s done! Some one is blowing smoke up our asses with this! The video 3min 46 sec that I have with that exact scene btw, so they cut a ton of stuff out.
UPDATED AFTER I UPLOADED THE VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ab-55dKbY
Here is the video I just uploaded to youtube, and now it seems I can not make posts on that video. If some one else wants to post it on there that is fine, but I am not lieing.
07/10/2011 at 21:21 Kayden says:
I didn’t you guys had both up I apologize, but anyways, I don’t think this is real and if it is they need to show something more then what was shown in a tech demo years ago.
19/05/2012 at 00:23 tosk says:
I’ve been trying to donate, but it won’t load the webpage for game-plant. Is the site down?