Our galaxy is divided between several spacefaring nations. These powers compete for control of star systems, military dominance and ideological influence.

Within Nebulae, players take the mantle of aliens, upon whom it falls to define their respective nations, vis-à-vis other powers in the galaxy.

On a macro-level, players in each nation are collectively responsible for its:

Economy

(production, research, territorial management, taxation)

Governance

(political processes, player roles, responsibilities of each role);

Diplomacy

(relationship to other powers, survival & military strategy).

At launch, every nation will have a unique political structure (authoritarian, democratic and everything in between). In the long-term however, every power may be destroyed, merged, or fully replaced with new nations, created by our players (yes, you!).

Nebulae is the “all you can eat” menu choice for political experimentation – in an MMO.

We want you to be part of Nebulae wherever you are, which is why we opted for a mobile-first release in 2023, followed up with a PC release further down the line (timeline and our stretch goals are separate sections below!).

The communities will play in the same world and have complementary functionalities between platforms. The management & politics part will be indentical, no matter the device. In combat instances, however, players will be separated by device (which will allow larger scale combat for PC, and shorter skirmishes on mobile) to cater to different types of combat controls.

You don’t want to wait until the Alpha to try Nebulae?

You want to leave your mark on our game, with your advices and feedback?

Join our playtesters’ community, try out specific features in advance (locally or multiplayer), answer the form so that we can find out which group to sort you in!

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The gameplay of Nebulae is focused around what we love to call “astropolitics” – the way in which players interact with each other within and between factions to pursue their individual and collective objectives.

Players will rapidly gain political control over game factions. Through elections, merit-based appointments, combat or otherwise – they will obtain governmental and managerial positions, or parliamentary seats – all of which will depend on the political system of a given faction.

From there, the players will engage with the political, economic and diplomatic interfaces of the game – where they will be able to issue quests and legislate, enacting changes affecting the entire faction, or a province within it. Externally, alliances will be concluded and broken, wars will be declared, won and lost. Internally, factions will have to maintain an economic balance between fortification, production and research, and they will use resource extraction, taxation, trade customs and warfare to do so.

Factions also have specific faction objectives, e.g., maintaining an acceptable population density, overall quality of life or access to a particular resource.

Taking and implementing political and economic decisions will require coalition-building and cooperation between players (depending on the faction you are in). Be warned, however: Players’ personal interests and loyalties can, and will, change over time. 

As military force is part of a larger political toolkit, players will also be able to join skirmishes (through quests and integrated MOBA), operating spacecraft of medium or large size from a third-person perspective. They navigate in a 3-dimensional world that possesses semi-realistic design elements – galaxy mapping, cosmic backgrounds, but is not intended to be fully realistic. Players operate in the same, concurrent universe, on a single server.

Context

The game takes place in a dual-arm, spiral-shaped galaxy (Hubble class SBc), in the middle of which lies a nebula – an uninhabitable cloud of gas and dust, which interferes with any  signal transmissions.

Ships that have ventured deep into the nebula over the last centuries have never seen the starlight again. More recently, the nebula started to expand, devastating several star systems, making them uninhabitable.

Along the two spiral arms of the galaxy, in a fragile peace, six major powers have developed over millennia, lately joined by Nomads representing a seventh faction. While peace is preserved for the moment, the flow of refugees and the increasing scarcity of resources has increased border disputes between nations. Rumours of impending conflict are on the rise.

Starting gameplay

At the beginning, players will select their character’s alien species. They will be randomly spawned within nations, and will thus need to align personal ambitions with the overall faction objectives.

Players’ choices will determine their objectives and will trigger dedicated game events, accordingly. Players will thus be able to stay within their faction and fight to either maintain the current system in place or change it from the inside. They may participate in political plots, attempt to drive systemic reforms or nurture a revolt and replace the entire ruling class of their faction. And if their lust for power demands it – maybe become the leader of an interstellar power themselves.

They may also betray their faction without leaving it, delivering valuable information to another faction of their choice. Finally, players may also abandon their faction and join another, or form a new one, in cooperation with other players.

3 factions will be playable at launch!