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N.E.X.U.S. ~ SURVIVE THE SEA!
Build your community by collecting resources, rescuing survivors, and adding modules to your NEXUS!
On the water-covered planet of Arteza, the survival of humans and other land-borne species depends on "Artifice", a series of artificial islands governed by the Artezani, a species native to the planet.
All human permits on your artifice have been denied renewal, causing you and your family to be outcast and left with only a small, aging transport boat. You are forced to navigate the open sea and find…or rather build a new place to live.
It's been over 200 years since The Great Migration. The alliance between Earth and the Guild brought "waves" of humans to the planet along with endless relics from Earth which now float along the sea and line the ocean floor.
This is not good for mankind as the Artezani have long since broken ties with the Guild Alliance. Humans on Artezan are increasingly viewed and treated as an invasive species. With all interworld stations destroyed in the upheaval, they are now stuck on the planet indefinitely, forced to survive with what relics remain from the great migration...along with their own ingenuity!
Inspiration
I've always been fascinated by stories of the ocean and the water. Few settings lend such a naturally rich array of challenges, enchantment, lore, and wonder. What awaits in the open expanse? What lurks in the deep?
I would also like to give credit to Robert Silverberg for inspiration on this project. His work, "Face of The Waters", moved me in such a way that decades later, I still think about that story.
What it does
Players start aboard a listing survival craft, scavenge debris and patch emergency breaches before the transport boat vessel sinks.
Once N.E.X.U.S. has been established, players construct modules, managing specialist crew…And most importantly, DON'T SINK!
How we built it
- 3D Graphics & Physics: Built with Three.js and TypeScript, featuring procedural vertex-displaced ocean waves, dynamic lighting, and buoyant listing physics.
- UI & Layout: Styled with Tailwind CSS and React for responsive touch controls.
- Audio Engine: A procedural client-side audio synthesizer delivering ambient ocean soundscapes and reactive sound effects.
Challenges we ran into
- Physics vs. Raycasting: Keeping click/tap raycasting accurate on small floating debris and breach markers while the boat rolled and pitched in real time across dynamic ocean swells.
- Spatial Readability: Ensuring crew members, station modules, and debris light pillars remained clearly distinguishable from an isometric perspective without visual clutter.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Low-Cost Audio: Aside from optimized background theme, feedback SFX are procedurally generated with zero loading latency.
- Scene Transitions: Phases 1 and 2 (transport-boat scenes) transition smoothly into phase 3 and beyond. I like the introductory aspect it provides to the game, almost an inbuilt tutorial.
What we learned
- Procedural math (sine waves, delta smoothing, harmonic audio synthesis) can deliver high-fidelity atmosphere with very little cost.
- Titrating continuous structural friction; late-game sinks are essential to prevent runaway resource inflation. For that reason, we've refined this element probably more than any other.
What's next for N.E.X.U.S. ~ SURVIVE THE SEA!
- Crew: Bringing characters to life with distinct walk cycles, real-time animations demonstrating their current activities aboard the NEXUS.
- Hostile Megafauna & Weather: Storms and deep-sea monsters threaten the NEXUS and its crew, creating opportunity for storyline expansion and new player experiences..
- Persistent-Cloud: Multi-session colony progression and cross-platform profiles.
- Expand Diver Expeditions: Since we are not averse to scene changes, there may be opportunity to bring the player into the world of the diver explorations. I think this would be a rich experience that we could add, and at that might even justify its own title.
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