Brian Reynolds goes back to his Civilization roots

Brian Reynolds, best known for founding Big Huge Games, co-founding Firaxis Games, and most recently serving as Zynga's chief game designer, has revealed his latest plans -- a partnership with online game giant Nexon. Reynolds left Zynga earlier this year to "pursue other opportunities." As has now been revealed, he went on to found SecretNewCo in March, and has partnered with Nexon to develop a game that goes back to Reynolds' Civilization II roots. SecretNewGame, as it is being called for now, sees players taking on the role of a tribe leader during the Stone Age, and working your game through each age of human history. You're able to form alliances with other players, trade, and attack other people. Nexon had made a cash equity investment towards the project, in exchange for a minority stake in the company, although the terms of the agreement have not been fully disclosed. Although details regarding SecretNewCo's first game are currently scarce, we're told that it's a "mobile strategic social network game." Reynolds added that, "This partnership lets SecretNewCo tap into Nexon's proven free-to-play expertise and resources as we continue to grow our team and scale the reach of our new game." SecretNewGame is set to launch on as-of-yet unannounced platforms in 2014.