Twilight Imperium was definitely an inspiration along with other 4X games like Eclipse. Although TI is technically grand strategy rather than 4X. Most notably, TI lacks an exploration element, which I wanted to make a key component of this game.
TI seemed a perfect starting point because it's a game with many layers of complexity based around the simple idea of territorial expansion and player interaction. I was curious how much we could "Subtract" from the game without losing the core essence of it.
Initially, there was a plan to have differently themed factions but that ended up being reduced to just the faction traits. Everything in the game is streamlined as much as possible although I will admit that the balance is probably not quite right yet. After the jam we will probably update an improved version of the game.