Galaxy Online

Okay I have to say last week was a bit out of focus...

I have done the long overdue database maintenance routine in order to tidy up the database on a weekly basis and to get rid of old data. This ensures that the server will continously run smooth. So even though that was nothing anyone of you was eagerly waiting for, it was a necessary step

Another thing I tried to start working on this week was the tutorial. However when thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that it may not be a good idea to do the tutorial now especially since I am already planning to advance the gameplay of G.O.T.T.

What changed my mind?
Well that's pretty easy... I got convinced by our players and by the fact that everything is running pretty smooth and stable so far. Thus we need to advance this game beyond its basic tournament system now... We are still in closed beta so we have plenty of time to get this game to a much wider audience.

At the moment I am in the process of creating a concept to expand the current tournament system to use it as a base for the systematic colonization of space (S.C.O.S. - to be in line with the storyline).

Adding a galaxy where people "fight" strategically over planets depending on their achievements in the tournaments would add a lot more dynamics to the game. It would also enable a much deeper integration of player & federation competitions than our current ELO ranking and league system... let aside the possibilities for role players etc.

The main challenge is now to implement this in a way where we can keep our current mechanics intact.

I'll keep you updated once I have a more clear concept to share with you.

P.S. If you should come up with some more ideas... don't hesitate to post them here.

-> more balancing TL1 an TL2
-> more special devices
-> TL2 Battle Arena
-> starting to create a tutorial for TL0 and new players

Well it was really a busy week... I guess all of the current issues should be resolved by now and the most goals of week 46 have been achieved.

The only important thing missing is TL0. However since some of you have already seen, I did a big change this weekend to finally support live replays. It took a bit longer than expected, but I really hope you like this new feature.

You can be sure that this week I will be focusing on the TL0 and hopefully do some more content & balancing.

So thanks for your support and I hope to see you around, kind regards,
LD

1) Making it easier for new players to get into the game!
- The creation of a cheap tech level 0 tier with very few options to avoid players getting stuck with bad ship designs in the beginning and giving them an option to play around.
- Finishing translation of German manual

2) Balancing
- Especially decreasing the weight of Mark II items to make them better than their Mark I counterparts.
- Improvements for missiles to slow down enemies on hit.
- Increasing the effectivness of shields.

3) Finishing Federation and Ranking lists
- should be done by today (ranking lists)

If there is anything other critical I have missed, feel free to comment.

Bug fixes always have highest priority anway.

Kind regards,
LD

As always the last few weeks were pretty busy. Besides my full-time job, I tried to spend most of my leisure time on galaxy online. Sadly, due to some unforseeable family matters this didn't work out very well.

So later than planned I finally managed to head over to beta. Thus I will release the game to the public on 11/11/11 - it's just such a cool date.
I think the game is in a pretty stable condition right now and all basic features are implemented. The internal alpha which I played together with my wife showed no concerns and I really can't wait to get you guys playing. Hopefully everything works out well ;) ! On the coming saturday (2011/10/22) at 20:00 CET I will also open up the forums so we can get you started with the basics of the game. If you should have any questions it will be the right place to ask. During the course of the beta I really hope to get as much feedback as possible. Especially because the game is about you -> the players!

In closing, I hope to see you soon on the forums and don't forget to help spread the word!

Hey everyone. Long time no hear, but as you can imagine I am pretty busy with the ongoing alpha. However I finally had the time to work on a little trailer movie for Galaxy Online - The Tournament. So yes... its finally done. I am not really a good video editor either, but I still hope you like it :)

If I am looking back at my online gaming history, there is one thing that always pops up my mind: Regardless of the genre I played one of my biggest concerns were cheaters. I would say every one of us, who is a serious gamer, was at some point confronted with them. They are like an unavoidable barrier. Not really tangible but still present. When I created Galaxy Online, even in the early stages of development, I already knew I have to do everything human possible to avoid cheaters. The good thing in online games is that you have several possibilities to do so. While you can never trust the client you still have the upper hand on the server. So you really need to make sure that you recheck every action from every player on the server again. The server is the only part which you can trust. I think you can't put enough efforts into this.

However we all know that there exists several other types of cheating too... let's just name trading of virtual goods, botting, macroing or GM corruption etc. ! Since its often very difficult for the players to find out about its existence, we all know: As long as there are humans playing we may see those things happen. I for one just want to make clear, being a hobby developer and knowing how much work the creation of such a game is and how fast such a behavior can ruin it, I totally refrain from anything like this. And you can be sure that I will do everything possible to detect and ban such incidents from this game. So you can expect an absolute zero-tolerance regarding this subject!

After some more sleepless nights, the website of Galaxy Online - The Tournament is finally online. I really hope you enjoy it. The site and account management is fully implemented too. In the coming weeks I will also open up the forum and post more information regarding the beta of the game. So be the first and register now for your free Galaxy Online account. If you want to support this project, help spread the word to your friends on facebook, twitter etc. !

It’s done! After almost 2 years of continuous work during my free time, the last milestone is achieved and finally turns the project from boring data/numbers/code… into a complete game!
I have to say I was totally surprised on how difficult it turned out to be in order to create the TCR (Tactical Combat Replay) window and get the animations going. I really wanted to make sure that the combat feels fast paced instead of just turn by turn. This proved to be really complex in terms of synchronizing game animations and linear replay data. But after several sleepless nights, I am quite happy how it turned out (remember that I am only using 2D objects!).
All combat actions are almost complete, only the combat log events are still missing.
As you can see below, I have attached a screenshot of the TCR window for your viewing pleasure, I hope you like it!
There is still a lot of work ahead of me (see dev status for more information) and I am also in the process of creating a little teaser video of Galaxy Online – The Tournament. So stay tuned.

(T)actical (C)ombat (R)eplay Window

A few days ago I have started with the Tactical Combat Replay System (TCR) of Galaxy Online - The Tournament. It will help you to find the strengths and weaknesses of your ships by visualizing the combat. One part of the TCR will be the basic rendering of the ships attacks. Since I am only using a simple 2D image of the ship itself I tried to find a way to make it feel a little more dynamic. This is what I came up so far...

For the explosions I am using different types of particles. The numbers indicate the damage done to the shield as well as the core of the ship. Enjoy.