I’ve got a new build out today. Backers can get it for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. iOS builds will be sent out via TestFlight shortly.

There were over 50 changes this time. Here are a few major updates:

– Added sector customization feature for admins. Including symmetrical maps for free-for-all games.
– Added support for different sized games. In settings you can chose to join “standard” or “phone” sized games.
– Added ability for players to create custom games and be an admin of their own server (no tournament required.)

Check out this custom 200 planet map!

On the minor side of things, I fixed a ton of minor bugs and minor UI tweaks and improvements. Some notable ones are:

– UI changes to prevent accidentally double-tap-select-all from happening.
– Properly pausing the audio when the music is muted which saves 10-20% energy on mobile devices.
– Overhaul of team auto-balancing.
– Post game stats page showing the winners.

Check it out! I’ll be online for a bit if anyone wants to play / chat about Galcon 2.

-Phil

Hey, thanks to everyone for all the feedback on beta29, I’ve put together a beta30 with a whole mess of bug fixes. If there is a bug you reported that is still not fixed, please report it again! Backers can get the update here for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. iOS coming via TestFlight shortly.

Besides bugfixes, I’ve done a bunch of minor UI improvements. I’ve also added indication in the lobby if a player has chat turned off. I’ve also re-introduced the CanCan feature from past Galcons!

Again, I’ve reset all the coins, rankings, etc. I’ve been cleaning up a fair amount of stuff in the database, and this makes it so I can see if things are working right now. The coins you have in-game are not the coins you paid for.

I’m going to be online for a little while *now* so if anyone wants to check it out with me, please stop by.

Have fun!
-Phil

P.S. Please leave feedback in the forums!

Ahoy again! Another exciting update is ready to check out. Backers can download it for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. iOS version will be in email (sorry to people who signed up late for TestFlight, I’m out of slots.)

Tonight at 8pm MST I’ll be hosting the beta29 Tournament. Try to join in!

Following are the highlights from over 100 changes in the game, overhauling just about everything.

Zero Lag
I decided to do some serious re-working on how the client and server interact, and I’ve updated the game to simulate zero lag when you play. It makes the game much more responsive!

Good Game
I’m excited to introduce this new feature – whenever a player makes an in-app-purchase, they will be given a cache of bonus coins. After a good match, tap the “Good Game” button to award some of these coins to the players.

Help section
I’ve added in documentation for all the nitty gritty of Galcon 2 right into the game. Find out how betting works and what chat commands are available.

Trophy Vault
Get ready to start building the worlds largest trophy cabinet! The trophy vault allows for multiple levels, so there’s no limit to how many trophies you can showcase.

Drop-In feature
In most game times, players can now drop-in mid-game and join the action. Once a server is full, or in a tournament, or with active bets, drop-ins are no longer allowed.

Stats Rework
I’ve consolidated “Progress” and “Experience” to a single “XP” stat to earn stars. The flags don’t decay and are used for match-making. Lastly the wings never decay.

There are dozens and dozens of more things. Here’s a few more bullet points:

– Tournaments – multiple admins, multiple servers, cross-server approvals
– Chat bug fixes – Multiple tab completion, iOS fixes “.commands”
– Lobby improvements – UI, icons, smarter timer, away/play spam lock
– Store – 30 day and Forever purchases. Sectors now free.
– iOS – fixed crash on resume, fixed some orientation bugs

Thanks for all the feedback, it’s been a huge help in figuring out what needs to get done to Galcon 2 to ready it for launch! I’m hoping to get this into open beta very soon now!

As always, please leave some feedback on the forums!

Thanks!
-Phil

P.S. I’ve reset the stats, inventory, coins again. I’ve given coins to everyone who has an account. These are not the coins you purchased yet.

Ahoy there! Get your latest build of Galcon 2 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. iOS build will come via e-mail to people who signed up. These builds are available to backers only.

The tournament will be at 1pm-4pm MST on Saturday July 12th. I recommend showing up an hour early and just checking out the game beforehand. I’m going to be moving towards an open beta pretty soon, so we’ll have more players online regularly then, but for now, this tournament is your best bet!

Please leave some feedback in the forums after you play the game! For a detailed change log, see the previous update.

Hope to see you there!!
-Phil

Hi there! This week we’re going to do a scheduled Galcon 2 tournament to ensure that more people can get together and play the game. The tournament will be at 1pm-4pm MST on Saturday July 12th. I recommend showing up an hour early and just checking out the game beforehand.

I’m going to be sending out a new beta prior to the tournament with lots of changes from the last beta. There was some pretty heavy discussion in the forums as to what the launch version of Galcon 2 should look like, and I got Nanno to help me figure out which requests related best to the things people have been asking about during the beta. I’ve done a bunch of work to get those key features added into the game.

Just to give a preview of the beta, here’s a list of the major things changed from my change log. There are over 100 changes since the last beta.

Game Changes
– added new standoff-timer
– added in the good bot and bot-skill matching after a few rounds
– have MORE planets by default

Lobby Changes
– fixed teams such that you can’t team swap, added auto-balance
– added delay between rounds
– vertical split of lobby screen on landscape views
– added clan name into lobby list of players

Server List Changes
– add in auto-match feature instead of server list of public servers
– allow modded servers to work again

Store Changes
– have in-store preview of planet surfaces
– have in-store screen tell you how many days left of a cosmetic
– removed classes and just have sectors

Other Improvements
– censor filter feature
– have game skip login page if a login already exists
– fixed: macs / starting up the game and swapping in and out of fullscreen causes screen to go black
– added more tab-completion keywords
– created fancy trophy widget

Anyway, no new beta today, but keep an eye out for the next update to download it and check it out. Very soon I hope to put the game out as an “open beta” so anyone can play and we’ll have people online more regularly

Thanks!
-Phil

Ahoy there, as of this afternoon, Galcon 2 is now “feature complete” meaning I’ve got all the features into the game that I’m planning on adding before release. I may be adding a few more minor features, and I’m definitely doing a good handful of bug fixing, but we’re getting there!

Here’s the links to play it for Windows, Mac, Linux. (Kickstarter backers only.)

Mike Berg of We Heart Games has been working hard to finish up the art for Galcon 2. In this update you’ll see mountains of new icons, ranking flag overhaul, and new sector and class images.

And I’ve been working hard on getting the tournament system working! I’ve got a ton of great features in it, including trophies, player approval, multiple servers, muting spectators. It should be a ton of fun!

I’m going to be online hanging out in a tournament for the next hour so if anyone wants to pop in and play a few games, that’d be great!

I’ve also given you all enough Galcoins so you can create a clan and create a tournament and test it out for yourselves too. Keep in mind that at the end of the beta, all Galcoins are going to be reset. These Galcoins are not the Galcoins you paid for in the Kickstarter, so don’t worry about spending them to test things out.

Cheers!
-Phil

P.S. As always, please leave some feedback on the forums!

Ahoy there! It’s been a while, but we’ve got a new update (beta26)! Check it out for Windows, Mac, Linux. (Sorry iOS / Android, not this week.)

So I’m pleased to announce that I’m working with Mike Berg of We Heart Games to overhaul the UI and art within Galcon 2! He’s been doing an amazing job, and while it’s not yet finished (…see all those Galcon Fusion icons I’m using everywhere…) I couldn’t wait any longer to show you the progress!

The lobby:

The settings:

The galaxy server:

I also fixed about a dozen server issues you helped me find in the previous beta! I’m going to be online for the next hour if anyone wants to hangout and bask in the glow of the new interface look with me.

Cheers!
-Phil

Ahoy there! The beta25 is here for Windows, Mac, Linux. (Sorry Android, iOS, not this week!)

Since the last update, which was a total debacle – all the servers crashed and nobody could play – I’ve done a ton of work. I’ve added 100% coverage tests to the game servers so things should be a bit more stable. And I’ve added a BUNCH of things!

– Friends (YES THIS GIVES US THE #1 DEMANDED /mute user FEATURE!!)
– Clans
– Clan Members
– Clan Rivalries
– Clan Emblems
– New Galaxy Map
– Improved Betting
– Team Games
– Communication and Messaging (you can PM across servers, and to off-line players!)
– Tournaments (not yet completed)

Okay, so that’s a huge update! I’m going to be online for the next hour to play the game with anyone who can jump on! Be sure to tell me what you think in the forums! Also, for this beta, I’m resetting everyone’s inventory and giving everyone 10k coins to try things out. Keep in mind this is still “the BETA” so at some point in the future I’m going to be resetting everything back to the start.

Cheers!
-Phil

P.S. If you are a graphic designer / artist interested in helping me finish up Galcon 2, please contact me at my first name at galcon dot com with a link to your portfolio and your availability over the next few months.

Ahoy there!

Galcon Legends has launched for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad! Go check it out!

I’m quite happy with this release and I hope you like it! Be sure to spread the word!

Beyond that, I’ve been a bit under the weather this week so I haven’t made much progress on Galcon 2. The update last week was most exciting, but unfortunately so full of bugs almost nobody was able to play on the servers. I’m working on adding coverage testing and a battery of other tests to help get the servers in a more stable state so we can actually start playing on them.

As you can see I’ve still got quite a bit of code to get tested! Once that is done, I think crashes will be much less frequent and over time I’ll be able to eliminate them. I guess I should have listened to myself! I’ve done talks at several conferences about the importance of testing your server code (which I did for iGalcon, Galcon Fusion) – which has resulted in those servers running for months / years without problems. But I haven’t done any testing for the Galcon 2 servers! Ooops!

Cheers!
-Phil

Short version: beta24 is live! Available for Windows, Mac, Linux. (Sorry iOS and Android, I was unable to get these builds together this time!)

I’m really excited about this update. I had a breakthrough a few weeks ago in the Galcon 2 design, and it really got things moving a lot faster now.

I’ve added in a slick server list that will be the gateway to finding games to play. As an added bonus, I’m going to set it up so that modded servers can appear in the official server list to friends. (Not quite sure if that is ready yet, DO contact me if you are interested in trying this out and I’ll get it working sooner!)

I’ve re-built the betting features from scratch so now they never block the game from starting and are MUCH more user-friendly. I think this is going to be a lot funner than the old one.

Another cool feature that is already working is cross-server PMing. So you can “/m someone whatever” from any server and it’ll get to them.

Soon I’m going to be adding in Friends, Clans, and Tournament features. I’m super excited to finally get that stuff together, and having the server list at the front end is really going to facilitate that.

By doing this, it also means I’m shifting where the Galaxy Map appears in the game. I’m going to be moving it from the “front-end” of the game to be more of a core part of the clans system where the clans will be battling over territories. (Still working on those details yet…)

Anyway, all this will come in stages, I just wanted to give you the heads up of where things are going. I’m pretty stoked to get going on this as I’ve got a pretty clear vision as to where I’m going now, and that will help progress get moving again!

Also – so you know – I’ve reset all the progress in the game, so old scores, coins, and purchases are all gone. This is important for balancing out the game, as we’re getting closer to making this an open beta, I need to figure out the best rate of coins earned so the game is fun. (Don’t worry, the coins you paid for in the Kickstarter aren’t “gone” – you’ll get them for real when the game is ready.)

Cheers!
-Phil

P.S. I’m going to be playing online for the next hour or so, please come out and test the game with me!!