By Fishlabs Entertainment has announced that it would be bringing a new strategy game for Android soon. Named Galaxy on Fire: Alliances, the game will be the studio’s first massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game, a pretty ambitious undertaking for any mobile developer. The game takes place in space, and what better story line to employ than the age-old “multiple factions fighting for newly discovered resources and treasures” shtick?
Players will witness a three-way tug-of-war between factions called the Terrans, Vossk, and Niveliens, and will need to balance war, diplomacy and economic growth in order to succeed. You can work with other human player to help each other build up strong colonies and fight against strong enemies if you want, or you can take your chances and play out an “us against the world” scenario.
So when is all this headed to us? Well, our iOS brethren will have first dibs — we’re all used to that by now, right? Fishlabs Entertainment assures us Android users will see a port shortly afterward, though, so there’s still reason to be excited this early in the game. Even more to get excited about is the game’s initial price tag of “free,” but we’re sure there will be some perks for those who cough up the cash for in-game purchases.
We’ll see a lot more starting next month as the studio heads to the annual Game Developers’ Conference with its game in hand and head held high. For now, take a look at the screenshots above and below for a taste of what to expect. Read on for full press details.
Somewhere far beyond:
Fishlabs announces Galaxy on Fire – Alliances, a new sci-fi MMO for smartphones and tablets
Fishlabs Entertainment is working on a new Massively Multiplayer Online Game with real time strategy elements set in the Galaxy on Fire universe. If all goes as planned, Galaxy on Fire™ – Alliances will be released on the App Store later this year. It will be optimized for all current models of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.Hamburg, Germany – February 11th, 2013 – Fishlabs, the Hamburg-based developer and publisher of high-end 3D games for smartphones and tablets, announces its first MMORTS (Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy Game). Galaxy on Fire™ – Alliances will not only mark the first strategy game in the award-winning portfolio of Germany’s “Best Studio 2011” but also will it be Fishlabs’ biggest and most ambitious project to date. By fully embracing the Free-2-Play business model, the next spin-off of the critically acclaimed GOF series will introduce thousands of new players to the war-torn Galaxy on Fire universe and offer a unique sci-fi gaming experience that is cooperative and competitive in equal shares. Among others, players can look forward to state-of-the-art 3D graphics and captivating story telling as well as top-notch sound design and gripping gameplay mechanics. Galaxy on Fire™ – Alliances is being developed with the aid of Fishlabs’ proprietary ABYSS® 3 engine and scheduled to be released for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch in Q3 of 2013. Subsequent to its release on iOS, an Android porting of the game is planned as well.
“Never before in the eight years of our existence have we worked on a title with a team as big as the Alliances team,“ says Michael Schade, CEO of Fishlabs Entertainment. “Free-2-Play is an incredibly exciting and promising market for mobile developers and we’re really eager to create a premium-quality F2P title, which includes all the features and characteristics that have made our previous titles so unique and successful. As you can imagine, this is not an easy task, but we’ve got a team of highly experienced and talented industry specialists assigned to the development of Alliances and the playable alpha version of the game does already look pretty amazing.”
The events of Alliances™ take place in a remote and hitherto unexplored part of the universe, where valuable resources and ancient artifacts are expected to be found. In order to gain access of these riches, the most powerful factions of the galaxy, namely the Terrans, Vossk and Nivelians, order their best commanders to build an outpost on that out-of-the-way star cluster and claim dominion to that yet-to-be-acquired sphere. In order to succeed against a multitude of ruthless opponents and add more and more planets to their territories, the players will have to display strong tactical and diplomatic skills on the one hand and an extraordinary talent for resource management on the other. Furthermore, they will have establish a flourishing economy and do a lot of research in order to get access to stronger technologies. And last but not least they will also have to forge alliances with other players in order to make new friends and comrades and be able to stand up to seemingly superior enemies in epic space battles.
In the weeks and months prior to the launch, Fishlabs will keep their fans in the loop about the latest happenings from the Alliances camp through their blog (www.fishlabs.net/en/blog/), their forum (http://forums.fishlabs.net/
en/ ) and the official Facebook fan page for the Galaxy on Fire saga (www.facebook.com/galaxyonfire). A series of developer diaries, which will enable to the fans to take a look behind the scenes of the production, is going to be published through the afore-mentioned channels as well.
This “free to play” model needs to die… I’d much rather pay a premium price than get a “free” game that tries to nickel & dime on in-app purchases necessary to progress at a reasonable rate. I generally won’t even bother installing one of these “free” premium-looking games because of this.
I’m the same. Checking out the “top free” section of Google Play’s games section is virtually waste of time. It’s depressing how much of the “top grossing games” section are free – how can a free game be top grossing? Because it’s pay-to-win. That’s gross.
Galaxy on Fire 2 was ‘free’ but had an in app purchase that unlocked the main game. It’s essentially a demo and the full game all in one.
What happens when you get a new phone? Is your in-app purchase of the actual game lost?
Some games have a “restore purchase” function. I’m guessing this is what you do. Also, you can copy the data folder off your phone if you really want to back up your data. It’s possible to back up your data without root. You copy the /data folder and the /Android/Data folder. It depends on where apps save their data.
But I’m not too sure if the “restore purchase” works on different devices.
No it is managed. It is not a one time consumable like others. Google should make that more clear. Another device sees you already bought it and should auto unlock the content.
Are you serious? Most Free To Play games are great. You don’t even need to buy the extra stuff to beat the games. I do agree with you that there have been some games that you cant beat unless you spend money. But you end up spending like about $5-$10 to beat the game. There’s your premium right there. So…?
I haven’t come across a FTP game that requires you to buy over $20 worth of stuff just to beat the game. I will agree that games like that are absurd. But like I said, I haven’t come across any games like that. The FTP games I had were reasonable. Meaning you can get far in the game without paying.
So I take it they abandoned their GoF 2 Standard (not THD)/Valkrie/Supernova expansions as well for android.
I refused to by GOF 2 because of their bait and swap tactics. The game is listed as “free” when in reality it should be listed as a demo. You have to pay $15-$20 to unlock the rest of the game. Not only is that expensive but also unexpected.
Don’t get me wrong what I played was fun but for a portable game on top of the insult of the game not being anywhere close to free the price was well more than I should be expected to pay for an in game unlock. I probably would have dropped $5 – $10 on it, but the extravagant price I’m sure lost them lots of buyers.
It’s also not that you can see if the game is on sale. Many apps do from time to time but it’s price isn’t on the play market so It’s left to drift pissing off people that pick it up thinking it’s free.