We are pleased to announce that patch 0.7.2.0 finally brings Gala Collider to the realm of STABLE. This means there shouldn't be anymore critical issues blocking games from completing, including both head-to-head and asynchronous games (where you take a turn, save and quit, and get notified later when your opponent finishes their turn).
In addition to major bug fixes, this release also brings:
- Many critical bug fixes
- XP3: Dark Omen expansion
- Introducing Missions—single-player maps where you bring your own deck!
- Refactored rule book
- Sector changes—Nebulae and Asteroids yield more resources
- New and updated multiplayer maps
- Map effects
- Balance changes
Critical bug fixes
You can see the list of fixes applied in 0.7.1.9 and 0.7.2.0 on our public Trello board:
https://trello.com/b/yRRW8g7n/gala-collider-bugs-and-release-radar
While we are still in Alpha, we’ve come a long way since our initial release in early 2020!
The remaining bugs are far less serious and shouldn’t be showstoppers. Our focus now is on improving the UI/UX, the AI, and the first-time and single-player experience. We’re also plugging away at all the known medium- to low-severity bugs, plus any that you may still find and report to us on the board.
Here is a list of major issues corrected in this release:
- Techpool slot position was not restored when reloading a game
- Stars did not match after reloading the game
- Reloading a game caused commander health to be incorrect
- Extra resources sometimes occurred when reloading a game
- Cards would load in the wrong places sometimes after reloading a game
- Discard pile cards would overlay oddly at times
- Sometimes you could not click on any ships until you clicked the techpool button
- Attack buffs were lasting longer than they should have after reloading a game
- Sometimes ships would stay alive after they were shot down
Plus a bunch of smaller fixes.
XP3 - Dark Omen
This expansion pack brings 10 new cards to the game, 5 Sylith and 5 Coalition. The 30-card pack contains 3 copies of each new card. As with previous content releases, a single purchase unlocks all 30 cards.
Dark Omen signals the mounting war between the two factions. The Sylith Elders reluctantly emerge from their fortified sanctuaries to assert their presence on the front lines of battle, while the Coalition strengthens its ability to claim and hold territory. Both sides implement new advances in technology to counter the increasing prevalence of swarm tactics in both factional battles and internecine skirmishes.
New abilities in this expansion include:
SHIP MODULES
- Light Plating - Reduces damage taken from Frigate-sized ships
- Infiltration - Ship increases Hull value while in enemy contested space
Missions
This update also introduces Missions to the game. Missions are much more challenging than scenarios and require you to build your own deck. There are currently two Missions available, with more to come. Based on your feedback, we will add either easier or harder missions in future updates to ensure a good variety of challenge levels.
We do not yet have rewards in place for completing missions, but we plan on adding them eventually. Especially for the really hard ones. ;-)
Meanwhile, tutorials have been renamed "Puzzles" and moved together with the old Scenarios into a single "Basics" area. Puzzles are sort of like chess puzzles, where you have one or two turns to solve the puzzle and win. If you fail, you can simply try again. Puzzles help you learn the game and master new mechanics without needing to wade through a lot of scripted steps.
Rulebook
The old rulebook was small and hard to read on larger screens, and it was also a bit complicated for us to maintain. So we rebuilt it! This new rulebook expands to fill your entire monitor and launches with an intro page when you first run the game.
Sectors
Before 0.7.1.9, Nebula and Asteroid sectors often yielded 1 or 2 total resources. We've augmented these sectors to produce between 1 and 3 resources now, and most often 2. They still tilt in favor of Fuel and Component resources but are overall much more valuable than before.
Their number of development slots is still variable between 1 and 3, depending on the size of the (dwarf) planet hidden within.
Multiplayer maps
We have one new multiplayer map: Cosmic Trench, which includes a BRAND NEW “dangerous” sector located in the center of the map. Colonize at your own risk!
We also made some changes to existing maps: Gem Quadrant is 2 sectors smaller than before, making the map a bit less of a commitment to play. Chaotica has had its sector connections substantially reduced, since it was tilting too heavily in the Sylith’s favor. We also changed the center sector to be Poor/Dangerous instead of a Prize, making the map less focused on the central world.
Map effects
A few maps (so far, The Eye and Cosmic Trench) now include effects. We plan on adding effects and unique background coloring to more maps over time, so feel free to let us know how you like the direction we are taking here!
Balance changes
As always, we are committed to creating exceptional balance in this game. We will continue to tweak existing and expansion pack cards to maximize the balance of this game and maintain a diverse, exciting, and evolving meta.
The only cards with balance changes in this patch are cards from XP3 that we tweaked between patch 0.7.1.9 and 0.7.1.2.0. Considering that very few players were aware of this new content, this change should not really impact anyone, LOL.
But if you’re curious, you can review the list here:
https://trello.com/c/tAmDABIF/163-balance-changes
We also tweaked the power of some sectors, like Dream Streams. This sector was too powerful and now produces 0 Resources. If it’s STILL too powerful, we’ll lower its power again. Somehow.
Next steps?
Our focus now is on promoting the game as much as possible. Now that the game is stable, we want to attract new and old players back to the game to give it a spin. We think you’ll enjoy where it’s at now.
We are aware the real depth of the game is still in the player-vs-player experience, so we hope you’ll use the in-game auto match and our Discord server to find and play against opponents.
That said, we’ll continue to focus on more single-player improvements for both new and more advanced players. This includes new scenario modes, more story scripting, and further AI enhancements and features.
On the visual side, we still have 3D models to complete and implement for existing cards and effects. We’ll also continually be improving the UI/UX based on your feedback.
If you find a bug, please report it to our Discord channel (after checking that it isn't already logged on our Trello board).
Code to let you peek into your deck and techpool is partially done, so this feature may also release in the not-too-distant future. We also want to code a game log you can review and a first-turn mulligan.
But before we continue to add more features, we really need to focus first on building a healthy, happy and vibrant player community.
To that end, if you are able to share the game with friends, post about it on social media, or leave a positive review, all those things really help us tremendously. We are a very small team running this game purely for the love and passion we have for this game. So any support you can offer us goes miles beyond the stars.
We will be working to organize a play event in the not-too-distant-future.
Thank you for playing!