Alpha
Galaxy Online in Alpha Stage
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
IGG inc. released their alpha client for their “free-to-play” game Galaxy Online today. Galaxy Online is a strategy MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) where you can collect resources, colonize planets, and build ships.
'Home' planet screenshot from Galaxy Online's Alpha Test
Enter the game’s alpha “during February 4th and March 2nd,” and you will be rewarded 30 “Mall Points.” Mall Points will be used for the game’s “Item Mall” similar to IGG’s other games (like Voyage Century and Tales of Pirates). The Item Mall is where you can exchange points you have earned (or bought) for in-game items.
While I personally am not a huge fan of the Item Mall payment scheme, the game itself is free, so I downloaded the 20 MB client to give it a shot. There are a few things that strike me when comparing this to other space MMOGs. The first is the use of manga-style art for character avatars. Then, the obvious alpha bugs, like text wrap and chat box issues. Finally, while I doubt I’ll be playing this game much from here on out, I think there are some elements of this game that other game designers should be looking at.
The strategy portion of this game reminds me a lot of Sid Meier’s Civilization. It’s more an overall strategic approach than a typical real-time strategy where you select units and click where to go. It seems that this type of game takes a little bit less of on-your-feet thinking, so you can take your time making those important decisions for your planet(s).