The gameplay took place within the Shroud Nebula, a newly discovered region of space with valuable resources and rare artifacts left over from an exctinct alien species known as The Old Ones. The various major governments in the Galaxy on Fire universe sent off their best commanders to explore and colonize this newfound territory for themselves.
Initially, the player chose their species. They could choose from Terrans, Nivelians, and Vossk. The player started off on a single planet, which had three different names for each race selection, within a private home system with three planets. They could harvest resources and build ships. The second planet would be empty and could be colonized, while the third would be occupied by pirates, which the player must take over. After taking all three planets in the home system, the player could then open their jumpgate, which served as a gateway toward the rest of the Shroud Nebula. From here the player could attack other players, join or create an alliance, and colonize other planets. There were specified limits to how many ships a player can build and planets they can own, and players were unable to build or colonize past these limits, unless by exploiting bugs within the game, using 3rd-party programs, or legally purchasing extensions from the in game store.
In GoFA, battles occured whenever a player or group of players attacked another player. Battles were split into various stages - the first stage being a ship battle, where the smaller craft fought each other. Battles were computed in a rock-paper-scissors type format, where fighters would be good against interceptors, bombers good against fighters, and interceptors good against bombers.
After the ship battle commenced, there was a chance that a stage known as "Carrier Escape" would happen. This usually happened when one side of a battle did not bring any smaller craft and only has carriers, though, this was not always true. During the Carrier escape, the carriers and bombers of both sides fired at the other side's carriers. All ships and troops stationed on a destroyed carrier were also destroyed.
The last and final stage of the battle was the ground battle, which only occurs if the ship battle was won by the attackers. During this stage, the attackers' bombers grouped together to bomb enemy troops on the planet. Afterward, the attackers' ground troops and the defenders' ground troops fired at each other. If this stage of the battle was won by the attackers, the planet was taken over by those attackers. The attacking player that brought the most troops with at least one planet slot available then owned the planet.
After an update, NPC Voids were added to the game. Voids wouldn't attack active players unless aggressed upon first, and otherwise only attack planets owned by deleted or inactive accounts. Each Void NPC had a single wormhole planet, which sent reinforcements to the other planets within the Void cluster. If the wormhole was taken over, the Voids stopped sending reinforcements to their planets. Players could attack Void planets to earn Void crystals, which could then be used to build advanced Void Carriers, which were faster and had larger hanger spaces than any other carrier in the game.
Early concept art of a Vossk character.
Despite its pretty cool look, the "alien/organic" design for the artifacts got discarded because the Alliances team felt that it would not fully incorporte the mineral-like nature of these items.
The 3D renderings of the ancient artifacts in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances have been designed on the basis of the concept artworks displayed above.
Just like the "alien/organic" design, the "tech" design is another pretty nice attempt that didn't make it into the game...
The star map shows the individual territories of the alliances in GOF-A. Among others, you will also be able to highlight strategically important targets, such as planets containing citadels, for your allies.
In GOF-A you will be able to observe the epic space battles from the bridge of your command ship. Here's an early concept of the bridge of a Terran battle cruiser.
That's what the bridge of a Nivelian battle ship looks like... the action-packed battle reports are going to be some of the biggest eyecatchers in GOF - Alliances!
Lo and behold! Many of you will already know the Vossk Battlecruiser from its appearance in Galaxy on Fire 2 - Supernova and we hope that you'll enjoy adding this floating behemoth to your fleet in GOF - Alliances as well!
The final concept artwork which served as guideline for the actual 3D renderings of the citadels in our upcoming mobile multiplayer strategy game Galaxy on Fire - Alliances.
A first idea sketch of the artifact mountains (also known as citadels) on the one hand and the mysterious treasures they contain on the other...
An early concept art, still featuring all different types of artifacts.
This should give you a good idea how a citadel planet will look like.
An 'Old One'. These guys never made it into the final game.
A more elaborate concept artwork of an "Old One".
A selection of idea sketches of the Old Ones, the mysterious ancient civilization in our upcoming mobile sci-fi strategy MMO Galaxy on Fire - Alliances.
"Version 1: If you’re at least halfway familiar with our first two expansion packs for Galaxy on Fire 2, namely Valkyrie and Supernova, the logo depicted above will look pretty familiar to you. And that’s exactly why we decided not to use it. After all, it would make Alliances look like another add-on rather than a whole new game. Instead, we had a logo in mind that would underline the title’s uniqueness on the one hand and still go along with the style of the Galaxy on Fire IP on the other."
"Version 2: The next design included a shield-like approach, whose hexagon-shaped outline had been chosen in accordance with the user interface we’d been favoring back then. But when we decided not to go with hexagons in the UI anymore, we also had to cross out the design shown above and come up with something different instead.
Version 3: Due to the changes we’ve made in the user interface, we also had to alter the logo a little. By then we had still been very fond of the shield-like approach and therefore we’ve given it another try with a slightly altered shape and darker coloring. The result had been a favorite of ours for quite some time and it had almost become the actual logo of our new multiplayer strategy game. In the end, however, we decided to discard it, because we felt that it was a bit too much on the save side and therefore didn’t have enough recognition value to fully meet our expectations."
"Version 4: The next step was the discarding of the shield. Instead, we thought about going with a rather basic design that would consist only of a font and a subtle glow. In the end, however, it felt as if there’d still be something missing…"
"Version 5: To make the logo look more striking and give it a distinct feel and twist, we decided to add a special artwork consisting of a pitchblack planet and its assosciated moons. We also went with another font, which turned out to be not as readable and clear as well wanted it to be."
"Final version: So we changed the font back to the one from the font-only approach and voilà, that’s it! The final logo for our new game! As you can see, it contains a several elements from the logos shown before – such as the turquoise coloring of Version 2, the typo of Version 4 and the additional artwork of Version 5 – and still manages to add something new and unique. As soon as our Art Director had shown us this approach, we instantly knew that this was the real deal. And we hope you guys feel the same about it!"
Some more logo development that was never officially released on the blog.
The artifact center is one of 11 structures in our upcoming mobile multiplayer strategy game Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
A collection of concept artworks of (almost) all of the Terran structures in GOF-A. The only one missing is the artifact center shown earlier in this article.
The Artifact Center is one of 11 Nivelian structures in our upcoming open PVP strategy game Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
An overview of all Nivelian structures in our upcoming sci-fi mobile strategy game Galaxy on Fire - Alliances, except for the Artifact Center depicted above
An early version (incl. scribbles) of the Nivelian Crystal Extractor in GOFA by Fishlabs.
The evolution of the Nivelian shipyard in GOFA by Fishlabs
An overview of all Vossk structures (except for the Artifact Center) in our upcoming mobile sci-fi MMO Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
With its four blade-shaped "crown spikes", the gigantic Vossk Headquarters is truly a sight to behold and one of the most impressive pieces of alien architecture in the GOF universe.
Here's where the Vossk scientists develop new technologies and unravel the secrets of the universe...
The illustration above shows you how the crystal extractor and the metal extractor of the Vossk ended up with their final shape and appearance.
The "Resource Mode" of the Star Map of Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The "Colonization Mode" of the Star Map of Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The "Diplomacy Mode" of the Star Map of Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The "Planet Owners Mode" of the Star Map of Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Early on in the development process of GOFA, the carriers had still been called command ships. Despite a slight inconsistency in the Galaxy on Fire lore, we decided to re-name them carriers, because that's what describes their usage and functionality best.
The artwork above uses grey, blue and yellow colors to illustrate the differing shapes and designs of the "Level 1-3" types of Terran Carriers in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
This early draft of the Nivelian Carrier already hinted at the right direction. However, a couple of details still had to be changed before we were 100% happy with the result.
The higher the level of the Carrier you're about to build in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the stronger its armored protection is going to be.
The Nivelian Carrier from GOFA is the first capital ship the Nivelians have ever had in any of the GOF games so far.
The "level 1" carrier of the Vossk in GOFA bears a close resemblance to the battle cruiser of the Vossk in GOF2 HD.
The biggest difference between the "level 1" carriers and their "level 2" counterparts are the spike-shaped extansions on the left and right side of the ship.
Now here's one ship you really don't wanna mess with, namely the magnificent "level 3" carrier of the Vossk in GOFA for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch!
A powerful Vossk fleet trying to take over an artifact planet in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
If you've read our second-to-last concept blog carefully, you'll have noticed that the carrier design show above is no longer up-to-date. In the closed beta, however, the 3D models of the Nivelian carriers have not yet been switched.
The 2D battle report provides you with a turn-based depiction of the respective combat situation.
The little markers on the star map illustrate where your alliance members will launch their next attacks and where they're in need of some back-up.
An epic battle between the two alliances of Unite Or Die and Brave New World. Any idea who might have won the fight?
This part of the battle report displays all of your allies that assisted you in the take-over of Bajeefawio1.
When you're being attacked, the 3D battle report looks slightly different from the one you'll see when you're on the attacking side.
With a blue citadel, 12 construction slots and an overall quality of 9, this planet should better not fall to the greedy hands of your enemies!
From left to right: Cormorant in GOF2 HD, Cormorant in GOF2 SD and "normal" Bomber in GOFA.
The Terran fleet in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances minus the "level 1 to 3" carriers which we've already introduced to you a couple of weeks ago.
The fleet of the Nivelians in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The evolution of the Vossk Bomber in GOFA by Fishlabs: The brandnew hitherto unreleased 3D model (left), the classic GOF2 SD model that served as basis for the new designs (middle) and the current 3D model that already got discarded and will be replaced soon (right).
The complete Vossk fleet (minus the carriers) in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances. Please note that these models are not 100% finished, so the final designs might still look a little different.
Four different versions of the female commander of the Terrans. In the end we went for #4, because #1 looked too conservative, #2 looked too freaky and #3 looked too young.
With every new level, the uniform and armor of the Terran commander become a bit more elaborate and impressive.
The making of the female commander of the Terrans: From an early Scultris bust to the final avatar.
The Nivelian commanders in Galaxy on Fire - Alliances are a bunch of resolute and determined fellows you don't want to mess with!
Ever wondered what Gunant Breh's sweetheart would look like? Well, if she's a commander of the Nivelian Fleet, she might look like one of the female Nivelians in the picture above.
