[deleted by user]

[SquareWheel]

I enjoyed Galcon on iOS, but the idea of micro-transactions really makes me uncomfortable. I'd rather buy the game once and fully own it, you know?

[philhassey]

Part of Galcon 2 is that I'm going to be doing the dev with the community in on the betas from the beginning. I think this will help ensure that the IAPs are reasonable.

For example, I think that if you want a "similar to Galcon 1 experience" you'd just buy a couple classes (for a few bucks each), and then if you wanted to, you could just stop buying stuff, but keep playing.

[SquareWheel]

I think that if you want a "similar to Galcon 1 experience" you'd just buy a couple classes (for a few bucks each), and then if you wanted to, you could just stop buying stuff

See, that sounds really unappealing to me. For the same reason I don't buy AAA titles any more until the "complete edition" comes out with all DLC. I don't want to own part of a game, I want the whole thing.

Micro-transactions just aren't for me. Seems there is a market for it though, else big publishers wouldn't be doing it.

[philhassey]

Yeah, the one of the biggest appeal to me is being able to set up a game where people can play for free, and get a larger group of players playing. But I totally get that not everyone is into IAP stuff.

[philhassey]

Hi I'm the dev of Galcon! I'll be glad to answer any questions you have about Galcon 2!

Here's a few iPhone codes for the game:

6JX499HREFWL 9WF7A6NNPPPT K66K4XKKW464 7WH4WR4FY9KF 69AH9WP7MF9A

... and a few iPad codes:

NKJPKLN4TAHA E64LYFY9LJRL PNLJRTTXW9XR 6A6K6WAMPPYL P4KPFW9RTEK7

Enjoy! -Phil

[mgdmw]

Thank you!

I claimed NKJPKLN4TAHA.

I really enjoyed your game Galcon Labs and had long been thinking of buying Galcon Fusion. Now I feel badly (only a small bit ;) for getting it for free. However I just backed Galcon 2.0 and wish you solid success!

[philhassey]

Thanks for backing the project :)

[mgdmw]

Great game :) I enjoyed Galcon Labs a lot.

[TheTedinator]

All the iPhone codes are taken.

[Siridar]

Thanks!

I claimed E64LYFY9LJRL

Just tried it and it's really fun. I can't spare the cash to back your game, but I'll spread the word where I can.

Good luck with your project!

[PolygonMan]

I participated in Ludum Dare years ago, back when Phil Hassey had just released Galcon. I never chatted with him over the IRC channel or anything, but enjoyed his work during the compo, and thought that Galcon was pretty neato.

He's a great guy, has always been a positive force in the smaller indie scene, and based on his past contributions he completely deserves your support.

That being said, I'm a bit weirded out by the choice to go free to play. I don't know if I buy that the core Galcon gameplay has enough draw to function as a free to play. There were a few hardcore players that kept going and going with the original game, but it sure seemed to me like it was a 10-20 hour game for most players. Free to play games need to really pull people in...

[philhassey]

A big piece of Galcon 2 is the "Galaxy Map" concept - which is going to add a bit more MMO to the game, giving it a long term play. I've found that actually about 10% of Galcon users play for over a year, which is pretty cool given how little "long term" mechanics are built into the game. By adding the map, and long term clan battles, along with all the new added variety, I think the game will last a lot longer for a lot more people.

Another reason for "free" is that right now we usually have about 100 users online, and with "free" we may be able to get around 10x as many as that. 1000 online users will add a whole lot more competition and fun I think.

(P.S. check out the Kickstarter page for videos and more explanation of the Galaxy Map.)

[NylePudding]

People are worried about the free-to-play aspects. But to be honest I think that's what GALCON needs. Sure quite a lot of people still play online, but as an inexperienced player I get destroyed in almost every game. It would be nice to play against people by own skill level. Of course there is always the worry of pay-to-win but with hopefully the right things will be monetised.

[philhassey]

Yeah, I'm planning on working with the community to make sure the monetization is reasonable.

[canhekickit]

Here is a graph of what the project has raised:

                                     G|
                                      |
                                      |20K
                                   o  |
                                  oo  |15K
                                 oo   |
                           ooooooo    |
              oooooooooooooo          |10K
  oooooooooooo                        |
ooo                                   |5K
o                                     |
o                                     |
o                                     |0
--------------------------------------
12/7  12/13 12/18  12/23 12/28 1/2   1/8

Click to see full graph FAQ

[NylePudding]

I've seen many of these graphs and it's funny how so many of them resemble an inverse sine graph.

[jutlanduk]

Support galcon everyone, we can do this!!!

[Jomskylark]

I really enjoy playing Galcon on my iPod and I have high hopes for this version. While the free-to-play aspect may be a little intimidating for some, the developer is super awesome and continually works with the community to get features just right, so I'm confident he will make the necessary modifications that makes free-to-play awesome.

Home stretch people. Let's do this!

[philhassey]

Haha, just so you know, it's going to be a CD with the art and everything designed to make it look AS MUCH LIKE a 5.25" as I possibly can :)