This week I was polishing various parts of the game!

One thing that I learnt about making games is that nothing in game should disappear.
So now missiles that go off-screen explodes.
Enemy missile didn't hit you, but it hit something off-screen, instead of vanishing without a trace.
That makes combat 0.1% more enjoyable.

Also, now when enemy is destroyed, the explosion destroys nearby projectiles.
Like it would happen in real world.
Missile #1, missile #2 and missile #3 is released. Missile #1 hits enemy and destroys it.
What happens next?
In Sector Six 0.5.9, missiles #2 and #3 will go through the space where enemy existed few milliseconds ago.
In Sector Six 0.6.5 and real world, missiles #2 and #3 will explode together with destroyed enemy.
That's another 0.1%!

The next 0.1% comes from improved Death From Above ability, now its missiles are much faster and it feels more powerful and aggressive.

​In Sector Six 0.5.9, if your spaceship is destroyed, you are told that the Elder Mechanism will recreate it.
In Sector Six 0.6.5, if your spaceship is destroyed, the spaceship is actually recreated.
It's not much but... 0.1%?

This week I have also made few changes to escort missions.
Defending carrier was awkward and barely possible with minions like veteran and dreadnought, so now you no longer need to defend it.
That makes escort missions into same boring destroy X minions mission with a cosmetic carrier above your ship, but hey, at least it works.
And I can always make carrier more interesting by making it blow up minions!

Oh, and about dreadnoughts...
Now they start appearing when you reach level 15.

​What else? I added sounds for selecting/deselecting abilities, tweaked region entering/leaving animations, moved upgrade/downgrade buttons slightly... And that's pretty much it.

I made Sector Six like 1% more fun and it makes this week good!
Until next week!

PS.: I decided to postpone update for a week or two, since update is not going to be released on July anyway.

This week I was polishing various parts of the game!

One thing that I learnt about making games is that nothing in game should disappear.
So now missiles that go off-screen explodes.
Enemy missile didn't hit you, but it hit something off-screen, instead of vanishing without a trace.
That makes combat 0.1% more enjoyable.

Also, now when enemy is destroyed, the explosion destroys nearby projectiles.
Like it would happen in real world.
Missile #1, missile #2 and missile #3 is released. Missile #1 hits enemy and destroys it.
What happens next?
In Sector Six 0.5.9, missiles #2 and #3 will go through the space where enemy existed few milliseconds ago.
In Sector Six 0.6.5 and real world, missiles #2 and #3 will explode together with destroyed enemy.
That's another 0.1%!

The next 0.1% comes from improved Death From Above ability, now its missiles are much faster and it feels more powerful and aggressive.

​In Sector Six 0.5.9, if your spaceship is destroyed, you are told that the Elder Mechanism will recreate it.
In Sector Six 0.6.5, if your spaceship is destroyed, the spaceship is actually recreated.
It's not much but... 0.1%?

This week I have also made few changes to escort missions.
Defending carrier was awkward and barely possible with minions like veteran and dreadnought, so now you no longer need to defend it.
That makes escort missions into same boring destroy X minions mission with a cosmetic carrier above your ship, but hey, at least it works.
And I can always make carrier more interesting by making it blow up minions!

Oh, and about dreadnoughts...
Now they start appearing when you reach level 15.

​What else? I added sounds for selecting/deselecting abilities, tweaked region entering/leaving animations, moved upgrade/downgrade buttons slightly... And that's pretty much it.

I made Sector Six like 1% more fun and it makes this week good!
Until next week!

PS.: I decided to postpone update for a week or two, since update is not going to be released on July anyway.

Additions
-Added 3 new attachments
-Added 3 new levels (with new enemies and bosses)

The 3 new levels replace Solar, Sentry, and Aquaria. Solar, Sentry, and Aquaria are now ‘special’ levels which aren’t on any of the regular paths.

Fixes
-Fixed Bomb explosions not respecting volume settings

Changes / Improvements
-New attachments are now marked. Note all of your attachments will be defaulted to new until you equip them once.
-Quick Encounter is now more spread out
-Enemy aiming improved
-Friendly ship AI improved
-Improved interaction between Star Missile and Rocket Barrage
-Various other minor fixes

Additions
-Added 3 new attachments
-Added 3 new levels (with new enemies and bosses)

The 3 new levels replace Solar, Sentry, and Aquaria. Solar, Sentry, and Aquaria are now ‘special’ levels which aren’t on any of the regular paths.

Fixes
-Fixed Bomb explosions not respecting volume settings

Changes / Improvements
-New attachments are now marked. Note all of your attachments will be defaulted to new until you equip them once.
-Quick Encounter is now more spread out
-Enemy aiming improved
-Friendly ship AI improved
-Improved interaction between Star Missile and Rocket Barrage
-Various other minor fixes

NOTE: This entire press release can be found at: http://frontwirestudios.com/the-future-of-galaxy-in-turmoil/

---------


Dear Galaxy in Turmoil community,

It is with a humble heart that I’m writing this message to you, the community. As of late, we have been creating a big media buzz with the announcement of our on Steam distribution deal. We have garnered a growing fan base of over 30,000 people in a little over three months. We have showcased original music and even announced our new charity The Frontwire Foundation, none of which could have been made possible without the support from all of you. It’s crazy! Our hopes have been so high, we could almost touch the clouds. That is why the nature of this letter is so bitter-sweet.

On Wednesday June 22, 2016, we received a letter from Lucasfilm requesting that we halt production of Galaxy in Turmoil with any Star Wars related IP at once. Rather than laying down at the first sign of trouble, I requested a meeting with the Lucasfilm executives to discuss our project and to find some common ground to work with. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much negotiation to occur. But much to my surprise, executives at the top of Lucasfilm agreed to meet. A week later, that meeting took place.

I had the pleasure of sitting down via phone and speaking with two of the top decision makers at Lucasfilm. Before I go any further, let it be known that the people I spoke with are really great people and it was a pleasure to be able to speak with them. I only wish we were able to speak and conduct business on different terms.

During our meeting, there was a fair share of both lighthearted and serious moments. LucasFilm informed me that although they would of been open to the idea of negotiating a license for Frontwire to work on the Star Wars IP, that they are not able to due to their contract with Electronic Arts (EA). I was told that Lucasfilm had already spoken with EA about Galaxy in Turmoil and that EA expressed no desire in letting our project continue. Their main concern was due to the possibility of Galaxy in Turmoil taking away attention from their Battlefront franchise. I tried to pitch the idea about putting Galaxy in Turmoil behind EA’s paywall but was told that EA had previously rejected that proposition as well. Due to their exclusive contract with EA, Lucasfilm was contractually obligated to deny our request for the use of the Star Wars IP for Galaxy in Turmoil based on EA’s decision. We tried to reach out to EA directly for more information, but we have so far gotten no response.

Let me stop for a moment. I do not for a second hold any grudge against Electronic Arts and/or Lucasfilm, and neither should our community. The Star Wars brand is a highly valuable and lucrative brand. I would expect nothing less from Lucasfilm than to do everything they can to protect and preserve their intellectual property. As for EA they have an extremely expensive and profitable production contract with Lucasfilm. Likewise, EA has done what they felt they needed to do and if I were in the same position, I hope I would also do anything to protect my golden egg. While I do wish EA would realize that backing a free fan game would actually be an effective way to help and promote their brand, their decision is final, and we as both a business and as a community must respect that.

While I and our attorneys still believe that we fall under the Fair Use law, I have no desire to get into any type of legal battle with Lucasfilm, and lose due to the sheer amount of money Lucasfilm has. As a businessman, I have enough respect for other companies and their intellectual properties to not put up a fight that should not be fought in the first place. At the end of the day Star Wars is Lucasfilm’s property, and they have every right to request Frontwire stop using their IP, even if we believe that we were within legal limits. In a perfect world, they will see we were team players and we may just have the chance to work with them in the distant future.

Most likely, you are asking yourself “what does this mean for Galaxy in Turmoil?“ Our highly publicized project as you have come to know it will no longer be a Star Wars game inspired by Battlefront. However, there is a new hope (Sorry, I had to slip that in!). Upon speaking with Lucasfilm, they informed us that they have no issue with a Battlefront inspired game that is not using the Star Wars IP itself. Regardless of what some have said, all of our code, sounds and many other non-Star Wars assets have been created in-house, which means they are indeed owned by us.

Going forward, Frontwire Studios will be pivoting away from Star Wars and embarking on a mission to create a new, original game in a never before seen universe. Our game will still have massive 64-player battles, ground-to-space combat, destructible capital ships, and a full single-player campaign. We will also still be releasing Galaxy in Turmoil on Steam as planned and it will remain a free game. No, we will not be adding any micro transactions or pay-to-win content. When Frontwire Studios makes a promise, we keep it. With that being said, we will still create the game you have all wanted and deserved, even if it turns out to not be Star Wars-related.

I am sure you are wondering about the monetary side of Galaxy in Turmoil. We do have plans to crowdfund GiT in the future. However, we have decided that we will not crowdfund until we can release a fully playable demo consisting of a single player mission & at least two multiplayer maps with a single gamemode. Too often have we need video game projects crowdfund, make a boat load of cash and then die out leaving the community empty handed. We refuse to be another statistic. That’s why we’re not accepting any donations until we have something you can play first hand before deciding to back us monetarily. Our team has been hard at work creating this new universe and are excited to continue to share new and exciting information with you over the next coming weeks. For more information on the game’s progress, story and overall development, be sure to keep an eye on the game’s official website located at http://git.frontwirestudios.com

Now, being that Star Wars: Galaxy in Turmoil is no more, we have decided to release a few unreleased items from our project that were so painstakingly developed by the team. We hope you have enjoyed the experience and excitement Galaxy in Turmoil has brought thus far. Please stick around to see how we pivot to a brand new IP. I promise it will be something you will not want to miss out on. Our team had a creative meeting last night and let me be the first to tell you that we are all extremely excited about the new direction that GiT is taking, and we know the story we are going to put out will blow you away.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to hop onto our Discord server and ask one of our team members.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your continued support of both Frontwire Studios and Galaxy in Turmoil. I look forward to continuing this ride together as we move forward with the brand new Galaxy in Turmoil universe.



All the best,

Tony Romanelli
President, Frontwire Studios

NOTE: This entire press release can be found at: http://frontwirestudios.com/the-future-of-galaxy-in-turmoil/

---------


Dear Galaxy in Turmoil community,

It is with a humble heart that I’m writing this message to you, the community. As of late, we have been creating a big media buzz with the announcement of our on Steam distribution deal. We have garnered a growing fan base of over 30,000 people in a little over three months. We have showcased original music and even announced our new charity The Frontwire Foundation, none of which could have been made possible without the support from all of you. It’s crazy! Our hopes have been so high, we could almost touch the clouds. That is why the nature of this letter is so bitter-sweet.

On Wednesday June 22, 2016, we received a letter from Lucasfilm requesting that we halt production of Galaxy in Turmoil with any Star Wars related IP at once. Rather than laying down at the first sign of trouble, I requested a meeting with the Lucasfilm executives to discuss our project and to find some common ground to work with. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much negotiation to occur. But much to my surprise, executives at the top of Lucasfilm agreed to meet. A week later, that meeting took place.

I had the pleasure of sitting down via phone and speaking with two of the top decision makers at Lucasfilm. Before I go any further, let it be known that the people I spoke with are really great people and it was a pleasure to be able to speak with them. I only wish we were able to speak and conduct business on different terms.

During our meeting, there was a fair share of both lighthearted and serious moments. LucasFilm informed me that although they would of been open to the idea of negotiating a license for Frontwire to work on the Star Wars IP, that they are not able to due to their contract with Electronic Arts (EA). I was told that Lucasfilm had already spoken with EA about Galaxy in Turmoil and that EA expressed no desire in letting our project continue. Their main concern was due to the possibility of Galaxy in Turmoil taking away attention from their Battlefront franchise. I tried to pitch the idea about putting Galaxy in Turmoil behind EA’s paywall but was told that EA had previously rejected that proposition as well. Due to their exclusive contract with EA, Lucasfilm was contractually obligated to deny our request for the use of the Star Wars IP for Galaxy in Turmoil based on EA’s decision. We tried to reach out to EA directly for more information, but we have so far gotten no response.

Let me stop for a moment. I do not for a second hold any grudge against Electronic Arts and/or Lucasfilm, and neither should our community. The Star Wars brand is a highly valuable and lucrative brand. I would expect nothing less from Lucasfilm than to do everything they can to protect and preserve their intellectual property. As for EA they have an extremely expensive and profitable production contract with Lucasfilm. Likewise, EA has done what they felt they needed to do and if I were in the same position, I hope I would also do anything to protect my golden egg. While I do wish EA would realize that backing a free fan game would actually be an effective way to help and promote their brand, their decision is final, and we as both a business and as a community must respect that.

While I and our attorneys still believe that we fall under the Fair Use law, I have no desire to get into any type of legal battle with Lucasfilm, and lose due to the sheer amount of money Lucasfilm has. As a businessman, I have enough respect for other companies and their intellectual properties to not put up a fight that should not be fought in the first place. At the end of the day Star Wars is Lucasfilm’s property, and they have every right to request Frontwire stop using their IP, even if we believe that we were within legal limits. In a perfect world, they will see we were team players and we may just have the chance to work with them in the distant future.

Most likely, you are asking yourself “what does this mean for Galaxy in Turmoil?“ Our highly publicized project as you have come to know it will no longer be a Star Wars game inspired by Battlefront. However, there is a new hope (Sorry, I had to slip that in!). Upon speaking with Lucasfilm, they informed us that they have no issue with a Battlefront inspired game that is not using the Star Wars IP itself. Regardless of what some have said, all of our code, sounds and many other non-Star Wars assets have been created in-house, which means they are indeed owned by us.

Going forward, Frontwire Studios will be pivoting away from Star Wars and embarking on a mission to create a new, original game in a never before seen universe. Our game will still have massive 64-player battles, ground-to-space combat, destructible capital ships, and a full single-player campaign. We will also still be releasing Galaxy in Turmoil on Steam as planned and it will remain a free game. No, we will not be adding any micro transactions or pay-to-win content. When Frontwire Studios makes a promise, we keep it. With that being said, we will still create the game you have all wanted and deserved, even if it turns out to not be Star Wars-related.

I am sure you are wondering about the monetary side of Galaxy in Turmoil. We do have plans to crowdfund GiT in the future. However, we have decided that we will not crowdfund until we can release a fully playable demo consisting of a single player mission & at least two multiplayer maps with a single gamemode. Too often have we need video game projects crowdfund, make a boat load of cash and then die out leaving the community empty handed. We refuse to be another statistic. That’s why we’re not accepting any donations until we have something you can play first hand before deciding to back us monetarily. Our team has been hard at work creating this new universe and are excited to continue to share new and exciting information with you over the next coming weeks. For more information on the game’s progress, story and overall development, be sure to keep an eye on the game’s official website located at http://git.frontwirestudios.com

Now, being that Star Wars: Galaxy in Turmoil is no more, we have decided to release a few unreleased items from our project that were so painstakingly developed by the team. We hope you have enjoyed the experience and excitement Galaxy in Turmoil has brought thus far. Please stick around to see how we pivot to a brand new IP. I promise it will be something you will not want to miss out on. Our team had a creative meeting last night and let me be the first to tell you that we are all extremely excited about the new direction that GiT is taking, and we know the story we are going to put out will blow you away.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to hop onto our Discord server and ask one of our team members.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your continued support of both Frontwire Studios and Galaxy in Turmoil. I look forward to continuing this ride together as we move forward with the brand new Galaxy in Turmoil universe.



All the best,

Tony Romanelli
President, Frontwire Studios

Hello everybody!

It's me again and I'm here to give you another quick update on the free roam development progress.

First I would like to let you know that we are making good progress and plan to have a free roam map available with our next update. It will not have all of the features implemented but players will be able to explore the map and visit all of the locations.



I know that I have promised to record a gameplay video and I fully intend to do that, we are getting so very close to releasing our new player controller that I wanted to include it in the video. I also promised to show you how the new deployment interface would look like:

The new "MAP" button on bottom right will open the North America region map from which players will be able to choose the place to travel.



Once the location is selected, players will be given some basic information of what is available. Such as number of towns and cities, missions, controlling faction, etc..



The blank tab on the left will hold player character portraits to select and the left tab will display a list of points of interest, like City of Woodsfield for example.

The new free roam map will feature new gameplay elements such as random encounters, where players will meet other survivors or engage in combat with bandits for resources and maybe save someone's life.



There will be two more missions accessible from the map, the Waterfront Liberation mission will have players fight for control of the clean water supply in the area. And the Factory Assault mission will put players into a thrilling challenge of taking back the old factory and it's resources from the bandits.



I will be posting new updates as soon as possible, showing the new map and it's features in action!

Thank you!

Hello everybody!

It's me again and I'm here to give you another quick update on the free roam development progress.

First I would like to let you know that we are making good progress and plan to have a free roam map available with our next update. It will not have all of the features implemented but players will be able to explore the map and visit all of the locations.



I know that I have promised to record a gameplay video and I fully intend to do that, we are getting so very close to releasing our new player controller that I wanted to include it in the video. I also promised to show you how the new deployment interface would look like:

The new "MAP" button on bottom right will open the North America region map from which players will be able to choose the place to travel.



Once the location is selected, players will be given some basic information of what is available. Such as number of towns and cities, missions, controlling faction, etc..



The blank tab on the left will hold player character portraits to select and the left tab will display a list of points of interest, like City of Woodsfield for example.

The new free roam map will feature new gameplay elements such as random encounters, where players will meet other survivors or engage in combat with bandits for resources and maybe save someone's life.



There will be two more missions accessible from the map, the Waterfront Liberation mission will have players fight for control of the clean water supply in the area. And the Factory Assault mission will put players into a thrilling challenge of taking back the old factory and it's resources from the bandits.



I will be posting new updates as soon as possible, showing the new map and it's features in action!

Thank you!

The Throbax TD team wishes a nice a sunny summer vacation to all of you! We will be on vacation so the next news-update will be comming in September - stay tuned for more!

Best regards
:Ughlar: Psilo, Wyzau and Mercury! :Ughlar:

The Throbax TD team wishes a nice a sunny summer vacation to all of you! We will be on vacation so the next news-update will be comming in September - stay tuned for more!

Best regards
ːUghlarː Psilo, Wyzau and Mercury! ːUghlarː