Once Upon a Galaxy News

[p]Summer is officially behind us! As we officially begin to shift towards hoodie weather, the Galaxy team has cooked up one banger of a patch, including a new Galaxy Pass captain, massive Shared Pool shakeup in preparation for Candylar later this month and a whole lot more! Let’s get into it…[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Candylar Preorder Bundles[/h2][p][/p][p]Candylar Preorder Bundles are now live! Pick one up today to unlock a new Candylar Captain when Candylar releases in late October (as well as a bunch of other goodies). Buy all 3 and get a bonus![/p][p]Preorder Bundle Captains:[/p]

• [p]Goat T[/p]
• [p]Candy Pandy[/p]
• [p]The Beanstalk[/p]

[p]Check out all the details here.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Store Skin Rotation[/h2][p]On October 1st, we will have another rotation of Captain Alt Arts in our store! Check out what's rotating in this month:[/p][p][/p][p]And there is still time to pick up September's alt art skins before they leave:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Shared Pool Shakeup[/h2][p]In preparation for the release of Candylar, there are many changes coming to the shared pool of characters, treasures and spells. Let’s take a look at the fun new cards joining us:[/p][p][/p][h3]Character Additions[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Treasure Additions[/h3][p] [/p][p][/p][p]Check out the patch notes on our website for the full card list and their effects![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Leaving Shared Pool[/h3][p][/p][p]These cards have put in a lot of work during our Base Set and while they are departing the Shared Pool now, that does not mean they won’t return in the future. For now, fire the cannons and thank them for their service.[/p]

• [p]Baby Dragon[/p]
• [p]Gingerbread House[/p]
• [p]Forgotten Present[/p]
• [p]Billy Bones[/p]
• [p]Prince Charming[/p]
• [p]Santa Claus[/p]
• [p]Symmetree[/p]
• [p]Spoiled Prince[/p]
• [p]Punching Bag[/p]
• [p]Slash[/p]
• [p]Dash[/p]
• [p]Spoonful of Sugar[/p]
• [p]Frankenstein[/p]
• [p]G-man Champion of Eternity[/p]
• [p]Magnificent[/p]
• [p]Merlin[/p]
• [p]Sorcerer's Mop[/p]

[hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Card changes[/h2][p][/p][p]NEEDS A DESCRIPTION[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Bug Fixes and Quality of Life changes[/h2]

• [p]Questers no longer trigger when banked (e.g. Maverick and Icewing was triggering when you banked it but had Dragon Dice)[/p]
• [p]Associated cards are now shown on zoom. (like Dragon Claw, Jack, Andy, etc.)
  This feature is a work in progress and will only show base stats for things that get buffs (like Jack) or dynamically added cards (like the treasure picked by Galahad). We will continue to improve this feature in future patches.[/p]
• [p]Tighten MMR range for matchmaking (we hope this change helps make for more balanced matchmaking and is something we will continue to monitor and improve).[/p]

[h3]Starter Deck Acquisition change[/h3]

• [p]Purchased captains will now come with both their Starter deck PLUS a bonus Theme deck.[/p]
• [p]Free Captains will come with their full 12 card Starter deck[/p]

[p]This will apply retroactively for Hannibal and in the late October patch we will have it apply to all old Base Set captains.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Spoilers[/h2][p]Candylar Spoiler Season is in full force! Catch up on what has already been spoiled by your favorite Galaxy content creators here![/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Next Stop Candylar[/h2][p]Candylar is coming in a matter of weeks! Stay tuned to the website, Subreddit and Discord for up to date information as we get closer to release![/p]

[p]Sound the trumpets, bang the drums, hang the party banners and get on your finest attire, for a mid-season Balance Patch is upon us! Let’s dig right into these delectable morsels and see what all the changes this patch has to offer.[/p][hr][/hr][h2]Card Changes[/h2][p][/p][h3]Hannibal[/h3][p]Since Hannibal was introduced at the beginning of the month on the premium Galaxy Pass, he has outperformed our expectations and the results of every other captain. We are tweaking his countdown from 6 animals KO’d to 7 in an effort to bring him better into parity with our other captains. Not a major change so we expect him to still be a strong captain, but will no longer be so far ahead.[/p][hr][/hr][h3]Card Reworks[/h3][p]Loki[/p][p][/p][p]This is partly a quality of life upgrade, your spells will do more of what you expect. And a pretty big power up, so we will keep an eye on how he performs.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Mirror Mirror[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]Major Changes[/h3][p][/p][p]Parting Gift now only doubles farewells in your front row. (We expect this to still be one of the strongest Epic treasures)[/p][p][/p][p]Shrink Tea now targets the enemy with the highest attack. We considered renaming it to “Herc B-Gone!” but leaving it as Shrink Tea for now.[/p][p][/p][p]Weird Beard has been reverted back to only giving treasures based on Goldened Pirates instead of Silver. (Was in just too many of the top performing decklists)[/p][p][/p][p]Morgan Le Fae getting a bit of a power up, should be impactful with spell themes prevalent with Candylar (our first expansion coming in October)[/p][p][/p][p]Shanty getting a pretty meaningful powerup. We didn’t want her to have to combine with Wink or the Pans to make an impact.[/p][p][/p][p]Dragon Dice getting a nerf should leave it in a strong spot for increasing Treasure Hoard while not giving the late game powerful common treasures, as often. It also means Dragon Dice treasures will not eat Lesser Mimic copies which was a common downside before.[/p][hr][/hr][h3]Minor Changes[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]Jack Sparrow has been renamed to Jay Sparrow[/p]
• [p]Excalibur and KO Star now keep buff during fight (mostly a bug fix)[/p]
• [p]Happily Ever After and All for One will now wait until the next shop before Buffing (this change in timing doesn’t change how the cards functioned before but does make it clearer the buff is being applied)[/p]
• [p]Zagreus now waits until the next shop to determine the rarity of treasure given and now works with Smug[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• [p]Charon’s upgrading buff not working correctly on a non-full board has been fixed[/p]
• [p]Mid-Battle “start turn” button has been fixed[/p]
• [p]Leaderboard and navbar should no longer overlap[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]Quality of Life Change[/h2][p]Buffs like the hunt abilities of Hercules and Big Bad Wolf will now trigger before effects like Poison Apple. The result of this change should be that Herc and Big Bad Wolf end up at 1 health rather than them being set to 1 hp and then buffing up again. We are making this change in order to allow effects like Poison Apple to be better counters to large stated lads.[/p][hr][/hr][h2]Candylar: The Sweet Set - Meet the New Captain[/h2][p][/p][p]Coming to a Galaxy near you this October![/p][hr][/hr][p]Well that is a lot of changes! Come sound off in the Discord and the Subreddit to let us know what you think of these changes and also stay tuned to our Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram and your favorite Once Upon a Galaxy content creators for Candylar spoilers over the next several weeks![/p][p]‘Til next time, see you in the stars.[/p]

[p] NEW Galaxy Pass for September! Let's meet our new Captain and check out the sweet alt arts![/p][hr][/hr][h2]Premium Rewards[/h2][h3](Level 1) New Captain: Hannibal![/h3][p]The rocks shake as he treads across the mountains. Pebbles turn into a rockslide beneath the stampede of animals in his wake. Lift your trunks, for Hannibal has arrived on the Premium Galaxy Pass September 1st![/p][p][/p][p]After 6 of your Animals are KO’d give each of your slots +1/+1. Then improve this ability by +1/+1.[/p][hr][/hr][h3](Level 30) Singing in the Snow alternate art![/h3][p]
Stage lights are on, snow is falling and Mr. Lamppost’s dance number is on full blast! Time to be the star of the show with the ‘Singing in the Snow’ alternate art for Mr. Lamppost, available at level 30 of the September Premium Galaxy Pass.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3](Level 50) Pool Party Hannibal alternate art![/h3][p]Summer may be winding to a close but there is still time for one last pool party! Splash down with Pool Party Hannibal at level 50 of the September Premium Galaxy Pass![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3](Level 1) This Month’s Free Galaxy Pass Captain: Zagreus![/h3][p]Zagreus is tired of waiting! It’s his turn on the Free Galaxy Pass! On September 1st, watch as he unlocks for all players to showcase how losing a fight can be the best thing that could have happened for your run![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3](Level 40) Lightburglar alternate art![/h3][p][/p][p]Once a thief, always a thief. Zeus is bringing down the punishment in this shocking new alt art ‘Lightburglar’ for Lightning Thief. Available for free at level 40 of the September Free Galaxy Pass![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p] That's all for now! May your Animals be plentiful, may your pool parties rock and may your bottle be ever full of Pumpkin Spice Latte.[/p]

[h2]In-Game Store[/h2][p]With September rolling in, we’ve got to say goodbye to some amazing skins in the store. Leonardo di Skippi, Wicked Vengeance Hades and Princess Miyazaki will be leaving the In-Game Store on September 1st. Pick them up before they leave![/p][p][/p][p]Maximus harnesses the power of the cosmos in this amazing new ‘Lightning Tiger Hoo’ skin![/p][p][/p][p]Some fan favorite skins are making their return to the shop this month, ‘You Shall Not Pass’ and ‘Big Bad Piggie’ ![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Bug Fixes and Other Changes[/h2][p][/p]

• [p]Improved optimization to allow for complex late-game scenarios better and abort complex battles less often.[/p]
• [p]In Async mode, when the game abandons a complex fight mid-combat (like when you have a lot of hunt triggers), we now count it as a battle win for the active player. This will allow games to reach a conclusion.[/p]
• [p]When viewing the locked Galaxy Pass captain during Captain Select, you can now see and zoom in on the Captain to read their abilities.[/p]
• [p]Type Tags now show in shop while playing Chief Evil Officer (Villains), King Arthur (Heroes), Boy Who Cried Werewolf (Animal) and Hannibal (Animal).[/p]
• [p]Type tags will be hidden during battle and fix visual bugs when switching between multiple tags each action during shop phase.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Jack Sparrow Bug Fix[/h3][p][/p][p]We are also fixing an inconsistency we found with Jack Sparrow where it would sometimes be +1 additional hunt trigger and other times it would be 2x hunt triggers.[/p][p]Generally, we lean towards +1 additional trigger when we use the term “Double” and this is how Hunter’s Horn works. We have fixed these inconsistencies by making Jack always be +1 additional hunt trigger.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Candylar: The Sweet Set[/h2][p]Here is a little bonus sneak peak of the first Galaxy expansion filled with tons of new cards and fun.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Candylar: The Sweet Set drops on all platforms in October![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]That's all for now! May your Animals be plentiful, may your pool parties rock and may your bottle be ever full of Pumpkin Spice Latte.[/p][p]Come let us know what you think of the patch changes in the Discord, on Twitter, Bluesky, Reddit and Instagram or come join our weekly Dev Twitch Streams on Tuesdays at 2pm EST.[/p][p][/p][p]We would also love to hear your thoughts in a review on Steam, Android and in the Apple App Store. Leaving those reviews is a huge help to an indie company like ours and helps us make our millions of dreams come true.[/p]

[p]What an insane first half of August for Once Upon a Galaxy. Thousands of new players flooding in every week and y’alls reviews, comments, support and all the streams and content have been truly loved by our small team. With the fire fully stoked beneath us, we are scorching through the summer with some big big updates to come soon. For now, we’ve got some balance changes, new music and an elephant enters the room. Let’s dig in.[/p][hr][/hr][h2]Music[/h2][p][/p][p]With the Steam release, we have gotten a ton of feedback about the lack of music in the client. We have a lot of grand plans and ideas for Music and SFX that will take time to get fully commissioned and implemented.[/p][p][/p][p]For now, we have licensed some wonderful placeholder music from Fesliyan Studios who made the main screen music you may have heard already.[/p][hr][/hr][h2]Card Changes[/h2][p][/p][p]Overall, we are really happy with our overall balance. That said, there are always a few outliers on both ends and we are looking to bring some of those back into line.[/p][p][/p][h3]Major Changes[/h3]

• [p]Wind Up Toy now gains +2 attack when attacked (was +1)[/p]
• [p]Mortakon’s Quest now needs to see 50 total stats summoned (was 30)[/p]
• [p]Tsarmina now buffs +4/+4 when it’s supported hunts (was +3/+3) ; Also now requires only 4 hunts for her quest (was 6)[/p]
• [p]Dragonmother no longer gives +5 attack on transform[/p]
• [p]Pisces now increases fae buffs by +3/+3 (was +2/+2)[/p]
• [p]Flying Monkey is now a 2/2 (was a 3/2)[/p]
• [p]Ninja-in-Training is no longer a Toy (was a Toy Animal Hero, now Animal Hero)[/p]
• [p]Combustible Dragon now has Treasure Hoard 3 (was 2)[/p]
• [p]Buried Treasure now gives Treasure Hoard 2 (was 3)[/p]
• [p]Pirate Prince now gives 1 random common treasure (was 2)[/p]
• [p]Weird Beard and Tiamat’s Claw can no longer give Secret Rare treasures (unless your captain is Artemis[/p]

[h3]Minor Changes[/h3]

• [p]Earth Stone triggers at start of turn, not start of battle (text already reflected this but now the effect matches)[/p]
• [p]Sinbad now triggers on Midas Touch (was always the intention but it now works)[/p]
• [p]Greed and Dragon’s Crown now have helper text.[/p]
• [p]Fixed Ace of Hearts Golden text to reflect actual effect (it gives 2 bonus shops not 1)[/p]

[hr][/hr][h2]Quality of Life Changes, Bug Fixes, Various Improvements[/h2][p][/p]

• [p]Added a “down for maintenance” mode to limit impact of future outages[/p]

• [p]Opponents' boards will no longer disappear after you lose a fight (this was a bug)[/p]
• [p]Melody’s Lute no longer triggers itself (also a bug)[/p]
• [p]Zeus now shows multiplier and highlights on spells when active[/p]
• [p]Added Music and Sound volume sliders[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where you’d get a blank screen while reconnecting during Captain Select of a Live Lobby[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Please Review Us![/h2][p]The Steam launch has been an absolute resounding success for Once Upon a Galaxy so far. For those of you who have already left a review, it has made all the difference as it tells Steam that people love our game and encourages them to show us to new players.[/p][p]Those who have not gotten around to reviewing us, please do so on all platforms you consume our game on. It goes a long way to keeping our momentum going.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Come let us know what you think of the patch changes in the Discord, on Twitter, Bluesky, Reddit and Instagram or come join our weekly Dev Twitch Streams on Tuesdays at 2pm EST and be sure to leave us a review on Steam, Android and in the Apple App Store![/p]