We’re saying goodbye to TownCoin (TOWN), which can now be burned for GALA at a rate of 1.25 TOWN = 1 GALA.
The new Town Star economy is right around the corner, with a grand relaunch of Gala Games’ flagship game coming soon. Under the leadership of Farmville visionary game creator Mark Skaggs, the Town Star team has an exciting roadmap in store, along with a brand new economic model that will breathe new life into the beloved game while paving the way for new players to enjoy adventures around Town.
We’re saying goodbye forever to TownCoin (TOWN) in preparation for Town Star’s big launch. With the many brilliant changes coming to the game, we decided to remove the game-specific token in favor of a better reward model.
All holders of TOWN will have a significant time window during which they may swap their tokens with Gala Games at a fixed rate of 1.25 TOWN = 1 GALA.
The opportunity to burn has already begun, and TOWN holders will have at least 180 days to make the swap.
After the conclusion of the burn window, there will be no future utility for TOWN and it will be removed from all exchanges.
A Gala Games account will be required to swap. If you do not have an account, you can create one at Gala.com, or check out this support article for more information!
NOTE: Any TOWN in your Treasure Chest will first need to be minted before it can be swapped for GALA.
Gas Token
Now that Gala Games is able to publish games on its own blockchain (currently called Project GYRI), GALA is the “gas token” of transactions on that blockchain (like ETH on Ethereum). One of the core ways that Node operators will be rewarded in our ecosystem is with a distributed portion of the collected GALA gas fees.
Town Star Nodes
The burn-to-mint model described above will be employed across our entire Node Ecosystem, so Town Star Nodes will operate in a similar manner. When players make in-game Town Star purchases with GALA, Town Star active Node operators will receive a portion of the GALA spent on gas. This is only one of the benefits to operating a Town Star Node.
Look for more information coming up on Town Star Nodes and how they’ll function going forward.
A Bigger, Better Town Star
We understand that this is a big change, but we hope you’ll agree that it’s an exciting one. Mark Skaggs and the Town Star team are creating something extraordinary, and these folks know how to make games that bring in millions of players.
Within the next few weeks, Town Star players will have a chance to playtest tons of new game features. As 2023 moves forward, we’ll be getting ready to hit the ground running with incredible new features, like…
A new economic model
A new decoration system for cosmetic customization of your Town
New social system, such as viewing others’ towns
Upgradeable NFTs
Enhanced Competitions
and more!
Expect to hear more news and details as these exciting new developments approach!
All information in this article is subject to change at any time.
For the latest information as soon as it becomes available, join the Gala Games Discord community and watch #global_announcements
The community has chosen the first Generation 2 Tank and a slew of fixes, updates and new features have arrived!
Over the past few weeks, a dedicated band of community testers has been working alongside our internal team testing a massive update to Spider Tanks. A huge thanks to all those who helped! In no small part to all your efforts, version 1.1.1 is now live in the arena!
There’s a lot of content updated, added or tweaked in this patch, and you’ll be able to read the full patch notes in the changelog section on Discord. Today, we’d like to walk through the biggest changes you can expect to see from this new version so that you’re ready for the new challenges the arena has to offer!
New to the Arena
There are several new features added that will improve quality of life and general player experience, but also some that have the potential to have a major impact on strategy for Pilots everywhere.
The arena just got a little more real. Explosions will actually leave marks on the battlefield, and there are interactable objects throughout each Map… just waiting to be destroyed. To add a little personality to your machine of mayhem, each Tank will now have custom idle, defeat and victory animations that show up in the garage and match up screens before and after the battle.
Players will now have the opportunity to select their abilities in the match up screen before the battle begins. While this means that every player can adjust to specific game modes and opponents, Pilot Program players are also now able to adjust once they see what Tank they’re using. We’re excited to see how this transforms the strategy employed throughout Spider Tanks.
The new VP breakdown is just one of the many quality of life improvements in version 1.1.1.
Players now see extra details about their VP gain after matches. This should help everyone understand what factors helped arrive at their total VP.
Supercharge
Supercharge has been added to the game. With this new feature, players can massively boost the VP potential of a single NFT Tank Part for a limited number of matches.
Each Part can only Supercharge once per day and Supercharge will only last 5 matches… win or lose! Be sure you make the most of your boosts!
Improvements and Pest Control
A large number of improvements and bug fixes have been made with this patch as well. The full list will be available in the patch notes, but some of the biggest highlights of general improvements to gameplay include:
Visual improvements throughout the game; including prop animations, HUD effects and interactive vegetation in Maps
Added chat and social functionality to the exhibition lobby
Players with poor connections should stutter much less from the perspective of other players
Forsaken City’s teleporters now lead to the opposite outlet
Game install size and RAM usage has been significantly reduced
Props will now also be part of the rubble ragdoll flung around after your Tank is destroyed
The icon for the game will now indicate in your tray when a match is found.
Chicken spawns in Chicken Chaser no longer occur randomly
Along with many others, the following bugs have also been fixed:
Repair Artillery can no longer repair themselves
Friendly turrets can now be healed again
Relay Drone can no longer get you to impossible places
Fixed the dreaded “GAME DOES NOT EXIST/Recently left an active match” loop
Balance Adjustments
Some serious adjustments to the balance of Tanks and overall gameplay have been made. Many of these suggestions have been long awaited by players, and will increase the viability of playing with a wide range of builds. Again, this is not all the balance changes included with the patch notes, but some highlights of major alterations.
Brambler
Slows the player on use (50% slow, diminishing to 0% in 1 second)
Effect zone damage per tick decreased from 125 to 100
Rocket Artillery
Slows the player on use (50% slow, diminishing to 0% in 1 second)
Beat Blaster
Knockback on hit chance increased from 8% to 11%
Stinger
Projectile Speed increased from 18 to 20
Crossbow
Charge damage falloff minimum damage reduced from .5 to .25
Reactive Plating
No longer detonates on death
Now shows a timer that indicates when detonation will occur
Damage absorption reduced from 35% to 30%
Air Strike
Energy Cost increased from 7 to 8
Range decreased from 25 to 20
Shield Projector
Now also blocks projectiles that normally penetrate Tanks
Energy cost decreased from 6 to 5
Repair Drone
Repairing now scales with the armor upgrade level of your Tank’s Body
Repair Zone
Radius decreased from 5 to 4.5
Repair tick rate decreased from 2.5/second to 2/second
In addition to all these adjustments to Tank Parts and Abilities, the respawn timer for all modes has been increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. We have also already introduced a balance measure to lessen the disparity between maximum level and minimum level Tanks to promote better matchmaking throughout the game.
The Beginning of the Next Generation
Recently the community was given the chance to vote on the first Tank that would be available in Generation 2. The results are in, and The Shaman dominated the vote. This build features the Crab Body, Railgun Weapon, Captain’s Hat and Craggy Skin.
The Shaman may not fire often, but it definitely hurts a lot when he does.
The Crab is a Medium Body, with a lot more emphasis on Armor than others. Perfect for scuttling around the arena and causing some carnage.
The Railgun launches single shots of pure elemental destruction with amazing force. Capable of being charged up to massive levels of power, few Weapons can compare to its massive damage potential.
Ahoy Mateys! The Captain’s Hat is a pretty versatile Prop for whatever the sea throws at you!
Keep an eye out for more information coming soon about when these inaugural Generation 2 Tank Parts will be available.
The Arena Awaits
This update is now live, and we just can’t wait to see how battles change and evolve inside the Spider Tanks arena.
If you have questions or feedback about this upcoming patch, let us know on Discord or in the comments below. We’ll see you in the arena!
With the most luxurious NFTs you’ve ever seen, Corrupted Luxury Packs are dropping soon!
Sometimes life is tough, but you can always treat yourself to a day of relaxation and luxury.
Sometimes Town Star is tough, but you can always pamper your gameplay with a Legendary Luxury Pack… Wait until you see what’s inside.
What’s Inside the Corrupted Luxury Pack?
This Legendary Pack contains a single playable NFT from the following collection of new items:
Ancient Corrupted Stands — Don’t worry, their corrupted powers are bound to work out well for you. These passive resource stands have a massive radius of 6 tiles each.
The chance of pulling an Ancient Corrupted Stand from your Luxury Pack is 15.8%.
These are game-changers. Imagine the possibilities.
Corrupted Cocoa Stand
Corrupted Cabernet Grapes Stand
Corrupted Chardonnay Grapes Stand
Corrupted Pinot Noir Grapes Stand
Corrupted Peppermint Stand
Corrupted Pumpkin Stand
Corrupted Limestone Stand
Corrupted Chromium Stand
Corrupted Silica Stand
Legendary Luxury Storage — These larger-than-life storage buildings will each store up to 150 of their respective resources, and they cast NO shade. The chance of pulling one of them from your Luxury Pack is 84.2%.
Luxury Energy Storage
Luxury Cake Storage
Luxury Wood Storage
Luxury Uniform Storage
Luxury Mineral Storage
Luxury Milk Storage
Luxury Sugar Storage
Luxury Oak Wood Storage
Bonus
Everyone who purchases a Corrupted Luxury Pack in March (UTC time)will also receive a Rare Pottery Shop NFT.
The Rare NFT Potery Shop is immune to Dirty, which normally has a massively negative effect on the Pottery Shop. Rare Pottery Shops are NOT limited to one per account. One will be awarded for every Legendary Luxury Pack purchased during March.
Pottery Shop NFTs from this bonus will be distributed some time in April.
For Founder’s Nodes
Active Founder’s Node operators will receive 4% of the total minted supply of each NFT. Therefore, 2 of each Ancient Corrupted Stand and 12 of each Legendary Luxury Storage will be distributed randomly to active Founder’s Node operators.
Sale Details
Begins on Monday, March 13th at 11am PT
While supplies last
Price: $350 — payable in GALA or TOWN
Enjoy the luxury building privileges, and keep your skills honed… A bright new day is dawning for Town Star and there are endless exciting things on the horizon.
Thank you for being part of our incredible community!
There’s a storm rolling in today as we dive into the strategy behind the force of nature that is the Hurricane Body.
Welcome back to the Spider Tanks Showcase! Today we’re featuring a Body that’s bursting with Energy and can adapt to most any challenge in the arena. Hovering over the battlefield, this well rounded Tank can employ a wide range of Weapons and strategies.
Today is all about Hurricane. This medium Body has fairly balanced Armor and Speed, but its Energy is through the roof for a Tank of its size. Able to compete effectively in nearly every situation, middle of the road on Armor and Speed certainly isn’t a drawback with this Body.
Hurricane’s Energy isn't quite as high as some of the heavier Bodies like Nomad or the massive Titan, but it’s more than you’ll find on any of the quicker Tanks in the arena. It’s average Speed and Armor let you stay agile while also not too breakable. Its quick Energy regeneration really makes it stand out from the other medium Bodies in the arena, and you’ll be able to crank out Abilities nearly as often as the heavies!
Gale Force: Hurricane/Shotgun
For this first build recommendation, we’ll be rushing headlong into the storm. Slap a Shotgun on that Hurricane and make it rain on the opposition. Your well-rounded mobility and durability combine with a high Ability output to pose as much a danger at mid-range as you do up close.
One of the biggest strengths of the Shotgun is how it can exploit the occasions where you’re closing the gap between you and your enemy. Shotgun blasts cover a lot of area, but start from a central point and spread out. This means too far away and not all of your shot will hit. Too close and it’s all or nothing.
The exception is for moving targets. If someone is moving towards you, they will be moving into your more concentrated blast range as it approaches them, thus getting hit with more shots. Your shot pattern is like a funnel, and if they’re moving down the funnel they’re going to get seriously hurt.
In the chaos of tight battles with lots of movement, it’s easy for a Shotgun to put out a lot more damage than it would at consistent distances.
With a Hurricane the balanced stats allow you to either run from opposing Tanks or take a few shots to stay in the fray. Use that agility to fire at opponents coming towards you for maximum damage. When someone’s chasing you, you’ll have the Energy you need to pop a Repair Drone or Speed Booster so you can keep laying down fire.
Hailstorm: Hurricane/Brambler
This next build uses the Brambler Weapon from the JACKED O’ Lantern Hero Tank to annoy and harass opponents while staying mobile and tough enough to take a few blows to the face.
The Brambler fires an artillery projectile, which does damage and releases a patch of thorns that slow enemies and apply a DoT while in the radius. The persistent zone of damage can make it difficult for teams to focus on objectives, not to mention the slow effect makes it difficult for them to escape from. While Brambler does a pretty significant amount of damage with its main shot, often it will more or less annoy large groups of enemy Tanks to death, and few Bodies facilitate that better than Hurricane.
Since your Brambler’s thorns continue to do damage even while you’re not shooting, you can really take advantage of Hurricane’s mobility. While it’s slower than the Pumpkin standard for the Brambler, it also doesn’t feel like it’s made of glass… or easily smashable fruit material.
This Hurricane is able to keep a constant zone of deadly obnoxiousness on the enemy payload. Even with the WhaleShark delivering a missile straight to its face, it keeps on tending its deadly little garden.
Hurricane also has much higher Energy than a Pumpkin, meaning you can take more advantage of support and repair Abilities. Need to crank up the Speed to run circles around Tanks as they crawl through your briar patch? Unlike a little zippy Tank, Hurricane can support nearly full time usage of cheaper Abilities like Speed Boost for maximum flexibility.
The Microburst: Hurricane/Railgun
For this last build with the Hurricane, we’re going to get a little ahead of ourselves. In the recent community vote on the first Generation 2 Tank to be offered, The Shaman won by a wide margin. This will be a little different from The Shaman build as presented, as we’re subbing the medium-sized, extra tough Crab Body out for its high-energy cousin Hurricane.
The Railgun deals devastating single blasts that can be charged up to excessive power levels for even more damage. While charging, however, the Weapon slows you down to a crawl. This is where Hurricane can be really helpful– not only beating out Crab for the Speed you can get out the gate after a shot, but also letting you use more Abilities more often.
The Railgun may require precision, but it’s super deadly when used right.
Since you’re nearly frozen in place while shooting, Abilities like Repair Drone or Repair Zone can be very useful. Even usually very niche Abilities like Shield Projector and Smoke Canister can give you a few extra seconds to line up that perfect one shot kill. Cloak Drone is also especially useful, since it makes it very hard for enemies to see you when you’re not moving.
BOOOOOM
Hurricane’s Energy lets you play with a Railgun in lots of different ways instead of always being relegated to sniping from the rear. While the traditional Crab-powered Shaman may have a toughness advantage, sheer adaptability goes to the Hurricane.
Hurricane Away
We hope our examples here have given you some new ideas about how to have some fun in the driver’s seat of a Hurricane. This Body’s main appeal is its adaptability, so there are far more ways to play with a Hurricane than we could possibly list here. What’s your favorite Hurricane build?
That’s all for us today, but we’d bet a bolt or two that we’ll see you in the next generation for more of the Spider Tanks Showcase.
For now, get out there and find your own perfect Tank builds. Refine your strategy, dominate the arena… and then give us all some pointers! Shout your favorite combos to play on Discord or shoot us a tweet @spider_tanks!
Rom just knew he was meant to be one of the greats of the game… unfortunately, his luck never quite agreed.
Rom was hungry. His father made him morelkin hash that morning, but he passed it up. “I’ll win my lunch today,” Rom had said in a deeper-than-usual voice that raised his father’s eyebrows. Rom had let the old man think he was too confident to eat, but in reality he was just too excited because Gontro the Great was battling today.
Now, the grumbling emptiness deep in Rom’s middle reminded him of what he hoped his father would never discover: He had not won his lunch today.
He’d have to brag to his father again about the winnings he could’ve had. Seri didn’t approve of the boy playing Chance, despite the fact that his mother– Rom’s own nan– was once the Grand Champion of the SCL.
Seri didn’t need magic or fantastic creatures. He was happy with his simple living crafting imp’s hooves and wanted his son to feel the same fulfillment from a boring, ordinary life.
Long ago, Rom’s nan Harriet used her connections at the Coliseum to set up Seri as the local contract hoofer to keep up with the constant demand of souvenirs from battles. He had labored for decades to create a nice, stable regional trade. His hooves were ‘the finest feet in Tolkheim,’ as he was fond of saying… although none would be surprised to learn that he himself originated the claim.
Not everybody wanted to build a life as a lowly hoofchuck though…
Rom was roused from his daydreaming by a good sized splash of ale dumping into his lap. A bulbous, clumsy man plopped down next to him, gripping a turkey leg in one hand and the offending flagon in the other. “Hey bud, ready for the match?”
Trying to ignore the bits of meat flickering from the corners of the fellow’s chewing mouth like tiny flags, Rom politely replied. “I can’t wait to see Gontro the Great. I’m his biggest fan.”
The man was obviously a tourist from one of the outer provinces. He was excessively sweaty for a cool day, and had the smell of a porc farm on him. He wore a tunic embroidered with GO GONTRO. From his belt hung a familiar commemorative imp’s hoof. As he watched the sweat beading up in each crease of the ale-spiller’s face, Rom’s mind began to wander…
The Coliseum in Shallowharbor certainly wasn’t the biggest in Tolkheim, but you could travel for days in any direction and not find bigger battles. The seats in the great amphitheater could accommodate 10 fold the entire population of Shallowharbor– coincidentally the largest (and only) city Rom had ever seen.
As Rom walked by the harbor each day, he tried to decide whether or not you could fit all the biggest capital ships and trading vessels docked nearby into the floor of the Coliseum– were it to flood of course. He never could decide one way or the other, but it was close.
The Shallowharbor Coliseum was a marvel to behold, and it drew a fair share of tourists from all over. With the reigning champion being entitled to a spot on the pro tour, title matches were a big deal all over southern Tolkheim.
There were two constants in Shallowharbor… the sight of the Coliseum and the smell of fish.
Today’s match had been a long time coming. Gontro had apparently rescheduled several times over the past year. There were all sorts of rumors about why, but Rom was sure the orc had good reasons.
Rom’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a large greasy finger in his face, accompanied by some more spilled ale. “Hey! I saw you earlier at the rotisserie… and the deli. Playing Chance to win your lunch, eh boy? Sorry you didn’t have any luck. Keep practicing, you’ll get there.”
“For your information I’m descended from a line of great battlers,” Rom said proudly as if reciting a sacred oath. Then after a pause, “Besides, I didn’t use any of my best Creatures in those matches… wouldn’t have been fair.”
“Sure kid, I gotcha,” the man said with a sad smile just before ripping another hunk of meat from the bone. “It’s ok bud. Just keep at it.”
Rom’s blood boiled at the remark. Such grubdump from his father was one thing, but this stranger? This tourist has the audacity to tell him to keep at it? Just as Rom was about to indignantly respond, the glow pods throughout the Coliseum suddenly dimmed and torches sprung to life. A thunderhead began to form over the battlefield without wind or rain.
Like many Venues throughout Tolkheim, the Shallowharbor Coliseum was a regional hub of both sport and culture.
Chomp “Ooo! It’s starting!” Another splash of ale.
The thundercloud now obscured the entire sky over the arena floor. Lightning streaked from it to each glow pod around the exterior, causing them to flash with a pulsing blue flourish. A loud voice echoed through the Coliseum.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Shallowharbor Coliseum, where we bring you the greatest battles with the highest stakes!”
Two figures walked out onto the arena floor from opposite sides. From the distance, they looked the size of ants to Rom, but he could easily pick out Gontro by the orc’s green skin and trademark studded leather.
“That one’s Gontro right there. You can tell because he’s an orc,” Turkey leg said, now having totally forgotten about the delicious looking piece of meat in his hands. “They say Cain has been training for years to challenge Gontro’s right to the regional seat in the SCL.”
“He won’t beat Gontro,” muttered Rom. “He’s the best there ever was.”
“In the challenger’s corner — wagering his manor at Barrowhaven versus the championship belt, we have the homegrown, local jewel of our city. The Commander of the Cards, the Summoner Supreme, The Shallowharbor Shakedown himself… Cain MacGrigit!”
Cain walked to the center of the dusty ring, throwing off his robe dramatically to reveal a tunic emitting a beautiful green glow. It created a cone of emerald light within the center of the arena, nearly piercing through the dark thundercloud covering the sky. The crowd clapped politely.
“And defending the title of Shallowharbor Champion and seat in the Southern Chance League– it’s Tane’s Bane, the Mean Green Spellslinging Machine, the Hooligan of Horogorgia, the Deckmaster in the Flesh… GONTRO… THE… GRRRRRRR-EAT!”
Gontro outstretched his hands at the center of the arena, throwing a pair of tokens high into the air. They exploded into bursts of purple light, swirling all around the Coliseum. Suddenly the sound of drums and horns playing a fast jig were all around, coming from every corner of the giant building.
The crowd went wild, dancing and cheering. Rom raised his hands and screamed Gontro’s name. As he rose from his seat though, his belly chose to remind him how hungry he was with another vicious rumble.
“You want to know about how to play Chance? This is the guy you watch, buddy.” The man next to him again spoke from a full mouth. Rom could feel the light shower of pungent ale on his face.
“I know how to play,” Rom said through tight lips without looking away from Gontro. Cain was stretching and practicing quick drawing cards from his hand at the encouragement of his nearby trainer. The champion was sitting sloppily against a wall across the arena drinking from a flask. He had fired up his briar and was blowing smoke rings as he laughed and joked with several young women in the stands.
Wherever Rom went throughout town, the Coliseum was always there. He thought of little else other than great victories and the life of a champion.
The crowd was calming back down and most had taken their seats. There would still be a few minutes until the battle began. Rom could see people hurrying up the aisles for last minute ale… and food. So hungry.
“Everybody here is about to get a serious lesson bud.” The man gestured in a sweeping motion towards entire crowd. “Watch Gontro closely, you can pick up some great tips from him.”
As he spewed turkey bits during this last statement, he gestured towards Rom. The ale must have been quite strong, because he misjudged the boy’s positioning a bit. Rom got a firm smack in the face from the greasy leg. Thwoomp
Rom had been annoyed at this bufoon, but now he was mortified and furious. Who was this stupid tourist who was so rude and thought he knew more about Chance than Rom, the heir of Harriet Destudo?!
He had enough. The anger welled up inside him and started to turn to tears as he shrunk smaller in his seat. Luckily his stomach growled again, keeping the tears at bay and reminding Rom again of his hunger.
“Hey bud, I’m sorry. Got a little excited I guess.”
Just then Rom grabbed the turkey leg out of the man’s outstretched hand. “You don’t know anything!” he shouted, before bounding into the aisles and up the ramp.
“Hey, someone stop him! That kid stole my leg!” he heard the man scream behind him, but he was already out into the breezeway. He’d have to find somewhere else to watch the match, but his stomach had its prize.
From back in the arena, he could hear the booming voice of the announcer.
“LET’S GET READY TO SHUUUUFLE!!!”
He ran through the wide, stone corridor with tears in his eyes but a much happier stomach. If he hurried, he could make it to the tavern by the gift shoppe and watch it on one of the looking glasses there.
