Welcome back, Tankers! We had an exciting evening of esports tournament action last night as 6 teams battled it out for Spider Tanks glory! Here are the winners, followed by the updated bracket and schedule for tonight’s matchups, which begin at 5pm PST!
Last Night’s Winners
Starting off round one, we ran into some technical difficulties and found we couldn’t have more than 50 in a voice channel in Discord. After some troubleshooting we were able to share a Twitch stream so everyone could enjoy the action!
ShootyBooms Revenants and Second String Spiders started off the tournament with a bang! The two well-matched teams ended up battling it out 4 times before a winner was crowned! Second String Spiders may have to change their name! Congrats to Ultra_Bored, Xeta, and Oldmansmithers who will move along to battle it out in the Quarter finals!
Round Two showcased Pandas Gone Wild and The Lone Tankers, with the latter mopping the floor with those Pandas in a one-two-three match knockout! Congrats to The Lone Tankers; UnreadyEddie, GamerZone 365 and Ink Knight who will be ready for their next fight in the Quarter finals!
And finally, Round Three, found some intense and impressive team-play by Immediate George who battled against Aracnokillers. Immediate George favored some very strong tanks for each match and it did not disappoint! It was a quick victory for them! Congrats tehkenn, TheHouseThatRippleBuilt and CrazyBubba! Can’t wait to see that WhaleShark Tank in the Quarter Finals!
Tonight’s Matchups
Immediate George, the Lone Tankers and Second Strong Spiders have all secured their spots in the quarterfinal round, to be played out tomorrow and Thursday!
Tonight, the action begins at 5pm PST with Lucky Charms vs. Galagna’s Goons. Then at 6, we’ve got Spartans vs. Orcasaurus Jinn. Finally, the evening battles will come to a close with Synyster Crisp Oaks GGG vs. Tank Me Later.
Don’t forget, the two finalists of this week’s tournament will receive tickets to -into the galaverse, where they will have an exclusive opportunity to battle on the Galaverse Spider Tanks World Stage for some serious prizes!
This new strategic partnership will usher in a new phase of rapid growth for the adoption of our L1, GalaChain.
Since we hit the ground running with GalaChain across our Games, Music and Film platforms, Gala has been making tremendous strides. Here’s one for the history books that promises Gala greatness with the potential to onboard and empower billions of users.
Strategic Partnership with DWF Labs
On the evening of 11/8/23 (PT), it was announced by DWF Labs in this blog that a new strategic partnership with Gala has begun.
DWF Labs is a well-known and worldwide digital asset market maker, as well as a multistage web3 investment firm. They are one of the world’s largest high-frequency cryptocurrency trading entities, trading spot and derivatives markets on over 60 top exchanges.
This new strategic partnership means that Gala is ready to undertake massive and rapid expansion of our L1 blockchain, GalaChain. DWF Labs is strategically positioned to help us reach new visionaries, developers and investors, and we are incredibly eager to bring the first fruits of this partnership to our user base.
Wider Vision for GalaChain
You’ve known GalaChain as a “games-first” blockchain, built from the ground up by gaming and blockchain experts with a single unified vision: empowering its users like nothing before. What better way is there to illustrate the benefits of web3 tech than applying them like a tailored glove to a multi-billion dollar industry such as gaming?
As our early adopters already know, gaming lends itself incredibly well to cutting edge web3 applications. This is evident in our players’ ability to truly own the items they play with, the decentralized user-run Node networks behind the scenes, the intricacies of our play-for-rewards economies and much more. Gala Games has already replicated these ideas to branch out into Gala Music and Gala Film, creating a trifecta of web3 entertainment whose full benefits are too numerous to list in a blog.
GalaChain is built, tried and tested by an unstoppable team of experts and a rapidly growing user base of players, listeners and viewers. With plenty of games already fully live and many more on the way, we have learned what works and set the stage for the next big mission: onboarding a billion users to GalaChain.
This may happen sooner than you think. In fact, this is precisely why we took such meticulous care in building GalaChain. When looked at from a wider perspective than simply powering games, it has the features and capabilities needed for a complete paradigm shift–We’re talking about the elusive “mass adoption” that has been thrown around so casually on crypto Twitter for several years now.
GalaChain is capable, scalable, and ready for the web3 developers of tomorrow, whose ideas today will completely reshape this landscape. We’re proud to have created the framework making it possible for these ideas to become a reality.
When we talk about 1 billion people using GalaChain, we aren’t just referring to games. We aren’t even limiting it to entertainment. Across multiple industries and in untold ways, GalaChain will provide developers with the tools they need to empower their users in the same ways we have empowered gamers.
When you start thinking about the possibilities for industries like travel, manufacturing, health care and social media (to only name a few), 1 billion users could be a mere stepping stone.
Welcome, DWF Labs!
We’re ready for some serious growth, and DWF Labs will be instrumental in the process. Their expertise in worldwide market making and cryptocurrency trade will position our L1 as a preeminent blockchain in the future of decentralized technology.
If you are a builder in the web3 space, GalaChain is the solution you have been waiting for.
If you’re a visionary in the web2 space and have not yet made the transition, these are still the early days of web3, so don’t worry. Risk is low and scalability is high–There is no better place for your company to make its web3 home than GalaChain.
If you’re an innovator with an incredible and brand new idea, join the conversation. Let’s connect and find out how GalaChain can make your dream a reality.
Today we’re diving into the strengths and potential strategies for two new Champions in the arena — Beatrice and Luddy!
We hope Season 6 is off to a great start for everyone. Have you managed to summon the new Champions yet? With boosted summon rates and boosted VP to welcome them to the arena, the time is now!
If you haven’t managed to find them yet, never fear! Today we’re going to dive a little deeper into the Legendary Champions Beatrice and Luddy’s skills so you’ll have some insight on how to both use these new Champions… and defeat them when they show up across the arena from you.
Beatrice, Knights of the Sky
As is expected of all Knights of the Sky, Beatrice is always vigilant!
Beatrice functions as a defender on teams, but is a little different from other tank types we’ve seen in the arena before. Her Normal Attack has the ability to reduce the opponent’s turn gauge, but this is just the start of her ability to control the battlefield.
Beatrice can taunt opponents with fairly reliable efficiency from her 2* attack, allowing you to get the attention on her much earlier than other defenders that need a 3* to start laying down taunts. Furthermore, her Angel Dive ability also boosts her block rate, meaning once you’ve got enemies taunted to you, she has what she needs to defend against them.
Her 3* ability pumps up the tank style even further, giving her three stacks of attract and granting Defense Up to all party members on card match. Combined with her 2* Taunt, this skill could mean that all eyes have to be on Beatrice for an entire turn if timed right.
The Passive Skill, Angel Counter, is what ties it all together. When she blocks an attack, she’ll activate Counter Stance, which will counterattack any enemy who assaults her and apply an Attack Down Debuff to them. She’ll also counterattack a random enemy every 4th time her allies are attacked!
Make no mistake, this is an angel of vengeance!
Luddy, Mechanic Hammer
Luddy knows that the right tool for the right job is important. Sometimes, the right tool is just a really, really BIG one.
Luddy is a mechanic, but that doesn’t mean she can’t do some serious damage. Destruction is part of construction, afterall.
Luddy’s attacks focus on dealing big damage based on her Attack stat, but each of her card match bonuses offer some shenanigans that can crank up her damage so high that it makes her ridiculously sized hammer look small.
Card match on her Normal Attack will grant extra Turn Gauge… essential to get her combos rolling fast in a match!
Orbital Swing is where it really starts to get interesting, as a card match there will activate her trademark Heavy Hammer buff. While this status is applied, Luddy will not crit ever. She will, however, gain 50% more attack. This means you don’t need to stack Crit for unreliable damage on Luddy — she can just build up pure Attack to massively scale this reliable % Attack boost.
Galaxy Hammer is a 3* AoE attack to all enemies that does respectable damage even without a card match. This ability’s card match only works when Luddy has Heavy Hammer. If it is applied while she carries this buff, she’ll further increase her damage by 30% and ignore 35% of target defense!
Her Passive Ability, Force Field Breaker, is another opportunity to boost Luddy’s damage. At the start of any turn where she has no debuffs on her, she’ll receive an automatic, one-action Attack Up Boost. This can stack with the Heavy Hammer buff to absolutely wreck the enemy.
Enter the Arena
Season 6 is well underway now. Hopefully this season will mean tons of glorious combat, serious loot and more powerful Champions for your arena team!
Don’t forget that Battlepass 3 was recently introduced! You can always claim rewards you’ve already qualified for on the Battlepass if you purchase it late, so it’s never too late to grab one.
Don’t forget about Valsharha, the new Champion in Battlepass 3!
Hopefully you encounter Luddy and Beatrice soon while summoning! Until then, now you at least know what to watch out for when you face these fierce Champions in the arena.
So that was May … lots of news and updates to share with you all, I’m pretty certain that you’d like me to save ‘the fluff’, so let’s just get into it …
Format (proposed for quarterly update, but have decided that it can work for a monthly one as well!):
Back — what happened in May Beats — what’s coming in June Beyond — what we’re tackling further out
BACK
Mayhem? A little … May brought with it our ‘activation’ at VeeCon, important for many reasons, with a key one being the ability to see/test our power of ‘attraction’.
The team and I have made no secret that the platform you have today (our/your MVP) has been built with our ‘OG’ owners and operators in mind — and to ensure we are able to successfully calibrate the ecosystem’s economy and technology ahead of scale.
However our ‘OGs’, while critical to the foundation of what we’re building, are not the ultimate force behind the platform’s needed growth — they cannot generate the engagement and interaction at the level that Gala Music is building for, not alone.
Currently there are 3 groups of initial ‘target users’ that we believe will be key, as we begin the process of scaling-up:
The wider Gala community
Connected Web3 communities
Fan/Artist communities
While we will continue to ‘lean-in’ to our vast Gala user base (earning-enabled music tracks in games will help here), VeeCon was a critical activation for us to see how the proposition was likely to land among our proposed ‘second wave’ of users — ‘connected web3 communities’.
The good news is that Gala Music landed incredibly well.
The small number of us on the ground were able to witness first hand a truly passionate reaction to what we’re taking on, and our approach to it. I have included some stats below but in addition to the ‘scores on the doors’, more than 18 emerging artists were able to record their tracks professionally in our mobile studio, and 3 as many of you will know, got to perform on the VeeCon main stage, opening for Jordin Sparks (now also signed to Gala Music).
I would like to take a moment to reflect on that part- thanks to your support, and this technology — we were able to take talented singer/songwriters from a microphone stand and a tiny audience, to a stadium stage and a VeeCon crowd — with all their music rights, creative control and authenticity intact … If you have yet to vote for Raging Casuals, Emily Faye or Just Shockey to record a version of their track with Jordin, please do — you have the power.
Along with VeeCon, the Gala Music team also rolled out ‘Listen and Earn’, introducing new users to the concept of earning rewards through participation. I am excited for us to build on this, but am encouraged to see the levels of engagement and keen to use the data we’re jumping into to continue to improve the impact of incentives, and increase the appeal/value associated with our ecosystem as a whole.
Speaking of our ecosystem … here are some key stats for you:
280% growth in new account creation in May
Over 100k visits since March 28 deployment
More than 70,000 music tracks have now been bridged over to Gala’s L1
Over 13k users, from 129 countries, are now holding BEAMS
We saw our first artist ‘level-up’ from Bronze to Silver
We introduced 4 new artists and welcomed the return of 19 emerging artists
This month 5 artists received more unique monthly listens on Gala Music than Spotify (meaning we’re starting to be a place for discovery as well as rewards)
17 tracks also had higher daily unique plays on Gala Music than on Spotify …
BEATS
Let’s start with BEAM rewards …
June will see us roll-out an updated algorithm. With two large label deals expected to close in June, we are keen, especially with bigger artists coming onboard, to ensure that we are reflecting track/artist performance beyond that in our small (… albeit growing) ecosystem.
Our update will seek to create an improved balance between rewarding emerging artist discovery and delivering a better experience for those holding higher tier tracks from more established artists.
The updated ‘popularity metric’ will take both Gala Music, as well as other major DSP data (Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube) to ensure we’re being as fair and representative as possible. We will roll this out across all tiers, starting with Silver, then Gold, Platinum and Bronze.
To note, Gala Music plays will have the greatest weighting when it comes to popularity, meaning that while breakout Bronze tracks can still be exactly that, Gold tracks (for example) getting more plays ‘off platform’ will be better recognised within the ecosystem.
Recognition — StashBox Holders
While those that chose to purchase a StashBox received tracks, collectibles, game items and access opportunities, I have been open in acknowledging that there was more that could (and should) be provided in terms of value for those that exchanged.
3931 people exchanged in total, and 41 individuals also qualified for a Gold Chain.
Today, the last day in May, I can share that:
Qualifying StashBox Holders (not those who purchased open boxes on secondary market) will receive an earning enabled NFT for the upcoming film production ‘Snoop’s House’. Snoop’s House is a reality show being filmed this summer, it follows the challenges of upcoming musicians who want to show Snoop exactly what they’re capable of. Living together under one roof and undertaking various challenges set by the man himself — those who make it through to meet Snoop in LA will also be able to release music as a Death Row x Gala Music artist. The production will be streamed on Gala Film in September— and the earning-enabled NFTs will be sent exclusively to qualifying StashBox holders. We will be sending out the token you will need for this exchange shortly. The number of StashBoxes you exchanged will be reflected in the level of your NFT/number of frames received.
The Making of the Chronic. Snoop mentioned exclusive content from this would be given to holders previously, to confirm, each StashBox Holder will receive an exclusive collectible that is connected to the short film, these will not be made available via public sale. We will confirm shortly whether these will also include earning-enabled Film NFTs also (these will also be sent to holders at no cost)
Gold Chain Holders, this small and select group will also be offered the opportunity of a meet and greet with Snoop (UK and US) and will receive additional earning capabilities (this is in reference to Film NFTs) and an additional exclusive personalised collectible.
StashBox holders will also have early access to music associated with Snoop, including tracks related to film projects, on an ongoing basis.
ALL ACCESS
The store is still not ready to release … the delay is associated, in part with the fulfilment flow, our current estimation for deployment is 3 weeks.
I appreciate that for those receiving BEAMS, with no update on our exchange listing, that this will be frustrating, but like our approach to the exchange listing, we have decided to do it the best way we can, rather than as fast as we can. While I respect that ‘done’ is often better than ‘perfect’, I can only say that the team and I will continue to assess, work and strive to keep that dynamic in check — the health of our ecosystem is dependent on it.
As the All Access store is such an important part of Gala Music’s proposition there will be a dedicated write up around it, although I would like to make clear that what the store offers is not ‘perk’ based. By that, I mean that the items you will find in store are exclusive, usually inaccessible and/or directly related to Gala Music, our artists and/or brand partners and relationships.
BEYOND
Looking back to move forward, I wanted to mention David Bowie. The (attempted) giveaway in late April, created incredible press and reach for us. It only highlighted further that big names and big fan bases will be critical to our scale, as will be the experience those fans can have with us — without perhaps needing to jump into hosting and ownership.
Two words come to my mind: gamification and ‘stickiness’.
Connected to ‘stickiness’, I would like to flag the focus we have on improved fan experience and by extension the development of our app. The app is underway and while we will be updating you guys likely in my next post, if not before, just to let you know, we are aiming to have it live to support the festivals that we’re a part of later this summer.
Festivals? Yes.
More details will be released soon on a two year partnership that will not only see us associate with big brands but also provide our artists with a bigger stage to perform from … exciting (and hopefully fun) times ahead.
Finally, I know there are always a huge amount of questions that you guys feel are left unanswered, sometimes we just can’t answer but other times we do miss or neglect to come back to them, despite good intentions. We are as a squad looking at how to improve the communication flow and to gather and prioritise FAQs through customer support. Please bear with us, I am very aware of requests around the value of historic track plays, future node uptime rewards and the distribution %s, these are all being discussed internally (there is a great number of moving/connected parts and implications come with every decision), so I will provide an answer as soon as we are able.
I think that’s likely it for now, although before I sign off, I would just like to say a big thank you as always for your tenacity and your trust, it’s appreciated,
Well another month has flown by, but it has not passed without meaningful progress, and it doesn’t end without a clear view on what comes next.
Let’s dive in …
Back — what happened in June
Beats — what’s coming in July
Beyond — what’s on the horizon
BACK
June saw the release of our first ‘slice’ of the ‘All Access’ store — a place where exclusive items, passes and experiences are made available to those who have earned BEAMS and/or held BEAMS against a Gala Music Artist(s) to earn POINTS.
How ‘holding’ BEAMS works:
1. Hold your BEAMS against your favorite artists
You are able to get some exclusive benefits by holding beams against an artist to get instant things such as pre-release (allow list) access and discounts on an artist’s tracks.
2. Spend less, when holding more
When holding BEAMS against an artist, your purchasing power in the ‘All Access’ store increases. Your purchasing power is shown by your POINTS balance.
The more POINTS you have, the more you can purchase with your held BEAMS. Your POINTS balance continues to grow over time. The lower the tier of the artist you’ve held against, the quicker your POINTS balance will grow.
3. Make exclusive purchases
In the ‘All Access’ store you can use the BEAMS you’ve earned and/or the POINTS associated with them to receive a discount on the number of BEAMS you need to spend to redeem the items you like. You can also just spend BEAMS.
4. Release the BEAMS you hold anytime
You can manage how many BEAMS you’re holding against your chosen artists in ‘My Access Pools’. You can get your BEAMS back at any time by releasing the amount of BEAMS you’re holding whenever you would like — although, when you do this, you will lose your holding benefits, as well as the POINTS you’ve accumulated.
Announcements
Last month I mentioned that we would be making some key partnership announcements in June. We have taken some more time to work on these, the first of them is now expected to be released during the week beginning July, 10.
June also saw us make updates to the ‘popularity algorithm’ — this will continue to be refined throughout the month of July to make sure we get to an optimal weighting/calculation — especially important as we get closer to our official token launch and continue to bring new listeners, partners and artists on board.
Key Stats
Speaking of artists, June saw us release three new names on the Gala Music platform — Yo Poppy, Win and Woo and Brray — welcome to the crew! We now have 63 artists — and are expecting another 20 to join us in July. It’s great to see the community supporting new names and great talents — on the day of All Access release we saw 577k BEAMs being held against artists in a single day.
In June the Gala Music website received more than 1.52M visits that is up by 196% since May (517k).Visits from India, Brazil and The Philippines have also increased significantly this month, with user acquisition (UA) activities — note, we will be focusing more on Brazil, the Philippines and South Korean markets in coming months.
In June Gala Music had:
16,353 BEAM holders, which is up 20.7% since May (13,551), note this number includes node owners without tracks and L2E earners too
7140 First time listeners — up by 232% since May (2,149)
73,027 Total tracks count — up by 4.2% since May (70,024)
BEATS
July will see ‘Snoops House’ roll into production (important for Stash Box holders).
As mentioned, July will also see the previous announcements we have made reference to, released and also their associated activities mobilized — supporting platform awareness, growth and content with new artists coming on board and through new experiences and items launched in the ‘All Access’ store.
Speaking of the ‘All Access’ store — further categories will come online throughout July and more items will be added to the currently live ‘Concerts and Festivals’ selection. We will be replenishing some items in ‘Concerts and Festivals’, and adding more experiences to it — including more non-US events.
A content/release calendar will also be shared — as we seek to improve our transparency and communication style.
As some of you know, the Gala Music app is in development, this is the final piece of our puzzle — its testing and release will be a key input to our ‘listen and earn’ proposition, and a key source of engagement as we scale.
We will be asking for support from our ‘round table’ community members for testing and feedback throughout July.
BEYOND
As we move toward full launch, you can expect more UA, marketing and public announcements across August, with us releasing details of key events for the Gala Music calendar.
The Gala Music app will be released in its MVP form to support some of the festival activities we have planned and to ensure we have a ‘web2’ friendly offer that requires little knowledge and effort to engage with.
August will also see the announcement of two further key collaborations for Gala Music …
I’m super aware that there are always questions and to that end, we will be running a more considered feedback loop with you all moving forwards. There will also be a 6 weekly roundtable with key members and voices of the community to help us ensure we’re listening and responding to your feedback. I know I say it often, but I will never be able to say enough, how much your thoughts, feedback and support is appreciated by all of us.
