Posts

Red Stars: are you with us or against us?

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I got greedy again and neglected to look at the timer and lost a transport ship. That’s always the way it goes for me, but at least this time, I didn’t lose a battleship! Hi, I’m GALaxy and I’m playing Hades’ Star like the rest of you! This is my millionth system and I love it the most because it’s permanent. I’ve been testing every version this game has ever seen (remember when we were saving colonists?! No? That was just me, then) and boy am I glad to say au revoir to the tutorial. I’m not what you would call a “gamer” so don’t get your hopes up for cool moves and sweet tricks. I mean, maybe I might come up with something, I just can’t promise anything. My game play is more strategized for my daily life. I like levelling up, maxing out, collecting all the cats and then I’m like, “Now what’s the point?” so that’s when there had better be some weekly events or updates to keep me going. Good thing Hades’ Star is headed in that direction because it would be really hard to let my husb...

The end of Alpha, and the road ahead

Today we are shutting down our game server, ending an alpha testing period that lasted a bit over 3 months. During that time we had hundrends of participating players that helped a lot both with fixing bugs, and with suggestions and in game activity that affected our developer priorities. We feel this alpha period has been very helpful in making a solid game, so if you participated: Thank you! The game server will be down for one week. After that period, we will be gradually launching the game in select countries over time. There is no final plan for all countries yet, and details are still being figured out, but here's the current plan so far. Around March 20: The game will be available for players in Canada on Android, via the Google Play store. Around March 27: The game will be available to download on the App Store, for iOS players in Canada. After the Canada launch, we'll be looking to launch into more countries, but there are no concrete plans at the moment. As we...

Ongoing Alpha Test - Update #4 Release Notes

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Today brings the release of the last update to Hades' Star Alpha, which has been live for almost 3 months. This update brings some final content we felt was necessary before going into beta (especially the Weapon modules, the Leaderboards changes, and the Warp Lane Hub buildings which should bring a new level of strategic planning to delivering shipments for higher level players). During this time we were able to significantly improve the game, largely thanks to the help of early players. If you participated in the alpha - thank you! For the next few months, we plan to slow down the rate of major features. There will still be some new modules, but the majority of the focus will be on balancing existing content and make yellow and red stars as fun as they can be. We are still on track to launching our beta version some time in March. The alpha version will be live until March 6, at which point the servers will be brought down for a few weeks as we prepare for proper launch in our ...

Leaderboard changes and the new Influence score

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If you've been participating in the alpha, you may be familiar with the Leaderboards window, which shows the players who have advanced the most in the game: In its current form, the "Score" column is just the amount of XP a player has collected. XP is gained by doing shipments, upgrading planets, researching artifacts and completing achievements. Nobody ever loses XP, so it's an indication of how long someone has been playing, and their overall level of progress. There are major issues with using XP for the leaderboards: It rewards whoever is playing the most. If a player near the top doesn't log in for a day or two, they will most certainly lose their spot.  Players who started playing the game later don't have much hope of catching up.  Spending Crystals can directly translate into more XP (i.e. by buying more shipments or Artifacts, or buying the resources to upgrade planets).  There is no risk of ever losing XP, so there's little movement an...

Ongoing Alpha Test - Update #3 Release Notes

Today we are realeasing our 3rd update to the Alpha version. We have made great progress in improving stability and fixing issues, largely because of your reports. Thank you and please keep the feedback coming! Our current plan is to do one more update to the Alpha during February, then end the alpha period 1-2 weeks after that update. After the Alpha ends, the game will be unavailable for a few weeks as we prepare to launch in certain countries. Here is the list of changes in today's update: Ships and Combat All ship speeds increased. Battleship is now faster than both Miner and Transport ships. New Cerberus Ship: Sentinel (low hitpoints but high damage, dangerous in high numbers) New Cerberus Ship: Colossus (very strong, equipped with the Salvage module) Cerberus Sentry renamed to Guardian Cerberus ships no longer have levels Cerberus ships will now quickly and predictably react to ships moving into their sector. Hitpoints and damage has been rescaled (x10 to all ...

Hades' Star: Understanding the Economy

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Greetings explorers! Over the next several weeks we’ll be giving you a better look at some of the features of Hades’ Star. This week we’ve decided to discuss the early stages of the game as well as some of info you’ll need to do to survive and triumph in the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space. If you’re completely new to the world of Hades’ Star, your mission is one of expansion through the colonization of planets, the building and upgrading of your fleets and the defense of your acquired territory from constant Cerberus threats. There is a lot to do, and a whole lot of space to explore and conquer. We’ll start off by discussing the basics of the Hades’ Star economy. There are three types of currency you’ll have to manage and obtain in game, Credits, Hydrogen, and Crystals. Each one is vital to your success and can be obtained in a variety of different ways. CREDITS: Credits are your main currency, used to buy ships and build infrastructure. Quite simply, building a spac...

Ongoing Alpha Test - Update #2 Release Notes

Today we are releasing the second update to our ongoing alpha version. Before going into specifics, I'd like to offer an update on our release plan: