Fishlabs Announces Galaxy On Fire – Alliances Free To Play MMO For iPhone And iPad

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Yeah, it's that pretty.
Yeah, it's that pretty.

Germany-based game studio, Fishlabs, today announced the development of Galaxy On Fire – Alliances, a continuation of the Galaxy On Fire brand, to be released in the third quarter of this year, 2013. The new game is meant as a spin-off from the premium Galaxy on Fire, Galaxy On Fire 2 and their expansion packs, and will use a free-to-play model that includes massively multiplayer capabilities like alliances, player-vs-player combat, and alliances.

The previous games are stunning examples of just how good iOS games can be, with dogfighting space combat, galaxy spanning quests, resource mining, an economy of scale, and all the things you’d want from a modern space sim. The storyline involves space captain Keith T. Maxwell as he’s thrown forward in time and space, far from his home world. He must make alliances and friends quickly with human and alien alike, managing political and economic shifts to maintain his place in the galaxy, fighting in war and with space pirates across the reaches of space.

The new game is planned to be a bit differently, with plenty of in-app purchases and most likely some sort of energy mechanic. You’ll be able to join an alliance with the Terrans, the Vossk, or the Nivellians, and compete with your faction mates for a newly-explored sector of space. You’ll engage in combat, diplomatic missions, trade, and have to manage your resources to keep new technologies flowing into your own alliance, rather than into competing ones.

While free-to-play gets a bad rap lately for what many players see as money grubbing, Fishlabs has done a great job with it’s two previous premium titles on iOS, I can only hope this will show a less heavy-handed approach to typical free-to-lay mechanics. The visuals alone will be worth a download, as the Galaxy On Fire univers is a gorgeous one. Here’s to hoping that we’ll finally get our mobile Eve Online-style space MMO. If anyone can do it, it’s Fishlabs.

The game will be available to see at the Games Developer Conference at the end of March, and should be available for iOS in the third quarter of the year, with an Android version coming soon after. We’ll keep our eye out, of course, and let you know any new details as they arise.

Source: TechCrunch

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