@parn3y.bsky.social
Executive Producer of Once Upon a Galaxy. Formerly Storybook Brawl, Tuesday Night Eternal, Earlybird Software. University of Notre Dame '09.
I think you’re pretty great on working on cool stuff
30.10.2025 10:31 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Starting up a dev stream in a few over at twitch.tv/playgalaxygame - recap GenCon, Roadmap, Steam release and answer questions.
05.08.2025 17:57 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0👀
26.05.2025 01:26 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
At Once Upon a Galaxy, our mothers helped shape who we are as game designers, players, and people.
This weekend only (Fri, May 9 – Sun, May 11), we're giving away the Athena's Motherly Love Skin! Claim it for free in the app and honor the hero moms in your galaxy. ❤️🪐
Going live in about 10m with the 1st weekly Galaxy Dev Stream over at twitch.tv/playgalaxygame
06.05.2025 17:52 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
🎺Want to come hang out with the Devs of Once Upon a Galaxy? Come join our Dev streams starting on Tuesday! twitch.tv/playgalaxygame 🎺
04.05.2025 17:43 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
I think he should be named Captain Bamboozle.
#PlayGalaxyGame
Introducing 🎺🎺🎺
The Galaxy Gazette!
A bi-monthly newsletter with:
🤫New Card Sneak Peaks
🎨Community Content
⚔️Strategy Tips
💎Free Gems with every issue!
Sign up today at galaxy.fun/newsletter !
#BskyToWork Day 24
By switching lvl 1>2>3>4>5 to Common>Uncommon>Rare>Epic>Legendary, the feeling of the shop completely changed. Now players were jazzed when they saw higher rarity cards & were drawn to taking them, regardless of their stats. Fun increased dramatically
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
Galaxy is coming to Steam! Very exciting. Should be live before you know it.
You can add to your wishlist starting today ❤️
store.steampowered.com/app/3062740/...
#BskyToWork Day 23
How do we solve this?
What do most players do w/ packs? They check the rare! Do they get excited because the stats are marginally better? No - theyre excited because its rare, or even mythic! Even my 6 year old understands that rare=special.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 22
This led to unsatisfactory choices bc players would keep weaker characters longer & not quickly grok that there were better/more special choices in the shop. It became purely an evaluation of raw numbers, which capped the fun for the player.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 21
A key takeaway from early testing was players were not viscerally drawn to higher level characters in the shop, especially when their base stats were lower than what they had already. We learned that "lvl2 v lvl3" choice was analytical, not visceral
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 20
The obvious question w/ 2nd copy = silver was "Why would I take that if it puts be down 1 card on board?"
*lightbulb moment* What if it was free? Silvers = bonus shop. We knew at once this was a home run & gameplay became so much smoother overnight.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 19
My fav innovation with Galaxy was using silvers & golds to represent finding 2nd & 3rd copies of characters. This allowed us to capture the same excitement of doubles, while keeping things very tidy - 3 slot shops/5 slot boards/singleton characters.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
Excited to visit Planet City ComicCon this weekend in Kansas City!
Looking forward to jamming some live lobbies of @playgalaxygame.bsky.social in person!
Thank you! Glad you enjoy them. It’s hard to fit all the thoughts into such a small character limit 😂
21.03.2025 17:02 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0#BskyToWork Day 18
Initially we tested 8 plyr lobbies like SBB, but it didnt feel right. The lobby felt too large & games too long. Also made UX more awkward. After hesitantly testing 6-person lobbies instead, we found they were just as fun + much better for time & UX!
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 17
Early on we tested lots of variations of "Survive X turns" to make game time more predictable. Final turns felt lackluster and going back to the "lobby" model brought back some of that visceral "im the winner" feeling that is much needed.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 16
Initially we tested 1/2 damage w/ healing for the entire game. Unfortunately games took forever & finals weren’t meaningful. By making the finals always full damage, game length was better and endings more satisfying.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 15
Its difficult but essential to find visceral, heart-thumping moments in your game. Heart damage is controversial in Galaxy, but its incredible at creating these moments. A simple 1/2 v. full dmg result creates drama, excitement, risk, reward == FUN.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
found a cool card game, grinded to Legend in 2 days on it
Once Upon a Galaxy genuinely rules
#BskyToWork Day 14
Magic/SBB had life points. New players need to process this numerical to understand the game. We found a Zelda-style big red hearts system did something magical in testing- new players viscerally understood the damage w/o needing to remember a number.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
For all the people ditching The Bazaar because of its monetization / Reynad, Once Upon a Galaxy is a great autobattler from the Storybook Brawl team. Available on mobile, runs great, and the combos you can pull off are crazy. @playgalaxygame.bsky.social
06.03.2025 19:46 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0#BskyToWork Day 13
The new player experience begins w/ Little Red v. Big Bad Wolf. Why? Because both the characters & the conflict are instantly grokable by the player. Zero mental energy is lost on the who & why, which allows the players to more easily pickup the how.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 12
Players mental energy is limited. We want to channel as much of that as we can into understanding & enjoying the game. Using instantly recognizable characters & settings, esp in the early game provides max connection w/ min mental energy spent.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 11
There is a delicate balance btwn Teaching Moment & Learning Moment. When a player "figures something out" they get a spark of joy & deeper connection to the game. We avoid "telling" the player unless we have to & maximize fun self discovery moments.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 10
Every 1 addtnl thing you add to the screen increases complexity EXPONENTIALLY. The player needs to think about this new thing, but also how it interacts w/ every previous thing. Once they reach the tipping point, youve made them feel dumb & unwelcome.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
#BskyToWork Day 9
Doom rolling sucks. Giving a player a resource, then encouraging them to spend all of it for re-rolls that don't progress their game is not a fun experience. Every shop should count - give you little bits of value while you search for that 1-outer.
@playgalaxygame.bsky.social
PATCH DAY PATCH DAY PATCH DAY!
The "Frog Prince" season of Once Upon a Galaxy brings new captains / cosmetics, improved end-game rewards UX, a new ranking system, some new card frames...
galaxy.fun/articles/pat...
If you like drafting games or Balatro, you might like Galaxy ;) #gamedev #indiedev
