Yeah, I know, this has come up before... And nobody likes to be spammed with "send me 5 canned radishes and keep 5 preservatives for yourself!" or "Help me build a mechanical giraffe and earn a fuzzy boxcutter!" But, there's a reason so many games have you calling on your friends for help.... It works. It brings more people into the game.

Galaxy Legion is the only game I really play right now, and I've played a LOT of facebook games. Some of them I was all-in, playing hardcore for months, but in the end I always get tired of them. That's not the case with GL, over a year later and I'm still hooked, more now than ever. But, as good as GL is, it's got under 75K active players. That's incredibly low for a facebook game. Zombie Lane, a game that came out a couple months ago, is up to 7.5 million players. What's wrong with this picture? Games that offer incentives get more players.

Sure, we can post when we go up in rank, but why would anyone bother to click on that? Ooooh, SolarMoonBuns is rank 2381, good for him, have a nice life. I click on those links sometimes only because it's slightly more convenient than finding the GL link on my FB page.

Sure, we can share an artifact. But when a newbie clicks and gets the message "you're too late, loser" why would they bother to go any further? They would just say "whatever, thanks for wasting my time" and then go click a link offering 50 marbles to build an igloo with.

Incentives that offer the sharer AND the Facebook user a reward will bring in new players. 2-way incentives mean the message will get out there, and new people are much more likely to check it out. The game pretty much speaks for itself... Once people start playing it they will realize that this is better than the average FB game. Not only that, it keeps existing players playing longer and more often. If an existing casual player happens across links offering 10 energy, or a useful minor artifact, of even (gasp!) a GP, they'll click it. That player who might log in once a week may instead log in once a day, get involved with a legion, become a hardcore player, and invest their savings buying more GP.

Come on, Dan, please.... I'm rambling on like this because I want this game to thrive, and I want you to have MORE money. 73K active users isn't that many for a Facebook game, but what it IS 73K free advertisers. Use us!

as far as i know there isnt a button that you can post that says Come join me and play Galaxy legion that would be helpful to get new players

i agree i've tried to get ppl interested in this and their number one complaint is that there is no incentive ......i happen to like science fiction and strategy and am naturally drawn to a game like this..... a free gift or some other incentive would draw more players who aren't...also, i was going to invite everyone on my friends list, but can only invite 4 at a time......i have over 500 friends ! it would have taken forever so i didn't spend the hour or so it would have taken

I think Dan is happy with his target market. This game is a special genre of game not every one will really lie a sci-fi game. Most other game in face book will be appealing to 90% of the facebook population but he choose a theme that has a specific target and a loyal following I can't blame him for making that decision.

this game COULD do with a bit more advertising though. i find every game i played on facebook in the ads along the side. ive only seen this game advertised once, but ive seen ads for batheo, backyard monsters, etc. all the time. if GL got a bit more publicity then im sure more people would play it. especially if the ad was a picture of two ships fighting over exotica, with the description "Battle your enemies, build your empire, rule the galaxy! Play Galaxy Legions Now" i would click on that, see all the cool stuff goin on and instantly be hooked. im sure there are other taglines and catchphrases that would work too. just more ad time.

I agree that there needs to be some better advertisement about the game. In some way to get more people wanting to play which will lead to more money for Dan. Everyone wins there. I do think maybe an occasional special gift could be sent out to encourage people to join. Though The sender of the ad should get a bonus for doing it. Incentives both ways without being annoying.

a special trimatrix or holiday bonus to each friend you invite and reaches level 20.

Yeah that would be cool a trimark that also gives the bonus of nanite swarm capsule and shield amplifier.

maybe if you get someone to join you can get an energy cube, but I wouldn't like to see much more than that. One thing I love about this game is that it is all about the game, no annoying notifications or wall posts or anything unless you want them there, so yes we should expand the market, but keep this game spam free, offering a small reward for recruiting seems best

Well one game I play, while not a facebook game. Gives you a bonus for on a few things for having someone play:

equal to 5% of what they spend into the game is also given to you (so they buy 100 gps you get 5).

Special though not to bad bonuses from leveling (so you can say energy cubes, mass storage pods ect...).


That is it, the game lives off of its own merit past that. Main thing needed here is a invite link and banner.

I've played a number of FB games. This is the ONLY game I would be willing to actively ask my friends to consider joining. I would at least occasionally click buttons that sent 'help me and join GL' requests or some such, to my FB friends.

good idea but wouldn't that promote multi-accounting? more than ever?

Dan please no spamming. I like this game because their isn't spamming.
I'll make this suggestion that rewards current players a little and avoids multi-accounts.
Dan what you could do is provide each player with a recruitment link.
Each player that is recruited and then purchases GP with real dollars provides something for the recruiter.
Example AAAA recruits BBBB.
BBBB plays the game for a while and AAAA gets a bonus of 1% of their RP, AP.
BBBB plays the game for a while and AAAA gets a gift of 1% of BBBB's GP's purchases with real cash. (I think this is a very good idea as no multi account would do so for this benefit).

Dan I believe you have found a niche in gaming. The question is how to find the rare player that would enjoy this game without spamming. Maybe for players under rank 10 every time they click on a shared artifact they get it. When they reach rank 11 they get a notice that it was a method to encourage them to continue playing.

great point, and I think this is the best option

The spamming is annoying as hell, true. But it works. I've played dozens of facebook games, and most of them I discovered by clicking on a spam link that looked interesting.

It's entirely optional in every game I've played. If you don't want to spam your friends, don't send the links. If you don't want to SEE spam, it's easy to block the game messages.

Yes we have a strong core group of players, but a constant influx of new players will keep the game from stagnating,. And I don't think anyone could really argue that Dan couldn't use MORE money.

Here is something we could do as a community, come up with something like: Galaxy Legion is the best Game on Facebook, and this is the only game I play on Facebook. It is great having a designer that listens to the players and enjoys his job this much. Dan always has great ideas, lets players take part in development, and overall has done an AMAZING job with this game! The legions is the best part really, teamwork and the ability to communicate lets this game stand out from others like it. It might be slow in the beginning, but once you get into it, you will be hooked. The is always new content coming out, and most of it comes from the players. Best use of forums by any game designer ever!
If you need help, you can always go to the wiki or forum, the community there will really be an asset to you.
Play now! http://apps.facebook.com/galaxylegion


Put something like this as your status and I'm sure we can get some people to join, and it won't force Dan to make the decision of weither or not to have this game start spamming.

Advertising on the sidebar more might help. It seems pretty targeted say when people are playing other space games and see a GL ad good odds they will at least try it. A light spam of "Your friend so-and-so is playing Galaxy Legion, try it today" might be OK on the news feed.

you know what, as long as it doesnt do the Farmville thing like "Come be my neighbor and help me build my ship" or the mob wars thing of "Join my Mafia so i can do #&$#" thing im fine... actually nevermind, i get annoyed when i get spammed with that crap. adn honestly if someoen wants to play it, then they'll click on the Ad if someone makes one,

that is as far as I think this game should go with spam

An idea before was to give 5-20 energy packs to facebook friends.
Unlike artifact shares, everyone who clicks it gets energy.