On November 17, 1999 Shattered Galaxy was first announced by Nexon through its two active games - Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds and Dark Ages. In the announcement Nexon pointed to the Shattered Galaxy website which had an application for the beta testing. The beta application contained questions such as 'Explain the difference between tactics and strategy. Which do you prefer and why?'
Initial Testing
The first round of beta applications were accepted on December 8, 1999 and testing began. The first Shattered Galaxy client that was available for download was available in a single file or in smaller segments. In order to be able to play the game, testers had to create their character then register them to their tester account on the Shattered Galaxy website.
Phase 1
During Phase 1 there were only a handful of people in the game, and leveling took much more time than it does today. At the beginning of the phase the maximum battle size was around 10 people, but it was later enlarged due to client optimizations. FIghting aliens in 'the zoo' was common place - as it provided an easy source of experience and an easy source of different minerals, which were used to purchase and upgrade units. Phase 1 was probably when the most emphasis was placed on the different provinces on the map - due to the small amount of people playing the game, certain points were key to holding, and each of the four original factions would vie for certain positions. A common tactic during the time was to hide in a cave and then come out to ambush an opposing faction when they entered. As a bit of a historical note, when Overlords were first established, Gronor's first was a man who went by the alias of 'Spikyrob'. One of the major actions of Spikyrob was to create the first council that existed in the game, before Nexon had implemented councils, - one which was completely unofficial and were in charge of leading the few who were currently online.
Phase 2
On March 24, 2000 the second phase of beta testing began.