As far as Graphics Gale goes, I use it constantly. I rarely use the GIF export feature even though I have the full version since I save as .PNG strips for my animations, and .gal otherwise. The GIF settings are really finicky in many programs, so, to combat that, the "export to combined image" option + .PNG to generate animation strips in Gale suited me best (this can be done in the FREE version as well
). I've messed with ASE before, but it was just too erratic for me (at least the windows version I tried was).
I rarely export as GIF, but when I do, I use Gale (unchecking OPTIMIZE of course). I think it's worth what they ask for it, despite it having a couple of quirks, because it's top-notch at letting you do what you need to with the pixels, especially for animation. They may have made GIF support better in more recent versions, so it could be an option to see what other people think of that feature since I don't use it much. I haven't hand any destructive glitches with my GIF files in Gale though, as long as I unchecked optimize before saving. If you're planning to do an entire game though, I really feel like Gale is the way to go if you're used to the right-click to grab-colors/select-areas and like the ability to customize your shortcuts/scroll through frames with the mouse-wheel, etc.
You can always post your frames here, and those who are using gale can import the strips "from a combined image" easily enough, plus it helps us to see the construction of each frame that way (albeit less effective for demonstrating the animation itself until we import it of course, but if you're worried about an awkward animation at the construction stage, this is always a good way to go).
I did find one that seems like it would work pretty well actually. I still suggest Gale over this, but do what you have to do:
http://rmrk.net/index.php?topic=41524.0Hopefully that helps you out dude. And Merry Christmas to you too man! I can't wait to see more of your characters! ^_^