Sentinels Sidekick for iPad & iPhone & Android

Heya, this is my first post on the forums, so please bear with me – I don’t want to come across as spam! I’ve been playing Sentinels of the Multiverse since we (Handelabra Studio) had a booth next to >G at PAX Prime 2011. We were booth neighbours again at PAX East this year, too!

After playing the game a bunch and fiddling around with hit point tracking cards and tokens and dice and whatever, I decided enough was enough. I’m an app developer, I’m making an app! So, I did =)

The result is Sentinels Sidekick - a hitpoint tracking app for SotM that just came out on the App Store (finally). It’s a Universal app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

And since I would love to get some feedback from you guys, we’re happy to share some promo codes:

LY96FW76JY46
HFFP7473MW39
YTJXYPJPT6K9
NTFHHJMJA46E
HA43M99KT7L9
9XXYX7N3R4FT
66XYKE799HLH
H949KRNPLKR4
4KPW3J9JAKXF
JYMPF9M7F4AX

My dream is to make an electronic version of the game itself, but for that I would need Chris to answer his emails… poke poke =)

Update: If you’re looking for the Android version you can find it on Google Play or Amazon Appstore.

John! Hi!

I WILL get back to you (SORRY! Things are CRAZY right now) but not until after everything has been sent to the printer. Expect to hear from me early June.

Also, I need to get an iDevice of some sort, apparently… grin

I’ll keep an eye out for an android ap, I have an android phone and kindle fire.

I actually had a Windows Mobile app that had some of the same functionality. Though, trying to keep track of everybody’s HP and damage modifiers with a Dell Axim using a standard Windows Forms app isn’t exactly too enticing.

Oh, and if anyone on here likes the idea of Presidents punching Presidents (and if you don’t, WHY NOT?!) you should check out Handelabra’s game “Uncle Slam”! It’s a lot of fun - we got to see it at PAX Prime last fall and then again at PAX East this spring! Seriously, go take a look.

Nicked the first code and downloaded. I’m at work right now, so I can’t look at it in depth, but it looks good so far!

I took the second code. Downloading now.

For those who can’t/haven’t downloaded the app, here’s a description: everything happens on a single screen, with the villain and environment along the top and the heroes around the bottom/right/left. You touch an area (hero, environment, villain) and a popup appears where you can choose which one to put at that position. For villains and heroes, you’re presented with that character’s hit points which you can plus up or minus down to keep track of the current total. There’s also a second tracker per character for max hit points (nice touch).

For the heroes, it doesn’t track cards in any way [see update below], but for the villain and environment, it lets you lay out any of that deck’s cards that have hp and then track the hp & max hp of each one separately. For example, when I choose Pike Industrial Complex, the only choice for adding a card to that area is to add “Escaped Lab Rat”. But if I choose Insula Primalis, I can add a T-Rex, pterodactyl, or velociraptor.

I checked what would happen when you lay out Matriarch, since you’re likely to subsequently lay out a zillion birds. It’s easy enough. Once you have too many cards to fit inside the villain’s play area, you have to scroll that area to see all the cards. Not bad.

There are options for randomizing the game, you can turn on/off the option to have a card automatically disappear when you drop its hp to zero, you can tell it to include Rook City or not, and you can even toggle whether you want to allow duplicate heroes. The best option is toggling it so that the screen never locks while you have the app open – a must since I think it would kill the utility of the app if you had to swipe your iPad back to life every time you had to update anything in the app. There are also links to web resources such as the rules from the SotM website, the forums, boardgamegeek, etc.

I dig the app. I think they need to strike a deal with SotM right away so that the app can include official art, 'cause that would make it even awesomer. I would also maybe make a suggestion about the layout of the areas on the screen – right now it’s laid out like you’d actually have players sitting around a table, which is fine, except that the heroes on the right and left are rotated 90-degrees (it’s basically just like the playmat). That would make sense if you’re going to lay the iPad in the center of the table and have everyone reach in to update their hero’s hp. But another way I can see this being used is for a single person to keep the iPad next to them while everyone plays, and in that use case, all the hero areas should perhaps be oriented to be readable in portrait mode. Maybe that could be an option? Also, adding +/- trackers for damage dealt or other things would be sweet.

Great job.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon about it not tracking hero cards. If you choose Visionary, it does in fact let you lay out any number of Decoy Projections. These guys think of everything.

Oh, I just realized what those little symbols next to the hero hp totals are – the app will automatically show you who’s the highest and lowest hp! That’s pretty great.

I just checked it out on my iPhone (the above info was from iPad). It’s essentially the same, but with the smaller screen real estate available, not everything happens on a single screen. You add the hero/villain/environment like usual but then you hit a button to add cards and are taken to a separate screen where the cards for that entity are displayed. When you’re done, you go back to the main screen and you’ll see “1 card” or “3 cards” or however many cards you’ve added to that entity. Press that to get back to the cards you’ve laid out. It’s a perfectly good way to handle things on the smaller device. It looks like on the iPhone, all the heroes are oriented to be read in portrait mode.

Definitely. Having official art would make this, well, awesomer. Not to mention that it would make referencing specific targets go more quickly.

I figured you guys were just totally blitzed with the kickstarter and everything, no problem. I’ll look forward to it! =)

Spiff: I’m glad you like it! I definitely tried to make it cover all the bases the game has to offer in terms of hitpoints (i.e. max hp, possible targets, card ordering). Good suggestions too – we’ll look into having an “all portrait” option for iPad. For iPhone it’s all portrait because the geometry just doesn’t work having the side heroes rotated on that aspect ratio.

Some things we’re planning for next updates:

• Damage modifiers and other “effect” tracking
• Automatic synchronization between multiple devices for the same game, e.g. if everyone at the table has their own iPhone
• More robust and useful information lookups (card FAQs etc)

Official card art would be the bomb, but I’ll have to wait for that email from Chris

BTW, the last screenshot on the iTunes store preview webpage is a photo of the app in action during a game. Let me see if I can attach the iPad one here…

• Automatic synchronization between multiple devices for the same game, e.g. if everyone at the table has their own iPhone

Ooh, that’s titilatingly close to being able to play the game remotely with friends over the internet. Me likee.

If only I had a device that I could use with the app. It looks really neat and would be fun to toy around with. Guess i’ll stick with the good ol’ classic of pen and paper. Though if I ever get a little handy device I know what will be the first thing I look up.

Looks pretty nice. My cats keep knocking the dice off of the table, so this is definitely going to be tried out next game.

I did notice that cards aren’t removed when they get to HP due to lowering the max HP. Not a big deal since you can just remove the card anyway.

Good catch – I’ll fix that for the next update.

Thanks! I’ve redeemed the third code. It may be Thu before I can give the app a proper try.

Minor issue. If the Chairman is brought down to 0 HP when the setting is to remove cards that have 0 HP, all villain targets go away, even though the Operative might still be active. I’m guessing this is true of Omnitron, too. I suppose the solution is to not use the setting where cards go away at 0 HP.

Hmm interesting. I actually put in a flag to prevent a card from being removed at 0 HP no matter what – but I only set it for Baron Blade. I didn’t realize the implications of the rules for Omnitron and the Chairman, and will set that flag for the update.

Also it looks like it’s removing heroes when they hit 0… but they still get to use their flip-side abilities when they’re incapacitated. Don’t know if it’s too big a deal if players have their cards out, but it might be worth remembering.

Yep that’s intentional. I thought it was a bit more dramatic for when you go down, and there’s no flipside information shown in the app anyway =)

You can’t really use the app without having cards on the table, so I think it’s ok.

I grabbed the second from the bottom code. This looks like it will be quite useful for my solo play instead of dice. Thanks for all the effort you put into this. Can’t wait to try it out.

And as for SOTM being an actual iPad app? I’ve been dreaming of it since day one…

I’m putting together a minor update to address some of the issues you guys found - thanks! Let me know if you see any other issues and I’ll roll in fixes if possible.

So far:

• Omnitron and Chairman are never auto-removed
• Auto-remove works when HP are reduced to 0 as a result of Max HP change
• New option for iPad: “Show all heroes in portrait mode”

Major new features will be coming in a 1.1 update, but I would like to address any minor things quickly in this 1.0.1 update.

I realize I am stretching here, but could there be any way of making it where you could enter home made stuff(heroes, villains, etc)

The reason I am asking is so that maybe I could add in the playtest info. It also has the side effect of entered other home made stuff as well.

That’s one of the things I have planned for the bigger update. It’s something that deserves to have some careful consideration given for usability, but rest assured it’s in the works =)

I grabbed the 5th code. Just chose it randomly. This looks really useful. I will certainly be using it during my next play session.

Great app, does almost everything I want! The 1.0.1 updates sound good.

For long term updates, do you plan on implementing damage bonuses, reductions, immunities, etc? Basically every icon from here: http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1118605/sentinels-of-the-multiverse

Tried it out on my iPhone tonight. Legacy, Haka, Wraith, and Ra versus Spite in Atlantis. Not the best test to check out all of the app’s features. But, the basic functionality was solid.
Maybe tomorrow night my wife and I will try someone with targets in their deck.

Yup, I’m planning to have persistent effect tracking in the next update if feasible. It will focus on damage modifiers since I find that’s the main thing you need to keep track of.

You might take a look at the modifier tracking tokens we’re including as part of the Enhanced Edition of the game, as just implementing a “Tap to add token” functionality might be a straight-forward way to go.

I did see the tokens in the kickstarter update, and I might go that direction. However first I’m looking to take advantage of the electronic format as much as possible… what I’m looking at so far is a kind of “fill in the blanks” concept.

e.g. the template:
damage dealt from to by until

covers a pretty significant chunk of all of the “damage increase/decrease” effects found in the game. I’ve been going through the decks looking for all the effects to come up with a small number of templates that provide good coverage and make sense.

Of course Infernal Relics will probably throw everything for a loop but we’ll cross that bridge when it arrives

That’s a good idea. Are you thinking that users could create their own “tokens” using that template system, or just that that’s the internal template the app will use? If you expose it to users, you could pre-populate it with a few default options so that the basics are covered and are easy to choose, but users could also make their own custom “tokens” to cover situations you didn’t anticipate.

Perhaps add ‘prevent’ and ‘make irreducible’ to the increase/decrease options.

Also, perhaps add a second template:

Make damage dealt from to be until

I’m going to play with the UI but I would like to expose the ability to create any kind of token that fits within the system.

arenson9: that’s just one example of a template, there are a few to cover the different scenarios that come up from the cards.

1.0.1 has been submitted, with the following fixes:

• New option for iPad: “Show all heroes in portrait mode”
• Omnitron and Chairman are never auto-removed
• Auto-remove works when HP are reduced to 0 as a result of Max HP change
• Fixed one of Voss’ card names (the Translocator was “Gene-bound” instead of “Quark-Drive”)

Judging from recently app store times it should be approved within a week.

Now I’m going on vacation, but I’ll pop in here once in a while =)

Cool. I would love to learn how to create an iOS app. If you’ve got any tips on how to start and/or are willing to share the code, please let me know. I’ll certainly understand if that’s not appropriate.

The best way to learn is just to jump in =). I recommend the “grapefruit book” found here. I started with the iOS 3 edition but I’m sure the new editions are just as good or better.

I can’t share code for this app (and it wouldn’t teach you how to create an iOS app), but there’s all kinds of sample code and tutorials out there on the net.

Had a chance to try this out finally. Expatriatte, Legacy, Tachyon and Wraith against Spite in the Ruins of Atlantis. The features that are currently incorporated were great. I wish it could do all the math for me though Spite was a real brain burner figuring out damage.

If >G chooses to get behind you on this app then I think this would be a great use of the wonderful art on the health trackers from the Rook City campaign that they are discontinuing anyway. Great art and a great place to use it.

I’m hoping to try this out again with a villian that has minions to see how that goes. Dice have worked really well for me for small targets and knitting counters have been great for heros and villians. But this is a great way to have it all in one place.

Looks quite simple, elegant, and convenient! Now if only I had an iPad…

I redeemed the 4th code - will be interesting to see how it works and such

Love the app, it’s a great addition to a great game. We’ve almost completely gotten rid of the need for tokens.

Things we use tokens for are powers like Wraith’s stealth when she doesn’t take damage for a while and cards that require a certain amount of damage be done in a round. Perhaps cards like Rooftop Combat could have a counter.

Also Absolute Zero could use a Thermal Shockwave counter to count the amount of fire damage he has taken since the end of his last turn.

Any more previews of features you’re going to add?

Thermal Shockwave keeps track of how much Cold damage is dealt by Absolute Zero.

Coolant Blast keeps track of how much Fire damage is dealt to Absolute Zero.

This look like it would be nice, but alas I don’t have an I device. Only android.

Whoops, mixed them up. That’s what I meant.

Hmm… Absolute Zero, with Isothermic Transducer, Null Point Calibration Unit, Focused Apeture, Coolant Blast, Thermal Shockwave, and Embolden, possibly with a few outside “damage +1” buffs, against a villain (or environment) which likes to deal fire damage…

I am indeed on vacation, but I’ve found some time to do a few little things… so here’s a sneak peak!

And I’ll respond to one reviewer on the App Store – the app will indeed be updated with Infernal Relics information, ideally on the day and date of the expansion release. Possibly even once it goes to the printer, I’ll talk to Christopher when he’s back from the con =)

Lookin good! Can’t wait to try it out.

Also, version 1.0.1 is now out in the App Store so be sure to grab that update which has some little fixes.

I downloaded the update, thank you for that, but suddenly i can’t give health back to heroes. I can subtract HP but the add buttons stopped working. Is this a problem for anyone else after they updated?

I’m seeing the same problem – the heroe’s plus buttons don’t work.

Hrm not sure how that slipped through.

It only affects the left/right side heroes and only if they are rotated. The bottom middle hero is fine and if you use the new option to rotate to portrait, they are fine. That’s a workaround for now until I can get a fix through.

Also if you tap the + part at the very left of it, near the - part, it will work. Still a problem to fix though!

Looks like I’ll be submitting an update with custom cards and that fix soon, then.

FYI: the 1.1 update with the “+” button fix, as well as custom card support, has been submitted and should be available within a week. Thanks to Gnipp and arenson9 for some beta testing!

Anytime!

Sorry it wasn’t more.

I haven’t actually played a game using the app yet. I wonder for those who have how easier or hard it is for everyone around the table to see and use the tablet. My guess is that this would be most useful for solo play?!

The app is great for solo and really great for groups.

I use it on the ipad and it’s big enough for everyone to take a look. Notation for who is highest and who is lowest helps also.

It isn’t any different than one person using a pen and paper to track everyone, except now anyone can add and subtract their own health on an interactive surface in the middle of the table.

It’s really nice for two player. My wife and I play together frequently. (We try to play almost every night, but our daughter is five months old and usually demands attention.)
And we just use my iPhone. I’d love to try it on an iPad…but that would require an iPad.
Still, this is a nice tool when the cats also decide that they want attention. At least two games had to be aborted when a cat dive bombed the dice and we couldn’t remember everyone’s HP.

Love the app. Thanks for making this.

iPhone version is great for playing with my work lunch game group. They love it too. I feel it freed them up to focus on the game more and increased their overall enjoyment of the game.

iPad version is great at home. The bigger screen goes a long way.

Looking forward to future updates.

Wow thanks for the sneak peak and for creating such an awesome app! I could not see my self playing any other way.

I have also been working on a web app for Sentinels. right now its only informational on the cards. Warning it is very ALPHA right now but feel free to see it at http://www.sentinels-hero.com  . My app is more for pre-game but it is going to have rudimentary HP tracking. MigrantP’s app is very good and I hope Greater Than runs with it.

Pablo

1.1 is now out, have at it!

I’m at WWDC this week so pretty busy, but I’ll be working on more Sidekick features soon. Stay tuned =)

Thanks for the update. It solved the problem I was having with adding life on my iPad.

Thanks for the update. I’m curious about the new feature to allow users to make their own cards. Since all the cards in the game are fixed, why did you think this was a necessary feature?

Someone named Gnipp asked if it was possible to add such a feature for playtesting purposes and also to support home brew cards…

That Gnipp is always stirring up trouble…

Yep, pretty much those reasons =). I also wanted to improve the add card interface, and it looks much slicker now as part of the new feature.

Also, if me and everyone else at Handelabra gets hit by a bus, then you guys can carry on the torch and add Infernal Relics yourselves. But hopefully it won’t come to that =)

So, loving the sidekick, both the Ipod/phone version, which I have, and the Ipad version, which my friend has.

If there was one complaint about the ipod version I had, it would be that villain and environment card addition and HP management is so much less convenient than the ipad version. Though I was thinking that a Villain only/ Environment Only/ Hero Only view you could swap between would be a nice option to add, so that I could see all the villain targets at once, and then switch over to the environment targets with a button click, instead of the two or more currently, and having to go into the villain submenu to deal with their minions. I figure that you could do it like the canon and custom hero fields, but with three selectors, and have it be an on/off option in the menu, like repeat heroes.

The app’s current layout works perfectly for the ipad, but it’s a little clunky on ipod. Still more efficient than my dice bag most times, but it could be even quicker, I think.

Hm, interesting idea. So when you have the minion cards screen up, there’s a toolbar at the bottom with quick navigation to environment cards and general cards, and vice versa. I like it =). I don’t think it would need to be an option either, it could be available all the time on iPhone.

Yeah, that’s exactly the interface I was thinking of. Thanks for taking the feedback.

Used this for a couple games I played solo recently, and I like it quite a lot
I don’t find it that useful for villain minions (when looking at which targets to attack, its good to see their abilities and hp at the same time), but its great for hero and villain hp, particularly max health variations.
Was great to use playing against spite, 'cause I never forgot to heal Spite with any damage he dealt.

With regards to custom cards - I’ve put in a custom for America’s Newest Legacy and Rook City Wraith, which obviously works fine.
With alternate villains coming with the new kickstarter rewards, I think being able to make a custom villain and then assign an existing villain’s deck to that villain would be good (so that Alternate Baron Blade will still have easy access to his minions and such).
The same thing would come in useful if we ever get an alternate Visionary.

I didn’t include alternates in Sidekick because there’s not much to them as far as the app is concerned – you can just choose Legacy then change the max HP and you’re set. However with the improved select card UI, it might be reasonable to include them as built-in options.

Things have been busy at Handelabra with GAME.minder and Uncle Slam, but I hope to get some time in on Sentinels Sidekick soon. I also want to have effect tracking whenever I play a game with it, so that’s definitely going to be in the next update =)

So, I had a thought for an additional, somewhat simple functionality to add to the sidekick- Single Deck random selection- Instead of having to randomize the who game in a single go, could you add a 'random' selection for hero, villain, and envionment that appears along with the regular deck selection? Sometimes, one or two fellow players definitely want a particular character and the other wants random, that sort of thing.

Heya, quick update! We're preparing an update that has the Infernal Relics and promo hero/villain, as well as that quick nav feature requested by Ryushikaze. If all goes well it will be submitted shortly and available in a week or two.

This small update won't have effect tracking -- but the next major update should, when I can get the time to do it!

Version 1.2 is now available with the following changes:

- Added cards from Infernal Relics and promos (Unity & Ambuscade).

- iPhone version can now quickly navigate between environment cards, villain cards, and hero target cards.

A big thanks to arenson9 for helping out with the expansion cards!

Not sure when the next version will be, but I'd like to get effect tracking in as well as deal with any changes relating to the Enhanced Edition.

Still says version 1.1 and on my phone says thiers no update. :(

Sometimes it takes a little while for the App Store to refresh everywhere. Do you see it now?

Still want this for android

Any chance of this updating soon to include Shattered Timelines?  I freaking love this app and now am so dependent that it is hard to play without it. I can get by in some ways simply by selecting a character with the same HP as an expansion character but it is harder for new villains and environments.

In the meantime, you can do what I did and add the new decks as custom decks.  It takes a little time, but it works.

We have an update for Shattered Timelines (and Enhanced Edition) in the works and should have it available soon.

FYI - you can save your custom deck file to your computer via iTunes and share it around, so people don't have to enter the info twice.

I'll do that.  Anyone who would like my custom deck file, which includes all the new decks, send me a PM.

Migrant, what all do I need to share?  Just the CustomCards.plist or the SentinelsSidekick.sqlite as well?  And are the iPad an iPhone version cross-compatible?  That is, if I pull the file from my iPad, will it be usable for people on their iPhone?

Just the CustomCards.plist. The file will work on both iPhone and iPad, no problem.

FYI - the 1.3 update has been submitted to the App Store for review and should be available next week. It includes Shattered Timelines and promo decks, Enhanced Edition support, and a few other things. Keep an eye out for it!

Just used it again last night!!!  Thanks again for the app!!!

This app is great for solo play.  Love it.

Can't wait to get the update and the new expansion. This is such a great game and this app really helps keep the focus on the game and not on book keeping.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the app. You'll like the 1.3 update and I have a feeling you'll love what we're working on for 2.0 =)

Any chance on putting this out for android?

Megalopolis is missing the target card Targeting Civilians. Might want to add that to the update. 

Targeting Civilians is an Enhanced Edition change, and it's part of the update (along with the other card changes).

In fact, the update was just approved and will be available any time now! Keep an eye out for the brand new icon appearing here!

smafdi: We don't have any current Android plans; it's a native app so it would take a complete rewrite to support that.

Just downloaded the update. I love it! I like the logo alot    . This app is great. Thank you for making it and keeping up to date

This! 

Just Steal Jo's ipad

Thanks so much for this app!  I don't think I would even try solo games without it. 

Couple of comments...

1) Love the new icon!  It is a million times better than before!

2) Did you ask >G if you could use more artwork?  It would be cool if the heroes/villains/environements names could be replaced by the art from the dividers.

3) How does it randomize if you have everything active?  Are all heroes and promos weighted equally?  Will Legacy and the Wraith get picked more often since they have more versions?

4) Would it be possible to re-randomize the individual pieces if you don't like the set-up?  Say you're fine with everything, except you just fought Iron Legacy.  It would be nice to re-randomize just him and keep everything else as is.

Thanks again!

Allow me to make a long-overdue "Thank you!" for this app. I've been using it for a while on my iPad and it provides a tremendous benefit, regardless of the number of players in the game.

At the risk of piling on with a feature request, there is one thing I'd love to see in the app. With the removal of the maximum HP counter, it seems like a good time to do so though. Namely, I think a secondary counter for specific character cards to keep track of "special" things like Wraith's Stealth, Tachyon's Burst cards in her trash, Citizen Dawn's Citizens in her trash, etc. would be a nice convenience.

Also, as others have said, thanks for keeping the app up to date with expansions (and future-proofing it with custom deck capability).

Glad you all like it! Even better would be to post a review in the App Store.. wink wink nudge nudge =)

fanaka66: The randomizer does not 100% play well with different hero/villain versions, we're going to fine tune that aspect for the next update. Right now all versions of cards are weighted equally so you indeed have more chance of getting Wraith; and not only that, it can draw more than one version of Wraith. Good idea on #4 - it wouldn't be hard for the card selector UI to have a "pick random" button.

Happy Thoughts: Good suggestions. We have some ideas around that sort of thing that we'd like to have the app help you out with. Effect tracking (e.g. +1 damage dealt by all heroes, etc) is a big one.

I can tell you that you will be very pleased with the next version. So stay tuned.. and please keep posting your feedback and ideas, it's a great help! I'm just one player, so I need to hear what you want to have in the app.

I know you already said it would take a lot of effort to put this out for Android, but I second pursuing this! 

Wow, turns out there's a lot more interest in Sentinels Sidekick when it's officially endorsed by Greater Than Games! =) We also were able to have a couple iPads running Sidekick at the GTG booth at PAX East, and players really enjoyed using the app to help track the game.

We're working on an update that will address the issues around promo cards and the randomizer, so stay tuned for that.

This is very true. As I noted in another thread, there were at least a couple people who resisted, because they liked using tokens and so just didn't want to try it, BUT everyone I saw try it liked it.

I had personally never used the app while playing with other people, rather than solo, so I'd been skeptical that everyone around a table would be able to use the app simultaneously, but it worked great.

Pros – Pretty; easy to use; usually faster than slinging tokens

Cons – Takes a few seconds longer for setup than grabbing tokens for starting HPs does; when large HP changes need to be made, it takes a large number of clicks

Short story.

I lost my phone on Monday. Tuesday I took out my cards to fire up a quick solo game, and put it all back when I remembered I did not have the sidekick app to help out haha.

Love the app man. As someone who bought the base set well before the EE (so no tokens or anything), your app has completley altered my experience with the game to the point where I find it difficult to play without it. So thank you and keep up the great work

Well this is interesting. I just downloaded an app for my android that I thought was the same as this app (it is called SotM Sidekick), but looking at this thread you guys aren't the ones who made this. Which may be good, because I was going to ask how the heck this thing was supposed to handle more than one hero and villain, or do anything at all with the environment.

It is very good application GOOD JOB !!

If you make changes think about the guys that use a minipad and have large fingers ;)

The "SotM Sidekick" app for Android is not made by us. I wasn't aware of it until now, actually. They should have chosen a more distinct name, that's certainly confusing.

Do you have the name trademarked?

We're going to look into it.

In other news, we've just submitted an update for Sentinels Sidekick that fixes a few problems people have found with 1.3 around the randomizer and promo cards. Plus I was able to sneak in a minor feature or two. It doesn't have the big awesome thing I've been hinting about.. but that will come soon, I hope!

The 1.4 update should be available in about a week, pending Apple's review process.

Version 1.4 is now available! https://itunes.apple.com/app/sentinels-sidekick-track-hitpoints/id525436193?mt=8

What's new:

- Promo cards and decks can now be selected individually in case you don’t have them all... yet!
- Randomize individual card selections - replace just the villain or one hero, or have Sidekick help you choose the Ennead at random.
- Fixed problems with the randomizer, so duplicate versions of the same hero do not get picked. Sorry Legacy and Wraith, you don’t get bonus chances anymore!
- Giant Mutated Specimens have been taken down a notch and now have the correct HP.
- Vengeful Baron Blade now keeps his Mobile Defense Platform at home where it belongs.

Beautiful! Thanks so much for the great app and the updates!

Android release, please?

Since Android came up, does anybody know of a randomizer for SotM that's available for Android and up to date. I only see one on the marketplace and it was last updated over a year ago.

Not exactly an app, but you can find one online that works even without an internet access here: http://www.fecundity.com/pmagnus/sentinels/

Thanks! I will totally use this. b^_^

Mine is a webapp so can be used on Android too, although mine requires internet connectivity: www.spiffworld.com/sotm/randomizer.cfm.  Mine uses the official art, but P.D. Magnus' one is very tight.

I definitely recommend Spiff's for use on Android. Just customize which cards you own and bookmark the resulting page and you're ready to roll! . . . You know, after you randomize away from Rook City a few times.

Used the Ipad app today to do a solo play through.  I love it.  It was easy to navigate and worked really well.  I just hope at some point in the future you can get permission to use the official artwork.  It'll help with identification and just make the app look that much better.

I'm flexing the muscles of the custom card capability, which by the way is fantastic. But we all knew that. :)

Is it possible to have custom cards use (H) as their maximum hit points in the same way that Omnitron's S-84 Automation Drone does? I can manually adjust the custom card's hit points on placement, but it's not as elegant.

It doesn't look like that's possible for custom cards at the moment. I'll log that as a feature to add for the future, though.

Ah, thanks for checking that. I had hoped there might be a magic word to use since the functionality is there for the hard-coded ones. But, really, it's not even something I'd ask to be added since it's such a crazily rare circumstance that would call for it.

Great app!

Yeah, supporting the (H) mechanic in Sidekick is already a bit of a "hack" because it didn't apply to any target health values until Enhanced Edition (well after the app was developed).

There are some other new things coming to Sidekick soon, along with some other news you may find interesting: http://handelabra.com/blog/2013/7/15/handelabra-rebirth

You have my attention. Do go on…

I'm totally onboard of your new project.  Count me in!

Woohoo! Greatly looking forward to it!

Sounds like I need to get a iPad or Android tablet in spring of 2014.

Coincidentally, I'm planning an Android tablet purchase very soon - been waiting for the new Nexus 7 to come out so I can get the older version for cheap. ;)

So yeah. Yay!

While we're working on the real digital version of Sentinels, we haven't forgotten about Sidekick!

We're happy to announce that Sentinels Sidekick 2.0 will be available this week, and is now an officially licensed “Sentinels of the Multiverse” Product. The most important new feature is that Sidekick now has official game artwork throughout!

Check out all the information here: http://handelabra.com/blog/2013/8/5/sentinels-sidekick-20-is-coming-to-gencon

And because we love you, here's a GTG Forum exclusive screenshot! The setup might look familiar to some forum readers =)

WOW! Thats all I have to say.

Lookin' good

Very nice

Woohoo!  Looking great!

Are the minions/smaller targets going to get art too, or just the heroes and villains and evironment?

In the 2.0 update, only the "character" minions (Ennead and Operative) have their own artwork.

We're gauging interest on adding artwork for all of the target cards in the game. So if you would be interested in that, let us know =)

Love to hear about the update, looking forward to it.

Watching the video, I immediately got a bad taste in my mouth about the "notes" feature. Sure, it's infinitely flexible, but typing on an i-device is a bit painful sometimes. Fortunately, immediately after the bad taste, I got a good idea. While putting in buttons for every possible effect and interaction is a bit rediculous, a versatile solution would be to have buttons for "verbs", and you can build sentences easily.

Something like this - you hit a button "Notes" next to a character or card. Up pops some options "Damage Dealt", "Damage Received", "Start of turn, End of turn". Choose Damage Received, and you've got new choices - "+1", "-1", "Irreducible", "Redirected", "Immune". Choose one of these, and you've now got some new options - "Damage type: Fire", etc.

It wouldn't take that much testing to fill out your verb list and be able to formulate pretty much any relevant note you might want with just a few taps. You could of course leave a free-text entry option for edge cases or any other potential issue. A slick GUI for this would make it pretty nice to use

yes please!! I love the idea of swiftbot, etc having art on them.

VERY interested!!

just letting you know. 

ax0r: I realize the notes are a bit limited. However, it was a very quick thing to implement and has some usefulness if you use shorthand. We've actually done some design work around adding effect tracking to the app, but the amount of effort needed to build a great user experience and robust plumbing for it is significant. 

When you're running a company, you have to make decisions about cost/benefit, and so far it hasn't been the right decision to build that feature. If more people buy Sidekick, that would probably change!

Also we posted a quick update on pricing information for Sentinels Sidekick 2.0. Most importantly, it's a free update, not a new app that you have to pay for again!

http://handelabra.com/blog/2013/8/13/pricing-information-for-sentinels-sidekick-20

Sentinels Sidekick 2.0 is now available! Existing owners can update, or you can get it for the first time here:
 

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/sentinels-sidekick-track-hitpoints/id525436193?mt=8

Updated this morning. My iPhone screen does no justice. This is great. The artwork has really put this app on a new level. 

The only thing that I would say is, the artwork in the app is so good, we are gonna need it for all the cards. I had a free update, but I would most certainly pay a bundled cost for the high res pics and art for the other minor cards. 

Fantastic update. Great app. Love it. 

A quick feedback on notes.

It is possible to show some icon to signify which character/target has "notes" underneath them?

Good idea, tommy.yeoh. We'll see if we can get something like that into an update soon.

If anyone wants a chance for a promo code, retweet the 1000th tweet by @Handelabra here: https://twitter.com/handelabra/status/368027483192705024

Looks wonderful! You can add me to the "I'd love art for all targets" camp. :)

Just a quick bit of feedback though, I don't see art for The Matriarch. All the other villains look awesome, but she's all plain and texty. :(

Love the app. Even better with the graphics. 

One suggestion two of my fellow players made was to move the + and - keys to either side of the HPs when the cards are in landscape. It would make them easier to hit and eliminate those times when you accidentally tap the wrong one

Silverleaf: It seems a couple of bits and pieces are missing from the artwork. Matriarch on iPhone is one. Can you catch them all? =) we're putting together a quick update that will fix them all.

Martinh: interesting idea. We're currently using the standard stepper control for iOS, but we'll consider that suggestion.

If anyone is at GenCon tomorrow or Saturday, find Jeremy at the GTG booth for a peek at what is in 2.0.1 =)

Hey, great update to the app! I've been using it for some time now, and I like it even more now. I absolutely vote for adding the additional artwork for the other cards. 

I l ike the extra touch of the environment artwork being added into the background. It makes for a nice expereince.

And I cannot wait for the actual game app!

Edit: I was using the "Randomize" button just to see what came up. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a trend of pulling up the same options several times in a row. For example, I randomized 10 games and got Baron Blade in 5 of them. Does it help to close the app down completely before randomizing again? Of course, I understand that "random" does mean "random", and probability dicates that the same option could come up several times in a row. I'm just curious, especially with it being a new release to the app. I want to pass on any and all feedback to you guys in an effor to keep this the best possible product. Thanks again for putting this together.

Random is random. The odds of seeing 5 Baron Blade in a row is the same as the odds of any other sequence, but we humans notice the Baron Blades.

I was quite amused when Apple added a feature to make iTunes "more random" by actually reducing the randomness of the distribution to minimize repeated artists/songs.

Thanks for the feedback, it's always welcome =)

I actually ran the app through 30 gamess and charted the results. Very even distribution of Environments and Vilains (only skipped over a vew Villains) and a every Hero made an apperance (not all the alternates, though).

MIgrantP is totally right, of course. It's really easy to latch onto one or two easy to observe trends and skew a casual observation. It's funny to cycle through the games and see one Hero pop up over and over, then phase out. I suppose it could lead to a story factor...

Happy to have someone check my work =)

Letting.You.Know.

This update is the one thing I wished Sidekick had, art, and now I'm a happy app user! So glad you got "official" association!

Regarding minion artwork, I think it would be super neat but I also wouldn't want it delaying the full-game app in development. I haven't been able to think straight since that was announced. (okay, maybe that's a pre-existing condition)

On the notes thing, I found it a bit cumbersome on my iPad but it is better than no option, so I do want to thank you for adding that feature. As far as cost/benefit for making a more robust status tracking system, I can't speak for anyone else but I know that if that were a Kickstarter project I'd totally donate to get an upgrade. Honestly, I feel like I'm stealing with as much utility as I've gotten for my 99 cents.

I also noticed that the (H) is supported for custom cards now. I feel a bit guilty about bringing it up, I hope it wasn't too much work! In any case, thanks!

Sentinels Sidekick 2.0.1 should be available in the App Store as a free update any time now (it just got through review this afternoon). It fixes a few bugs, but most importantly it makes Notes super useful! Observe:

In other news, we did an interview with Pocket Tactics about the upcoming digital conversion of Sentinels of the Multiverse. Check it out!

I really liked that interview.  Thanks for keeping us all in the loop!

Awesome stuff.  The one thing I think could make this feature better is a way to add universal modifiers, such as all environment targets or all of a single type of damage.  This coud work by adding the notes to an area off the cards, if that's even possible.

Looking forward to trying this and enjoyed the interview.

Bug report:  I see the update has G.I. Bunker, but G.I. Bunker has no art.

The official artwork for G.I. Bunker and America's Greatest Legacy will be available when the cards are released. We included them in Sidekick anyway so that people can play them.

Is that made clear somewhere in the app?  'cause it just looks like a bug when you're using it.  :)

Not really, but we could add it to the app description and/or in the help screen somewhere. It'll be a moot point in February though =)

We added a note to the app description, since we can update that without a new version. Thanks for the sharp eye!

I thought of a place for that! You can add notes to the Environment itself and they display on screen. So there you go =)

This is really awesome. However, i must ask, as a Kindle user, do you have any plans of gettign this for us Android users?I understand that Android uses a different language so it might take a while for this to actually happen. If it does happen I would gladly get this for my Kindle ASAP and I would love you forever if you guys did this.

@Kingofsouls

Yes, such plans exist. :)

*Does the Snoopy dance at his desk*

*Co-workers look at him oddly... (Although that's not uncommon.)*

May I suggest you stop wearing your Ra costume to work…Nevermind, it is well worth it.

Ha! I wish I could get away with that. I get weird enough looks as it is. I'm in a very conservative environment where the fact I attend Gen Con is looked down on. Luckily, I've learned to channel my frustration of the abuse to point out the idiocy of their anti-geek attitudes and biases.

There's no way to run this on pc?

No, Sentinels Sidekick is currently only available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.

We're working on a few interesting things though..

So about those interesting things:

http://handelabra.com/blog/2013/9/16/sentinels-sidekick-is-ready-for-ios-7

The best thing in that post is the thing they didn't say (says the guy who just bought an Android-based smartphone and is eyeing up a Google tablet).

Even still, the peer-to-peer connectivity looks awesome.  Great job, guys!

While I wasn't looking my iPhone downloaded the new version with all those cool features. Can't wait to try them

Awesome update!! With this peer-to-peer connectivity I think a good feature to add would be to be able to zoom in to a specific player (unless there already is a way and I can't find it). That way I can have the entire game up on the iPad in the center, but only my hero showing in front of my on my iPhone. 

+1

Hey MigrantP, love the app and the newest update.  I sing your praises to all my friends; I basically can't play this game anymore without my ipad nearby, it removes so much of the fiddly bits and lets the theme shine through!  Before the new notes keypad, we would place the status markers on top of the ipad itself, which got pretty silly.  No more of that! :D

Just a few minimal suggestions for the next update, as long as we have your ear:

1. If you placed the gear/options button alongside the sentinels logo (to the right or left), there would be more room for managing hero targets without scrolling within that tiny playspace currently below the gear.  I know a few Unity fans who would love some more room down there.

2. Same with environment targets, but the extra space isn't so obviously found over there.  Maybe you could do a zoom-in effect like iOS 7 does in its app drawers?

3. Or to solve them both, (and to incidentally encourage app sales) you could allow users to assign a whole device (say an iphone) to handling just the environment, or just the villian via the new connectivity feature!  Then the villian would disappear from the main device and more space opens up on that screen for environment and hero targets.  That would be super cool, because I have a friend who tends to watch the villian's various effects and damages primarily, while another watches the hero's.  Right now they both just poke at the ipad, which ends in disfiguring slapfights.

Otherwise everything is amazing, and I can't wait to support you guys by upgrading with a "targets art" in-app purchase!

Great ideas everyone! Since this is the first iteration of the nearby game feature we wanted to get it out there and see how people are using it, before making major UI changes around it. I like the ideas of allowing the UI to focus on certain things. We'll be gathering in everyone's feedback for future changes, so keep it coming!

Just downloaded the mini-update, and I wanted to say thanks for hearing my suggestion on moving the gear upward to free up more space for hero targets!  Looks great. :D

You're welcome, it was a good idea and was easy to do in a mini update =)

Once again, you guys have come up with a feature I didn't know I needed, and now won't play without if I can help it. The multi-device synchronization is really slick and saves a lot of neck-craning at the table! We happily bought a second copy of the app because of that.

Also, my buddy called me at almost 10:00 p.m. the other night, which is unusually late for old fogeys like me. My first thought was, "Uh oh, there must be an emergency!" Nope, he just noticed the latest update, saw the networking feature, and simply couldn't wait to geek out about it with me. :)

I can't believe I used to play with physical dice on each card...

I know, right! A couple of nights ago we accidentially left the iPad off the charger and when we went to play a game of #SotMv we didn't bother with it because we didn't want to drag out all the dice and markers, lol.

Has anyone tried using this with an IOS 7 emulator?

Such things exist? Must check that out!

When I first learned about the new Multipeer Connectivity framework in iOS 7, I also geeked out and couldn't wait to add it to Sidekick =). I'm glad you're enjoying the feature! Be sure to let us know if you have any problems with it.

I'm not exactly sure what an "iOS 7 emulator" is supposed to be, but cursory Google searching indicates it's probably some sort of virus people are spreading around.

Some developers at work use one for developing our apps. They thought there may be some free ones out there.

When developing iOS apps, you use the iOS simulator. It cannot run apps from the App Store, only in-development apps from Xcode.

Yes!!  Thank you for adding the zoom ability!! and the target artwork is amazing. 

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it, it's great for playing Unity especially.

Here's our blog post about the update: http://handelabra.com/blog/2013/12/3/a-zoom-with-a-view-sidekick-22

Android users take note =)

Woohoo! Looking forward to having Sidekick on my phone and Kindle! (Assuming it works on the Kindle. Stupid Amazon… )

Speaking of Kindle, will this be available at all outside of Play?  While I don't have a Kindle, I also don't have a Google account, and have no desire to get one (in fact, I am against the idea of ever getting one, final decision, I'm not here to explain myself, and no arguments will persuade me otherwise).  I'm assuming you will charge for this app, which will limit where it can be obtained.

honestly, we hadnt yet considered this. We've had an app on both play and amazon before but it was a free app, so we didn't have to deal with how amazon messes with people's pricing. as far as kindle, it will really depend on their android compatibility.

consider this confirmation that I will now look deeper into it. At the very least, it will definitely be launching on play, and we'll work out the options for other distribution as soon as we can. we'd love to have it available as widely as possible.

FYI: Kindle Fire HD doesn't work with Google Play (without hacking it and voiding the warrantee, which I'm tempted to do, at this point ), so having a way to make it available outside of Google Play would be great.

Honestly, though, if you don't find a way to do that, I'll probably just hack the stupid thing and be done with it...

I try to buy apps on the amazon app store as much as possible so that I can use them on both my android phone and my kindle fire.

Hmmm, I just tried to download the card art to my Sidekick App on my iPad and I got a strange message saying:

"This is not a Test User Account.  Please create a new account in the Sandbox Environment"

Anyone have any idea what that is all about?  Any ideas on how to fix it?

I would start by gathering a trowel, a bucket, and a number of those tiny flags for your sandcastle's parapets. (probably delete the app from your ipad, reinstall, then attempt to restore purchases)

As for everyone talking about various Android preferences… This is what you get when you are part of a fragmented environs like android. Honestly as much as I hate apple for restricting certain features of their products (single app store, app approval process), they build a heck of a walled garden that makes things manageable for devs. 

PS: Loooooooove the new zoom feature. My ipad just became the "large display" that everyone will access with their smaller personalized devices. Anyone try this with the screen mirrored to an apple tv yet?  I would but I lack the hardware.

Weird, it's like it thinks you have a development version of the app. Try deleting and downloading the app again. You can also try going to Settings, iTunes & App Stores, and signing out of your account, and trying again.

A quick 2.2.1 update is awaiting review and will bring the new December promo cards to Sidekick, just in time. Merry merry!

And I say again, YAY!

So, I've been waiting for months to ask.... How is Vengeance going to affect the sidekick app? Will there be a setting to take the extra villains and ridiculous number of villain targets into account? Or is there another plan? Also, the Sentinels?

Any update on when the Android version might hit?

This

Great job guys the app is looking better and better!

Love the new update! But the Sentinels do not register for lowest life. Otherwise, awesome!

As you guys have seen, the Vengeance update to Sidekick is available. We'll have a blog post up shortly with details, including a preview of the Android version! I'll be sure to post here when it hits.

Blog post is up, with details, screenshots, and an Android preview!

http://handelabra.com/blog/2014/2/10/another-helping-of-sidekick

Just let me know when the Android version is ready, and my money will be yours.

Really looking forward to grabbing this when it becomes available on the Play store. 

Hmm what's this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.handelabra.sentinelssidekick

Official announcement will drop tomorrow, but you know we love you guys =)

Woohoo!

Still going to work on a phone version or just sticking with the tablet? Also, any chance we can get it on the Amazon store in addition to Google Play? (The Kindle Fire doesn't do Play. )

Phone, Amazon, and official artwork are next up!


The official announcement is now up on our blog: http://handelabra.com/blog/2014/2/28/reaching-across-the-aisle

Sidekick is finally available for Android. Check it out on Google Play!

Please leave ratings and reviews if you like it, and let us know what you think here in the thread. If you have problems, please contact us directly.

Looking good so far!

Glad to have the base sidekick available for android now.  My big question (besides 'WHEN DO WE GET PRETTY ART!?!' which is nice but not necessary) is when you'll be adding in support for the Vengence villains and heroes for the android version?

Vengeance support will be coming soon after those features. For us, artwork is necessary (not just nice) because it's a huge driver of sales; the app is much more appealing to buy when it has official artwork.

Is there a ballpark date for the Amazon appstore? I only have an Amazon tablet and an Android phone(s), so I'm still left out :(

No, but it's one of the next things we are working on. And once we submit it to Amazon, there is a review process that can take an unknown amount of time. So all we can say is "soon".

I have yet to see sidekick on the Amazon app store. It's still coming to amazon right?

Yes, we are working on the next update that includes phone support. It will be available on Amazon, and we'll be sure to post here with the news.

Sweet. Can't wait for it

News! Sentinels Sidekick 1.1 for Android is now available in Google Play and has been submitted to the Amazon Appstore as well. And for fans in the UK and Australia, you can now buy Sidekick from Google Play, or wait for the Amazon version to become available worldwide.

This version adds support for Android phones back to version 2.3. Google Play tells me that we now support 5390 different devices!

We've also added a feature so you can randomize individual heroes, villains, environments, and target cards (handy for the Ennead).

Sidekick 1.1 was all about getting it out there to more people on more devices. In the next updates we are focusing on adding new features like official artwork, Vengeance support, effect tracking, and more. Let us know what you want to see!

Yay! Looking forward to it.

Sidekick is now available from the Amazon Appstore for Android! Hooray! It's on sale until early next week so get it while it's hot =)

Is there a difference between buying it this way vs the Google Play Store?

Nope, it's the same app in both stores. The only difference is that some devices have access to one store and not the other (e.g. Kindle Fire HD) and it is available in more countries on the Amazon Appstore.

When we release updates the app will be updated in both stores at the same time. The update may sometimes appear in Google Play a little bit sooner because its review process is quicker than Amazon's.

ok, thanks. I'd like to get it, but not sure I want to add my credit card into to my tablet.

You can buy it on your computer on Amazon.com, and then sign in with the same account in the Amazon Appstore app on your tablet, and download it. No need to enter your credit card into your tablet.

Lateralis is posting teasers and I'm jealous, so I'm posting one too. Coming soon to an Android device near you..


screen1.jpg640×1024 242 KB

Beautiful. I look forward to it. Will the condition tracker be implemented?

Notes & effects are not in this update, but will be part of a future update.

Sidekick 1.2 for Android has been published to Google Play and Amazon, and will be available once it filters through their respective processes.

Here's what's new:

• Official Sentinels of the Multiverse® high resolution card artwork for all Enhanced Edition Heroes, Villains, Environments, and target cards.
• Fixed a problem where the randomizer would not select promo villains.
• Many other small bug fixes and improvements.

The new update looks snazzy. But, of course I am going to ask why images for the expansions weren’t included. What can I say the Omnitron-X and Nightmist are two of the most popular at my table.

Still looking forward to condition tracker being implemented. We’ve taken to using the tablet (Nexus 7) to track HP instead of the tokens, and would like to similarly do away with the condition tracker tokens.

With Android we had a chance to re-organize the artwork packs in a way that makes more sense. On iOS it ended up a bit more of a mish mash because we built support for it bit by bit. On Android it will be more straightforward. Sidekick includes all Enhanced Edition artwork at high resolution, including target cards. The artwork for expansions will be available in a future update as downloadable art packs. So you'll be able to get the artwork just for the expansions you own. Those with only EE right now have a complete Sidekick experience on Android including high resolution and target cards, which would be a separate download on iOS.

We'll have to pay again for the expansion artwork?

Also, any idea when Vengeance will be added?

Artwork packs will be a paid upgrade, just like on iOS.

I can't give you a timeline on Vengeance, but we are continuing to work on it. The remaining two high priority items are effect tracking and Vengeance.

Glad to hear it.  We like using it at my table.  I'll gladly throw some more cash at you for the art packs... but yeah effect tracking and vengence are much more important.  Thanks for all your hard work.  Look forward to using it.

If anyone is still on the fence about getting Sentinels Sidekick for iOS, you can try a free demo out on our website now, via the magic of app.io!

http://sentinelsdigital.com/sentinels-sidekick-for-ios.html

Android news! Version 1.3 is now available on Google Play and should be available from Amazon Appstore soon (there's a review process there).

This version adds more important features to continue bringing the Android version closer to the iOS version.

• Flip villains from front to back, automatically adjusting their HP where applicable.
• Heroes and other character cards can now become incapacitated.
• Keep text notes on any target card during gameplay for basic effect tracking.
• Tap and hold to change HP continuously.
• New settings to show all heroes in portrait (tablet only) and change the order of target cards.

We made a blog post about the update, and here's a Nexus 7 screenshot!


Flips.jpg503×800 85.7 KB

Things dont look so good for the heroes in that screenshot.  :(

Maia totally has it under control.

Visionary is probably destroying any Ongoing or Environment cards that need it. Legacy is reducing the Environment damage by 2, which only Oxygen Leak can out damage, which won't act until the start anyhow. Absolute Zero is giving Wraith an extra power usage, so with Razor Ordinance and a Micro-Targeting Comuter, she is now dealing 5 damage on his turn. Bunker is putting a Throat Jab ontop of The Wraith's deck every round, allowing her to always ensure the Blade can't deal damage. On the Wraith's turn she is using Infrared Eye Piece to make sure the Blade Battlalion, Powered Remote Turret, or Hasten Doom doesn't show up, while also Razor Ordinancing. The Wraith will win in two rounds.

…

You scare me.

That is the correct response.

I agree, unless (H)=3, then he's weaksauce.

Nice one Ronway. I just added a feature to Mega Computer so you can start heroes out incapacitated. With that, you could try the scenario out!

OMG Sidekick update!

Android is now at version 1.4 and includes support for Vengeance - villains, heroes, and environments! Plus, it includes nemesis icons for all decks in the game & expansions.


iOS is now at version 2.3.2 - a tiny update that just contains The Super Scientific Tachyon promo card. 

Up next for Android is downloadable artwork packs. We'll have more details about those soon.

Later on, we'll be adding support for Wrath of the Cosmos and associated items of course. And iOS will be getting some more love; we've had some great feedback and suggestions from people and want to make those improvements. For now we're really focused on the video game, but we'll get back to Sidekick in time!

Sidekick1.4.png480×842 194 KB

Looks good on my phone,  and can't wait for the Artwork update!!!

No one going to comment on the Super Scientific Tachyon artwork there? Did anyone even NOTICE?

But I did. I ALWAYS notice.

Of course I noticed. https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/the-super-scientific-tachyon-5780

The Sidekick iOS app is great, thanks for all your hard work on this! 

Suggestion for next update: all landscape mode. 

My friends and I usually play with a single person doing all the HPs on the app, so we always use "all portrait mode". The issue we run into is that when we play several games in a row, the iPad ends up being turned on for > 5 hours, and eventually we want to plug it into power, which we can't do if it is standing in portrait mode. If the app would rotate to landscape mode, that would be awesome.

Thanks again!

Love the ap as it makes everything go by much smoother. Forgive me if this question was answered (as I couldn't find it through searching) but is it possible to track the entire V5 through it? We noticed picking the v5 only allows one of the villians to be shown. Is there something we're missing?

Thanks!

@jasoncepela - interesting idea, we'll note it as a possible feature for a future update.

@GentaX - you can indeed track all of the V5. Once you've added one, tap on the villain to bring up the little popup menu, and choose Add.

Any chance we'll see some cross platform tracking?  I've seen a few games pull this off.  Anything like that planned down the line?

While the multipeer feature on iOS Sidekick was fun (and easy) to implement, it turns out that it doesn't see a whole lot of use. It would be a lot more work to do it on Android, and even more to do it cross-platform. If we don't see a huge demand for it, it's not going to be a priority for us, considering the cost.

I'll give a voice to the minority then. This was a feature that I and my friends didn't know we needed or even wanted until it existed. Now, if there are two iPads on hand we automatically use them both.

While it may not be worth the development time to expand to other platforms (and I can certainly understand that!), it's a VERY nice feature for those of us who have it already.

Thanks! We know it does get used, but it's just not a whole lot overall. Anecdotes are nice but I have data =)

Hi MigrantP, most of the guys in my gaming group have the android version of the app, so they can't connect to each other, and the most we can ever do is my iPhone and my iPad. I have no doubt we would use it ALL THE TIME if we could connect them all together. The idea is actually very exciting. :)

Btw...love the app, and can't wait for the full game app!!!

Yeah, me and my buddy  both have the app running all the time when we play, but we only just recently discovered that we can synch up, which is as amazing as it sounds.

Sentinels Sidekick for Android got a major update today, version 1.5 with custom effects keyboard and downloadable artwork packs.

Details here, but the important thing is that you can now have an officially licensed picture of Cursed Acolyte on your Android tablet. 

http://handelabra.com/blog/2014/11/13/sentinels-sidekick-for-android-powers-up

Woo! Best news i've heard all year.

I wonder what other pictures I can get…

So...does this mean we can export high-resolution card artwork for everything? Like promos?

The artwork does not export, it's for use within Sidekick only. I believe high resolution artwork for promos is available from GTG by other means however.

An update for Sidekick iOS is now awaiting review. It has WotC support and a few cool new things. One wrinkle is that iTunes Connect (the back end for the App Store) is shut down from Dec 22 to Dec 29, and no changes can be made during that time. Depending on the shipping situation with WotC, you can expect to see the Sidekick update either before that window, or after it =)

Will this update include the promo decks and cards like the omnitron environment? What about other promos like 6 string? I know you will get them in there, just curious if they are already primed and ready to go. 

Yep, it will support all of the new mini expansions and promo cards. On iOS, the artwork pack for WotC will include the 3 new mini expansions.

Sweet!

Sidekick 2.4 for iOS is now available. An Android update is in the works as well.

I noticed I can't find the "Title Deck", where is it located on the app? or is it not there because they are not considered "targets"? It's an awesome update though!

Perhaps the Title deck contains no targets so there would be nothing for the app to show?

yeah, that's probably it, I keep forgetting that the Sidekick is not the full game :P I blame lack of sleep, New Years worries, and eagerness to play CAPTAIN COSMIC!!!!

I love this app! My only question is why no Team Leader Tachyon? Her other two promos are available for selection but Team Leader is surprisingly missing.

Because they've only released 4 hero promos. At the appropriate time (I'm guesssing when they release Shattered Timelines) the Freedom Six and TLT will become available for unlocking.

I'm talking about the Sidekick app, not the video game. Heroes and villains from WotC are already there, so why not TLT?

She's on mine under her correct name, Freedom Six Tachyon.

So she is. I've been looking for the wrong name. Thanks!

Sentinels Sidekick for Android is now updated with Wrath of the Cosmos!

Details here: http://handelabra.com/blog/2015/1/28/2015-is-off-to-a-great-start

woohoo!

woohoo!

Come on, I mean it's good news but it's not that good news.

i'm glad it updated, but will not be shouting from the roof tops till the lowest and highest include all hero targets like the sentinels or untiy robots.

Now that Villains of the Multiverse is shipping, Sentinels Sidekick versions 2.5 (iOS) and 1.7 (Android) are shipping too! The app now features support for Villains of the Multiverse, two new mini expansions, and all of the new promo cards.

On both versions:

• Villains of the Multiverse Artwork Pack is available as an upgrade option for all devices. This pack includes artwork for all heroes, villains, environments, and target cards in VotM and the 2 new mini expansions. 
• Plus a few more fixes and small improvements here and there!

On iOS:

• ​iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus users can use 3D Touch to quickly start a new game via shortcuts on the app icon.
• Custom card creation now supports team villains, so you can add your own custom villains within the Vengeance & Villains format.
• Improved App Thinning support so Sidekick takes up even less storage on your device than before.

As usual, the existing Artwork Packs will be updated with new promo cards where applicable. On iOS, tap "Restore Purchases" from the Tools menu to download the updates. On Android, tap "Redownload" from the Artwork Packs menu to get the updates.

The new update crashes on startup for me. I used the "report" feature on my phone, but I figured I'd give you a heads up while browsing the forums.

Please send us a report here with as much information as you can (device, OS, store, etc): http://handelabra.com/contact/

Ah, I see the problem. We ran into this Google Play issue on Sentinels too, I'll fix it up.

A new build (version 1.7 build 87) is processing in Google Play now and should fix that problem. It should be available to update in an hour or two. Thanks for letting me know!

Awesome, thanks!

question: with the sentinels promos, will the ability to mix and match be added at a later date or is this pointing to we will have to pick sentinels team a or b 

also to Adam, I brought the artwork pack so I could see pretty pictures. I love all the new artwork. You did a great job. :) 

You can mix and match in the app right now. You are free to remove and add Sentinel targets like any other hero targets.

Ok how? Normally just pick the heroes from the list.

is there a way in a future update for it to add a dummy loop to the list for a mix and match  that basically you hit it and then it runs down the 4 members of the sentinels and you can quickly select the ones you want. This option would be slightly more user friendly. 

Tap on one you want to remove and press Remove on the menu. Then press the big "+" card button to add another.

It's possible, but unlikely that we'll spend much time implementing a special feature like that for one deck. It's not a huge problem to select one team and then remove/add the 1 or 2 you want to change.

Hey MigrantP!

Some of the artwork for various hero promos seems to be missing when I downloaded & restored the new update!

For instance: I see Prime Warden Capt Cosmic art, but not Prime Warden Fanatic. I see the Hunted Naturalist, but not Scholar of the Infinite. I have none of the Termi-Nation promo art. I can't go through all of them, but it's clear that a bunch is missing. 

Please send help.

The existing Artwork Packs will be updated with new promo cards where applicable. On iOS, tap "Restore Purchases" from the Tools menu to download the updates. On Android, tap "Redownload" from the Artwork Packs menu to get the updates.

If that doesn't help, I'll need to know more information, like what platform you're on, device, OS, etc.

Iphone 4 (yeah I know its dated, but its what I got). I have all the download packs and have "restored purchase" a few times now and am still missing some artwork

Heh, what a plebian!

Hmm, it could be a problem with the app thinning. Can you send us a feedback message here with as much info as you can, and we can diagnose: http://handelabra.com/contact/

this happened to me as well, however fixed itself with restore purchases

You know Migrant, the more I use the app after the new version the more I find wrong with it.

I can't add any minions to various villains in the app without it crashing and closing out. Makes the app fairly unusable. It is also unbearably slow responsivly to the point where if I add a hero for instance, it takes about 4-5 full seconds before the app will decide to reconize any further inputs from the user. Same applies to every action I take, even lowering health. For an app that from the looks of it should be extreamly low impact, it is slowing down and crashing with most actions. This is all on top of the artwork bug im having after having paid for the art pack (don't get me wrong, im not upset over a dollar, you all do good work and deserve it. but its more the principle of the thing).

Granted I have an iPhone 4. It's older. But it runs newer apps that are much more high impact just fine. For as bare-bones as an app that does static art + hitpoint counters goes, it's performance severly hinders its usability for me. If you do not support the phone i'm using and not optimizing it, that I'll accept that answer happily. But I'm not entirely sure why I am having such a massive issue with a product I have loved and used so much since it first came out.

Are you on iOS 7? We've gotten another report of issues on that version, and updating to a newer OS fixed it. We did not do a lot of testing on iOS 7 because it's barely used anymore. However, we're looking into the problems.

its version 7.1.2. phone says software is up to date. Im positive upgrading to a new phone would solve the issue, but its just not in the "immediate needs" catagory.

Yeah, turns out that iPhone 4 maxes out at iOS 7.

Ok so the app is not tested with the 4 in mind. It's so old at this point that I don't hold that againt you guys at all, but at least I know what the issue is. Looks like I'll have to upgrade in the near future and get with the times. 

We have a fix in the works and should be able to have you help verify it soon, I'll let you know on the support ticket.

You are the man.

I have a 3GS, so I'm envious of your dinosaur.

Because he's keeping you down? 

I need to update here and give a massive amount of respect to MigrantP.

You didn't need to spend time putting in optimizations for an outdated OS. But the last update of the app did and every single negative I've been having, from response times from the app to the random crashes to the artwork, was all fixed or alleviated greatly.

Thank you John. You rock fast and hard and you went above and beyond what you had to do here.

Have to agree. In general, Handelabra has been a great group of folks who really do what they can for their customers. 

Welcome! =)

*tap tap tap*

Is this thing on?

*tap tap tap*

Now that people are receiving shiny little boxes in the mail, Sentinels Sidekick has been updated with the new variants. Version 2.5.2 for iOS and version 1.7.1 for Android are working their way through the series of tubes now.

There are a few bug fixes in there too!

AAHHHH! Will they require new sleeves? Or will they fix in the box without?

Will this update include a fix for selecting Vengeance style villains becoming unselectable in certain situations? Been waiting on that one for a little bit now.

Yep!

Awesome. Just downloaded the update. I can finally use the app to play VoTM.

*blows the dust off this thread*

Sentinels Sidekick got an update! It can now launch the video game with the setup you choose or randomize. Plus nemesis icons are updated and a few more things. And we've published the specification for launching Sentinels, so any app/website can do it!

More info here: http://handelabra.com/blog/2017/11/7/sentinels-sidekick-update-with-launch-game-support

This is pretty awesome!

Thanks!

Oh, sweet!  I'll have to get this working on my own randomizer/calculator pages.

Do we have an ETA on when the oblivAeon stuff will be added to this great app.

We are working on it, but some other projects have higher priority right now. We might add the heroes/environments first before the OblivAeon mode itself. Can't give an ETA just yet, however.

We are working on an update with the heroes & environments that should be available soon. We plan to add support for the OblivAeon game mode itself in a future update.

Sentinels Sidekick is being updated today with support for the OblivAeon heroes & villains, along with the 6 new mini expansion heroes!

I love this app and use it every time I play the physical game.  Thank you for all your hard work.

Any chance of getting Harpy tokens integrated into the app?

Thanks! I'm not really sure how that would work, but I'll add it to the list to look into.

Any word on when the OblivAeon scenario will be added? Love this tool!

It's on our list, but it's a big project and we're busy with other things. No ETA.