Sentinels of Freedom

A new turn-based tacictal adventure coming to Kickstarter April 2018

https://www.sentinelsoffreedomgame.com/

"Turn-based tactics video game" and "Sentinels" in the same sentence.

[has little hearts appear over her eyes]

Cool!

Based on screenshots seen on reddit months ago I would not have thought turn based.   

ohmygodyes

Looks like it’s being developed by Underbite Games, a company which has just one existing game to its credit: Super Dungeon Tactics. Never heard of it myself. Steam reviews are decent. Only one Metacritic review, which is awful. Anyone familiar with it?

IT

IS

MY

WISH

I have a very checkered history with Kickstarter video games, but I'm hoping for the best as someone who plays an awful lot of SOTM and has played Final Fantasy Tactics so many times that I've genuinely lost count.

Damnit, GTG! You've already got my wallet crying in pain! Why you do this to me?!

But for serious, I'm hoping this turns out well. A Kickstarter for a boardgame is one thing, but videogames are a whole different can of worms.(We've all heard the horror stories of Yogscast, Mighty No. 9 and so on...) Especially a company with only one game under their belt, dealing with a IP with such a dedicated fanbase. Handelabra at least had a chance to prove themself with the base set of SotM before they had their first campaign.

But Underbite does seem to have experience, and those models do look good. So I'll strive to keep a positive attitude and make sure to donate on day one. :)

I only hope they don’t launch at the same time or overlap with the RPG core book as I think that would impact how many people can pledge on it.  

Ah yeah, that could be a problem. Let's hope they space the two out by at least a month or two...

Uh… Really? You say this and don't share a link?! 

Here’s what I posted back then. It’s not much. This was a 30 second part of the 20 minute loop outside the GTG room at GenCon. Christopher just said that it was “a secret video game for the future” when I asked him about it after the LP recording, so it’s not like there was a lot of info on it.

Uh, oh. “Turn-based tactical game” made me think XCOM-style, like a digitized version of Sentinel Tactics where the player has a squad of heroes against a computerized villain, going on story missions. Do you think it instead meant JRPG-style, where all your guys are arrayed against all their guys and you just take turns picking which attack animation to do?

Oh, I don't think Sentinels of Freedom is going to be JRPG-style, FFT has just been my personal go-to game for about 15 years whenever I need some video game comfort food. So I'll be over here ignoring that last clause. :)

I’m throwing my money at my computer screen, but it’s not helping April get here any sooner!

Is it even the same game? Bunker looks similar, but the model for Wraith is very different and obviously the title isn’t the same either.

It’s the only other video game screenshots we have.  If it’s not related then I’d like to know what happened.  

 Oh, I guess there’s a detail not present in the pics I posted but I can verify that the GenCon teaser did show that Underbite was the developer. Looks like they just decided on a new title.

I’ve added two photos to the imgur gallery. One just confirms the developer and the other is my panicked “get a picture of this thing that I’m seeing” photo that prompted me to hang out there by the room until it cycled back around.

That...that looks damned cool.   :D

"Prepare for a story driven campaign within the Sentinel Comics universe..."

I don't think I've ever read more exciting words than these.

I wonder if a Switch port would be possible...

No doubt, that'll be a popular question during the campaign.

The original announcement was quite some time ago, before indie development for the Switch was so much of a thing.  I understand it's actually easier to port to Switch than to PS4, plus it's clearly insanely profitable (see: Super Meat Boy) so it's pretty likely.  I'll personally back it only if that gets me a copy for Switch--I don't have much time to play in front of my TV.

Hah, I was a little confused at first--the desktop version of the website says "Inspired by the award winning game by Sentinel Comics" (which isn't quite correct), but the mobile version switches the logos around and says "Inspired by the award winning game by Underbite Games." Super Dungeon Tactics doesn't seem to have won any awards that I can find....

I mean, I have Steam so I can obviously play it there, but having more portable Sentinels action that doesn't require me carrying around a canvas bag with three heavy box-fulls of cards sounds pretty good...

Looking at the description again, this game sounds like it will put some cool twists on the XCOM style. The stances and support actions will really add to the feel of a hero team leaning on each other to ultimately defeat the villain. I love the description of a bank heist foiling turning into…presumably, Baron Blade showing up. It would be cool to have a base in Freedom Plaza, assigning squads of heroes to deal with minor events throughout the city but not knowing if a supervillain might turn up.

The stances sound particularly interesting in light of the two heroes down. Bunker has obvious applications: his modes. So does Wraith: stealth combat, melee combat, and probably something investigation-related. It’s not obvious to me how to apply that kind of scheme to every hero we know, though.

Something else intriguing: the Sentinels of Freedom teaser site starts with the sentence: “Prepare for a story driven campaign within the Sentinel Comics universe.” Do you think this means it actually takes place in what we previously knew as the RPG timeline? That makes sense for a game where you can build your own heroes, and I’m excited that there might be a way I can get at the RPG lore and fun as a guy who doesn’t enjoy role playing very much.

Based on the artwork and further enforced by the description I had thought this was the RPG universe.  

Also the new title, since the Sentinels of Freedom are the new uber-group that the old Freedom Five are a part of in the RPG timeline following the starter kit.

My only question is whether Christopher will be writing this story as a core, canon experience or if Underbite is writing their own story using B-list villains and their own creations.

I'm going to hazard a guess that they've got Christopher on board to head up the story, since this very well could be the "cool Sentinels Comics related thing for 2018" repeatedly mentioned on Paul's 'State of GTG' posts.

There's been an update to the web site - lots of new description of the gameplay. It sounds very promising! I think this line, in particular, is there to troll us XCOM players:

[Vigilance] actions can go much further than the standard overwatch with actions like "keep cover" which allows a character in cover to try and find new cover when flanked.

Some new screenshots up, too. This snippet makes me think that Christopher and Adam might be playable characters… 

I was hoping to see a video game version of the new Sentinel Tactics but I guess that won't happen now.

Edit: That sounded more negative and petulant than I intended. Apologies.

Looking at the site.  That is not Christopher and Adam.   It’s Wraith and a goon.  They likely will have an appearance in the game but that is not it.  

Its when they have modeled the goons of Adam that we know which of the creators is there favorite... 

Chistopher is Wraith. Confirmed.

Great Question. Christopher is writting the story and Adam is art directing - we couldn't be more excited to work with them.

The Squad, Support and Vigilance systems are some of the things we are most excited about from a game mechanics point of view.  We feel it will make the game feel more alive.  These systems can be upgraded and customized as you progress too.  We will being starting some development blog posts soon and will be sharing more indepth with these and other features like the "stances"

• Cory

The announcement today says there will be console releases.  Which consoles in particular?  Any chance of porting to iOS or Android as well?

We are in the process of approval so we can not announce yet however, I can say they are are authorized developers for PS4, Xbox One and Switch.  Our current game will be launching on all three platforms early summer.  As for mobile, we would consider porting it to iOS and Android if there was a big enough demand - but that will likely not happen on release.

Thanks.  

I know, I made a small joke based on passing resemblance and the position of those icons next to each other.

Hi, UglyOrangeFish! Thanks for answering our questions. I was wondering, since Handelabra's Sentinels of the Multiverse video game contains a little Multiverse-pedia with lore and backstory that previously appeared on Greater Than Games' website…will Sentinels of Freedom contain the RPG sourcebook material as in-game references?

XCOM/Shadowrun Returns style gameplay with Sentinels theming. Sign me up.

This a cool thing and happening in my own back yard, I even recognize the name on underbite from back in my short stint at ferris. Since customizing heroes is a big part, I imagine that’s why it’s rpg timeline over tactics.

It looks like GtG is trying to get some product synergy going with the similarities between this and the rpg (not just that they're in the same universe, but the whole customizing your own hero with backstory, personality, power source and archetype is straight out of the rpg).

Like this RPG you're playing?  There's a videogame too!

Like this videogame you're playing?  There's a tabletop RPG too!

I think it's a really good idea and I hope it works out for them.

This is pretty much my reaction.

I wonder, is this going to involve many of the existing canon heroes, or focus on the Freedom Five + your newbies?

Sentinels of Freedom, Daybreak, and other heroes as well! Plus your own unique hero.

Depending on my schedule I might make an appearance too.   Too bad you can’t win without me.  

I'm assuming this will, again like Shadowrun Returns, allow you to customizer your hero by choosing a general appearance and a profile picture.   If that's the case, you should include portraits of Nightmist, The Scholar, Ra, Aata-Haka, La Comodora, etc. to let people live out their "that didn't happen" wish-fulfilment fantasies.

Oooh!  Does this imply that a player-created hero can be "slotted in" to already-existing teams to fulfill missions? 

I'm sorry for not joining the happyness bandwagon, but this news ... Well, I'm not overjoyed by it.

Don't get me wrong : I would love to see and play that game but right now, C&A are ending the OblivAeon KS, are working on the RPG KS and (for Christopher) are supposed to work on Sentinels of Earth Prime too.

And that is just KS related stuff. There is Letters Pages too for instance.

Even if it is linked with the RPG and they are just "helpling", this is yet another project. That's the word 'another' I don't like.

It doesn't sound like they're helping very much, though.  Adam is directing the art, not creating it.  I think that just means he's made some sample artwork (already done), and Underbite's artist(s) will match it and run it by Adam for his approval.  Christopher is responsible for "story," which could be anything from writing an outline, which would take him less than an hour, to writing every line of dialogue, which would take days if not weeks.  I'm guessing something closer to the former, since he knows perfectly well how many other things are on his plate, and higher priority.  With his love of storytelling, he might even be done already.  So I'm guessing this won't slow them down appreciably.

First of all, I should comment on how hyped I am for this. I'm a huge fan of both tactical-strategy games and Sentinels, who's also glad more people are doing super-hero stuff in video-games. Hope we get to see some gameplay  soon. 

The character creation intrigues me. Ideally it would be like in MMOs like Champions or City of Heroes, where you could customize tons of details and make things like robots, monsters, futuristic soldiers, normal looking guys and I-Can't-Believe-it's-not-wolverine. 

But that could be quite tricky to do in this game. I'd be ok with something like Shadowrun where you pick pre-made models/portraits. 

According to the site, you create a character by choosing background, personality (which was also said to be a mechanic), power source and archetype. I will spend hours upon hours trying to predict what these could be. 

Confirming it now that Guise will be our tutorial fairy in the game.

Switch confirmed! I am a happy man-child.

Great Question - So there are some great synergies between the RPG and Video Game but they are not direct tranlations.  With that said, Includng as much lore as we can that fits the digital product would make sense.  Sorry for the kinda vague response, we have been heavily focused on nailing down the art with Adam and finalizing core mechincs in the game so the more "extra" features are still somewhat vague - but we will get the nailed down as well over the next few weeks :)

You are pretty much spot on!  

For art, we send over images\sculpts and Adam says yes\no\fix\etc. 

On story, Christopher is such an amazing amount to pull from that it is mind boggling.  We actually already have a complete rough for the story including all major locations, heroes, enemies, and even level objective pertaining to the story.  Final dialogue and side quests are really the only details needed at this point beyond any extras that get unlocked during the Kickstarter -  so I do not see this impacting existing projects at all.

Oh goody, there's gonna be side quests! :)

When I was playing Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, I remember thinking, “man, an XCom style game with Sentinels characters would be AWESOME!”

So I’m glad that’s what’s happening!

I hope the character models improve, though. They are a bit… Bad at the moment.

Also YES SWITCH CONFIRMED

Color me interested to see how this one develops.

I know it's a ways out to confirm, but any possibility for a physical release for consoles, or is this likely digital only?

I’d say a Nintendo Switch. 

Given that the only console system I've ever owned was the original NES, if I were to join the party does anyone have thoughts on which would be the best system to lock myself into?  If it's helpful, I have a three year old who I would hope would also use the system eventually.

Yeah I should clarify from my earlier comment that some of my favorite games are, like, Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, so a turn-based squad tactics RPG Sentinels game is as close to the perfect idea you could pick to make me happy.

I'll echo that.  It doesn't have the breadth of games of the PS4 and XBOne, but it's catching up fast, and for me at least, there are more games on it I actually play.  And the portablility factor is huge.

Typically it is not cost effective for Indies to do physical products as there is much more involved.   We wont count it out - since that would be cool - but mostly likely just digital.

i'll reserve my optimism until I know I'll be able to play it on my console. 

The Last Remnant taught me to wait until console releases are actually confirmed before getting excited.

Sorry, just saw this post.  That is the same "game" just a new name and an updated Bunker

We posted a Blog Bite talking about one of the game mechanics in Sentinels of Freedom - Hero Stances.  You can find out more here:

https://www.sentinelsoffreedomgame.com/single-post/2018/02/20/A-look-into-Hero-Stances

You mention in the blog that the heroes get access to more Stances as the game goes on. Is that going to be are now at this point so bunker now has access to Utility, Turret & Recharge mode in every fight now or is it more you can choose x modes before going into the fight to inform how you are going to deal with the bad guys this time around? 

Great Question.  It is the second, you get "x" number of stances and can choose which type and what abilites are in each of those stances.  The type of stance will influence which abilites you can have.

Can you swap between 'equipped' stances between battles?

Yes, when you setup the characters on your team between missions, you will be able to choose which stances you want and what abilites for each stance.  Even non-player characters like Absolute Zero will have options for stances.

AZ is an NPC?! 

You should’ve said that’s cold

Probably. But my pun game isn’t doing so hot right now…

Sorry, did not mean traditional NPC - meant a hero that is not your custom hero.  So you can setup any heroes on your team with custom Stances.

Very excited for this! Will definitely be backing the kickstarter.

Three questions:

1. Will there be a playable prototype/proof of concept demo available to try out during the kickstarter?
2. Will this be using Steam Early Access or equivalent open beta?
3. Do you have a rough estimate on development time/release? Six months? One to two years? Too early to say?

Great ot hear and excellant questions!  

1 - We will be showing a very early build at PAX East and are looking into making that available for the Kickstarter as well.

2- We have not decided on open beta method yet but are very interested in doing some form of that

3- Once we ar done with the Kickstarter, we will have a better idea but early planning looks like late spring or summer.  We have done a good deal of work already to prepare.

Thank you for the answers! I truly hope the kickstarter is a rousing success!

New post explaining intiative in Sentinels of Freedom:

https://www.sentinelsoffreedomgame.com/single-post/2018/02/27/How-does-initiative-work

Interesting, and a bit weird.  I'm not sure if you go faster if you move more or if you move less.  Typically tactics games grant bonus speed for taking fewer actions or moving less, but the "Quick" category name implies that "quick" characters, i.e. ones that move more, go first--plus it would be more thematic with the Sentinels characters (Tachyon, who runs around a lot, should go early, while Bunker, who often doesn't move at all, should go late).

Also, the way it's written, it seems like every character gets slower every round except the hero that goes first, which would mean they'd all bottom out eventually.  But on re-reading it a couple of times, I'm thinking that the speed category for each round is based on how much you moved in the previous round, minus one "category" if you didn't go first (meaning that you'd be immune to the penalty either if you went first or if you were in the slowest category based on your movement anyway).

There's also a hint at some sort of "squad" mechanic that I'm sure we'll hear more about later on.

Right, we felt that if a character was already running - they would have the jump on characterst that are standing still - though if they get a bad roll they could still be going later.

For Speed catagory, yes, it is based on how much you moved in the previous round (total).  The penalty will just drop you one catagory - unless your 1st.

On your last comment, we will be explaining more later but enemies can form squads which will give them access to unique ablitlties and heroes have support actions that allow attacks\actions to be enhanced by other heroes - such as distraction or assisted reload. 

OK, so is there an incentive for not moving your full speed every round?  If you're happy where you are, can you just run around in a little circle?  That not only seems silly thematically, it seems like an annoyance for the player.

So when you stay still, you get an increase to your dodge roll, accuracy bonus and you have more Action Points to use!

OK, so there's an incentive to either not move at all or to move your maximum speed.  It still sounds like if you need to move just a little bit, your best bet is to run around in a little circle instead of leaving any part of your movement unused.

So, okay, it sounds like players get to make one custom hero and then for each mission get to select a squad from a pool consisting of that hero + the Freedom Five (+ other existing Sentinels characters?), with the entire hero squad being playable during the mission. Here are some things I wonder…

• Do players get the chance to meet more custom heroes during the game? Of their own creation, or other players’?

• Do players get to play other Sentinels Universe heroes, like the Prime Wardens or Paradigms?

• Do other Sentinels Universe heroes show up as true NPCs during a mission?

So you are correct on how normal hero squads will be in the game.  There will likely be some twists though

On your questions, many of those will be deturmined by the Kickstater.  While were are covering much of the core game, we are looking suppport to bringing as much of the "extra" content as we can into the game - in this episode or additional episodes!

A few tidbits about character creation:  

https://www.sentinelsoffreedomgame.com/single-post/Hero-Creator

Very cool--uses terminology similar to the RPG while deriving unique mechanics from it.  The graphical aspect of it looks cool, too--I'll probably use screenshots of this for my own RPG characters.  (Less trouble than finally loading up the Black Desert character creator and figuring out how to use it, certainly.)

Is the Black Desert thing still free? THe website keeps telling my to get the game?