Patrick Dorsey
Patrick Dorsey
This is a general summary of Greater Than Games production dates I have assembled since Sentinel Tactics original Kickstarter concluded.
April 2014 original Sentinel Tactics Kickstarter funded, including add-on maps which were supposed to have scenarios to be used with them. Update on KS in Oct 2015 said scenarios to be distributed in downloadable format due to printing issues. No scenarios released to date.
Jan 14, 2015 Villains of the Multiverse for SotM announced. Broken City and For Profit for Sentinel Tactics announced.
Mar 2015 pre-orders for Villains, Broken City and For Profit ended. Expected delivery to be by end of 2015.
Villains begins shipping Dec 28, 2015.
Positive notes regarding Tactics progress were given in various news posts. Jan 2016 announced delays for Broken City and For Profit, expected delivery updated to early 2017.
Aug 2016 notice given that Broken City and For Profit will be postponed, and Wave 2 of Sentinel Tactics with initial releases of Prime War and Rise of the Ennead announced.
April 2017 Paul said OblivAeon would need to go to printers before any further progress could be reviewed. In Dec 2017 after OblivAeon went to printers Paul advised they had had a major Tactics meeting in Nov. The hope was for something to demo by GenCon. In Jan 2018 Paul advised they had a week of intensive work on Tactics in December. Christopher said in LiveStream test this week that files were recently sent to volunteer playtesters.
Since the map add-ons from the original Tactics Kickstarter as well the conclusion of pre-orders for Broken City and For Profit GTG has had a number of games developed and successful Kickstarters, for example:
May 2015 Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG announced. Sentinels Comics RPG Starter Kit was released Nov 2017.
Mar 2016 SotM OblivAeon Kickstarter funded, currently printing, delivery expected by latest July 2018
July 2016 Exoplanets (No. Amer. version) Kickstarter funded, game has since been completed and delivered
Aug 2016 Fate of the Elder Gods Kickstarter funded, game has been since completed and delivered
Oct 2016 Spirit Island Kickstarter funded, game has since been completed and delivered
Nov 2016 Lazer Ryderz Kickstarter funded, game has since been completed and delivered
Since pre-orders for Broken City and For Profit closed GTG has also merged with Dice Hate Me (Feb 2015). There have been multiple Kickstarters under that name also funded and delivered or in process, as well Sentinels of Earth Prime with Green Ronin, Sentinels RPG with Critical Hits Studios, assorted video game productions with Handelabra, the upcoming Sentinels of Freedom with Underbite Games, and various cancelled or unfunded projects.
@fenianb
We are actively working on Prime War, and will definitely be posting more information about it and its progress when it comes available. We have had a ton of difficulty and anxiety relating to Sentinel Tactics, more than any other project we have contemplated or released. We had several false starts, including several version of Broken City and Prime War that were developed for a long time and then reached a dead end. We are continuing to work through it to deliver a product to you that we are proud of. Here are a few truths that I am able to share:
- We have high confidence in the iteration of Prime War currently on the playtesting forum.
- We will definitely produce Prime War once we fully confident in the state of the game.
- We definitely understand if you have lost confidence in Prime War, and will give you a full refund if you preordered Broken City.
- We will announce a lot more details about Prime War as soon as we are fully confident that we are telling you true things about the path forward.
- We will not announce anything about Prime War until we are fully confident that we are telling you true things about the path forward.
Also, Sentinels of Freedom isn't related gameplay-wise to any other product. It uses familiar Sentinels characters, as they appear in the RPG, but it's a completely unique system that would be a bear at best to translate to a physical product. It's also being developed almost entirely by a third party--Christopher is writing story and Adam is acting as art director, but they aren't developing, playtesting, etc. Its existence isn't pushing back Sentinel Tactics or any other >G product by any notable amount.
I feel like 4 & 5 on Paul's list are important after recent convos I've had elsewhere. It's hard to be transparent when history has shown that people will completely flip their lids if they're ever given a timeframe or any other sort of info that turns out to be rendered wrong by unexpected events.
Also to go with MindWanderer's post, GTG is a business. Many of the things on your list were developed by people other than Christopher and Adam or require only partial involvement and so have zero effect on Prime War development other than generating money for GTG so GTG can stay open. Likewise, OblivAeon and the RPG were always planned projects and have proven likehood of being financially successful, so it wouldn't be a good plan to completely stop them for the sake of Prime War development.
Between this and the usual OblivAeon-related reactions, I increasingly wish people would understand that while you have a right to be disappointed, there are sometimes reasons why things are the way they are that are not "excuses" or "GTG just being rotten to its fans" and that complaining can't do much to change. Because the constant complaining--particularly since a lot of it is often hostilely-toned to boot--is creating a toxic and unfun atmosphere that's risking putting me off from the fandom.
Like after we already had a couple hostile aggressive questions as it is during the OblivAeon Kickstarter test, I'm wondering if I even want to go to the Q&A because I'm worried that any interesting discussion about the actual content of the product will be drowned out by the usual hostility from people saying the same complaints they always drown into just about every update.
Admittedly, I've also had that thought about the Q&A...
I mean, over on Reddit I had a convo in a thread about the update where after I asked if the people complaining could maybe give it a rest because it's getting to be annoyingly unproductive and unjustly aggressive at this point, people rushed in to defend their "right" to be hostile toned and continue to make the same complaints over and over (including saying they want "apologies" that GTG has actually already made, for issues GTG has already addressed), and then claimed I was "attacking" them for giving them any sort of criticism along with other chastisements and downvotes aimed at me.
So... yeah. I don't think I'm being paranoid, I feel like I have honest reason to worry that people might show up to be toxic and then pitch a fit if they're asked to not do that, since that literally already happened.
Heck, I've also had people pitch fits at me when asked to not drown out the Letters Page threads with negativity, too. Like, I'm just starting to not want to come to the fandom any more if I have to wade through regular negativity to reach positive topics and then get constant pot shots taken at me whenever I ask if maybe we could change the mood ratio to something less oppressing.
I'm going. I'm planning on trying to drown them out and otherwise ignoring them.
I'm not too worried about negativity in the Live Q&A thing next Tuesday. I'm pretty good at shutting down that sort of thing when it's in person, and this is close to that. We shall see, though! The trolls, they may be many... but I am not afraid.
Just remember, folks, Christopher's favorite question to answer is which hero he likes playing the most.
Now that's trolling! :V
Thank you for your response. While not giving any particulars you have answered me in general. I feel better for having communicated my sentiments clearly. I hope for more in the future as it comes available.
I regret that you feel my original post is close to trolling. While I hoped to elicit more information regarding the development process I do not intend to cause and promote conflict. I was very specific in expressing these are my feelings and perceptions regarding this game's development and how it has been communicated to us. I tried to express clearly why I had these impressions. I did not demand but rather requested and suggested more transparency and communication. I have done so in what I thought was a polite manner in the appropriate forum. In the past I think have tried to remain at minimum polite and open to communcation. If I have failed in that regard I apologize. If you can recommend of another method to publicly express my feelings on this matter, please let me know.
Christopher wasn’t talking about you specifically but about the possibility on the Live Q&A
When Christopher wrote 'this is close to that', I think he meant that a Q&A is close to in person.
Andy and Powerhound understand my writing much better than most!
Thank you for clarifying.
Thank you---both to OP for raising the issues and to gtg for replying.
I'm glad to hear the system is coming along.
I'm sorry the vexed customers are causing stress--but you have to admit that if you say "The scenarios are all done but we decided not to print them on the maps themselves because they would be illegible" and then never share them at all, well it doesn't exactly inspire trust.
I get it, the system is changing and you want scenarios that work with the new system. That could be great...someday. For now though, it's not just a Prime War thing. It's the original kickstarter still not being complete. It's these four weird shaped boxes that take an awkward chunk of shelf space.
It would be nice to know if the real situation is "we have some great scenarios they just have to be brought in line with the new rules" or if it's more like "well really the reason we didn't print the scenarios is they were a mess and nobody really knows what to do with those maps so we will hopefully try to do something with them someday but it's a sort of an intellectually 'unfunded obligation' at this point rather like the Ogre Nightfall stuff" I don't think confirmation of the latter would freak anyone out at this point. I mean, that's how it seems, and sometimes kickstarter things don't work out, that's part of the deal. But it would certainly be nice to know how things stand.
It is situation #1! Since we'll be altering the system, we don't want to release anything more under the old one.