RIght, so not like I can program or anything, but has anyone heard any plans for making an iOS adapation of Sentinels? I'd love to get one. :-)
The only thing we've heard about is the "Sentinels Sidekick" (http://sentinelsofthemultiverse.com/forum/topic/sentinels-sidekick-out-now-ipad-iphone) that lets you keep track of card hp. There is no actual app that lets you actually play the game.
I have a friend who's an experienced app designer who's expressed an interest in a project like this, but there would be challenges. For example, if someone bought the app for a buck, that would let them play the full game without having to buy the $40 actual game, right? Not good. SotM could start including codes in the boxed games that let you play the app, but that's a whole logistics thing. Not a simple problem.
Agreed, it's not a simple problem, that's for sure. I definitely wouldn't say a buck! Sentinels is way cooler than that. But, for example, you can pick up Ghost Stories ios (another coop game, not nearly as cool as SotM) for $4.99.
Summoner Wars (another boardgame) just came out at a similar price. Small World comes at the hefty price of $7.99. Ultimately, the real question is whether the appstore costs game designers money in the long run, or if it actually brings more customers. The guys behind the deckbuilder Ascension (which has a really successful ios app, over a million games played) have said it's actually increased their physical sales. Of course, I'm not sure if they're an exception to the rule, or what the actual sales numbers are either.
What I've seen work for game designers before is to provide a mobile version that is limited in scope compared to the main game. For instance, the aforementioned Smallworld app only allows two actual plays per iPad (and I'm not even sure it allows more via wireless); the Dominion app lets you play against AIs but not real people; the Carcassonne app has no expansions that I've seen.
So maybe if they allowed you to play Sentinels via mobile but restricted the number of heroes and environments available (like they did with the VASSAL module), or only allowed you to play solo unless you and your friends had multiple iPads, that might help push sales for the main game. Or it could tick people off and make them not want to give "those jerks" any money because they pruned the mobile game. Either way, it seems like people like the game as a card game enough that a mobile version is unlikely to destroy their sales of physical sets.
I think it would be great to play SotM on my iPad. I agree with Balo though, it would have to be played on multipule devices in order to work. Maybe have the iPad as the "table" and then personal ipods and ipads as the players area. If it could work that way, it would be super cool.