October 16th, 2015 will mark the 1-year anniversary of Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game. Not only that, but we couldn’t be happier to announce that October 16th will also see the release of the most anticipated feature yet - Online Multiplayer! To mark the occasion, we are throwing a weekend long party on the 16th, 17th and 18th. So what do you need to know?
Multiplayer
We’ve been hard at work on multiplayer ever since launching Infernal Relics earlier in the summer. Our wonderful team of beta testers has been putting it through its paces for the last 2 months and it’s finally ready for prime time. Barring any technical difficulties, the multiplayer update will go live across all platforms some time during the day on October 16th.
- Steam - The Steam update will go live on or around 9 am Eastern, the morning of the 16th.
- Google Play and Amazon Appstore - we will be pushing the button sometime before 9 am Eastern on the morning of the 16th and it usually takes a few hours to publish.
- iTunes App Store - assuming it is approved*, we will be pushing the button sometime before 9 am Eastern on the morning of the 16th and it usually takes a few hours to publish.
If you participated in the multiplayer beta testing (either private or public), thank you! Your feedback was invaluable in helping us get this highly-anticipated feature ready to go. If you haven’t yet seen multiplayer in action, you can watch our last couple streams to see it in its near final form. But either way, you’ll be able to save the Multiverse online with your friends starting on the 16th.
Online multiplayer will launch with the following initial features, and we plan to continue improving it as we move forward.
- Live (synchronous) play cross-platform between iOS, Android, and PC/Mac/Linux
- Text chat between players at any time before, during, or after the game
- Login with Steam, Game Center, Google Play, or Amazon GameCircle depending on your platform/store
- Create private games that your friends can join, or play with anyone else online
Future plans include:
- Voice chat
- Asynchronous play
- More platform specific integration (invite friends, etc)
- DLC compatibility packs
- Beer & pretzels
Anniversary Sale
During the celebration we will be running a very special sale on Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game. From October 16th to 18th**, the game will be discounted everywhere that Sentinels is sold. But in addition to being discounted, for every copy of the game sold that weekend, we will be donating $1 to Child’s Play Charity.
We’ve already sold more than 27,000 copies of the game across all platforms, but with your help, we think this promotion can put us over 30,000! if you have friends that have been waiting for multiplayer, let them know that this is the time to jump, and feel good about doing so! If you already own Sentinels, we’ll also be running a donation widget here so you can donate as much or as little as you like. For more information about Child’s Play Charity, check out their site.
So just how much of a discount will we be running? Well we have to keep something a surprise right?
Streaming Party
We’re sure you’ll all be diving into the multiplayer Multiverse as soon as you can, but we’ll be celebrating all weekend and we’d love for you to join us. Starting at 9 am Eastern time on the 16th, you’ll be able to watch Sentinels being played online. We stream every Tuesday night at 8 pm (Eastern) but on our anniversary, we’ll be streaming to our Twitch Channel all day long from Handelabra Games HQ. Come hang out with us while we chat about the game, talk about the process, introduce ourselves a bit and of course, play lots and lots of Sentinels.
After our day of streaming, we’re turning it over to you, the fans. All weekend long, we’ll be highlighting streamers who will be playing the game live. If you would like to be one of those streamers, check out this post and then get in touch. And if you fancy yourself musical, we’re also gathering up fans playing the theme song. If we get enough submissions, we’re hoping to make a fun anniversary video. If you’d like to participate, get your music to us by next Tuesday, October 13th (more info about the music here).
Join the Celebration!
Throughout the weekend you’ll be able to check in at our Facebook page or Twitter. Anything relevent will also be tagged with the #Sentinels1Year hashtag. And our anniversary page will be keeping a running tally of how much money we’ve raised for Child’s Play. All in all, it should be one fantastic weekend and it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Save the date, and we’ll see you on the 16th!
* For those that are interested in the technical details, there is a bug in our development engine (Unity) that is causing some issues with iOS builds. We are working directly with Unity to get things fixed ahead of the launch but this may hold up the iTunes release. Given the timing, we have decided not to hold the release of other platforms in the event that iOS is not ready. No matter what, iTunes will still be participating in the sale.
** Different stores update pricing at different times. For instance, iTunes updates pricing at midnight local time whereas Steam updates pricing at 10 am Pacific time. Check your favorite store to see when the game has gone on sale.