iOS Season 2 Launch Date: September 21 (Tomorrow!)
over 8 years ago – Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 10:35:27 PM

Sentinels version 2.1 along with Season Pass 2 has been approved by Apple! As promised, it will be released on Wednesday, September 21 in the early hours.

The 48 hour discount period will begin at that time, and last until the end of Thursday, September 22. All sales of Season Pass 2 on iOS during the discount period will count toward stretch goals, which we are tracking here. We are well within reach of The Sounds of Victory and we think our faithful iOS players will push us through even more goals! Who doesn’t want new game modes?

Dark Watch Setback will be available for unlocking via story challenge starting at noon Eastern on September 21. Let the variant hunt begin!

This is your final chance to contribute to the Season 2 campaign and make it the best it can be. Spread the word to all your friends and enemies! Sentinels of the iOSverse, we are counting on you!

Season 2 Launch Numbers & Tachyon Shipping Update
over 8 years ago – Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 01:54:53 PM

Season 1 is but a distant memory and the time of Season 2 is officially upon us. The Steam and Android launches went great this weekend! We can report that between backers, pre-orders, and this weekend’s sales, more than 3500 players have already made the jump into Season 2 on Steam and Android. Thank you!

If you expected to receive a Steam key or Google Play promo code for Season Pass 2 and you don’t have it, please visit your BackerKit page and click “Get Your Digital Downloads.” If you’re not seeing BackerKit emails, check your spam folder. Redemption instructions for both Steam and Google Play are in this update. 

Mobile Sales 

We kept you updated each day on our stretch goals page throughout the 48 hour mobile discount, and we now have official numbers to share regarding sales of Season 2 on Google Play and Amazon.

381 copies sold = $7,620 added to stretch goals!

That brings our total to $121,693, bringing Sounds of Victory easily within reach!

Remember, we’re still waiting for the iOS update to be approved, and it will have its own 48 hour discount period where sales of Season Pass 2 contribute to the stretch goals. Here is the plan:

• If/when Apple approves the submission we will announce that here
• Version 2.1 and Season Pass 2 will be released the following calendar day
• The iOS discount period will extend for 48 hours after sales begin

Super-Scientific Shipping

Now that Season 2 has begun, we’ve shifted our attention to building Vengeance and fulfilling the rest of the items ordered via the Kickstarter and BackerKit. The only physically shipping item is The Super-Scientific Tachyon variant card.

If you are receiving a Tachyon card and need to update your shipping address in BackerKit, you now have 48 hours to do so.

Regular variant cards will be shipped directly from Greater Than Games. The collectors cards have been signed and sealed, and the package is now on its way to Greater Than Games HQ where they will be packaged and shipped to you. We’ll keep you posted in the coming week or so! 

The Kitchen Sink 

Here’s a handy little chart showing the current state of rewards:

Did we miss anything? If so, just let us know in the comments below. 

iOS Status Report: Awaiting Review
over 8 years ago – Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 09:43:25 PM

As we reported yesterday on Twitter, Season Pass 2 (and version 2.1 of Sentinels) has been submitted to Apple and is awaiting review now. We have no control over how long Apple takes to review a submission, so the plan will be the following: 

• If/when Apple approves the submission we will announce that here 
• Version 2.1 and Season Pass 2 will be released the following calendar day 
• The iOS discount period will extend for 48 hours after sales begin

If we are rejected (which is always a possibility), we will let you know that as well, and keep you posted throughout the process.

You can see how mobile Android sales are progressing on the stretch goals page here.

Thanks for your patience as we deal with these issues outside of our control.

Season Pass 2 Redemption Instructions (Steam & Google Play) [Redux]
over 8 years ago – Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 10:21:17 PM

We posted this to backers only without realizing it was leaving all the amazing pre-order people out of the fun! I guess all we can say is - Whoops, Sorry!

Google Play Promo Codes and Steam Keys for Season Pass 2 are now being distributed. Here is what you need to do to redeem your copy of Season Pass 2!

Season Pass 2 initially includes the Season 2 Preview Pack with:

• Setback from Vengeance
• Chokepoint from Mini-Pack 4
• The Temple of Zhu Long from Villains of the Multiverse 

If you have not received your key or code from BackerKit by mid-afternoon Eastern time, please login to your account here to find it: https://sentinelsseason2.backerkit.com

Steam

In Steam, Click the Games menu and then click Activate a Product on Steam.

Enter the Steam key (product code) you received from BackerKit.

Season Pass 2 should begin downloading, and when you launch Sentinels you should have the new decks available to play. If you don’t see the new content, try quitting and restarting the game and Steam, or try logging out and back into Steam.

When new content is added to Season Pass 2, Steam will automatically update the game for you.

Google Play

Update to the latest version of Sentinels from the Play Store app. It will be version 2.1. If you’re not sure what version you have installed, open the Credits screen and check in the corner.

Launch version 2.1 of Sentinels and go to the Get Expansion Packs screen, then select Season Pass 2. Tap Buy and Google Play’s purchasing interface will appear. Tap the small green down arrow and select Redeem.

Enter the Google Play promo code you received from BackerKit.

Season Pass 2 should begin downloading, and when finished you should have the new decks available to play.

When new content is added to Season Pass 2, you will need to update the game & re-download the Season Pass 2 DLC to get the new content.

If you redeemed your promo code in the Play Store app instead, that’s no problem. In that case, launch version 2.1 of Sentinels and go to the Get Expansion Packs screen. Tap Restore Purchases in the top right and the content will be downloaded.

Note: you will have until September 1, 2017 to redeem your Google Play promo code.

Temporary “Setback” for Season 2 iOS Launch
over 8 years ago – Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 12:29:17 AM

Well folks, you knew we couldn’t expect to have 2 completely flawless launches in a row right? Last month’s launch of Sentinels of the Multiverse on smartphones went off pretty much without a hitch, so of course, the same can’t be said of Season Pass 2.

Despite our best efforts, it is looking unlikely that Season Pass 2 will launch on time on iOS. The Steam, Google Play and Amazon releases will occur as scheduled. For those interested in the specifics of why this is the case, read on. If not, just know that we plan to keep you posted with more updates as information becomes available.

Surprising Misfortune

Last Tuesday, September 6th, we were all set. We announced the launch date to our backers - there was plenty of time, what could go wrong?

In order to release an app on the App Store, you take the following steps: 

• Build the app package from Unity/Xcode 
• Upload it to iTunes Connect (Apple’s servers) 
• Apple’s servers process the build 
• We submit it for review (and wait) 
• Apple’s review team approves it (hopefully) 
• We release it to you!

If you were to guess which step we’re stuck in, you would probably guess review & approval… and you would be wrong. In the past, we’ve been stuck in the approval phase for up to a month. We’ve also been rejected at this phase which requires going back up to the top of the list. However, in this case, we’ve gotten tripped up at an earlier step.

Back to last Tuesday. As part of the regular process, we made a Release Candidate build (meaning we intend for it to be the final build, if there are no critical bugs). We uploaded it to iTunes Connect and it went into processing, like usual. As you can see in the screenshot below, we had been regularly uploading beta builds for the beta testers with no problems at all.

The processing phase normally takes anywhere from minutes to perhaps a couple hours if things are busy on Apple’s servers. The first time we realized something was amiss was when, several hours after uploading the build, it was still listed as processing.

We know that Apple generally won’t be concerned about a problem like this until it’s been 24 hours. So we waited until that point, then contacted iTunes Connect tech support. They suggested we try again and wait another 24 hours. Fair enough, these things happen! We made a new build and uploaded it, and waited, and waited, and… emailed them again.

This continued for the next 7 days with new builds, more emails, several escalations to higher levels of Apple support and engineering as well as three separate case numbers. Throughout the process, we’ve been working through our launch plan under the assumption that this would be solved with enough time to make our launch date. However, at 48 hours out, we are still stuck so we’ve decided to communicate that with you, our players.

We are still working directly with Apple on resolving this problem, but since it seems to lie within their servers, we don’t have a timeline on when it will be solved. We will continue to let you know as much as we can throughout this “change from better to worse.”

Technical note: you might be wondering why we don’t submit build 542 for review. It’s because that build was made for the beta testers and has various important differences from a “production” build that we release to the public. It also has bugs we don’t want to ship. It would not be suitable for release, and would be rejected by Apple before getting to that point anyway.

Updated Season 2 Launch Plan

• The Steam release will come out this Friday around noon Eastern time. 
• The Google Play release will come out at some point this Friday, likely around midnight Eastern time. The discount period will last for 48 hours, through to the end of Saturday. 
• The Amazon Appstore release will come out at some point this Friday, likely around midnight Eastern time. The discount period will last for 48 hours, through to the end of Saturday. 
• If the iOS build becomes unstuck, and approved in time: it will also launch this Friday, likely around midnight Eastern time. The discount period will last for 48 hours, through to the end of Saturday. 
• If the iOS build does NOT become unstuck: We will reschedule the iOS launch for some time in the future. The 48 hour discount period on iOS will will also begin at this time. As promised, all Season Pass 2 sales on iOS during the discount will be counted towards unmet stretch goals, despite the delay. We will announce the new launch date for iOS when we have enough information to do so.

Variant note: Dark Watch Setback will not be available for unlocking until version 2.1 is available on all platforms.

We will do our best to communicate with you through this entire process and please believe us, as disappointing as this is for you, it’s even more so for us. We did everything in our power to make this Kickstarter work for all our players, Steam or Mobile, while also staying on the right side of the App Store guidelines. After all those efforts, to get tripped up at the finish line by what amounts to a technical glitch is very upsetting to say the least. We were hoping to exceed expectations, but now we feel like fumbling fools living an uncharmed life.

Thanks as always for being some of the most understanding and helpful fans in the world - we promise to get Season 2 to every one of you just as soon as we can.

- Jeremy & John, AKA Damäge Dealer and the Strategerist