At the weekend I sat down with the Sanctuary development team and, this time we invited the community. Over 80 people turned up during the two hour event to watch multiplayer gameplay of Sanctuary Shattered Sun and ask questions of the development team. The full event has been rendered into a playable format in the video below, but if you don’t have two hours to spare, scroll past the video and get right to the questions:
Q: Where are we in development, and when can we play?
The single-player demo is targeted for July, with multiplayer to follow roughly a month later. The team is waiting to tie the demo release to the Kickstarter launch, which is still in preparation. Videos, interviews, backer rewards, and even a physical statue are all in progress. Mike acknowledged the frustration but was firm: launching alongside the Kickstarter will make a significant difference to the campaign’s performance, and the team wants that campaign to be as strong as possible.
Q: Can you give a rough roadmap from now to 1.0?
With the caveat that everything depends on what the Kickstarter raises, the rough plan is early access one year after the Kickstarter ends, followed by a full 1.0 release a year after that. Kickstarter backers will get access to the build immediately after the campaign closes. Post-Kickstarter development will focus on air and navy, then more exotic content such as transports, commander upgrades, and nukes.
Q: Will players be able to rejoin a game mid-session?
Not something the team is working on right now, but Mike confirmed it is technically possible and something he would like to see eventually. He also referenced a concept from Forged Alliance designer Brad Rebh, referred to as the Infinite War: a modded game mode where the match never ends but players cycle in and out, with the battle itself persisting indefinitely.
Q: Will there be a map editor?
One already exists and is available in the download section, though it is not yet in a polished state. Maps can also be built in Photoshop, as they are composed of image files. The community has already ported FAF’s map generator to work with Sanctuary, which produces usable maps by exporting the same image format with minor code adjustments.
Q: Will ladder games be available from the start?
Not at Kickstarter launch. The multiplayer at that stage will be custom games only, where players create a lobby, invite others, and hit start. A rated ladder system is planned for early access. Mike noted that ladder play in FAF was central to how he became involved in the project in the first place.
Q: What is the maximum planned map size, and how does it compare to Supreme Commander?
The current map being played, Forge, is 40 kilometres and comparable to the largest FAF maps, though only around 60 to 70 percent of it is used as the playable area. The engine can support maps up to double that size. Mike was candid about his scepticism toward very large maps, arguing that the game’s balance and toolset are designed around current sizes and that simply making maps bigger does not automatically make the experience better. He did note that the current map could comfortably support an 8v4 if fully expanded, and that larger maps become a more realistic prospect once features like improved transport systems and delegation commands are in place.
Q: Why has the project taken so long?
Sanctuary started as a group of people on a forum with no publisher, no studio infrastructure, and no upfront funding. The team grew gradually as money was raised, rather than hiring a large group at the outset. There were also significant programming challenges that took time to solve. Mike noted that the rate of development has accelerated considerably now that those foundational problems are resolved, with new features going in every week.
Q: Did you ever imagine it would get this far when you started?
Mike said he imagined it, but did not necessarily expect it. He knew the market existed because the FAF forums consistently produced people searching for a SupCom successor. The project attracted investors directly from early YouTube videos, people from the audience who reached out and bought shares in the company. It has taken him to PAX in Boston, GDC in San Francisco, and Gamescom in Germany.
Q: Will modding be supported from the beginning?
Yes, and Mike described it as a design pillar from day one. The multiplayer build is itself structured as a mod, and entirely different games could be built on the same codebase. He did caution that modding during the Kickstarter phase will be unstable, as the codebase will change significantly. Early access is likely to be the more practical point to start modding seriously.
Q: When can players access multiplayer, and how?
Mike said he was pretty sure multiplayer access will open after the Kickstarter launches, available to Kickstarter backers and likely Patreon tier five supporters as well.
Q: Will more hotkeys and microcommands be added, such as area reclaim or area attack?
Many more hotkeys are planned. Area attack and area reclaim are both on the list. Mike also took the opportunity to talk about the fronts system currently in development: players drag a line across the map, units distribute themselves along it, and factories automatically reinforce that line. The line can be repositioned, and factories not yet built will still send units to it once they are. He identified select idle engineer as the most immediately needed hotkey.
Q: Is Discord integration or in-game voice chat being considered?
Mike said it was a cool idea but almost certainly beyond the current budget. Features like that come into scope with a publisher-backed budget of two or three million. He noted that the FAF community modded voice functionality in themselves, and the same could happen with Sanctuary.
Q: What weather mechanic interactions are planned?
The team has committed to one mechanic: freezing the ocean. This allows units to traverse water on foot, traps submerged units under ice, and opens up a range of tactical possibilities including hiding a commander beneath the surface. More exotic ideas such as heating areas of the map, acid rain, and volcanic eruptions were discussed but remain speculative. Mike was cautious about adding too many weather systems, arguing that the freeze mechanic alone carries enormous strategic depth. He suggested that wilder weather ideas might be better suited to a campaign DLC.
Q: What is the DLC philosophy for Sanctuary?
Mike said the team would love to produce DLC indefinitely, but that every decision will come down to financial viability and audience demand. He expects players will want a small number of high-quality releases over several years rather than a constant stream of smaller ones. The most likely candidate is campaign missions, which are predictable to scope and cost. He also mentioned a Warfront mode concept, a persistent online territory control system with many nodes. The relationship between DLC and modding is complicated and has not been fully resolved.
Q: Will there be Loud-style comp stomps with advanced AI behaviour?
The question was not fully addressed, but the broader AI discussion that followed covered similar ground. See the AI questions below.
Q: What is your favourite Supreme Commander unit?
Mike chose the Corsair, the Cybran tech two bomber, for its speed and the ability to destroy tech two power generators in pairs. Null’s favourite was the Aeon CZAR, valued for being underrated and for its fall damage mechanic, which could be used intentionally to destroy commanders. The conversation expanded into a discussion of bipedal unit design, with Mike arguing that six-legged walkers feel more believable than two-legged ones. He cited the Galactic Colossus as a design that feels unconvincing, while acknowledging that the Loyalist, Titan, and Pillar work well despite having two legs.
Q: Are there similar units already in Sanctuary?
Air units have not been scoped out in detail yet, so direct equivalents to the Corsair and CZAR do not exist. The team is focused on land for now, with navy likely to come before air.
Q: How does Sanctuary establish its own identity rather than being seen as SupCom 3?
Mike acknowledged the difficulty honestly. Many of SupCom’s design pillars are simply good design, and changing them for the sake of it would not improve the game. Sanctuary’s distinguishing features include the commander chassis upgrade system, the shatter and freeze mechanics, tech five game enders, and the strategic icon adornment system. Faction differentiation is where Mike sees the most potential for the game to feel meaningfully different, with ideas including Chosen units gaining bonuses when stationary, Guard units being cheaper, and EDA units cloaking while still. None of these are confirmed. He was clear that this work requires resources the team does not currently have and will be a post-Kickstarter priority.
Q: Will the unit info and command UI be redesigned?
Yes. The plan is to leave the UI in its current functional state and redo it properly once, potentially with input from a UX firm. Mike was particularly critical of the economy bar, saying it contradicts the team’s guiding principle of making everything easy to understand, and that it needs to be replaced. He floated the idea of a simplified default view that expands for experienced players.
Q: How will artillery differ between factions?
Late-stage gameplay, so nothing is confirmed yet. Ideas discussed included faction-specific traits such as faster fire rates, higher damage, or cluster munitions that split before landing. The Guard faction artillery has been modelled as a particle accelerator with effects in progress showing plasma charging and firing. The design team is ahead of the programmers on content of this kind.
Q: How did the OST come together, and why does it sound so good?
The soundtrack was composed by Phillip, known in the community as Crofts. Most of it was delivered over a year ago and covers a range of moods from atmospheric and unsettling to high-tempo action. The game’s three factions each have their own anthem, all built on the same melody but with different instrumentation to reflect each faction’s character. The new faction tracks are available on Sanctuary’s social media accounts.
Q: How will the game protect against hackers and cheaters?
Multiplayer runs through Steam’s infrastructure, so protection against denial of service attacks is handled by Steam rather than the development team. For in-game cheating, the plan is to verify that all clients are running identical files, with tampering both detectable and likely to break the game for the person attempting it.
Q: Will any faction get a unit with a gimmick like the Cybran Salem?
No walking ships. Mike said Sanctuary aims to be more grounded in its unit design than SupCom. EDA is the faction most likely to have unusual units, given their role as the faction with tricks and unconventional approaches. Anything of that kind can be modded in.
Q: Will large experimental units be built directly on the ground rather than from a factory?
Yes. The single-player build already handles it this way, and tech five units will follow the same approach. The current concept is that the commander must physically walk to the unit and make contact to activate it.
Q: Will the AI be capable of challenging veteran players?
The AI is being developed by Uveso, a member of the FAF community who has been working on it for some time. It uses a marker-based approach, micros units individually, and kites constantly when under pressure. It currently struggles on large maps due to performance constraints, though improvements are in development. In a recent internal test it eliminated two players before losing when it overextended its commander. Difficulty scaling through cheat options is possible if the base AI is not sufficiently challenging for experienced players.
Q: Will there be a replay vault?
Yes.
Q: How will tactical and strategic missiles work?
Similar in structure to SupCom, with launchers, charge times, and interception systems. Drones were originally intended to replace mobile missile launchers and to fill the tech two content gap, though how that will play out is still to be determined. Tech two is currently light on content across all factions.
Q: Will there be an endless or domination mode?
Both are possible. Domination would simply require removing commander death as a loss condition. An endless wave survival mode is something Null is already keen on implementing. Whether either makes it into the base game depends on Kickstarter results.
Q: Will there be a character like Commander Dostya?
No.
Q: Can terrain change dynamically, for example through landslides?
No current plans. Mike described it as a Sanctuary 2 idea. He also questioned whether fully destructible terrain would make the game more interesting or simply undermine the strategic value of map layout.
Q: Can engineers repair terrain damage caused during combat?
Combat does not damage terrain, with the exception of shatter holes created by the freeze and shatter mechanic. Those holes either persist or self-heal, fitting the game’s lore of Sanctuary as a self-repairing nano-construct. One idea raised was a force field floor that can be placed over holes, allowing units to drive across them while hiding the hazard beneath.
Q: Can weather effects be combined?
Tidal waves are not in Sanctuary. The freeze mechanic is the committed weather feature for now. Combining effects is an interesting idea but has not been scoped.
Q: Will missiles be physically simulated and potentially able to collide with aircraft mid-flight?
Yes. Projectiles are physically simulated, meaning a nuke in transit can collide with a plane and detonate off-target. Mike described this kind of emergent interaction as central to what makes SupCom special, and said that same simulation-driven unpredictability will be present in Sanctuary.
Q: Will there be air transports?
Yes, along with land and naval transports. Stealth land transports for moving slower units were mentioned as a particularly interesting possibility. Mike also suggested that a better ferry system than anything currently in the genre is something the team wants to pursue, and that improved transport options would make larger maps a more realistic and enjoyable proposition.
