How Dispatch Influenced the Development of Sovereign Tower

Who could forget the explosion of popularity surrounding Dispatch? Hordes of gamers flocked to romance and manage their own superhero squads, and it appears the game left a lasting impression on the industry. Months after its release, that same management formula has resurfaced in a new medieval narrative RPG, Sovereign Tower which recently debuted its Steam demo.

While Sovereign Tower focuses on managing a medieval realm, the underlying skeleton of the game is immediately familiar to anyone who spent time with Dispatch. You take on the role of a newly-appointed sovereign, supporting a roster of loyal knights. You’ll kit them out, manage their progression, and send them on quests; as they succeed, they level up and become more efficient, even gaining trait boosts from items like magical swords or smelly cheeses.

Refining Mechanics Through Inspiration

According to Antoine Tabouret-Loudeac, creative and art director at Wild Wits Games, the studio didn't just stumble upon these similarities by accident. The team looked at Dispatch as a benchmark to see what mechanics truly resonated with players.

"There were a few mechanics that we wish we had, and obviously we couldn't add any more," Tabouret-Loudeac told me. "Then there were some of the mechanics that we were hesitating on that we had planned, and when we saw it done on Dispatch we're like, we need to have it, we cannot cut this mechanic because it's working too well."

The studio used that feedback loop to prune their own ideas. Initially, the team was unsure about the leveling system, but Dispatch cemented their confidence in that direction. They also significantly whittled down the knight trait lists after observing the competition. "It was much easier to remember what your character has and to identify what each of these tags does," Tabouret-Loudeac explained.

Validating the Genre

Beyond specific mechanics, Dispatch provided the team at Wild Wits Games with the confidence that an audience for this style of narrative management sim actually existed. Tabouret-Loudeac admits that when he first drafted the concept, there was nothing quite like it on the market.

When he showed the first Dispatch trailer to co-founder and director Courto Laly, the reception was skeptical. "I sent it to Courto and I told him, 'look, this might be a game that's similar to us, maybe we should take inspiration from it,' and Courto told me 'this doesn't have anything to do with what we're doing,' and then it really did—so I often make fun of him for it."

Ultimately, the studio views the existence of Dispatch as a net positive for Sovereign Tower. It has made the game’s core concept much easier to explain to potential players, and it has allowed enough time for fans of the genre to transition comfortably between the two. "We're happy that Dispatch exists," Tabouret-Loudeac said. "And I hope that the Dispatch devs also play our game."