With most free-to-play games, the business logic is already written on the wall, with some items requiring purchases and others being offered as completely optional. When it comes to Terra Battle, however, things work a bit differently.
The role-playing adventure, which is now available on iOS and Android, is the latest work from the creator of the popular Final Fantasy franchise, producer and designer Hironobu Sakaguchi. With Battle, the system runs on a “download-starter,” similar to KickStarter, but without the need for funds. With it, according to USGamer, the more people that take part in playing the free-to-play game, the more content that will be added, including new musical tracks from long-time Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, as well as new storylines, characters and missions.
“Originally, I liked the idea of Kickstarter, where it’s tied to money,” said Sakaguchi. “Then I thought, ‘Hmm, that’s not really my style, to get people to pay for my development. By that point, the game was fairly far along, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I just Facebook some of my friends I’ve worked with in the past ‘ So I jumped on messenger and asked, ‘Hey, can you write me some songs, or design some characters ‘ So that’s how this whole thing started.”
He continued, “It’s a very fluid process, and I want people I’ve collaborated with in the past to come together…kind of like a festival, I suppose, where everyone gets together and adds things. That’s one of the best things about mobile development, in my opinion — I can ask my former colleagues to make things for me.
“So for instance, with [manga artist Nakaba] Suzuki-san, he’s actually a Final Fantasy fan. He called me and said, ‘Hey, can you do an interview for us ‘ And I said, ‘Sure… if you’ll create a character for my game,'” he said.
Sakaguchi hopes the business plan will pay off, and inspire players to stick around and explore the world without having to fork over tons of money, as most free-to-play apps are prone to do. “The main reason for the download starter is the feeling that the more people you get playing, the better the game gets,” he said. “You know, in terms of someone like Amano-san, I don’t actually know what he’s planning to make! I’ll tweet something when I see the assets come in. This whole process puts me much closer to the fans than the traditional approach to game design.
“And the chart I showed off for download starter goals, that’s not really complete. So if there’s an artist in the U.S. or Europe that I want to collaborate with, maybe that’s a separate branch of the chart we can add on. The chart shows two million downloads as the final goal, but if it really succeeds we could also go 2.5, or 3 million — or go on forever.”
Here’s hoping the plan pays off for sure. In the meantime, you can read more about Terra Battle at this link.
