''Terra Battle'' was a

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

developed by

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

-based studio

Mistwalker is an American and Japanese video game development studio. The company was founded in 2004 by Hironobu Sakaguchi, best known for creating the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The company has created both game franchises such as '' Blue Dragon'' and '' T ...

. It was released for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

devices on October 9, 2014. It was produced by

Hironobu Sakaguchi is a Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer. Originally working for Square (later Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003, he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004. He is known as the creator of the ''Fi ...

, the creator of the ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'' series, with music by

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Joh ...

of the same series. The game also featured artwork by Kimihiko Fujisaka, who has contributed to works such as ''

The Last Story is an action role-playing game developed by Mistwalker and AQ Interactive and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in Japan in January 2011, Europe in February 2012 and North America by Xseed Games in August 2012. ''The Last St ...

'' and ''

Drakengard ''Drakengard'', known in Japan as is a series of action role-playing video games originally developed by Cavia (company), Cavia and published by Square Enix. The Drakengard (video game), eponymous first game in the series was released in 2003 ...

''. Service for ''Terra Battle'' was discontinued in June 2020.

Gameplay

The game plays as a tile-based

tactical role-playing game Tactical role-playing game (abbreviated TRPG), also known as strategy role-playing game or (both abbreviated SRPG), is a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical (Turn-based tactics, turn-b ...

, with elements of

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...

s and

puzzle video games Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

as well.

Development

The earliest reports from the game come from June 2014, when

trademarked the name ''Terra Battle''. The game was officially revealed through ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' on July 1, 2014. The game was released on

and

on October 9, 2014. To promote the game, Sakaguchi chose to create a new model of releasing content. Inspired by

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

, he created a means called "Download Starter", where new content would be created based on the number of downloads the game would receive. He enjoyed the fan involvement that came with KickStarter campaigns, but did not like the idea of fans directly financing development. Instead, he chose the "Download Starter" model, which was aimed to create interest in the game after it was already created. At 100,000 downloads, more music from

was created for the game. After the game had been downloaded 1.6 million times, composer

Kenji Ito , also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the ''Mana'' and ''SaGa'' series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged m ...

joined the project, with ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...

'' series composer

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. Shimomura wrote music for severa ...

joining him after the game had been downloaded 1.7 million times. To commemorate the milestone of 1,800,000 downloads, a new musical track by famed ''Chrono'' series composer

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer and musician. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the '' Chrono'', '' Xeno'', '' Shadow Hearts'', and '' Inazuma Eleven'' franchises, among various others. Mitsuda began composing music for his own ...

was added to the game. The final milestone, at two million downloads, would have been releasing a version of the game on consoles. The game's servers were shut down on June 30, 2020.

Reception

The iOS version received "favorable" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...

'' described their reaction to the preview build of the game as "cautiously optimistic", stating that the game was "an RPG stripped down to its barest bones, and...it works surprisingly well." while citing concern with the minimal graphics and

free to play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

payment model. ''

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...

'' played a version available to play at

PAX Prime PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Anton ...

2014, and stated that, while the game was overwhelmingly frantic at first, "the slide-and-move-on action was innate and enjoyable enough to encourage continued play." ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' praised the core gameplay, but expressed concern over the long-term effects of the game's imposed waiting time periods.

Legacy

In June 2017,

announced a sequel and spinoff to the game, respectively titled ''Terra Battle 2'' and ''Terra Wars'', both for Android and for iOS. ''Terra Battle 2'' was released on September 21, 2017, but its lack of success led to it being discontinued, with it being removed from storefronts on June 3, 2018, and its servers shutdown in September 2018.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control 2014 video games Android (operating system) games IOS games Mistwalker games Multiplayer and single-player video games Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto Video games scored by Keiichi Okabe Video games scored by Kenji Ito Video games scored by Nobuo Uematsu Video games scored by Yasunori Mitsuda Video games scored by Yoko Shimomura