An interesting trailer revealed at Summer Game Fest was for Battle Vision Network, a cozy yet competitive PvP match-three tactics game. That’s quite a layered description, so I headed to see CapyGames’ studio president Eileen Hollinger to learn more about how it will all work. “It’s an intergalactic battle spectacle,” says Hollinger. “Teams from all over the galaxy are coming to duke it out.”
Players will take on the role of one of these competitors in online player vs. player matches that combine traditional match-three mechanics with a deeper tactical layer. The combined focus is fairly unique in the current landscape, so I asked Hollinger about the balance between the “cozy” elements and the more complex parts. In part, she says, the coziness comes from the approachability of the match-three basics, which should get you on board before you need to learn about the deeper and more complicated mechanics.
Hollinger also adds that the characters are a key consideration for approachability: “It's been important to us to create a roster of characters that we think will be engaging for everyone.” It was definitely the teams and characters themselves that immediately interested me. Just a couple shown briefly in the trailer include the skeletal Rainbow Sparkle, who belongs to the Mascot Rejects, and Shredd, the muscular representative of the Ragtags.
Although Hollinger couldn’t say much about how they’ll be used, she did confirm that they will have unique abilities that shift the tactics of games depending on which team you’re working with. Like, for example, summoning a dinosaur and breaking through the edge of the play area itself, as shown off in the trailer.
“Each team has a couple of captains that you can choose from and many different units,” says Hollinger, including the elite units which add more tactical depth to the game. Plus, the teams will also have “a little bit of a different ethos when it comes to their battle philosophy,” says Hollinger, as well as “different motivations and lore bringing them to the competition.” I can already feel storylines brewing - perhaps the Mascot Rejects are frustrated with being pushed to one side and want to prove themselves?
Those kinds of storylines should be able to unfold over time after the game releases. “It’s an evolving game,” says Hollinger. “Over time, we'll be adding new content and new characters and new narrative.”
Although she’s not able to say just how yet, Hollinger explained that players’ choices and how well they do in matches will also play into that storyline. “Every time you play a match, you're [choosing] one team or faction and the community at large is feeding into the success of that faction,” says Hollinger.
Battle Vision Network will have daily challenges in order to incentivise trying out new factions, or “playing with different twists and surprises,” says Hollinger, although these are still being planned out as the game is still in development.
CapyGames have been working on the game for some time, though. Having previously released Grindstone, they have plenty of experience in ongoing puzzle games. However, Hollinger says that Battle Vision Network is actually more of a spiritual successor to another of their games, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.
Like Battle Vision Network, Might & Magic blended a variety of genres. Part puzzle, part strategy, and part RPG, it was released in 2009 and allows players to upgrade characters and get increasingly tactical. Hollinger says that the team really wanted to build on those core strategy mechanics while focusing more on the multiplayer aspect. “We started off having a small team prototyping it years ago, and then it sort of got more legs and we thought it was really fun, so more of the team got onto it.”
“A lot of what we've done more recently [which has] been really fun is that we do a lot of tournaments inside the team,” she adds. “That really helps us find what's fun.”
“We’re definitely excited to share more over time,” Hollinger concludes. And I’m curious to see more, too, particularly when it comes to the characters and the special abilities that they’ll be able to bring to the matches. I’m really rooting for the Mascot Rejects.
Battle Vision Network is scheduled to release in 2025 on both Steam and Netflix Games.
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