Interview with the Creator of Table Top Game Battleversus!

The team at Six One Indie aren’t just fans of incredible indie games. We dabble in lots of things. Crochet, teaching math, WWE, and we also love a great tabletop game. That’s why we were super excited to feature BattleVersus! in our May showcase.

Huge thank you to Asa, the creator of BattleVersus!, for answering all of my questions.

• Can you tell me more about your background and how you got started working on BattleVersus!? 

I’ve worked in the video game industry for almost 10 years now, all in different facets. Gaming has just been one of those things that I’ve been incredibly passionate about for as long as I can remember. In fact, my original major in college was game design. Initially, I was gonna say as a kid I was always very imaginative, constantly coming up with in-depth stories, games on the playground, or pretend scenarios but honestly I’m still that way today.

I’ve never really been content with how things are, so I’ve always wanted to add a little bit of wonder into the world.

BattleVersus! came to be out of necessity. I was working at a summer camp at the time and in that environment we have things called calamity days where basically the weather is a little too rough and you’re stuck inside all day. Now, if you know anything about kids, you know that they will pretty much always tell you exactly how it is, so they were very vocal about how bored they were with the games that we had at the camp.

For some reason, I took it upon myself to make this game up on the fly; So uniquely it has been playtested since inception. I still have the random piece of paper that I grabbed from our staff cabin and wrote all of the initial rules on. After that, they were constantly requesting to play the game. Counselors were reaching out to me even after I left that organization, asking me how to play it because campers were asking them to play it.

Seeing that demand, I held onto it. I began forcing my D&D crew at the time to play a couple sessions before we would even start our campaigns. Year after year I’ve been tweaking it, working on it here and there. It wasn’t until I ran it by my cousin, Derrick, and they encouraged me to just put all my effort into it. Now here we are!

• Can you describe a little bit about the game? How many players is it for? How long will players expect a full game to take?

The beauty about this game is that you can play with as little as two players or all the up to as many as you want, barring you have enough boards and units. If you really wanted to, you could probably even play against yourself.

It’s optimized, though, for four players. The primary gameplay loop is similar to the “king of the hill” game type or a battle royale without the shrinking map.

There will be other game types announced later on.

The game is also going to be quite customizable, allowing for various parameters and features. Think of custom games in Halo. The story beats offer deep lore for those who want it but it isn’t necessary to play or enjoy the game. Magic the Gathering has deep lore but there are large chunks of players who’ve never touched it but still thoroughly enjoy playing the game. 

• You describe the game as a “video game designed as a table top game” can you go into more detail about that?

My original major in college was game design, I really wanted to start making video games in high school. I was even way more interested in watching developer diaries than game trailers back then.

When I was creating the basic rule set for this game, I knew it needed to be captivating. If it was going to hold the attention of campers ages 7 to 15, it needed to compete with their handhelds, TCG’s, and just general yapping about what they had done in a video game the night before. I wanted this game to be able to feel just as exciting as those games they were always talking about.

This is around the time when Overwatch and Fortnite were new and exciting.

We all immerse ourselves in so many vibrant worlds, that sometimes we instantly wish that we could experience them in another medium; I don’t know how long I’ve been yearning for certain anime adaptations. I wanted BattleVersus! to feel the same way, I wanted players to walk away from those play sessions, equally excited to play again, and hope for it to be adapted onto their favorite consoles.

In fact, hidden away, is a design doc to adapt this tabletop experience into a video game. 

• In a hero shooter video game, players must often work together to defeat enemies/opponents. Will players be working together in BattleVersus! in order to win? Or will each player have their own separate goals?

Innately, BattleVersus! is a free-for-all. Similarly to a round of king of the hill or any of the popular Battle Royale games, it’s every player for themselves. Since it’s a table top experience though, table politics often get involved. It’s very common to see alliances form only to have to face each other in a 1V1 at the very end.

Like I mentioned earlier, I do plan to release official rules for different game modes, like 2V2 or a big team battle. But honestly like any good developer, I’m more excited to see what the community comes up with once the game releases.

• Can you provide a few details on how the d6 system works in the game? 

So the D6 system was intentionally created to keep things simple. I feel like there is a stigma with tabletop games that they’re too complicated and convoluted to get into, and those assumptions are not entirely wrong. So I didn’t want that with my game. Even with the new mechanics I plan to add in with DLC, you will only ever really need two D6 to play.

You roll to move, you roll to attack, you roll for counter, and you roll for your ultimate.

i.e.  Each Guardian in Destiny has a different type of “jump” but no matter what you always push “A/X/Space.” 

• Will there be different characters for players to choose? Will they have their own special abilities?

There will be different factions. Each faction will feel drastically different from the other. Each has their own unique, passive abilities, active abilities, ultimates, attack, style, movement style, etc..

The game will launch with four factions to start with more coming later on via DLC.

• You have plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon. Can you tell us anything about what backers can expect from the campaign? What will the funds be going towards? Are there any special rewards planned for backers?

Backers can look to get more of an inside look into the game and its development. As well as, constant updates and communication.

This includes new features that are in the pipeline for the game. The peak behind the curtain will always be for backers first, and they’ll always have the most info. They’ll also get to directly affect the development of the game by suggesting new factions and features. The funds will directly go towards getting units made. What I have now is a prototype through and through. Everything in the game is done, besides the physical aspects.

The funds will also go to artists that I plan to work with for the story telling pieces outside of the physical game.

There are plans for special rewards for sure! Credits in each box of course, but also they can even look to have their likeness in the game if they want to back it at that level.

• Will you be attending any in-person events where players might be able to get a sneak peek at the game?

I will be at a few events throughout 2025 mainly there for questions and to show new/upcoming features.

The plan is to bring the game with me for people to play, but that is tentative at the moment.

• What’s a favorite video game of yours that you would love to have available as a table top game?

It’s tough to say because it is not beyond me to create an adaptation of those favorite properties into factions for my game, BUT if I did have to choose (off the top my head) I would go with Blinx the Time Sweeper.

• What’s a favorite tabletop game of yours that you would love to have available as a video game?

You know I would love to see Everdell adapted into the video game format, and I can envision just how to do that.

• What does “indie” mean to you?

Indie, to me, means ruthless creativity. You’re not waiting for some big bloated company to sweep you off your feet before you start creating. Almost this underground feel, even with such widespread success in the indie scene, it still feels like a triumphant moment to see an indie title explode in sales and get the notice of the entire industry.