Introducing Temple!

After much work and anticipation - well, anticipation on our part mostly - Temple, our debut game, is ready for purchase by the public! Temple, to which we have alluded, is a strategy board game. The salesman-spiel (as well as the ability to purchase the game for your very own) can be found at http://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/temple. The whole process was very fast - I actually received the game a mere 3 days after ordering it, which covers production and shipping. Granted, they give a far larger number than that to cover their bases, in the event of heavy production days I would imagine, but overall the end product is rather impressive.

Back to the game. Temple is a strategy board game in which players must place their pawns in certain configurations. Each player has two active "goal cards" at any one time, allowing them some flexibility, but the cards will require most, if not all, of their pieces to be satisfied. Now, one of my favorite bits regarding the strategy element: the goal cards are visible to all players. So now you can work on your own goals, or act to sabotage your opponents. This really does provide an interesting dynamic to the game, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Another favorite bit is regarding the movement of the pieces on the board. Most of the time you are constrained to moving your own pieces side to side. However, in some scenarios you get the opportunity to swap any two pieces on the board, regardless of color (thanks to my wife Liz for that little gem). This means you could circumvent someone who is blocking you, or lay waste to two opponents' plans in one act.

Obviously this all takes place in a setting of constrained space, but in order to make the "crowdedness" of the game scale with the introduction of more people, we made the board size variable. Depending on the number of players, you use a different portion of the board. I must say, and this is where I will wax loquacious on the visuals, that Allison, our resident graphical expert, really did a super job. Determining how to handle variable board sizes, ensuring card orientation, and all of the card, board, and related graphics associated with this little venture really helped breathe a life into this game that would have otherwise remained pencil drawings on some posterboard. Case in point, see the graphic below.



I mean, look at it. You've got the stone texture transitioning to each element in the corners, and an awesome lined detail of a temple. The font is really well done too. It's no Papyrus, but still...

So, I daresay I have gone on and on about this topic near to the point of exhaustion (either of the topic, or for you, the reader). Now I must implore you to support your local businesses, your local artists, and your local, um... game-designers. Go buy Temple - it's a great game, and it directly benefits the creators, as well as a site that gives small independent game creators a chance to build a game and make a few bucks. Go on! Go!

Cheers,