Heidelberg, Germany – Independent developer Cynthia Bandara today announces the release and immediate availability of Temple Raid 1.0.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. “Peace between the tribes is fading as the Shamans ask for larger and ever more impressive temples to be built for the spirits. Raid gold from other players to level up and purchase better bricks and idols. Build amazing temple structures and store your own gold safely.” This is how the game offers itself on the App Store, and it is supposed to set the scene for a multiplayer experience in which architectural creativity, aiming skills, and perseverance are challenged.
Temple Raid is a casual physics multiplayer game that offers a new hybrid of turn-based and live gameplay. The center of the game, however, is a physics sandbox on a mountain top on which the player constructs a temple from various kinds of bricks that are unlocked with each level. In addition to regular bricks, pots can be placed, and these are necessary to hold nuggets of gold, each of which is simulated to a degree that gold can even be poured from one pot into another (see trailer).
It is important to protect these pots between other bricks, as other players are able to throw coconuts, rocks, and other objects using a slingshot. The objective for the attacking player is clearly to make a pot crack or fall over, as any nugget that falls out is theirs.
Temple Raid randomly fills a map with opponents that are online, thus showing off a nearly infinite wealth of architectural creativity. At the same time, however, this game allows for turn-based “Short Games” on the same map, that are death matches with much smaller buildings and only one pot. These turn-based death matches end with the last nugget falling on either side. Turn-based games are increasingly popular among mobile social games, because friends do not need to be online at the same time.
An added piece of fun are special bricks that are idols of spirits or gods that the authors derived from ancient South American culture. These spirits govern strong natural forces, like storm, lightning, or earthquakes and are meant to protect a player by deterrence. Other players that accidentally hit an idol, draw the wrath of the corresponding spirit upon themselves, with physical effects on their temple that are simulated in minute detail.
Temple Raid solves a general problem of smartphone devices, i.e. the problem of placing small objects precisely that are usually obstructed by “fat fingers”. The solution that this game puts forward is to pick up bricks with one finger, and then to use a second finger to suspend the brick in between, revealing free view and allowing for precise placement and rotation.
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 5.0 or later
* 8.0 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Temple Raid 1.0.1 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Since gold is an in-game currency that is circulating between players, the developers offer the game for free and without banner ads, but allow players to buy additional gold via In-App purchase that is safely placed in a gold mine.
Temple Raid 1.0.1
YouTube Video (Trailer)
Screenshot
App Icon
Located in Heidelberg, Germany, Indie developer Cynthia Bandara develops apps for iOS. Temple Raid is a project exclusively developed by students in a globally distributed team. Copyright (C) 2012 Cynthia Bandara. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
