From the very first prototype of Temporian, it's been shared for testing and feedback.

Sure, this doesn't sound too unique when it comes to game development, but I feel it's incredibly important to get feedback, not from generic game testers, but people who love the genre your game is becoming a part of.

I have been lucky enough to form close connections with multiple Twitch streamers that love the deck-building genre. Everything from Slay the Spire, to Griftlands, and of course, Stacklands.

Now, Temporian is one of the lucky games that doesn't simply sit in one category or genre. I've had people refer to it as a strategy game, while others think of it as more of a puzzle game. I understand what they mean! Planning out what steps you're going to take, what sacrifices you're willing to make, and what you hope to achieve before the next winter is all part of the fun!

While I'm a big fan of the aforementioned genres, I'd be a fool to consider myself an expert. Frankly, I'd be a fool to consider myself an expert at Temporian, even though after almost a year of development, I know nearly all of the hundred+ recipes off the top of my head!

No, certainly not an expert. Especially after I watched one of my testers breeze through the game after discovering that he could convince natives to join the settlement simply by feeding apple pies to the local livestock, and showing them what they were missing out on!

As the developer, it's wonderful to see someone bending the game to their own will. It's my job, however, to figure out how far to let people bend it before it breaks entirely. Did I remove this 'exploit' from the game? No chance! While Temporian's story is about time-travel, the game itself is based on reality. If you were a starving stone-aged person, and you saw someone feeding apple pies to their pet pig, wouldn't you want to join that community?

Temporian's only been on Itch.io for a couple of days, and already the community has helped shape it. Not simply by providing bug reports, but also offering suggestions on how to improve the game, and most of those have already been implemented.

I built the game to be modular, in the sense that recipes, features and even the visuals can be altered rapidly without (hopefully) breaking the core mechanics. Personally, I feel more developers should work closely with fans of the genre their creating something for, as that's how we truly manage to create something special.