Gate is live (Enemies at the Gate)
Update: The Crowd Sale for Gate at The Game Crafter has begun. The more people order the game, the more its price will fall. The accompanying playmat is also available, as well as Jason Glover's previous games.
Our preview post below was published on May 27.
We have so far only featured Kickstarter projects in our crowdfunding news, but today we are making an exception because Jason Glover's games are well-loved in the solo gaming community. The designer is releasing a new solitaire game called Gate through the Game Crafter. The crowd sale will take place on June 2.
Gate is a tower-defense deck building game. You goal is to protect the gate of a small medieval town from a horde of evil creatures that threaten to breach it. You begin the game with a set of three buildings placed on the table (or the accompanying playmat): the farm, the gate, and the tower. Two of them give you small bonuses when you execute your actions (plus 1 to your attack, and plus 1 gold to spend). Next to these, you place a card called the Fearamid: this tracks the fear level of the citizens, and if it goes up to the top, you lose the game.
On each round, an enemy card will be flipped face up. On your turn, you draw a hand of three hero cards which you can use to either attack the enemy, or recruit more heroes from the market, or repair damaged buildings, or calm down the citizens. When you finish your actions, the enemy hits a building. Over the course of the game the enemies get tougher, but you will be able to purchase heroes to improve your chances at defeating them. Gate also has a hardcore mode, in case you find the basic game too easy.
Bummer alert: if you are not located in the US, bear in mind that ordering from the Game Crafter means that you will have to pay an additional customs cost. You may check the crowd sale preview.