Embervale
Coming soon to the App Store
A board game for iPhone and iPad. Two sides, Ember and Vale, try to keep a piece on the lawn.
The field is an upright 8 by 8. The pale inner 4 by 4 is the lawn. Ember starts on the top half and Vale on the bottom half. In solo and Game Center, the board turns so your pieces start at the bottom. The 48 outer squares begin full.
You can play three ways. Pass one device back and forth — Ember moves first. Or play solo as Ember or Vale against an automaton: Greenhorn, Keeper, Warden, or Sharp. Or play a Game Center match against someone on another Apple device.
Screenshots
How it plays
The first two turns only step onto the lawn, from opposite sides. Those moves cannot leap. Drag a piece onto a highlighted square, or tap a piece and then tap where it should land.
After that, a piece walks one square up, down, left, or right, or leaps the next piece onto the empty square beyond. Leaping your own piece is allowed and does not take it. Leaping an opponent takes that piece off the field. After a leap you may leap again with the same piece, or end the turn. Extra leaps are never required.
After the opening, you lose if you have no piece of yours on the lawn. You also lose if it is your turn and you have no legal move.
Game Center and foldables
Game Center matches are correspondence. Ember is the first seat. Vale is the second. When you finish a turn, Game Center stores the position for the other player. Leave returns to the start screen and does not resign. Forfeit does. Solo and Two Player still work if you are not signed in.
On an iPhone Duo, the same match can be played closed on the outer screen, open on the inner screen, or in a tent or book pose, with the hinge as the fold through the middle of the field.
The app does not ask you to create an account, and it has no purchases and no ads.