In a 2014 interview, Imangi co-founder Keith Shepherd described staying indie not as a matter of keeping the studio tiny, but of protecting what it made games for: creative work the team cared about, connection to the indie community, and measured growth. Temple Run had become a global hit, yet Shepherd said the studio did not want expansion to come at the expense of those priorities.
What Shepherd meant by staying indie
Shepherd told GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi that Imangi had bootstrapped the company and had no investors backing it. “We bootstrapped this company. We don’t have any investors or folks backing us,” he said. He wanted the studio to preserve that independence and avoid growing explosively just because Temple Run had succeeded.
His definition was about priorities as much as financing. Shepherd said the team wanted to make games it cared about, stay involved with the indie community, and grow at a pace that preserved the studio’s original purpose. “That’s what the indie spirit is about. Not everything is driven by the bottom line.” These were his views in 2014, not a verified description of Imangi’s present-day ownership or strategy.
How a small-team game became a franchise
Shepherd said the original Temple Run was made by the two founders with a freelance artist in about five months. The game’s signature controls grew from a problem the team had encountered in its earlier game, Max Adventure: Shepherd was frustrated with virtual controls and began experimenting with gestures instead.
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- Gorgeous new organic environments
- New obstacles
- More powerups
- More achievements
- Special powers for each character
Swipes shaped the game
The experiments produced a simple control scheme: swipe up to jump, down to slide, and left or right to turn 90 degrees. The team then built an environment around that mechanic. “It really started with that mechanic, though, the swipes to move the character around,” Shepherd said.
A short run with longer-term goals
Shepherd described Temple Run’s design as combining an immediate survival and high-score loop with goals that could bring players back: collecting coins, unlocking characters, upgrading abilities, earning achievements, and competing with friends. That was his explanation of the design, not an independently measured account of why players returned.
Rank #2
- Master Awkward Steps: Learn to walk and run while avoiding falls to advance through levels.
- Unlock Unique Outfits: Collect Classic and Legendary Outfits to customize your character's look.
- Challenge Yourself: Aim to complete as many levels as you can, each with its own set of obstacles.
- Embrace the Stumble: Experience the humor in every stumble and fall as you progress.
- Celebrate Failures: Join a game where faceplants mark milestones and every misstep is part of the fun.
Temple Run’s scale, in the interview’s 2014 context
In 2014, Imangi said the Temple Run franchise had passed one billion downloads. The studio also reported the following figures, gathered for its milestone announcement:
- 216,018 combined years of player time.
- 50 trillion meters run in the games.
- 60 percent of players were women.
These are historical figures reported by Imangi in 2014, not current franchise totals. In the same interview, Shepherd said the studio had 11 people, including himself and co-founder Natalia Luckyanova, and was based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The interview does not establish the company’s current headcount or location. GamesBeat’s 2014 interview with Keith Shepherd was updated on June 18, 2025, but that page update does not make its interview-era details current.
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Rank #3
- Realistic 3d physics with challenging levels across city, jungle, and desert terrain
- Free offline fun for the whole family — casual and addictive arcade action for kids and adults
- Jump, slide, and dodge through open world adventure maps at high speed with powerups
- Unlock and upgrade characters, skins, pets, and costumes with rewards
- Dynamic weather with rain, snow, night, and sunset environments with obstacles and trains
Why the game became free
The original Temple Run launched at 99 cents and also included in-app purchases, Shepherd said. He recalled that growth accelerated after the game became free: “It wasn’t until we made it free that it really took off.” At the time of the interview, he described Temple Run and Temple Run 2 as freemium games supported by advertising and in-app purchases. This is a historical account of the games’ business model, not confirmation of how they monetize today.
A hit could support experimentation
Shepherd said the franchise gave Imangi stability while the team prototyped new ideas and continued its creative work. That balance helps explain why he did not present independence as a rejection of commercial success: Temple Run’s reach could sustain the studio, while growth still had to serve the kind of company its founders wanted to run.
Rank #4
- Exciting jungle adventure game – Explore hidden rainforest paths and race to uncover a legendary lost temple in this fast-paced strategy experience
- Smart card-play strategy – Play cards to guide explorers, reveal new routes, and outthink opponents on every turn
- Fun for family game night for ages 8+ – Designed for 1–4 players with quick 20-minute gameplay that is easy to learn and replay again and again
- Builds critical thinking skills – Encourages planning, decision-making, and problem-solving through engaging exploration mechanics
- Complete game set included – Comes with LiDAR map board, 54 cards, 75 jungle tokens, 6 drone markers, 5 location tiles, 3 explorer movers, temple piece, and score pad
Partnerships and merchandise were part of the 2014 picture
Shepherd said Imangi chose collaborations with Disney’s Brave and Oz because those properties seemed to fit Temple Run’s brand and gameplay. He also emphasized that partnerships required meaningful creative and technical input from Imangi; they were not simply a matter of attaching a film property to the game.
He named arcade machines, apparel, plush toys, and board games as Temple Run merchandise at the time. Those examples document the franchise’s historical reach, but the interview does not establish whether any particular item is available or authorized now.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- BUILDS PLANNING & FLEXIBLE THINKING — Temple Trap develops five STEM-connected cognitive skills with every escape: planning, spatial insight, flexible thinking, problem solving and concentration. Sliding the walls and stairs to open a safe path — in a maze that shifts as you move — trains the brain to think several steps ahead and adapt when the route changes, the multi-step reasoning that underpins mathematics, coding and engineering. It's so much fun to play, you'll forget you're building real skills.
- DESIGNED FOR AGES 7 TO ADULT — 60 CHALLENGES ACROSS TWO FLOORS — Starter challenges can be solved in just a few moves; the hardest need 50 or more and genuinely test adults. The temple even has two floors, with the adventurer changing levels via special pieces. Early challenges welcome a 7-year-old; the toughest push seasoned puzzlers. One compact case, a whole labyrinth of growing challenge.
- SHIFT THE WALLS, ESCAPE THE TEMPLE — Only a smart adventurer can escape this cursed labyrinth! Choose a challenge and place the wall and stair pieces on the board as shown, then place your adventurer. Slide the pieces to open a safe path and move your explorer toward the exit — but beware, the walls constantly shift, the adventurer can't cross the water where the alligators wait, and the piece they're standing on locks in place. Find the way out. One solution every time.
- THE PERFECT TRAVEL BRAIN GAME FOR EVERY GENERATION — Everything stores inside the compact case with a lid — just close it and go. It's ideal for planes, road trips, restaurants and grandparents' houses, with no loose pieces to lose. The same puzzle that sharpens a child's planning gives adults a satisfying screen-free challenge and offers older adults an engaging mental workout that helps keep the mind sharp and active — a thoughtful gift across generations.
- AWARD-WINNING BELGIAN DESIGN — Temple Trap is a beloved SmartGames original, now with an updated adventurer figurine. From SmartGames, the worldwide leader in multi-level logic games, with 30+ years of award-winning design from Belgium, trusted by families, educators and puzzle lovers in 80+ countries. The portable case keeps every piece together, and a free companion app offers animated hints for the deepest, trickiest temples.
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