and Freeman played Dungeons & Dragons in a group where Connelley acted as the Dungeon Master. An advertisement for Temple of Apshai called the game a "version of Dungeons and Dragons" and described Connelly as an experienced "Dungeon Master, running continuous D & D campaigns". The game's documentation included instructions for importing pen-and-paper role-playing game player characters. Temple of Apshai was first released in August 1979. The original release contained the program cassette and the manual in a plastic bag, an unusually professional packaging for the time. Early advertisements promoted versions for TRS-80 and Commodore PET, but a version for the Apple II followed in 1980. The TRS-80, Apple II, and PET versions were sold for $24.95 on cassette and $29.95 on disk. A port to Atari 8-bit computers was advertised by retailers from winter 1981, while Epyx announced a version for IBM PC compatibles to be released in March 1982. Aric Wilmunder coded the Atari program, while Connelley himself is credited for the IBM PC version. In 1983, the game was released for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, sold at $39.95. Connelley identified Steve Bryson as the programmer of the Commodore 64 version. In 1983, Gessler Educational Software distributed a French language version with the title Le Temple D'Apshaï for the purpose of French language education. Both the game and manual were translated entirely, kept in a French Canadian writing style. in 1984, a Version was made for the Mac Classic under contract with Applied Computer Technology, Inc. located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was authored by Louis Castle. Legacy Temple of Apshai was the first game in Automated Simulations' Dunjonquest series, which span ten individual titles, including expansions, smaller games, and a full sequel, Hellfire Warrior. Two of the releases, Upper Reaches of Apshai and Curse of Ra, were add-ons to Temple of Apshai which required the original program to run. The level design and room descriptions for both were created by Tim Bird, Mark Madrid and Andrew Martin. Upper Reaches of Apshai contains four new dungeon levels for beginning characters, and conveys a more humorous tone with suburban environments like a vegetable garden and enemies like killer tomatoes. Curse of Ra is set in ancient Egypt and has higher difficulty. It also consists of four dungeon levels, with 179 rooms total. In 1983, Epyx released the action-oriented Gateway to Apshai, a prequel to Temple of Apshai whose