Wiz (Amiga AGA)

[Revenile]

I like the design of the sprite overall, and don't even mind the walking animation (I do actually like the hat bobbing) though there's always room for improvement, the only kind of criticism I could give as someone who isn't an artist and couldn't make something even half as good is that it does look like our wizard here is more shuffling than walking because he's not really facing the direction he's going, but I still stand by it's a good kind of silly overall.

[DaveTaylor]

Wow, you're an Amiga legend!

I love your Tin Toy Adventure.

The colors and the parallax scrolling are impressive.
Nice to see that you use the same engine for Wiz.

How can one person create it all? Code, sound, graphics.

[AmigaDweeb]

Thanks for all input and feedback of course.

I think it is hard to design artwork etc. that appeals to all tastes and expectations in reality. Wiz is what he is of course and really just an natural extension of my my own particular art style, if you look at many of my previous Amiga works in over last 30 years. I tend to lean more towards the cutesy side of things in my own games.

Cheers,

Adrian

[AmigaDweeb]

Originally Posted by DaveTaylor

Wow, you're an Amiga legend!

I love your Tin Toy Adventure.

The colors and the parallax scrolling are impressive.
Nice to see that you use the same engine for Wiz.

How can one person create it all? Code, sound, graphics.

I am no legend for sure but am time served in this business. It does take a lot of work to deliver a game anything like this. Doing a little bit of work on it each day is the real key. Having reused parts of previous projects has also allowed for speedier development but even then it's still a huge task to complete it all.

I think you have to really, really want to do it above all else, else you'd never reach the end and get the project out the door. Some days in the last year working on this I have already questioned myself several times LOL.

I hope many of you will like it when it is finished and out the door.

Thanks,

Adrian

[AmigaDweeb]

Originally Posted by Revenile

I like the design of the sprite overall, and don't even mind the walking animation (I do actually like the hat bobbing) though there's always room for improvement, the only kind of criticism I could give as someone who isn't an artist and couldn't make something even half as good is that it does look like our wizard here is more shuffling than walking because he's not really facing the direction he's going, but I still stand by it's a good kind of silly overall.

Thank you. Wiz is very old and has arthritis which causes him to shuffle a bit when he walks you see.

[DaveTaylor]

I have a question:

You released Tin Toy, Tommy Gun and Castle Kingdoms in 1996/97.

What about the sales? Were you still able to make money with games in that late Amiga era?
The market got small that time. But maybe the sales were still high, because new games were rare.

I always had that question in my mind when reading Amiga magazines of 1996 and 97. Now I have the chance to ask someone who released games in that period.

[AmigaDweeb]

Originally Posted by DaveTaylor

I have a question:

You released Tin Toy, Tommy Gun and Castle Kingdoms in 1996/97.

What about the sales? Were you still able to make money with games in that late Amiga era?
The market got small that time. But maybe the sales were still high, because new games were rare.

I always had that question in my mind when reading Amiga magazines of 1996 and 97. Now I have the chance to ask someone who released games in that period.

Here is the shortest version of a long sequence of events that I can recall as I type...

After I parted ways with Core Design due to the then pending death of the Amiga in terms of retail game sales at least, I went on to create & publish Tin Toy on my own to see if I could recreate the sales I had had with previous titles that Core published.

Tin Toy AGA did about 5th of the sales of the Core stuff but I had at least published it on my own. I then had the further idea to widen sales back then by supporting OCS/ECS machines but it didn't pan out as expected by 1997. Sales of those final titles were in the 500 and lower bracket so I called it a day and moved out of Amiga onto other things. Basically after costs of making the games and self publishing via mail order along with expensive glossy magazine ads, then you we're down to beer money levels so it was time to sadly give up.

Also back then most of the sales were made in bulk via various scene traders alongside the mail order. Once the scene traders faded away you were left with just the mail order and you own magazine ads, reviews and word of mouth to drive sales ...it became dire by the end and just not worth the effort as a full time self-employed job back then.

Now 25 years or so on, I am semi-retired and treat retro game design as more of a hobby thing in general. Also we have the internet and everything that goes with it so it is easier to get new games to players.

I have no real idea how Wiz will perform on it's physical & digital release of course and the Amiga rereleases before it were an exercise in physical and digital publishing to see if I could create a new niche outlet for my newer planned Amiga retro games.

For the amount of hours even as a hobby that I have put in to those and now Wiz to date, I very much doubt it would of been worth it from a purely cash basis but rather I am creating games as that is what I do and love doing. There is much more money in mobile apps for sure but mobile is souless compared to retro for me, so that is my primary driving force here.

Wiz is a 2 disk game and there will only be 100 signed physical copies made in that format on release. If demand requires more after that, then the games will probably be supplied on a small fat32 usb 2.0 stick but with glossy disk labels in the box so you can make your own disks from the adf's supplied.

If anybody out there thinks I am doing this for money alone then you should stand in my shoes and see that there really isn't that much money in it. Love it firstly and any spare cash earned as a profit is a bonus for sure. The halcyon days of Amiga publishing are long gone but the Amiga dream is not dead and seems more alive than ever now in some respects.

I hope that answers your question to some degree.

Thanks,

Adrian

[Predseda]

2 disks, so it means Wiz will fit into that cute micro-box like Tin Toy, Castle Kingdoms etc.? Much appreciated.

Also - will you re-release Doodle Bug too? Or you do not hold the rights?

[AmigaDweeb]

Yes same micro case for Wiz.

I do have the rights back but not planning on rereleasing anything pre Tin Toy. I don't even have all the original code or assets for some of them now.

[DaveTaylor]

Thank you so much for that detailed reply. I really appreciate it.
Very interesting facts.

Nice to hear that you had respectable sales with Tin Toy.

It was reviewed in the final issue of my favourite german Amiga magazine.

https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=17058


And I think the shut down of most Amiga magazines at the end of 1996 had a big impact on sales, because the remaining Amiga users just didn't learn about new releases. And all the advertisements for software shops were missing too.

I can see in your words that you really love Amiga. Like all of us here.

I hope you will make some money with Wiz. You deserve it.

[AmigaDweeb]

Thanks and yes I totally agree, the shutdown of many Amiga magazines and subsequent loss of exposure for new Amiga games was a major factor back then.

Love the Amiga and always will.

Any profit I may make from future Amiga game sales will indeed be a bonus.

[nikosidis]

Thankfully there are other channels than magazines now like youtube and twitch. Amiga Bill is very active. I think it is very smart to show up there when the game will be released and maybe even before with a demo.
People left the Amiga when software and games stopped being produced.
I know with myself that I bought back hardware and became interested again when I saw titles like Worthy and some demo, screenshots of Reshoot-r. After those games there been even more quality releases and there are many more to come.

This game looks very good and without any real clue about sales it must be possible to sell a few hundred.

I know Commodore 64 have more users but this game must have sold way over 2000 copies now. It is possible for Amiga to get there.

Sam’s Journey breaking sales record
Written by Protovision on 28.06.2018

Unbelievable: We’ve sold more than 1500 copies of Sam’s Journey!
And new orders are still coming in almost every day… so it looks like we’ll hit 2000 in the end!

[Reido]

[QUOTE=
For the amount of hours even as a hobby that I have put in to those and now Wiz to date, I very much doubt it would of been worth it from a purely cash basis but rather I am creating games as that is what I do and love doing. There is much more money in mobile apps for sure but mobile is souless compared to retro for me, so that is my primary driving force here.
[/QUOTE]

Having people like yourself developing games purely for the love of the system and the personal satisfaction is what makes the amiga scene so vibrant at the moment. Huge respect

[AmigaDweeb]

@nikosidis Yes totally as the internet was very basic back then and nowhere like it is now today of course.

I think yes the 1st 100 signed copies on disk will sell out quite fast in reality based on performance of the test run rereleases I did earlier in 2020.

Digital makes up for quite a few sales on other formats so I expect there will be a few of those too.

I came back to Amiga via Spectrum Next where sales of boxed units were in the low 1000's because collectors bought every physical game we released alongside the digital versions even tho I only sold to about 10-12% of the then current 3500 user/machine base.

I will release the title as usual later and let the professional Amiga scene vloggers and bloggers etc. take it from there. Amiga Bill and Amiga Guru have already mentioned it here and there over the year of course which has been very kind.

I like money as much as the next man but on Amiga I am more about the fun than the cash. I do however have to cover costs to produce and supply physical versions and that takes a lot of time and some upfront money to actually do in reality.

Even at the higher sales level you still don't make that much money time you factor in your time, materials and supply costs, postage, faulty returns and good old income tax on sales etc.

Fun 1st, money 2nd the rest will follow if I produce a good game to the best of my ability.

I don't usually do demos any longer but will consider it of course, that said I normally like to supply the finished item to a select few good reviewers and bloggers. Given the low number we make as spares each batch these will be very limited for Wiz.

Great news for developers of Sam's Journey too!!!

Thanks,

Adrian

[AmigaDweeb]

Originally Posted by Reido

Having people like yourself developing games purely for the love of the system and the personal satisfaction is what makes the amiga scene so vibrant at the moment. Huge respect

Thank you. I have put my all into Wiz and hope you like it when it's released in December 2020

[nikosidis]

The 1st and most important is for sure the love of what you are doing. No money can compensate for that. I think that is a good reason why we see so many great, fun titles released for Amiga and C64.
I'm not so much intro boxed games, but I for sure buy the digital release of Wiz

[AmigaDweeb]

@nikosidis Thank you. Yes fully understood, not everybody wants boxed games and digital download will also be made available. The signed boxed copies are mainly for collectors that like physical copies with extra physical freebies inside alongside the digital version.

[Amigajay]

Pricing too is vital esp at this stage of the Amiga’s life, cheaper games can reach around 500 sales, whilst others priced at the higher end would only reach a third of that.

So i always think its obvious when a dev says they are doing it for the love or for fans only to find out what the final price of the product, you know which way they leant!

And as nikosidis said get as many review copies out there to youtubers, twitchers etc not just English ones, i found with my CD32 magazine, 40% of sales were from Germany just as big market over there as the UK.

[AmigaDweeb]

Yes totally. The prices range from UK£11.99 to £15.99 for Physical on disk(s) and USB versions.

The Digital versions range from US$6.99 to $9.99 for a new title.

Postal charges are not included but usually are UK£2.99 for UK to £4.99 for outside UK.

The coverage should be wide as possible agreed. Germany has always been a good market for Amiga yes.

[nikosidis]

Well, I would say a high quality Amiga AGA release should be more like 20 Euro and up as digital download.
This is where a game like Sams Journey is at with over 2000 sales.
With a start price like this it is always possible with a discount after lets say a year or two.