Sqrxz 3 v1.0 for classic Amiga released

[Retroplay]

http://www.sqrxz.de/2015/07/19/sqrxz...-ocs-released/

[phx]

Sqrxz 3 is a (extremely hard) jump and run puzzle game for any Amiga with 1 MB RAM. The ADF image can be downloaded here: http://www.sqrxz.de/sqrxz-3/ (for free, of course). It is my personal favourite of the series with brilliant graphics by Simon Butler and a dozen of great soundtracks by Alexander Wiklund.

But we also created a physical release, with a small printed box (inside and outside), a small booklet with instructions (20 pages) and a labeled DD-disk with the game. The so-called "deluxe version" can be ordered for at least 9 Euro from us, to cover expenses. Any higher amount is allowed and takes effect as motivation for future games.

Note that these 9 Euro cover all expenses, i.e.: DD-disk, printed box, booklet, package materials, postage, shipping, ... everything. The game and our time is free.



There is just a single drawback: to keep it simple for us we will only accept orders from the EU. This has the advantage that the postage is low enough and the same for everybody and, most important, that you can pay with a SEPA bank transfer.

If you are interested, write me (frank at phoenix dot owl dot de) an email with the subject "Sqrxz Order". Do not forget to include the address, where you want to receive the package. After some time you will eventually get a reply with more details, like the account number of our team leader (Shahzad Sahaib) in Austria. When the money arrived, Shahzad will send the game to you. But you have to fold the box yourself!

[retrogamer]

Will it be a whdload installer for this?

[Cylon]

Nice!
BTW
From my own experience anybody from outside EU will ask you what the hell SEPA is, anyway! So don't bother with those people.... ;-)

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by retrogamer

Will it be a whdload installer for this?

Yes.

[phx]

Tell me if you find all level codes. I tried to improve the technique this time.


There are also special codes hidden in the printed booklet of the game.

The physical release of Sqrxz3 for the A500 with 1MB is still available. And we have sold 20(!) times more copies in Germany alone than in the rest of the EU.

So probably many, who are potentially interested, have missed this thread?

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by phx

Tell me if you find all level codes. I tried to improve the technique this time.


There are also special codes hidden in the printed booklet of the game.

The physical release of Sqrxz3 for the A500 with 1MB is still available. And we have sold 20(!) times more copies in Germany alone than in the rest of the EU.

So probably many, who are potentially interested, have missed this thread?

This might also indicate that the game advertising mainly happened through word of mouth in the German Amiga community (which is no surprise since it is by far the largest in Europe).
If you want to reach a larger audience you might want to try to advertise it through other channels.

It could be worth it to buy a few dollars worth of Google Ads, I would definitely click on an add selling an Amiga game if I saw one pop during an Amiga related search! The Amiga keyword is probably not very expensive moreover so that would not cost you guys too much.

I will buy a copy tonight in any case!

And out of curiosity, how many copies did you guys produce/send (even if just a rough approximation)? It is a bit depressing to see people talk about how nobody makes good games for the Amiga when on the other hand people who do never release any kind of "sales" number: hard to get motivated to do anything when there is no data available to gauge the Amiga market.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by phx

So probably many, who are potentially interested, have missed this thread?

Maybe, but...

There is just a single drawback: to keep it simple for us we will only accept orders from the EU.

I totally understand, but that does limit some of us..

desiv

[phx]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

This might also indicate that the game advertising mainly happened through word of mouth in the German Amiga community

That's possible, but my strategy was the same: an announcement in the biggest Amiga forum (a1k.org).

It could be worth it to buy a few dollars worth of Google Ads, I would definitely click on an add selling an Amiga game if I saw one pop during an Amiga related search! The Amiga keyword is probably not very expensive moreover so that would not cost you guys too much.

No, I certainly won't annoy anybody with Google Ads.
We don't need to sell the game and we don't make any profit. The price is just for covering expenses.

I will buy a copy tonight in any case!

That's great! But seeing you're from Canada it might be difficult, as we chose to accept only bank transfers from the EU.

And out of curiosity, how many copies did you guys produce/send (even if just a rough approximation)?

I don't know the latest numbers. One or two weeks ago our project leader told me something around 80 copies.

It is a bit depressing to see people talk about how nobody makes good games for the Amiga when on the other hand people who do never release any kind of "sales" number: hard to get motivated to do anything when there is no data available to gauge the Amiga market.

You cannot see it as a "market". You can be happy to cover your expenses. It's a hobby and we do it for fun. So nothing will stop us.
The games are available as free ADF download. The physical release was just meant as an extra service for collectors.

Originally Posted by desiv

I totally understand, but that does limit some of us..

I know, but that's how it is. PayPal is no option. And we try to avoid any sorts of problems with international money transfer and shipping.

[Frog]

i miss this thread, thanks for making the whole Sqrzx serie on Amiga OCS !
I just talk about it on a french forum : Insert Disk 2

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by phx

That's possible, but my strategy was the same: an announcement in the biggest Amiga forum (a1k.org).

No, I certainly won't annoy anybody with Google Ads.
We don't need to sell the game and we don't make any profit. The price is just for covering expenses.

Oh, I just meant to buy ad space in google search results.
Even if you are not in for the money you can think of it as a news channel for not-so-active Amiga users:
they enter a search term with "amiga", and in the results your game is visible and you pay only if they click on the ad.

Think of it as a cheap, un-intrusive way to help people know your game exists!
Be sure that littering your web site(s) with Google Ads was not was I had in mind.

Originally Posted by phx

That's great! But seeing you're from Canada it might be difficult, as we chose to accept only bank transfers from the EU.

It's fine, as a native European who has not severed its banking ties with the old continent I should be able to scrape a few coins.
I am not a collector but I prefer tangible thingies over digital downloads.

Originally Posted by phx

I don't know the latest numbers. One or two weeks ago our project leader told me something around 80 copies.

You cannot see it as a "market". You can be happy to cover your expenses. It's a hobby and we do it for fun. So nothing will stop us.
The games are available as free ADF download. The physical release was just meant as an extra service for collectors.

I see, that is not much indeed but I guess that the fact that the game is also available as a free ADF download probably reduces the demand for a physical copy. I know that often I opt for the free download thinking that I will buy the real thing soon after and I get lazy and end up never buying it (same as I did with Amiga cracks back in the day... ).

Have you guys ever tried to do a physical only release? Maybe you would be surprised by the demand.
If the ACA boards are an indication, quite a number of people seem to be willing to buy physical Amiga goodness.

Originally Posted by phx

I know, but that's how it is. PayPal is no option. And we try to avoid any sorts of problems with international money transfer and shipping.

Completely understandable.
If you want, I can serve as a relay for North American buyers, if you do have enough potential "customers" I could buy a batch of 10 and ask my family to forward them to me so I can ship them "locally" from here.

Given the low price of the game I would not be taking much risk.

[phx]

Originally Posted by Frog

I just talk about it on a french forum : Insert Disk 2

Merci beaucoup!

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

Have you guys ever tried to do a physical only release? Maybe you would be surprised by the demand.

I doubt that you can reach any higher numbers than 100 copies by selling an Amiga game nowadays. You also have to consider that the type of the game may not be everybody's taste.

If you want, I can serve as a relay for North American buyers, if you do have enough potential "customers" I could buy a batch of 10 and ask my family to forward them to me so I can ship them "locally" from here.

It's your choice (and risk).

Ok, so anybody from North America, who is interested in a copy, please send me a mail! I will collect them for the next two weeks and forward the orders and addresses to ReadOnlyCat who will send you his account information.

[Galahad/FLT]

Simon Butler as in Ocean Software Simon Butler?

[phx]

Yes, that's him. He worked for Ocean.
He did the graphics for most Retroguru games.

Currently he is working on the Amiga OCS graphics for Sqrxz 4 (which I just finished porting).

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by phx

Yes, that's him. He worked for Ocean.
He did the graphics for most Retroguru games.

Currently he is working on the Amiga OCS graphics for Sqrxz 4 (which I just finished porting).

Nice one

[Lonewolf10]

Wow *drops to knees*

That's simply amazing!

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by phx

Tell me if you find all level codes. I tried to improve the technique this time.

Just had a look, nice try but still not much of a challenge.

MY61, ICXW, ...., FPJF, ... , CATL, RELX ect. pp.

[phx]

Not bad! The level codes have already been known from Hipoonios' longplay on YouTube. But I don't think the special ones have appeared anywhere yet. Thanks, that you didn't post all of them.

Seems I have to rework the password routine again...

[Alpha One]

Originally Posted by phx

Not bad! The level codes have already been known from Hipoonios' longplay on YouTube. But I don't think the special ones have appeared anywhere yet. Thanks, that you didn't post all of them.

Seems I have to rework the password routine again...

Flashtro Trainer is out for about 3 weeks with Levelskip option. No need to encrypt the Levelcodes, simply skip through and write down. ;-)

http://www.flashtro.com/index.php?e=...=Amiga&id=3891

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by phx

Not bad! The level codes have already been known from Hipoonios' longplay on YouTube. But I don't think the special ones have appeared anywhere yet. Thanks, that you didn't post all of them.

Didn't want to spoil all the fun so I didn't post all codes. And I didn't even know about the longplay on YouTube. And even if I had known it I would've hacked the level codes myself anyway!

Originally Posted by phx

Seems I have to rework the password routine again...

Your current approach isn't that bad, I had quite some fun with it. But it wasn't hard to figure out where and how the level codes are checked/generated. Still, I liked the idea, waiting for your next game and a new challenge, it's fun!

Nice game as usual BTW!