Casual Games Harmony

I’m sorry that I’m not blogging that often recently as I used to. That is mainly due to three reasons:

1. too little time (We’re doing a lot of publishing recently)

2. nothing interesting to write about (We’re doing a lot of publishing work recently) 

3. the interesting part I would like to write about is actually top secret and I can’t share anything just yet. (But even if I could, I would probably have no time to write about it as there is a lot of publishing work recently!)

Anyway, I have added music from Saqqarah to the music section - at least the parts I was working on, so you can check it out. And if you really want to know about that top secret part then yes, it does concern our next big project. For now I can only tell that it will be a casual game and that it will be really awesome. Sorry, I really wish I could tell you more.

Localizing games – or basically translating them into different languages, if you’re not familiar with the term – is now a common thing on the task list of a game developer, and casual games are no exception. Unfortunately the more complex a game is, the more difficult and costly it is to make localized versions of it. What’s more, if you don’t plan ahead for future localization right from the start it is possible then later localizing a poorly coded game will not be plausible at all! I know something about it as our first casual game Magic Match is available exclusively in English and it is not without a reason…

Continue reading “Localizing Saqqarah”

Yesterday we have launched our latest game Saqqarah for the Mac platform (available for both Intel and PowerPC). The game is available in both English and Polish language versions. This is a very important moment for us since this is our first game ever that has a Mac version. Additionally it takes advantage of our own CUG Framework game engine. You can download it both on Codeminion and on the official Saqqarah websites. The unlock codes for Saqqarah work on both Mac and Windows so if you purchased the game earlier and also happen to have a Mac be sure to check it out!

As you see lately I’m not posting  as often as I used to. That is because I’m very busy both at work and in personal live. Anyway here is a small update on what’s currently going on with Codeminion and our games.

Continue reading “July Update”

Don’t worry, this won’t be another rant about Big Fish games. Rather than that I would like to tell you about a some nice match-3 games that should be very interesting for both players and developers.

Match-3 games have a tough job breaking into the top-tens these days. Fortunately there are still match-3 games that manage to do it even on hidden object oriented portals. Our own game Saqqarah is just making its way to the top-tens and Fishdom is also an excellent example of a modern match-3 game that has the potential to outsell even big hidden object  productions. But why is that? Let’s see what makes up a good modern match-3 game.

Continue reading “I predict fish and pyramids in future games”

Saqqarah is now on BigFish and I am very happy to report that on the second day after the launch we’ve made it to the top ten. Till the last minute we didn’t know how the market would respond to the game and now we feel a big relief,  although it’s of course too early to tell if the game will be a great success over time - but all initial signs sure look encouraging!

Anyway the game is now an exclusive title for BigFish and it is currently getting serious promotion on their website.  What more could a developer want? In fact I could think of something, especially  after some recent events…

Continue reading “The good BIG bad FISH exclusive GAMES…”

Tomorrow is our big day. Ancient Quest of Saqqarah will be launched on the first portal, namely BigFishGames. The game will be available exclusively on BigFish for two weeks in exchange for a small promotion campaign. After that time it will hopefully appear on all major portals. Of course please remember that the game was first soft-launched on Game Club Cafe and our users are enjoying the full version for almost two weeks now.  Anyway, the coming weeks and days will finally show what our game is ultimately worth. We are very nervous, so please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Lately we are doing a lot of stuff that is new to us. Most important is that we are now self publishing our games under the Game Club Cafe brand. This is different than with Magic Match, as this game was published on an exclusive basis by Oberon Media, who later purchased the entire IP (intellectual property) rights to the game.  There are days when we regret selling Magic Match to Oberon, but generally we think that it was a fairly good decision business wise.

Continue reading “Casual Games Exclusive vs. Self Publishing”

I hope that you don’t mind that recently every blog post on Casual Games Harmony is about Saqqarah, but I can’t help it as there is so much going on! Anyway we’re thrilled to see how good the game is doing so far. The feedback is very enthusiastic and coming from both gamers and publishers. So far the game has not been rejected by a single publisher we talked to, and we already talked to about 10 different distribution channels. We were very worried that we would have problems similar to the ones I wrote about earlier regarding StoneLoops! After all Saqqarah is also not a hidden object game. Fortunately everyone seems to be noticing how much effort went into creating Saqqarah and now we have first hints that not giving up on quality was the right way to go and that we won’t regret it.  Anyway, you’re probably wondering what record I was referring to in the title of the post…

Continue reading “Saqqarah - a new record!”

Today, after exactly 1 and half year of development Ancient Quest of Saqqarah has been launched on Game Club Cafe. This is a pra-premiere of the game and for now you won’t find it anywhere else on the Internet. The game is available for purchase so if you’re wondering which seven puzzle types made it to the final version don’t lose this opportunity to give it a try!  Below you can find an official description of the game.

Restore the ruined temples in an ancient tournament of divine puzzles!

Take part in the Ancient Quest of Saqqarah and descend deep below the sands to the magical underground oasis filled with puzzles, treasures and mysteries! It’s up to you to fulfill an ancient Egyptian prophecy and stop evil god Seth from breaking out of his arcane tomb prison. In order to succeed the chosen one will have to master 7 different types of puzzles as well as exciting mini-games spread over half a thousand hand crafted levels. The Ancient Quest of Saqqarah awaits you!

Game features:

• 7 different puzzle mechanics
• Hidden Object bonus rounds
• Over 500 hand crafted levels
• Stunning high resolution graphics
• Earn Ranks, Trophies and Magic Powers
• Epic and engaging storyline narration

< Click here to play the final version of Saqqarah! >