Pass the sQuaricon™

The sQuaricon Game Series is a collection of innovative abstract strategy and puzzle games that blend minimalist design with deep tactical gameplay. Inspired by SUDOKU pattern, and as a product of exploring Combinatorial Mean patterns, each game challenges players with unique rulesets while maintaining intuitive accessibility.

the squaricon™ Game series

From tile-puzzle to strategic PX on consoles and PC

Are you passionate about tile-puzzle games (Chess, Sudoku,
Tic Tac Toe, Rubik's Cube, Tetris, Match-3, ...)?

It took years to transform an innovative Combinatorial Mean concept into the meditative brainteaser, and tile-puzzle series of games. The breaking point was my video talk with Amy Jo Kim (2016) and later accessing her 8-week GameAcademy Summer Masterclass 2019. This deeply changed my understanding of how the games connect with players, their habits, and motivations, and how to find the hottest fans (superfans) to include them in the development process.

sQuaricon™ is the original IP game series of five pattern-matching puzzles, but it generally applies to any of the pxp square boards.

sQuaricon™ 3

welcome to
NEW KID IN PUZZLE TOWN

It is likely the third-ever constructed game on the
basic 3x3 gameboard (besides the XO and Lo Shu)

Competion & lookalike games - try them:

- - - 1010!, TETRIS, WORDS, XO (Tic Tac Toe), Lo Shu, BLOCK BLAST!, Roll the Ball, RUBIK CUBE, TWO DOTS, SUDOKU, ZEN Match, Collect Em All,...
    - Enjoy short tricky sessions
    - code: Gordan Sikic, TopTal

sQuaricon Game vision!

Tile-puzzle with Core Casual metagame
Mobile > iPAD > PC > Console > Windows Games

Our vision is to redefine the casual puzzle genre by creating games that blend the simplicity of classic puzzles like Tic-Tac-Toe and Sudoku with innovative, engaging gameboard mechanics.

Our time-killer games are designed to deliver a momentary escape for casual players while offering a depth of engagement that appeals to thinkers and puzzle enthusiasts.

With a scalable design and a well-thought-out player journey from single-player casual to PvP real-time competition, sQuaricon is positioned to grow into a series that resonates with a global puzzle audience.

Testimonials:

- - "I like this elusive motion", Gabe Carter, Oberon Media (2009)
  - "The game should start from the Japanese market",
    Prof. Tom Sloper, Sloperama (2009)

sQuaricon™ Games Company

Generally, the sQuaricon Game Series has at least three faces:

first is a tricky relaxing time-killer up to hybrid casual on the smallest possible tiles puzzle gameboard (sQ3), or
the core-casual puzzler (sQ5, 7, 11, 13), and
the third face is the PvP exciting challenging game across its all game modes...

Game Series (PC) was published back in 2009. (CNET.com),
You are welcome to download the 2023 PC version

Contact: squaricon@gmail.com
listen my PLAYLIST

Left: sQuaricon logo by Jaroslav Procka

Thinkers and Clickers!

Single player

sQuaricon™ Game Series ©2006 is a chain of five distinguished skill-based, meditative, logic, and pattern-matching tiles' puzzles on the square game boards: sQ3, sQ5, sQ7, sQ11, and sQ13 connected by the same board mechanics.

Coffee Matches
falls into the tile puzzle genre, you fit endless elements seemingly without any special effort or excitement... However, a subconscious motif is to relax, reset daily problems, and empty the surplus of worries
Player's progress
is reinforced by the growing gameboards, by several playing modes starting from Regular and ZEN, and additional gameplay with obstacles or tours
Players' mental model
is constantly updated starting from the Clickers' time-killer playground (sQ3) to more and more meditative, strategy, and skill-demand models for Thinker players
For Thinkers and Clickers!
By its gameplay complexity, the sQuaricon™ 3 game is on between the simplicity of 1010!, Block Blast, Match-3 Masters for sQuaricon 3 for clikers audience, and the Sudoku's complexity of sQuaricon 5-7-11-13 for thinker players...

art, animation: Igor Puskaric,
Code sQ3 (ZEN Mode): Tomislav Klepac (download Android v)

PvP for The Clickers!

Player vs. Player
sQuaricon games scope?

The sQuaricon Game Series fits to several game categories:

PvP Tournaments are the main trump for the competition-minded gamers - the sQuaricons have full online PvP and multi-player capability, which is probably an incomparable advantage for the game economy and monetization
Hybrid-casual, single/PvP/Local (sQ3), simple dynamic tile puzzler for mobile and tablet (see Match Masters of Candivore)
Casual (sQ3, sQ5, sQ7), meditative tile puzzler with elusive visual content - mobile, tablet, PC
Mid-core (sQ3, sQ5, sQ7, sQ11, sQ13) are puzzles with a possible Saga-type narrative for tablet, PC, consoles
Code: Ivan Strok, 2021
Audio: Goran Bastinac
youtube video

sQuaricon™ 3 5 7

sQuaricon™ 5 Regular mode
(TAP to see)

sQuaricon™ 5
Casual Game for Passionate Players

- - - The skillful player solves it in 20-30 moves for 1-4 minutes
    - There are almost 3M starting positions and 5+ game-playing modes with the moves-notation as simple as in chess, which makes the game sessions' synchronization ideally small for synchronized PvP matches even on a slow internet connection
    - The kaleidoscope-like animation adds value to the player's experience

(illustration sQ5 in Regular Mode)

Code: Gordan Sikic, 2008, 2013, 2023
Sounds: Don Bobo Bobanoovic, 2007

NOTE: All illustrations here are low-fi graphics, except where the artwork is specified

Above: the Resources Map of approximate time and moves spent per gameboard size

sQuaricon™ 7 ZEN mode

sQuaricon™ 7
Elusive Motion
(ZEN mode on demo gameboard trailer)

From Casual to the Mid-core Game for Super Fans

- - A skillful player completes the session in 30-40 moves for 4-10 minutes in the regular playing mode. (In ZEN mode, it is 10-14 moves and 1-2 minutes)
  - The whole game session - similar to chess - can be noted in a small text.file - ideal to play against or share and watch other players in synchronous or asynchronous mode

illustration: ZEN playing mode - Prototype 2009.

sQuaricon 11 Regular mode

sQuaricon 11, squaricon 13
Superfans' game: sQuaricon 11, 13

sQ11 - On average you will play 200+ moves, for 45+/- minutes, and ... You are there.
If playing a sQ13 Tour - take a weekend :)
Tablet, PC, console game for Superfan League.
Big screen - Big excitement

illustration: prototype 2009.

Watch platforms

sQ-3 fits a wide range of screen sizes, from iOS/Android watches to PC...

Casual Puzzle for all screen sizes

Left: In 2016, we published the Memo Tiles, one of the first-ever games for Apple Watch. As seen in the sQuaricon-3 illustration (left), the sQ3 gameboard may add some elegance to the small watch screens.

Above: PLAY LIKE RUBIK
Code and llustration: Vedran Sknjug
Ex. CRO-Team, Zagreb (2020)

RETRO Redesign - test (2023)
download for your PC

background: Lenko Tomic Matulovic

Tondo Jigsaw 2 (2025)

- The first project on the Unity platform featuring another original game concept: the rounded Jigsaw puzzle.
Above: Art Marko Umicevic
Code Andrija Stepic
Audio: Goran Bastinac
Download the Android version

Rollin' Tiles (2016)

Rollin' Tiles: abandoned project despite good critics
for "innovation and clean UI but it’s not going
to be enough to generate a sustainable
revenue stream" (Chillingo Board of Directors).
Above: art Peter Simon
Art director: Marko Umicevic
Audio: Goran Bastinac
outsourcing; The Knights of Unity (2016)
Download Android v. (Drive)

sQuaricon Core Team Members

Igor Puskaric
Art Director, concept and animation

Mr. Igor is a 2D and 3D Artist who specializes in digital art including hand painting, and organic and hard surface modeling. Everything from stylized art to photorealistic assets.

Goran Bastinac
Audio, (for all sQuaricon Titles since 2011)

Mr. Goran has a very rare and surprising talent to recognize dramatic moments even though the game scene is not fully visualized yet; moreover, he has a lot of useful ideas and shares them unselfishly.

Marko Umicevic
Art Direction

Mr. Marko is a Fine Art Historian and Photographer. His latest work in games was on Rollin' Tiles that got exceptional attention from Chillingo's Developer relation director Levi Buchanan: "Really like the art direction and the clean UI"

Lenko Tomic Matulovic
2D/3D Artist

Mr. Lenko is a 2D and 3D Artist who specializes in digital art including hand painting, and organic and hard surface modeling. Everything from stylized art to photorealistic assets.

Davor Umicevic,
Community Manager

Mr. Davor has strong analytical skills and will lead relations to the gaming platforms and actively follow the changes in trends and preferences among the players' community. He will ensure smooth communication between the platforms and the audience.

Gordan Sikic
Programmer, Freelancer, SW Engineer at Toptal

Mr. Gordan Sikic is a top Toptal developer who coded the sQuaricon Game Series in C++/Open GL. In this project, we would like to engage him to help us develop an exciting VR game version.

Goran Umicevic,
CEO, Game Design

Mr. Goran specializes in brainteasers, logic puzzlers, and pattern-matching games with 15+ Years of learning and practicing in game design, now applying the Game Thinking method in the design & development improved on Amy Jo Kim's 8-week GameThinking Masterclass 2019 (gamethinkingacademy.io).

n-Queens Problem?

He is the inventor and producer of the sQuaricon™ Game Series, which is at its core an original modular board algorithm for solving the prime-numbers' part of the n-Queens problem.

(more on tiny.cc/CombMean)

A wonderful Concept Art by young Czech graphic designer Jaroslav Pročka, 2017.

* The term "the original IP" refers to the original intellectual property that forms the foundation and core concept of the game design. In this context, IP refers to the unique and creative elements that make the game distinct and protectable under intellectual property laws, such as copyright and trademark.
Having a well-defined original IP provides a clear direction for the development team and helps in communicating the game's vision and identity to stakeholders, such as publishers, investors, and players. (ChatGPT)

Coop with the game industry professionals in the past years:

Milica Vezmar Basara, graphic designer and illustrator

Ivan Strok, Studio Stone

Don Bobo Bobanovic

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