Brainstorming for New Game Ideas

It's finally time! No no, we're not revealing anything about a next project now, or any time soon... BUT we are starting to think about it! While we work on console development and adding new stuff to Ultimate Chicken Horse, we're also starting to brainstorm for our next project, whatever that is.

After a long brainstorming meeting, we decided that we would prototype a few ideas throughout the next bunch of months and see if there's one that stands out. The way this will work (at least in the current plan), is that each member of the team will pitch a concept. Each of us will pitch both a high-level game concept (that can include story, mechanics, characters, etc.) along with a prototype pitch. The prototype pitch will consist of all of the things needed to make a prototype, that is, what we need the rest of the team to help us with. 

The combination of the high-level pitch, "the dream", and the prototype pitch, which is more of a "steps to prove the concept", should lead to one of a few possibilities.

1. We all like the game, the vision is there, and we play-test it
2. We all like the game, but there's no viability in the market or the scope is off
3. We don't like the game, we drop it
4. Some of us like the game, some don't, we play-test it and see what happens

I'm curious to know what other developers (or non-developers!) think of this and how you go about doing the early phases of your next project, so I'd encourage going to the Gamasutra article to leave a comment.

Apart from that, we wanted to wish you happy holidays and a great new year, and we'll see you on the other side!

Thanks and see you next time!
Rich & the Clever Endeavour Team

Some Deeper Bug Fixing and More Console Stuff

Hi again! Short update this week, as not much new stuff is going on right now.

First, we're still fixing bugs (as always, it seems), but I think our approach is a little more complete this time. Not that we had been simply bandaging bugs beforehand, but some of the stuff that we're working on now should help prevent many other small bugs that we've seen. 

For example, almost all of the online issues have been caused by slow internet, and it's very hard to figure out their cause when we can't test in a variety of different places with different hardware and different internet connections. Some solutions that we've been working on go deeper that the typical bug fix; we actually look at how, for example, all players join a lobby and what steps need to take place on the client and the host's computer without being out of sync.

The bug fixes we're working on now will help the game more stable long term so we can focus on adding new stuff, console development, and other things.

Beyond that, we're working on getting the consoles running and are making some progress. Can't speak too much about it yet but hopefully there will be more word soon :)

Musical Odyssey and More Bug Fixes!

Hello again!

This week's dev blog sees some talk about a musical odyssey and fixing more bugs (yes, more bugs).

Musical Odyssey!

Tomorrow night is the Video Game Musical Odyssey at the Maison Symphonique (House of Symphony?) here in Montreal. The event is going to feature a live orchestra with members from the Montreal Symphony Orchestra playing a selection of video game music. We're lucky enough to be among some really heavy hitters, and the music being played will be an orchestral version of our Pyramid level from Ultimate Chicken Horse. Just to name a few of the scores:

• Ubisoft – Assassin’s Creed
• WB Games – Batman Arkham Origins
• Eidos-Montréal – Thief
• Eidos-Montréal – Deus Ex Human Revolution
• BioWare – Dragon Age Inquisition
• BioWare – Mass Effect 3

Along with a bunch of other indies, we'll each have a track or two played at the concert. Should be awesome! You can get tickets here if you're interested:

http://www.odysseemusicaledujeuvideo.com/english/

We're pretty excited, and we're going a sort of company dinner Christmas-ish type celebration beforehand, so that should be nice.

Bug Fixes (as usual)

So we've been fixing bugs as well, as usual. One of the things we're learning with game development is that even when you think you're done with a bug fix, it will find a way to come back somehow.

We've started to work on console development but we're still hammering away at the game as well, making progress on some hard-to-solve bugs and doing what we can to improve the quality of the user experience in the game.

More updates soon!