!!! Major Game News & Hype !!!

We have some big news to release today! I'll give you the short version first, and if you're interested in reading the whole thing you can scroll down and do that.

Beyond the hype and press (see below), our wonderful experience at PAX taught us a lot of things... things we didn't even expect we could learn at an expo. The biggest amongst these things is simple: People. Want. Online. Multiplayer. We knew this, of course, but we didn't realize truly how much more important it was than everything else. After seeing how Rocket League and SpeedRunners have had such success with matchmaking, we realized that we need to put all of our focus on the online multiplayer and on matchmaking (eventually). This means putting the single player experience on the back-burner for now.

You wanted online multiplayer, and we're listening. Beyond that, we came to the realization that what we have is good, and people love it. We should refine what we have and make it accessible for people to play together online, and make sure that we focus 100% of our efforts on the game experience you know and love.

Because of this, we've decided to stop working on the single player mode, despite it being interesting and fun to play. We realized that the experience, while fun, isn't the truest Ultimate Chicken Horse experience and might be included in later patches but shouldn't prevent us from having the time / resources to create the perfect multiplayer experience.

Ultimate Chicken Horse hype?

From Polygon:

Ultimate Chicken Horse is Competitive Platform Design on the Fly

From Kotaku:

Three Cool Surprises from PAX Prime

From IGN:

Pretty sweet to be attracting this attention, and we're thrilled that both the media and non-media PAX goers liked the game. In the next little while I imagine the press will die down, and it'll reignite a month before launch (if our marketing plan is carried out as we're planning).

So what's the plan now?

Well, on the game side, we're doing a few things. We're focusing on online multiplayer, which means Alex is banging his head against network code for a while. It's notoriously tricky and with new updates to the game engine we're using, it means there isn't much help to be found online.

Given that we're putting the single player off for now, it gives Richard time to step away from level design and focus more on business, creating a marketing plan, deal with Kickstarter rewards, sort out fun fun taxes, and work on design.

Above you can see our tree-house lobby, which has served us well so far. What we're aiming for in Ultimate Chicken Horse is a fully playable menu system so that players can choose everything on the menu:

• Local or online
• Choice of character
• Choice of level
• Choice of game mode
• Options within a game mode
• etc.

Apart from the lobby work, we'll need to work on the Sandbox mode and work on user interface to make everything clear and wonderful. Lots to do before launching in February! We've also been talking to the console folks and discussing our plan for launch on the different consoles... we'll keep you posted!

What about our Kickstarter rewards?

Aha! We haven't forgotten about you. The Beta keys are being sent out today or tomorrow, and the T-shirts are shipping in the next two weeks. I know we wanted to ship the shirts earlier but PAX jumped up in our faces, then Kyler hopped off on vacation and we had too much stuff to do! They're coming though, never fear.

The non-physical rewards, such as the "design-a-block" or "design-a-level" are being fulfilled slowly, but are happening. We would rather talk to one or two people at a time and get it done quickly with them rather than talk to everyone and have people wait months before getting a response. Don't worry though, we're very conscious of our Kickstarter backers and we're going to be contacting you soon, once everyone is back at the office.

How do I stay informed?

We won't likely be making any major marketing pushes in the next little while, but I write articles or development blog updates here on our site every week, so that's a good way to find out what's happening. Alternatively, you can sign up to our development newsletter, which goes out every few weeks and keeps you updates with progress. Not a fan of newsletters? Try our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or just receive an email when the game launches.

Keep in touch! We love to hear from you :)

Our PAX Prime Experience in Pictures!

We had an absolutely amazing time in the Indie Megabooth at PAX Prime this year, and decided to show you some of the highlights of the trip. Enough text, look at pretty pictures!

Goodbye Montreal!

The REAL Facebook wall at the party in their office

Hello PAX! We're ready.

Intimidatingly large setups...

Setting up our booth, not quite as large as some others...

We're ready for the hordes, Seattle

Looks like the people are ready too

Met Stump Games, some lovely YouTubers!

People were quickly enjoying some UCH

Met another youber you might recognize... (hint: it's Pewdiepie & Cinnamon Toast Ken!!!)

Things get out of hand pretty quick

People get frustrated and ponder their future moves

And we got some swag!

All kinds of swag actually: t-shirts, hats, etc.

Always a crowd at our booth, it's a nice feeling

Found some sweet restaurants / bars

Checked out the Pike Place Market

And the much less appealing Gum Wall... yuck

Also tried a pluot! Plum + apricot.

There was more than just PAX to see!

Alright Seattle, it's been real.

See you next year!

Ultimate Chicken Horse at PAX in the Indie Megabooth!

It's official! I mean, it was official a little while ago, but now we're talking about it! Ultimate Chicken Horse will be part of this year's Indie Megabooth at PAX Prime in Seattle next week, and we're getting ready to rock.

For those of you that don't know, the Megabooth is a selection of indie games featured in a central location on the show floor at PAX, one of the biggest game expos in the world (if not the biggest). Pretty big stuff.

There are going to be a ton of good outcomes from being a part of the Megabooth and a part of PAX Prime. We're hoping to meet press, meet fans, meet YouTubers and Twitch streamers, gain interest in the project, meet developers from the West Coast, and have a ton of fun. This event should help us position ourselves the way we would like in the market, and I couldn't be more excited.

Now, I'd like to talk about some of the preparations we've been doing in the last couple of weeks, and the continued prep leading up to the event.

Game Stuff

On the game side of things, we've been working on a few things. The main one of those things is the single player section of the game, which will be available to try out at PAX. Realistically, we won't show it on the main TV because we want 4 people playing at all times, but we may have another screen off to the side showing it. This will also help to show press that it's not just a multiplayer game, and that the single player adventure mode will be equally awesome.

One of the big things we've worked on on the multiplayer end is the party box. The party box gives players random blocks to place in the level before running through, for those of you that haven't played party mode. We've run into an issue a couple of times however where you'll be in dire need of bombs or easy platforms, and the box will give you the complete opposite.

The solution involves making sure that in very specific cases when people are reaaally having trouble, we give them some blocks that could help. This won't make it such that the party box is no longer random; there will always be a chance of getting some insane and evil platform that you didn't want.

Apart from that we've done some user interface fixes and tried to make certain things more clear... these are likely things that no one will notice but really make a huge difference when it comes to intuitiveness.

PAX Logistics

For PAX we've needed to get a bunch of stuff together, the usual stuff such as plane tickets, hotel / hostel (one day it'll be a real hotel), and logistics for the show and the equipment.

We're going to have t-shirts, so we needed to figure out how to bring them over along with all of our other equipment. We're actually getting hats made as well! Look out for them, as they'll be a PAX special.

Press

We've started contacting press to try to set up meetings or to get them to come check out our booth and the game. This involves a lot of time and a lot of work going through all the sites we think might be relevant, tracking down specific journalists from those sites, and trying to get in touch. It's always important to write personalized emails (journalists are people too!) so it's fairly time consuming.

Ironically, this image to the left is a hat, not someone from the press.

What are we hoping for?

This is a good question for a team going to PAX for the first time, and participating in the Megabooth for the first time as well. What do we expect? What do we want?

Firstly, we want to show the game to potential fans and existing fans. We want to hear input, we want to feel the awesomeness that it is to see people laugh and yell when playing our creation, and we want to spread the word about our game. We also want to test our new changes and find out what other changes need to be made.

We also want to focus on press; not only on getting press coverage but on establishing a relationship with members of the press for the future, if not for now. It's important to establish a human connection to press, after all, we can help them with great content and they can help us with visibility, all the while maintaining a fun and friendly relationship. It doesn't have to be as contrived as the industry sometimes makes it seem.

Come see us at PAX if you're going to be there, or keep up with our social media to keep in touch. We're going to be active on our Instagram and our Snapchat (ClevEndeavGames) as well throughout the event. The Snapchat is actually a great place to see some of the most fun moments and sights from the event, so do keep up! Of course you can also follow along our Twitter and Facebook as well.

See you soon! :)