New Placement Timer, Bug Tracking, and Summer Sale Results!

Hi everyone!

Quick development update about Ultimate Chicken Horse! The online mode is still technically in "Beta", but it's really really getting there. We have certain issues that we're not sure pertain to our own code or to server issues from Unity's servers, but we're trying to track everything down and we're getting close. 

The newest gameplay addition to UCH is the new placement timer. This is a timer that runs out during the placement phase, and if the time is up and you haven't placed, you lose your chance! The reason for this is to avoid the Mexican stand-off thing where a player with a bomb will wait for a player with an item and no one will place until the other one does. In online games, of course, the troll-factor can be high and this ends up being really annoying. This solution should fix it! Of course this is optional, but most games will have it.

This next point isn't super useful for most people, but is actually pretty significant for our development and will help us down the road. We now have a bug-tracking system more formally set up with a new software, and we should have a better handle on bugs that come up in the future and a better workflow in terms of fixing the already known existing ones.

In case you were wondering about the business side of things, the Steam summer sale went really really well! The community continues to grow and although we're in a constant race of how quickly we can fix things vs how quickly the community is growing, we think it's going splendidly. We know the game has the potential to keep growing and become a true household name in the world of party games, so we're still hard at it making sure that it'll get there.

See you next week!

Summer Sale, Soundtrack, Updates and More!

It's summer! Know how we know? The Steam summer sale is on and you can get Ultimate Chicken Horse 33% off right now, only during the summer sale. It's also super warm and pretty and wonderful, so that might be a hint as well. 

We've got a bunch of stuff happening in conjunction with the summer sale. First off is that we've got a new block! This is just a preview for some of the new content that we're adding to the game once the online is fully, fully, fully finished. The online is very functional but we haven't done the final formal quality assurance pass yet, so it's still technically in Beta.

So, new block! This one is a horizontal moving platform, which can have things glued on it and which you can use to make even more crazy, dastardly contraptions. We wanted to give a tease into some of the new content we'll be putting out soon.

Second, we're announcing the Ultimate Chicken Horse soundtrack, beautifully done by Vibe Avenue and recorded with live saxophones, flutes, guitars, trumpets, a banjo, and more.

We're selling the soundtrack packaged with the game as well, so if you don't have the game yet, the summer sale makes the combined OST (original soundtrack) and game under $15 USD.

Next up, we've got some big updates in the online multiplayer which should help make the experience much more seamless. Like we said, we're still technically in Beta but there's no longer two separate places to look for online vs local play, and you should see much less random disconnection. You should also now see why you've disconnected, whether it's due to a bad connection or a host leaving the game.

We've also got trading cards happening now, so now as you play the game, you'll get random card drops. You can then trade those cards, sell them on the market or turn them into gems. If you get all of the cards, they can craft them into a badge. When you craft a badge you get one emoticon, one background and sometimes a coupon for a random game. Right now you'll also get a summer sale card. You can craft the badge multiple times to increase its level and get more emoticons and backgrounds, which can also be sold or traded.

Pretty exciting stuff, so please spread the word about the new things and the summer sale! <3

Your Game Can Change People's Lives (Even Unintentionally)

I recently received an email, directed to our company, that I feel I need to share with the world, and especially with the game development world. This email, which I was given permission to quote below, is the proof that games can truly make a difference, and I personally think that it gives our craft meaning and purpose.

Before getting into it, I should stress something; our game is not a serious game. It's not a game that tries to convey a deep message, and not a game with a moral mission. It's silly, it's fun, it's ridiculous, and it involves animals building traps for each other, jumping around levels that they've built themselves, and occasionally getting hit by crossbows and spinning saws.

I'll share with you the message, with the name switched up for anonymity:

"My husband bought Ultimate Chicken Horse at PAX East this year, and I wanted to relate to you a story about my son (Jake).

He's nine and been having a lot of trouble in school / socially because of his Aspergers / anxiety diagnoses. He has an in-home behavioral therapist (that he kind of hates) and a whole bunch of other support, but there is just something about your game that has really opened him up. He plays it with EVERYONE who comes to our house. It has allowed his therapist to reach him because they've bonded playing the game together. The neighborhood kids come over and play with him and he has really socially progressed and started to make some good connections with his peers-- all because of your game!

There is something about the mix of cooperation, building, competition, and random chance that's just reached him in a way that other games (like Minecraft) haven't. 

Anyway, I just thought you'd like to hear about the little way your game is making a big difference in Jake's life."

This. This is it. This is what gives our careers meaning. This is what proves to me that games are so much more than what the majority of the world thinks they are, and this shows that even unintentionally, games have the power to change the course of people's lives. 

I love my job, and I love coming to work every day to do what I enjoy doing. But knowing that our game can have this profound of an effect on a nine-year old boy magnifies that love and gives it meaning. I thought I'd share this tidbit with the world and I hope that you realize that games, your games (if you're in this industry), even the silly ones, can be strong agents for change.