Clever Endeavour Games April Update

Heya!

If April showers bring May flowers…. What does April snow bring? Well, we certainly hope it brings warmer weather soon.

Here’s what to expect in this month’s newsletter:

• Update on Ultimate Chicken Horse backend work

• Game 2 is still in the works

• Supporting Game Devs of Color Expo and Hand Eye Society

• Our donations for the last couple of months

Ultimate Chicken Horse

Our external partners are still working away at restructuring our online infrastructure, and we’re also chipping away at some bugs that were introduced with the Hippo-Party-Plus update.

We hope to have some more details about these updates soon! Thanks for everyone’s patience with this one, things have taken a lot longer than we expected due to a wide variety of technical and pandemic-related issues.

Game 2

We’re still developing Game 2! We got some really good feedback from early pitches at GDC, so we’re reworking some of the pieces so they make a more complete picture.

We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on with you all, but we still need some time.

Industry Initiatives

We’re extremely proud to be supporting the Game Devs of Color Expo again this year! Submit a game, talk, or check out the details of this summer event here. 

We’re also sponsoring an event by the Hand Eye Society which you can read more about here. Hand Eye Society is a Toronto-based not-for-profit organization that showcases and nurtures videogames made primarily for creative expression.

Donation Corner

Our studio has been horrified at Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Back in February we mentioned in a Twitter post that donated about $10,000 CAD to various charities. Since the attacks continue even now, we have pledged an additional $40,000 to various efforts, including the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, and Help Us Help. If you are also in a position to help, here are some resources to get you started.

As for our employee-led donations, our February donation was led by Rich who split his donation between UNHCR and a Reforestation initiative in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Our March donation went to Dans La Rue thanks to Fabio.

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That it for the April edition of the Clever Endeavour blog! See you next time.

<3

Physical Edition Launch, Merchandise Update and More!

It’s finally cooling off and we’re settling into spooky season!

Here’s what to expect in this month’s newsletter:

• Various Ultimate Chicken Horse updates

• Game 2 progress

• Indie Games Make It Better

• Charity corner

Ultimate Chicken Horse Updates

The Ultimate Chicken Horse A-Neigh-Versary Edition is officially live and out in the wild! This physical edition is a Switch exclusive and can be found at various retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and GameStop. Can’t find it at your local games store? Our publishing partners at Merge are shipping it worldwide with an alternate cover.

Another fun physical development is that we’ve partnered with RobaRoba to provide Ultimate Chicken Horse t-shirts! If your preferred size and animal were out of stock at IndieBox, you should check out RobaRoba!

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As for what else to expect on the Ultimate Chicken Horse front, we have a small bug patch planned to fix some of the things that the Hippo-Party-Plus update broke. More on that soon! We’re still working away at the backend infrastructure stuff. Also, keep an eye on the in-game LevelNET for some Halloween-inspired levels throughout the month.

Game 2 Updates

We’re sure a lot of people are wondering about Game 2! We’re making slow, but steady progress on it and have a much better understanding of where it’s going. Still, nothing we can share publicly yet, but we’re still working away on it!

Industry Updates

The wonderful folks at Playtra Studios and Gayming Magazine have set up a donation campaign called Indie Games Make it Better. This campaign benefits the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit organization helps uplift, empower and connect LGBTQ+ youth throughout the world. If you have a couple of extra dollars to send their way, donate here or learn more about the cause here.

Charity Corner

Old Brewery Mission was Fabio’s choice for our monthly employee-led donation for the month. This non-profit provides several services to support homeless people here in Montreal. 

The Hippo-Party-Plus Update, Physical Edition Launch and Much More!

After a fairly slow August, September has been a big month for our studio! We finally announced and officially launched the Ultimate Chicken Horse update that we’ve been working on! And that’s far from the only cool thing happening! 

Here’s what’s included in this month’s newsletter:

• The Hippo-Party-Plus Update for Ultimate Chicken Horse launch

• The A-Neigh-Versary Physical Edition is launching soon

• The Game Devs of Color Expo (Sep 23 - 27th)

• Studio plans for Truth and Reconciliation Day

• Our monthly donations

Hippo-Party-Plus Update

Earlier this month we announced the Hippo-Party-Plus update for Ultimate Chicken Horse! It introduces our new character, Hippo, an alternate skin, Triceratops, a new level, rollercoaster, and much more.

The Hippo-Party-Plus update launched on all platforms this week, so check it out!

For more details on what is in the update and a note about the future of Ultimate Chicken Horse, mosey on over to our update page here.

We’d also like to thank the streamers who participated in our second ever sponsored tournament! Check them out and catch the VODs on their channels: HCJustin, MathasGames, McLaffyTaffy, itsonlyJill, citRa, Empyre, JOJOsaysbreee, Octopimp, Strippin, TieTuesday, Lythero, The_Meez, GoonGalaxie, TiffanyWitcher, JustWulfGaming...

And our tournament winner, Coestar!

A-Neigh-Versary Edition 

The physical edition of Ultimate Chicken Horse, the A-Neigh-Versary Edition, is launching on September 28. We’re also excited to announce that the Hippo-Party-Plus update is pre-loaded onto the cartridges!

This Switch exclusive is available directly through Merge Games or at multiple retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. 

GDoC Expo

The wonderful Game Devs of Color Expo started on Thursday, the 23rd and goes through until Monday, September 27.

It started off strong with an indie games showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ehCSmbfRE

They’re keeping the ball rolling with plenty of talks and panels throughout the next couple of days, including ones on entering the gaming industry. Check out the schedule and grab a ticket here.

Truth and Reconciliation Day

On September 30, 2021 our studio will be recognizing the first national Truth and Reconciliation Day by dedicating our workday to learning. 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report highlights the actions recommended to address the immeasurable harm caused by the colonization of Canada and the Residential School Systems.

We highly recommend that others, especially our fellow Canadians, also spend some time to learn and reflect on this day! Here’s a place to get started: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html 

We’ll also be reflecting on actions that we can take as both individuals and as a studio on how we can contribute to these causes. As part of this learning, we’ll be choosing a related charity to donate to - more on that soon.

Charity Corner

For August’s employee-led donation, Rich chose to split the donation between the SPCA and P10, a charity that helps support the LGBTQ+ community here in Montreal.