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

Introducing Alvaro, Black History Month Spotlight, UCH Sales and more!

Hello there!

We hope 2022 is treating you well so far. We didn’t have much to say last month but now we’re back with some exciting news! Here’s what we have for you today:

• Meet our new team member, Alvaro!

• Ultimate Chicken Horse sale

• Black History Month

• Charity Corner

Meet Alvaro

If you remember our job posting from December, we’ve officially filled the position!

Alvaro recently joined our team as a Unity Game Designer and, while we’re sure you’ll get to know him in the coming months, here’s his brief introduction:

“Hello there! It's been an exciting first week, getting to know everyone and learning about Clever Endeavour's new game. I can already tell it's gonna be a fun ride.'

A bit about me: I wanted to be a filmmaker before I realized there are additional ways I can apply my creativity. At some point, I learned how to code just well enough to make interactive things move on a screen... which, to make it short, led me down the never-ending path of game design.

From there, spending way too much time on itch.io made me develop a taste for innovative and wacky games, which is one of the things I plan to bring to the team. But let's be real, my true mission is to beat all my teammates at Ultimate Chicken Horse.”

Nintendo Switch Sale

Ultimate Chicken Horse has been in a flurry of sales recently and there’s still one live right now: The Nintendo Switch Winter Sale in Europe. Ultimate Chicken Horse is 50% off until February 20. 

For updates on upcoming sales, make sure to follow us on Twitter or join our Discord. 

Black History Month

Since February is Black History Month, we want to feature some of our favourite game developer and influencer communities so you can learn more about some cool projects.

Black Game Devs: Whether you’re looking to hire developers for a game project or to discover games, this website is a fantastic resource.

Black Girl Gamers: If you’re a company looking for folks to sponsor or if you’re just looking for some new content creators to follow.

The Noir Network: A network for Black femme content creators for you to follow or sponsor.

Mynno: A group of diverse Canadian content creators which include some of the streamers we worked with for the Hippo-Party-Plus sponsored tournament!

Black Girls Code: This program supports Black women and girls in various STEM areas, such as robotics, AI, game design and so much more.

I Need Diverse Games: A nonprofit that highlights diverse creators from across the gaming community (including games, developers, and content creators).

Game & Colour: A local (to us) community that supports and amplifies game developers of colour from Montreal.

Game Devs of Color Expo: This yearly event showcases games from a wide variety of developers. Check out their past events and earmark your calendars for this year’s event.

Charity Corner

Our employee donations for the last two months were for Climate Action Network Canada and Climeworks respectively. 

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And that’s it for February! We hope you’re all staying safe and we’ll see you next month.

<3

The Clever Endeavour Team

Winter Sales, Hiring, Studio Break and more!

It’s hard to believe 2021 is almost done already, but hey, we made it!

Here’s what is in our last newsletter for the year:

• Ultimate Chicken Horse Sales

• We’re hiring!

• Studio Holiday Break

• Charity Corner

Winter Sales

Ultimate Chicken Horse is in a whole bunch of winter sales this year, and two of them are live right now!

Grab it for 50% off in the following regions and platforms:

• Nintendo Switch [Japan] until December 26

• Nintendo Switch [Europe] until December 30

And there are more on the way! Keep an eye on our Twitter for sale news in more regions and more platforms.

Now Hiring: Unity Game Designer

We’re looking for someone to help develop Game 2!

If you have experience in Unity and designing games, learn more about the role and our team here: https://www.workwithindies.com/careers/clever-endeavour-unity-game-designer

Make sure to apply before the posting closes on January 7, 2022!

Studio Holiday Break

Our team will be taking some time off from December 18 until January 3, 2022 to celebrate the holidays and spend time with loved ones.

We’re still going to keep an eye on support tickets and social media, but responses may be slower during the break.

Charity Corner

Our October donation was picked by Steph who chose Hands Up Canada, a non-profit that helps to supply life necessities, learning skills and employment tools to help vulnerable and marginalized Canadians.

Elisabeth directed our employee donation of the month for November, and she chose Nature United which helps protect Canadian wildlife, lands, and waters.

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And that about wraps it up! All of us at the studio wish you a very happy and safe holiday season. See you in 2022!

<3

The Clever Endeavour team