**Exploring "Ultimate Chicken Horse": A Fun and Tricky Party Platformer**
In this interview conducted by Tom from PC Gamer at PAX South, we get an inside look into *Ultimate Chicken Horse*, a unique party platformer developed by Rich. The game combines creativity, strategy, and a bit of mischief, making it an exciting addition to the gaming world.
### Introduction to Ultimate Chicken Horse
Tom kicks off the interview by asking Rich to explain the game for those who may not be familiar with it. Rich describes *Ultimate Chicken Horse* as a party platformer where players take turns building the level as they play. The objective is to place traps, hazards, platforms, and other elements in such a way that the level becomes just challenging enough for your friends but still manageable for yourself. If everyone reaches the end of the level unharmed, it means the level was too easy, which is why the goal is to "screw your friends over" without making the level so difficult that you can't complete it yourself. Rich humorously explains that the name of the game comes from combining "chicken" (doing something reckless) and "horse" (methodically adding one thing after another), reflecting the dynamic between players who might act impulsively or strategically.
### Gameplay Mechanics: Party Mode
When asked about how the pieces appear in the game, Rich clarifies that in *Party Mode*, blocks pop up randomly. Each player takes turns grabbing these blocks and placing them in the level before attempting to navigate through their own creation. The goal is to strike a balance between making the level difficult for others while keeping it passable for oneself. However, Rich acknowledges that there might be situations where a player creates an overly dangerous setup, such as placing an arrow trap directly at the entrance, which could lead to everyone dying on sight. To address this, the game includes bombs that players can use to remove blocks if things get too extreme. Additionally, there’s a designated box at both the start and end of the level where no building is allowed, making it nearly impossible to completely block off an area unless a player intentionally tries to do so—effectively labeling themselves as a troll.
Rich also touches on the skill cap and whether *Ultimate Chicken Horse* aims for deep strategy or remains a simple, fun party game. He explains that while the game isn’t overly strategic, it does become more intense when players start playing to their strengths. For instance, one player might excel at wall-jumping, while another might be adept at timing their movements to fit into tight spaces. This dynamic leads to competitive play where each player tries to counteract the others' abilities, making for an engaging and unpredictable experience.
### Creative Mode: Strategizing with Glue
Beyond *Party Mode*, Rich introduces *Creative Mode*. In this mode, players aren’t limited to random blocks; instead, they can choose any block from the game’s inventory. This freedom allows for more strategic planning, such as constructing complex contraptions like moving spinning blocks or even adding Irish shooters (likely a playful reference to something explosive or tricky). The inclusion of glue in *Creative Mode* lets players connect blocks together, enabling them to build elaborate and intricate setups. Rich highlights that this mode is where the game truly shines, as it encourages creativity and innovation among players.
### Modding and Future Updates
When asked about modding support, Rich mentions that while there are plans for a sandbox mode in the future, *Ultimate Chicken Horse* isn’t yet supporting mods or the Steam Workshop. The game is set to launch on Steam around March 3rd, with console releases following afterward. One of the exciting features planned for the future is a sandbox mode where players can design and upload their own levels online. Friends could then download these custom levels and challenge each other in unique and imaginative worlds created by the community.
### Conclusion
Tom wraps up the interview by thanking Rich for sharing insights into *Ultimate Chicken Horse*. He encourages viewers to stay tuned for more coverage from PAX South, promising that there’s plenty more to explore.
*Stay tuned to PC Gamer for more updates and insights from PAX South!*
This article captures the essence of *Ultimate Chicken Horse*, offering a detailed look at its gameplay mechanics, modes, and future plans as shared by Rich during his interview with Tom.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody it's tom from pc gamer here at packed south with rich developer of ultimate chicken horse how you doing rich very good how are you good good so for people who don't know what all the mcchicken horses tell me about a little about the game so ultimate chicken horas is a party platformer where you build the level as you play you take turns placing traps hazards platforms and things you're trying to make the level just just too hard for your friends but just easy enough for yourself so if everybody reaches the end nobody gets any points which means it because it's too easy so your goal is to just sort of screw your friends over but not so much that you screw yourself over and that's where the name comes from to it's basically a combination of chicken and horse right exactly most people don't make that connection but horse is like you know adding one thing and one thing and one thing and chicken is just people doing stupid stuff until somebody gets hurt so that's idea so how do you how do the pieces show up is it random or like what have you guys balanced that so there's different modes what they're playing here is party mode so it gives you random blocks that pop up and then each person grabs them and place it in the level and then they run and then the next turn they place more blocks and they run lacing around placing right and the goal you said was to make it just hard enough that they can't do it but not so hard that you can't but what happens if the level just becomes impossibly difficult what if somebody just put an arrow thing pointing straight at the entrance and everyone dies every time well so there are bombs that we give you to get rid of blocks in case things get too hard but we also at the start in the end we have a little box that you can't build within so the idea is that it would be really hard to like block it off completely because you you know though the box is big enough that you'd have to really really purposely try at that point you're just being a troll and people want to play with you so yeah and how how I have a skill cap I guess are you trying to go for this game are you trying to make it just like a fun party game are you going for like real strategic depth in the chameleons versus the horses here um it's I wouldn't say super strategic but it does get more intense the idea is that it's easy to pick up so a person who doesn't really play flat former games can still get a good feel and be able to wall jump and do all the base mechanics what you do find you won't see it at a show but you do find it when people are playing quite a lot is they'll play to their strengths so it's like I'm good at wall jumping but you're good at timing and fitting into smaller spaces so all play and I'll close up those spaces but you'll make it so I can't wall jump and so so yeah people do play to each others are played to their own strengths and against the other people's strengths and you mentioned other game modes what what else is there in the game besides that party mode so there's creative mode which is basically instead of it being random block to show up you can take any block from our inventory so you can actually strategize and we have things like for example we have glue that can connect blocks together so you can actually make these crazy contraptions of you know a moving spinning block with Irish shooters on it and whatever else and that's easier to do in creative mode because you can choose anything you want anything you want to pick and do you guys have Steam Workshop supporter and modding sport or anything like that we don't yet the game's only launching in some steam around March third that's the goal and then afterward for console but we're hoping to have a sandbox mode where you can create levels you can just create levels yourself and upload them online and then you could pull your friends levels and start playing them and so on so that would be through the Steam Workshop right now let's not set up so we're not gonna promise anything but that would be really sweet if it happened cool well thanks very much for talking with us and stay tuned to pc gamer calm for more from pax outhey everybody it's tom from pc gamer here at packed south with rich developer of ultimate chicken horse how you doing rich very good how are you good good so for people who don't know what all the mcchicken horses tell me about a little about the game so ultimate chicken horas is a party platformer where you build the level as you play you take turns placing traps hazards platforms and things you're trying to make the level just just too hard for your friends but just easy enough for yourself so if everybody reaches the end nobody gets any points which means it because it's too easy so your goal is to just sort of screw your friends over but not so much that you screw yourself over and that's where the name comes from to it's basically a combination of chicken and horse right exactly most people don't make that connection but horse is like you know adding one thing and one thing and one thing and chicken is just people doing stupid stuff until somebody gets hurt so that's idea so how do you how do the pieces show up is it random or like what have you guys balanced that so there's different modes what they're playing here is party mode so it gives you random blocks that pop up and then each person grabs them and place it in the level and then they run and then the next turn they place more blocks and they run lacing around placing right and the goal you said was to make it just hard enough that they can't do it but not so hard that you can't but what happens if the level just becomes impossibly difficult what if somebody just put an arrow thing pointing straight at the entrance and everyone dies every time well so there are bombs that we give you to get rid of blocks in case things get too hard but we also at the start in the end we have a little box that you can't build within so the idea is that it would be really hard to like block it off completely because you you know though the box is big enough that you'd have to really really purposely try at that point you're just being a troll and people want to play with you so yeah and how how I have a skill cap I guess are you trying to go for this game are you trying to make it just like a fun party game are you going for like real strategic depth in the chameleons versus the horses here um it's I wouldn't say super strategic but it does get more intense the idea is that it's easy to pick up so a person who doesn't really play flat former games can still get a good feel and be able to wall jump and do all the base mechanics what you do find you won't see it at a show but you do find it when people are playing quite a lot is they'll play to their strengths so it's like I'm good at wall jumping but you're good at timing and fitting into smaller spaces so all play and I'll close up those spaces but you'll make it so I can't wall jump and so so yeah people do play to each others are played to their own strengths and against the other people's strengths and you mentioned other game modes what what else is there in the game besides that party mode so there's creative mode which is basically instead of it being random block to show up you can take any block from our inventory so you can actually strategize and we have things like for example we have glue that can connect blocks together so you can actually make these crazy contraptions of you know a moving spinning block with Irish shooters on it and whatever else and that's easier to do in creative mode because you can choose anything you want anything you want to pick and do you guys have Steam Workshop supporter and modding sport or anything like that we don't yet the game's only launching in some steam around March third that's the goal and then afterward for console but we're hoping to have a sandbox mode where you can create levels you can just create levels yourself and upload them online and then you could pull your friends levels and start playing them and so on so that would be through the Steam Workshop right now let's not set up so we're not gonna promise anything but that would be really sweet if it happened cool well thanks very much for talking with us and stay tuned to pc gamer calm for more from pax out\n"
