Our goal this year was a modest $1000, but we blasted that out of the park to raise almost $4100 by the time the stream finished!

We could not have achieved that goal within a week and a half without the help of our generous community, and those with the desire to see Clive in a princess dress! And thank you to everyone who supported our efforts to game and stay up all night!

The first shift arrived at the office and got the stream live on Twitch without too much technical difficulties, thanks to last year's experience and staying late to set up the night before. Plus, there were piles of sugary treats to snack on for focus. Cory led the charge, with his ambitious playing of an Idiot Savant build in Fallout 4 while the rest of the day crew trickled in to start their gaming. We were joined briefly by Kyle from Indochino, who played Ghost Blitz and Anomia with some of us.



Brownies, peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies were just some of the treats available to snack on. The cookies were all gone by the end of stream.

Letting Justin leave the stream command so he could go play the "Get Me Out of Here" objective in Crusaders, Eric manned the chat room and played Meta Game with those in chat and asking those in the office their opinions as well. It's always interesting to talk about what games we have in common and what we think about them.



Justin wearing Clive's alternate princess hat choice, thanks to Erika's silliness, while he beats "Get Me Out of Here" and eats lunch with Dave playing Fallout 4 beside him.

We were joined later in the day by a bevy of teenagers, who helped keep us awake all night, and Princess Clive. Clive really was a good sport about following up on stretch goal and staying in the princess gown all night, even doing some curtsies and waves on camera for the people chatting with us on stream.



Andrew took over stream command for part of the evening, and really enjoyed the chance to interact with the players in our community and get to know them better. And he even learned more about himself, like that he is able to get a cookie from his forehead to his mouth by scrunching his face. He also got a donation from doing it, which is awesome!



Katherine made her goal while on stream, and followed up on her donation goal bonus as well. She started out by roughing in the headbutting dinosaur poster that her main donator asked for, then moved on to her "derpy doodles" of doing anything suggested by people in our twitch chat. You can check out all her drawings, like the pirate goat or wizard orca, here. Thank you for sharing them and being here for the stream, Katherine!

In the wee hours of the night, with the need to resist sleep setting in, the teenagers volunteered to man the twitch chat. They decided to do whatever anyone in chat asked for, and ended up raising $30 for drawing on each other's faces! Plus, they showed off their exercise skills with push ups and sit ups.



The sunrise in the morning brought sleeping teenagers but also the siren call of breakfast. (Next year, we'll make it earlier in the morning, because it helped us wake up!) Once Cory had his coffee in him, he whipped up the pancake batter and Erika had charge of cooking the batches of bacon pancakes! We had prevailed through the night!



For interested Bush Whacker players: You can still donate if you're interested and be immortalized in our next area expansion. This option remains open until the end of the 2015 calendar, when the 2015 Extra Life drive closes. Please comment on Justin's page with how you'd like your character to appear.

Thank you for supporting all of us!!

What is Extra Life?

Extra Life is a fun program set up to raise donations for Children's Miracle Network hospitals. Money raised gets donated as unrestricted funds, for the hospitals to use as needed. What's awesome is that you can help by doing what you normally do: game! For more information from the Extra Life program itself, click here.

What's the Plan?

For us at Codename, our donations will be going to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Last year, we went the extra mile by inadvertently surviving 25 hours and beating our initial goal of $3000 by raising just shy of $7000!

This year, we're starting with a modest team goal of $1000, but Clive is determined to raise that all by himself with his promise to be in a full Princess outfit for the entire twitch stream. To donate to our team, you can visit here. To find a staff member with a reward you'd like, you can click on the "Roster" button.

We've set aside time on the weekend of Saturday November 21 from 10am PST through Sunday November 22nd at 10am PST for our 24 hours of gaming fun. We'll be taking turns in shifts to play games and chat with our viewers and you can watch it all on our Twitch! We hope to make our fundraising goal while the live broadcast is happening, but you can donate before and after!

For those staff members whose goals require doing things on Stream, as we get closer to this weekend, we'll have a rough idea of when you can see them!

Extra Life: Gaming for the kids!

Headline Sponsor



MosaiCon 2015 was Nanaimo, British Columbia's first gaming convention and the Codename team attended armed with PCs to demo Crusaders of the Lost Idols. Eric, Clive and Andrew managed the Codename booth and talked with fans about the game, as well as gaming and geek culture in general.

Cosplay Contest



Local enthusiasts arrived in force. The organizers had a jam-packed itinerary for the day at Vancouver Island University campus located just outside Nanaimo, BC. There was a cosplay contest that saw some awesome work by various attendees. Top prizes were two top-of-the-line PCs for the best cosplayers. There was also a League of Legends tournament where one lucky team walked away with $1,000.

Our Booth



It was an honour to meet everyone who came to see Crusaders. The response to the game after a demo and walkthrough by the team was very gratifying. We explained the game, showcased our unique formation feature and even hinted at upcoming announcements. The attendees were passionate about games whether familiar with idle games or not and by the time they left the booth we had a few new converts under our wings.

Eric Demos Crusaders



Thank you to those of you who were able to attend. We love any opportunity to meet and talk with you about any of our games and meet you face-to-face. We're looking forward to being at next year's event.

What is it like to work in a video game company?

When I was a kid, I couldn't imagine what that would be like. I really had no idea.

Codename Entertainment and the other game studios in Victoria have come together to offer high school students the Video Game Work Experience Program. This program provides students with the chance to spend four days inside a video game studio.

Students at Codename get a chance to try their hand at several different roles in the company, including creating art, community management, and level design. Also, students get a chance to see how the studio functions, plus try out new game content and provide their feedback.

Did you know that by the time the average student graduates from high school in North America, they have spent over 10,000 hours playing video games? Based on the research around expertise, we know that after 10,000 hours, you become an expert. This means that high school students are experts at playing video games. So when we bring a high school student into our studio, we are bringing in an expert at playing games. Of course, there are more skills required to work at a game studio than just being an expert at playing games. However, when getting feedback and suggestions on our games, high school students bring a wealth of experience.

I am sure that there are some people may wonder how realistic it is to get a job in the video game industry. Is pursuing your dream of working in video games similar to pursuing dreams of being an actor? Sadly, there seems to be a lot more people who want to be actors, than jobs for professional actors. This is not the case for the video game industry. Video games are a larger industry than Hollywood (sheesh, the revenue from just mobile games is larger than Hollywood's revenues, let alone revenues from consoles, handhelds and PC games). In British Columbia there are over 5,000 people working in the video game industry.

Further, if you love video games and would like to work in the video game industry, you don't need to move to another country to work in the industry. In Canada, the games industry employs a lot of people in good paying jobs.

Did you know that two of the top six video game franchises of all time (measured by total revenue) are made in B.C. (Need for Speed and FIFA)? From EA's studio in Burnaby, B.C. to Ubisoft's studio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada has long been a leader in video game development.

Why is Codename so active in this program? The simplest reason is because it makes us happy. We would have loved the opportunity to do something like this as a kid and I know that there are lots of kids just like us. Students can see what the industry is like and then use that information as they make decisions about what they want to do after graduation.

And sometimes we get the occasional student who surprises us with a thank-you gift.

We visited the Victoria Cool Aid Society's Olympic Vista apartments on Friday April 10th 2015 for a tour. The Olympic Vista building is a support center providing a home for seniors (55+) that have been, or are at risk of becoming homeless. Like all of Cool Aid’s Supportive Housing buildings, Olympic Vista has the security features and 24-hour staffing that ensure its residents have a safe, welcoming home with access to the help they need. It is so named because it has a view of the Olympic Mountains and a design that incorporates VANOC’s 2010 Olympic Village modules.

We started the tour in the lobby and got a rundown about the reasons behind the building, mainly to give seniors that have been homeless a safe place to relax and call home with a guaranteed meal a day. The building has a welcoming lobby with cushy chairs for residents to use the phone or chat with each other. There's a computer nook where they can access the internet and potentially reach out to family they haven't talked to in years. Residents also have access to a laundry room where Cool Aid provides the soap so everyone can have clean clothes. The dining room was next, with a TV that's always on and a piano tucked in the corner where residents can eat their guaranteed meal, socialize or just relax in the sun with a view of the garden.

Speaking of the garden, we headed outside next. There were six substantial raised beds for the residents to grow things in. The staff are also encouraged to participate with their own bed, but everything that grows is shared amongst each other. A gazebo and grassy areas rounded out the garden that was pretty even with the grey weather we had that day.

Heading back inside, we passed the Quote of the Day board and activity posters on our way to the elevator. We headed to the basement to check out something that we wouldn't have thought about, but can be necessary: a "sauna." This room is where they can take residents' belongings to heat up and kill bedbugs and their eggs. The process only takes a few hours and is less invasive than spraying down a resident's room and then having to repeat the process in a few weeks to kill any babies from eggs that hatched.

The tour concluded with a group photo and more thanks from Cool Aid for our support. It was definitely eye-opening and informative and we were grateful the folks from Cool Aid could take the time to show us around the building.


Entering Olympic Vista.


Quote of the Day and activities notice board.


The dining room.


James Splat giving us the information about the garden plots and gazebo.


A recent addition to the garden: a gazebo.


The community garden plots. Everyone shares and the staff are welcome to garden too.


Codename group photo, from left to right: Mark, Jacob, Nick, Cory, Alexis, Eric, Peter, Erika, Justin and David

We at Codename Entertainment decided to take a relaxing little break from work...so we headed to Epic Escape Victoria.

We divided the office into teams of 5 in an interesting way. We split up the two co-founders, so Justin was captain of Team Event and David was captain of Team Odd. Then Eric rolled a D20 to choose between the rest of us: the other devs Peter and Mark, the two artists in office that day, Cory and Alexis (poor Adam getting sick and missing out), and Eric and Erika. Even numbers ended up with Justin and odd rolls went to Dave. So Team Event ended up with Peter, Alexis and Erika while Team Odd got Mark, Cory and Eric. Then co-op Jacob rolled and ended up on Team Event too. Luckily our friend and part-time employee Nick had some spare time and could join Team Odd to round out the numbers.


Getting the instructions before heading into the rooms.

Getting to the venue was fun, but we managed. The elevator was a bit ominous though. After everyone was there, we got the briefing on the rules and set to it. Team Event systematically searched the room for all the clues and goodies. Team Odd apparently went wild and tried to pull furniture from the walls. Team Event was doing quite well until they hit a snag and had to ask for a clue...an oversight in communication on Erika's part, but they managed to set the current record even with fumbling with the stubborn safe to get the room key! Team Odd finished with 2 minutes to spare on their 60 minute countdown, so the whole office were winners in the end because we beat the game!

Then it was time to pose for a victory shot, a runner-up photo and a group capture before we thanked the team at Epic Escape for the awesome challenge and started our weekends off with smiles on our faces.


The epic winners! Team Event/Justin! With a time of 43:26 out of 60 minutes!


Not so bad! Team Odd/Dave escaped! With a time of 58 out of 60 minutes!


Go Codename team!

From the desk of the CEO:

One of the things that I enjoy the most about my job is chatting with people who are passionate about video games. As a father of three, I particularly enjoy chatting with students.

This year at GottaCon (a local gaming convention in Victoria), I had the chance to participate in a panel discussion on working in the video game industry. This is the second year that we have organized this panel and both times it has been a fabulous experience. We work with local schools and their career coordinators to identify and bus in about 400 students. Last year the room was packed and this year we had over 150 students on the waiting list.



The moderator had some pre-made questions to ask the panelists, in case the students proved to be shy. However, this couldn't have been further from the truth. The students were brimming with questions:

• "What is our favorite video game?"
• "How do you get into the video game industry?"
• "I have a great idea for a video game. What should I do?"
• "What should I study in university to help me work in the industry?"
• "Do I need to go to university?"
• "What post-secondary schools would we suggest?"

For an hour, the students peppered us with questions. Afterwards, the students had a chance to visit the booths of the various video game companies and learn more abut what we do.

It was a great experience and I look forward to participating again next year.

Thanks to GottaCon for the use of their pictures for this blog! :)

Hey all! We have completed our search and found a new Community Manager. If I could ask for a drum roll please... and now could everyone to join me in welcoming our new Community Manager: Erika Kramer! Thanks for the applause. I am sure that Erika really appreciates it.

As you may know, Erika comes to us as someone who has played our games on a daily basis for over four years. You may even already know her, either by her actual name or by her in-game names (Alyniana and Alyn). She is enthusiastic about our games and our community. As we went through this hiring process, we were thrilled to have someone from our community step forward to be considered. A key aspect of the Community Manager is not to manage the community, but to be a superfan who can help us to grow our in a positive way. We know that Erika fits this description and we are excited to watch her make the transition from passionate player to passionate Community Manager.

Erika will be starting with us on January 5, so please take a moment to welcome her to her new role.

Bush Whacker 2 has been out for 2 years? Crazy!
To celebrate, this weekend the Devs are hanging out in the Commons along with a big cake. Click the cake for a tasty anniversary present!

Greetings fellow whackers/breakers!
It is I, Kitty (aka Chloe) and I am pleased to present myself as your new Community Manager!

Ok, awkward!announcement out of the way…

Hey guys! As I said above, my name is Chloe, though I answer more frequently to Kitty/Kittychix in the gaming world.

I've been in the games community/industry since 2004, and cut my Community Manager teeth by running gaming clans and social networks for about the last ten years.

I've spent the last several years living in Washington State, and most recently worked at the Age of Empire and Flight studio at Microsoft on their community team.

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone, and if you have any questions please let me know. (Though I do reserve the right to not answer!)