N++

Metanet Software announces N++


N+

Toronto-based Metanet Software‘s N series is getting a third and final instalment.

At Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, co-founder Mare Sheppard announced the successor to hit platformer titles, N and N+.

“We’re making N++. The final iteration of N,” Sheppard told Dork Shelf.

“We’ve never really felt like N was done,” she told the packed room at the Microtalks session. “We felt some ideas could be taken further. 

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“Part of us didn’t feel like we could move on to other games until we finished N. Anytime we ever felt like returning to N, we felt like it’d be a step backward. So to move forward, we gave up on N.”

Over the years, Sheppard said that she and Metanet co-founder Raigan Burns worked on other games, but “they never felt as good as N. We felt crushed and lost confidence. We started to feel like N was the only thing we could ever do.”

So they set out to prove they were more than just N, and ran into several obstacles along the way.

“We started to realize that our struggles don’t mean that we’re stupid or broken or that we’re not the only ones feeling this way,” she said.

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And Metanet’s fans still wanted more N, so they decided they needed to close out that chapter and conclude the series by creating N++.

“Is this a step back?” she asked. “At this point in our lives, this feels like the right thing to do […] It doesn’t matter if the game is popular or critically acclaimed. We know we’ll have tried our best to make it great, and close that chapter, and have the feeling of being done and feeling free.

“Making games couldn’t be so rewarding if it wasn’t so difficult,” she concluded. “It would help all of us better if we could talk about the psychological pitfalls of making games as much as the technical ones.”

She remained tight-lipped on further details, but promises to reveal more soon. N++ is funded by the Ontario Media Development Corporation‘s Interactive Digital Media Fund.

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N is a previous Audience Choice Award winner at the Independent Games Festival (2005), and the Audience Choice Award at the Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition (2006).



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