Interview N+ - deel 2

XP: Could you disclose how many times N+ has been sold since its release on XBLA?

MNS: We generally go by the number of people who have a record on the leaderboards, which is not completely accurate, but provides a good idea of the number of people playing. It’s great, it’s currently at 80 000 – this is terrific since our goal for total sales was 50k! We’re really glad that so many people seem to “get” what N+ is about, or at least give it a chance.

XP: One of the things people really liked about N+ was its soundtrack. Given how there are very few tracks, can we expect more of them through DLC, seeing how Namco and Sidhe Entertainment among others did it with Ridge Racer 6 and Gripshift respectively?

MNS: This is a great idea! Unfortunately, as with new enemies in DLC, it’s something that the game was not set up to handle, and so it would require a title update.

XP: Could you also tell us who made the music and how you met? Was he reluctant on creating music for a ‘simple’ videogame?

MNS: The music was done by Joris De Man, a friend of Nick’s (who runs Slick, the developers of N+ on XBLA); we’re really happy with how well it turned out! At the start we simply described some ideas we had (“chip tunes”), and that we wanted it to be in the background/ambient, and he just took it from there and came up with some really perfect stuff.

XP: What inspired you to create the gameplay of N+? Did the idea originate on a whim or did all of you have specific goals for your first game in mind when Metanet was founded?

MNS: Mostly it was just based on the tile-collision stuff we were working on. We did have some ideas when we started, however many of them were abandoned or changed during the process of playing around with things. The typical example is that the game was initially going to be stealth-based, with human “enemies”; the former was abandoned once we had the physics working, since it was so much more fun to run and jump like crazy (rather than sneaking). The latter was abandoned due to time and gameplay constraints – it’s much harder to animate human-type objects, and additionally people expect them to behave in a certain way, which isn’t always what you want.

XP: The latter being the alcohol elements you brought up in an IGN interview, I reckon?

MNS: No, the drunken banana peel guy was never really considered for N, as it’s too imprecise, it was just another little funny tech demo we came up with along the way. We knew it’d never fit – it would take quite a unique game for that to work well :)

XP: To dwell on this subject a little longer: were there any other platformers (old or new, it doesn’t matter) that served as a source of inspiration? How so?

MNS: All of the platformer-type games we’ve enjoyed no doubt helped to shape our tastes, such as Lode Runner, Super Mario Brothers 3 and Super Mario World, Dark Castle, et cetera.

We were especially influenced by freeware games such as Puchiwara No Bouken, Super Bubble Blob, Zone Runner, Soldat. These four games are the core of what inspired N.

XP: What was your motivation to keep the concept of N+ as simple as possible? Not that I mind of course, I’m just curious…

MNS: Since N+ derives from N, we’ll answer this question about N. In part it was a reaction to how over-ornate games have become; the presentation of the games is more and more complex, but the games themselves are usually very simple and similar – for instance the vast majority of action games involve capsule-type shapes moving over a terrain while casting rays. We wanted to show that the presentation should be subservient to the actual game part.

It was also a pragmatic solution to the problem of the limited means when you only have two people working on a game ;)

XP: How do you feel about the community’s reception concerning N+’s difficulty? A lot of people are pretty pissed that they’re dying a lot!

MNS: If you return to the Flash version, you’ll see that we spent a lot of time revising levels so that the difficulty in the XLBA version was much more gradual. Compared to N, N+ is a piece of cake!

It is absolutely still a challenging game, but we think that this is what makes it worthwhile – you can actually see yourself getting better and better the more you play, because skill matters!

We tried to counter this difficulty by giving the player an infinite set of lives, however some people persist in seeing death as a penalty rather than simply a suggestion to try a different approach ;)

XP: For that matter, do you remember who was responsible for the infamous 14-4 level? Be prepared to receive hatemail if you reveal to the Internet who imagined it, though!

MNS: In hindsight, the placement of this level was a mistake. We’re notoriously bad at judging the difficulty of levels, especially with those homing rockets – they’re not really a big deal once you learn how to deal with them, however we didn’t give players enough experience to develop this skill beforehand!

However, it’s important to note that since it’s at the very end of a column, it doesn’t matter if you get stuck on it – you should just move on to chapter 15! This is something we perhaps could have done a better job of explaining: since each column of levels starts easy and gets harder, if you’re ever stuck you can simply move on to a different column. If you them return to some of the levels that stumped you before, you’ll quite often find that your skills have improved to the point where they’re no big deal.

The first set of DLC levels, which are coming soon, are specifically “easier”, so that people who enjoy the game, but perhaps aren’t super-hardcore, can have a much more gradual and relaxed experience. Well, relaxed compared to the hard levels anyway ;)

XP: Can I assume then that the second and / or third DLC packs will have levels that are more difficult than pack #1 then, to please the hardcore crowd too? Or at least have a different ‘theme’ if you will than the first pack?

MNS: The second DLC will be harder SP levels plus Race and Survival MP levels, and the third will have classic N levels restyled for N+, including some redone for MP. They’re the hardest of the bunch – we don’t know how anyone ever enjoyed N, it’s so hard!

XP: Seeing how you’ve worked for years on the creation of N and improving it over time, is this the last we’ll see of the franchise for a while?

MNS: Yes! Aside from the DS/PSP versions of N+…

Part of our reason for teaming up with other developers on N+ was that we were hoping to be able to get started on future games. Sadly, level design/revision and project management ended up being a full-time job. We can’t wait to get back to working on Robotology though, because we’ve already got the game after that planned!

XP: I’ve heard that you’ve shown a vague sneak peak of your next game during the Games Developer Conference this year; I think an article of Gamasutra brought this up… Are you willing to reveal whether or not you’ll change genre with this one, and whether you’ll maintain the simplistic approach?

MNS: Hmm… We don’t remember this. Robotology is going to be a 2D physics-based platformer, but the physics will be much more involved (with grappling hooks and articulated/simulated robots walking around), and the graphics will be more complex.

We’re still trying to use a minimal vector-art style, however thanks to OpenGL we’ll be able to do more in terms of animation and smoothness. In general we really like simple, focused games – plus, being only two people, simplicity is an important practical consideration!

Development of Robotology is really just beginning though, so we don’t have anything to look at right now. However, we’ve got a dev blog up at http://www.metanetsoftware.com/blog where we’ve been posting progress, and will continue to do so – check back for updates in a month or so!

XP: Concerning Robotology, is it safe to say that you’ll self-publish it on Xbox Live Arcade as well, while it’s up to a different company to port it to other platforms if there’s interest from the outside?

MNS: We didn’t develop N+ for XBLA, that was handled by the amazing Slick Entertainment, a company based in Vancouver. We were fortunate to meet them and really think working with them was fantastic. We’re not sure what will happen with Robotology yet, but the first version, like N, will be made for PC/Mac, and will be developed entirely by Metanet Software.

XP: I also read elsewhere that you apparently have a binding contract with Microsoft in terms of platform exclusivity. One of you said that it’ll take quite a while before we may see N+ on PSN or WiiWare, provided that you two either didn’t forget or stopped caring.

Due to this, I was wondering if it’s already been decided whether Robotology will be a timed XBLA exclusive too?

MNS: It wouldn’t be that we forgot or stopped caring, it would be more dependent on whether or not the gaming public is still interested in more N+ in 2 years. We’ll see!

We’ll have to wait and see what platform is best suited to Robotology. It depends on what kind of game it turns out to be, and who expresses interest, as well.

XP: Now here’s a relatively random question: do you think N would ever work in 3D and could you also explain why (not) if this ever crossed your mind before?

MNS: Yes, it has come up many times in the past, and no, we don’t think it would work.

There are the usual problems with 3D such as camera and the fact that distances/collisions are much harder to accurately judge. The biggest issue we have is: what’s the point? Why would it be any better in 3D? There seems to be a general feeling that taking something 2D and moving it to 3D will automatically make it better, but that’s just nonsense – for instance, is 3D chess better than regular chess?

XP: What’s your opinion on the recent platformers? More specifically: the way they handle the difficulty curve and what their main focus is? You may also mention your favorites.

MNS: There don’t seem to be many [2D] platformers released outside of freeware. The Castlevania’s on DS were quite good, however we’re not sure if they count as platformers exactly…

There have been a number of freeware “masochist platformers” which are WAY harder than N (such as I Wanna Be The Guy or Dire Haven), which is interesting.

Cactus is making quite a few interesting platformers. In general it seems like the industry still has no interest in making good 2D games for some reason, which is too bad since we really like that kind of game. At the same time, it means that there’s a niche for us to occupy, so maybe that’s a good thing.

XP: Furthermore, I’ve read somewhere that if it was up to Metanet, N+’s gamer pictures and themes would’ve been free. Couldn’t you have added them in the game as unlockables (Jetpac: Refuelled, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 among others did it) then, or include them in the game through a patch ‘behind their backs’?

MNS: As far as we know you’re only allowed to have a single gamerpic as an unlockable, which we do have – you have to beat the game to get it. We’re not sure if those other games have more than that. If so: we don’t know how they managed it, as that was not an option for us.

Also, including a patch with any sort of secrets or easter eggs or cheats without telling Microsoft would mean they could (and most likely would, immediately) pull the game from XBLA, which would obviously defeat the purpose of the patch.

XP: I don’t know if this information might be of use for you some day, but the aforementioned games did include more than one free gamer picture. Jetpac: Refuelled even contains a free theme and there are other games that also have more than one, like Undertow on XBLA or even retail games like Rockstar’s Table Tennis.

MNS: Retail games are entirely different than XBLA games, but it’s good to know about Jetpac and Undertow – there seem to be some rules which only some devs are subject to, which is a bit frustrating!

XP: Alright, that about wraps it up. Thanks for your time!