the new game

August 23, 2006 2:56 AM

The makers of N (previously here, here and here) have been working on a new game - known thus far as TNG (that would be 'the new game'). They've been rather tight lipped about details - untill last month when they revealed a few juicy bits of what we can expect.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht (13 comments total)

Whoops! There goes a productive day at work!
posted by chillmost at 3:32 AM on August 23, 2006

Ooh, I liked N! Never got very far though, those missiles were deadly! Can't wait for N:TNG!
posted by Vindaloo at 5:06 AM on August 23, 2006

here's a beautiful time attack of umihara kawase (avi, 60 mb) that might give an indication of what to expect from metanet's next game.

of course, anyone who's played so much as bionic commando would probably know what to expect as well.
posted by jimmy at 5:54 AM on August 23, 2006

btw, when did N switch from being a web-based flash game to being download?
posted by delmoi at 6:28 AM on August 23, 2006

i don't remember having seen N as a web embed.
most probably has to do with flash performing better as standalone than in the browser.
posted by zenzizi at 6:33 AM on August 23, 2006

AWESOME! N was fantastic. An elegant, thorough piece of satisfying gameplay. Can't wait for the new one.

I'm a little confused by the article in the last link, when it says:

"ike Umihara Kawase, the protagonist will be able to fire and swing from a wire and use a variety of parkour-like gymnastics to navigate a Phillip K. Dick-inspired future world of robots (some comparable in size to the population of Fumito Ueda's latest release)" (emphasis mine)

Philip K. Dick's stories that have robotics in them are generally about robots or androids which we don't know are robots and the psychological confusion and implications derived from simulacrum (or robotic elements that are flush with the surroundings somehow; an anthropomorphic door lock, for instance) - I can't see how that'd apply in an action based arcade style game (well, if it did somehow apply, that'd be awesome) - I'm guessing that they're just throwing out the name "Dick" because it sounds cool and futury...

(But hey, if I'm wrong, we all win!)
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 6:58 AM on August 23, 2006

It's probably because A Scanner, Darkly has made Dick the name du jour as far as sci-fi goes, and the author didn't really do a whole lot of research. At least, that's how I see it. ; )
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:24 AM on August 23, 2006

delmoi - it was released as a download, but some huckster made a web version. Digging through the metanet forums, it appears they were pretty miffed about it too.

to the effect of "people are going to see that tripe and think we released it!" I guess the tiles don't alias properly and the performance is just weak.

definately get the stand alone.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 7:25 AM on August 23, 2006

My kingdom for a screen-shot.
posted by TimeTravelSpeed at 8:40 AM on August 23, 2006

That Freeware Rebellion movie was neat.
posted by sonofsamiam at 8:44 AM on August 23, 2006

N. Terrific game. I've wasted plenty of time with that one.
posted by Hanover Phist at 9:48 AM on August 23, 2006

related:

Telefilm Canada announced today that Toronto based game developer, Metanet Software , has been approved for the Telefilm New Media Fund for development of their wildly successful game "N" for console development.
link

N *may* end up as an xbox live arcade game.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 1:41 PM on August 23, 2006

btw, when did N switch from being a web-based flash game to being download?

N was always a download, it's just that some enterprising people embedded it into a web page (presumably for the ads). The metanet people never wanted to do that because it performs much worse when not run as a standalone app (there is a forum post about this on their site somewhere I think).
posted by advil at 1:08 AM on August 24, 2006