We had such high hopes for 2022, but things didn’t exactly pan out as well as we’d have liked. We’re still here! That’s something anyway. 🙂
This year we worked on 4 different prototypes; there’s nothing to show/announce yet, but hopefully that will change soon. There’s an ARPG, a platformer, a fighting game, and an office cryptid simulation. 😉
You might remember that we sent out some cute Valentines earlier this year: https://www.metanetsoftware.com/2022/happy-valentines-day-3 That was fun.
Mare has been getting back into visual art, and is selling her Japan-inspired watercolours on Etsy (and at a few local festivals IRL).
We spent the summer soaking up inspiration and seeing a lot of friends we haven’t seen in a while, which was nice. Looking forward to more of that in 2023. The fall was disappointing, which we’ll get to.
In N++ news, this year has seen an incredible increase in the number of players reaching 100%: there were an amazing *11* people who beat N++ in 2022 (up from 7 in 2021), bringing the current all-time total to 32. This is pretty astounding considering we originally didn’t expect anyone to reach 100%! We couldn’t be happier to be so, so wrong 😀
In fact, there were so many completions this year that we had to do another print run of certificates! (We mail a hand-printed certificate of achievement to anyone brave enough to reach 100% — for those of you who are on this path, post on the discord and/or email us so we can check out your stats, as well as get your mailing address)
Huge congrats to all of those players, and thanks to our Discord community for helping them with tips, routes, and emotional support. 🙂
It looks like the pace isn’t going to relent anytime soon either, since there are already several people nearing 100% completion: good luck to you all! We are so awed by your drive and skill.
Excitingly, we’ve noticed that Challenge Enthusiasts have found out about N++, including the streamer nashinashi who (as we write this) is on their 50th day of N++, and is on track to become Japan’s first 100%er (maybe by about day 100?).
Quick fact! There are now over 5 million episode scores in the database: wow!
N++ Racing League: Raigan’s been playing a lot of N++ Race Mode on Twitch this year, against members of the Discord community; previous streams are archived here for your enjoyment: https://www.twitch.tv/metanet_software/videos?filter=all&sort=time
Want to play? Sign up on the Multiplayer channel of our Discord server — it’s via Steam Remote Play, so there’s a bit of lag, but depending on where you are (and how good your internet connection is), it’s quite playable! 😉
We also added some new merch to Metanet’s Etsy shop:
Black and white acrylic ninja keychains: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1350726473/n-nplusplus-ninja-acrylic-keychain
Colourful N++ washi tape: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1350688021/n-washi-tape-limited-edition-minimalist
and Dr Doom and Megatron memorial stationery: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1336709576/dr-doom-and-megatron-mini-notecards-and
Unfortunately 2022 turned out to be a pretty sad year overall — we lost both of our beautiful corporate fatcats. First Megatron, who was 17, on October 28, and then Dr Doom, who was 19, just a couple weeks later on November 15. It’s been pretty rough, but we are slowly recovering.
If you have a cat who has developed kidney disease, we heartily recommend Tanya’s Feline CKD site and forums: https://felinecrf.org/ — it’s incredibly informative, reassuring and calming, all of which have helped us a great deal over the years and especially at the end, as things got a little more complicated with Dr Doom’s condition. We also recommend the Feline Diabetes site and message board, which was extremely helpful as we learned how to give insulin and not panic. In the past few years we’ve learned a lot about how to administer cat medicines and do various other procedures — we were so happy to have been able to help these wonderful cats to live long and happy lives. We just wish they could have been around a bit longer (or, hey, if we’re wishing, infinitely!). It’s so hard not seeing them every day, and not being able to enjoy their beautiful company. We miss them terribly. This is what you sign up for when you decide to get a pet, but it is never easy. All we can do is try to remember that we did the best we could to give both Dr Doom and Megatron the best lives possible, and that we loved and cherished them immensely, and hope that they felt that love until the end.
It’s very likely we will adopt more cats someday, when we’ve healed a little more — as our website says, “Behind every great company, there is an adorable fluffy creature that fuels its creative process”. We absolutely believe that! 🙂 But what should we name them? If you have any thoughts, feel free to let us know.
About getting in touch, at the moment we’re still on twitter @metanetsoftware, where we post about people (including us!) playing N++ on twitch, merch and other announcements, and if it’s still around, that’s where we’ll post about new projects you can check out. We also have an account on Mastodon (@[email protected]) we will start posting on, and have signed up for Post and cohost as well to cover all the bases.
The official N++ Discord is a great place to hang out and chat: https://discord.com/invite/nplusplus, the community over on reddit is great as well, and we do still have a facebook page if you’re into that. Finally, you can always email us at metanetAT metanetsoftwareDOT com.
And so, with that, we say goodbye to 2022. We hope your holidays are excellent and wish each of you all the best. Here’s to a 2023 that is surprising, inspiring and full of intrigue. We are looking forward to it.
Always appreciate the update even if this one’s rather sad… 4 different prototypes is very exciting though!
As for future name suggestions, I’ll throw one into the mix: The Baron/Baroness
Thanks Guybrush. Great suggestion, that is an excellent name for a cat! 😀
awww <3
Looking forward to future announcements 🙂
So sorry to hear to hear about Megatron and Dr. Doom, just finding your studio as I didn’t know there was a sequel to N+, my all time favorite platformer. Looking forward to trying it out and seeing what your studio is working on next.