GitHub

In 2015 the two-person studio published Metamorphologynet N++, a brutally hard 2D platformer, whose development lasted a decade and built on previous releases that went back to the freeware flash title N. At that time, co-founder Raigan Burns expressed some famous last words: “We hope it won’t last 10 years until we develop a game.” But now we are here, more than a decade later, and N gets another sequel. And this time the focus is on the multiplayer. More than a decade later, the team is behind N++ with a multiplayer continuation back

It is called N Plus Infinity Times Two and will be launched in 2027. It is called N Plus Infinity Times Two and will be launched in 2027. The new game is absurdly called N Plus Infinity Times Two. While N++ was conceived as the ultimate single player version of the N concept, this game is described as “the ultimate virtual couch party with low skill level and no skill limit”. This means the same refined, acrobatic jump'n'run action and the beautiful graphic inspired by graphic design, but now designed to play in a handful of different modes competitively or cooperatively with friends. It appears at some point in 2027 on PS5, Xbox, Switch 2 and PC. The duo at Metanet has done a lot different over the last 11 years. In addition to relocation from Toronto to Montreal, they have developed prototypes for some potentially larger projects and published a 10-year anniversary update for N++ last year. But then “we got the “let’s try again” bug in 2022,” says Burns about The Verge. The studio operates in an unusual way, at least compared to the majority of the gaming industry. Despite two successes in N+ and N++, Metanet has neither grown nor increased in any way. And the reason is in the way they make games: it just takes a lot of time to find a game idea that is worth pursuing as a commercial project. “We have refused to do something that would affect our ability to iterate and develop prototypes until something good shows up,” says Burns. “It is important to feel this magic,” adds co-founder Mare Sheppard. “This is the fascinating thing about the development of games. Then we know that we do it in the way that is right for us.” Burns has a clear analogy for their work: “We like to be in a band. It's fun. Being there in many meetings and running a lot: is not fun.” Given the situation in the gaming industry, in which even the biggest hits act in a way that is clearly not sustainable, this philosophy seems to be particularly predictive. “We like to be in a band. It's fun. Being there in many meetings and managing a lot: that’s not fun.”

In the case of N Plus Infinity Times Two – unfortunately I do not have a good chance to shorten this title – the spark came partly by watching how younger players interact with games. Even if they play alone, children usually chat with friends on their phones, which basically makes everything a multiplayer experience. Burns and Sheppard wanted to find a way to combine this idea with the couch-cooop experiences they had grown up with, which led to them picking up the N concept again, but with a multiplayer approach. The two describe the production of N++ as an exhausting experience. If you think that the levels of the game are difficult, imagine you need to test them again and again. Part of the excitement around N Plus Infinity Times Two was not only to find a variant of the formula that is fun to play, but also to develop. “This really feels like we have fun,” says Burns. “We really manage this one instrument fluently. Now the fun challenge is to play new musical styles that we have never played before, but with this instrument we really feel comfortable.”

Since the creative industries become more and more homogeneous from games to Hollywood, Burns also believes that there is something important in the work that is different, even if it means rethinking an earlier idea, for example through the different versions of N. It resembles titles like Hades II and Silksong: Indie-developed continuations that repeated a core concept, but put together with a new perspective that made them more than just one. “It’s more fun to be yourself and is more exciting,” explains Burns. “But I honestly believe that it is more economically viable to do something that can only be done by yourself, because you have no competition.”

What comes next to “N Plus Infinity Times Two”, the two obviously do not betray. There are a few larger 3D game ideas, but these would require a certain scaling that the studio has so far omitted. But what they do not want to close is to return to the idea of N in the future. “If we can do something that expresses something new or lets us see things in a different way or we get a different perspective on what this game is or how to play it, that’s exciting,” sheppard says. “I think we no longer believe that this will definitely be the last time. We gave up this idea. It doesn’t have to be.”