MEDIA COVERAGE: PROF. SHEPPARD ON GAME DESIGN

Professor Mare Sheppard, who currently teaches GAME CONTEXTS in the M.A. Program, discusses the design process behind the award winning N++ Ultimate Edition on the Official US and EU PlayStation Blog. As she explains:

The heart of N++’s design is a delicate balance of challenge with reward, and tension with joy, so that players can really appreciate how their skills are developing as they play, and feel proud of themselves when they complete an exceptional task. It’s all about that thrill and satisfaction. That’s what makes N++ the game of “just one more try!” :)

Click the image below to read the full article. 

EVENT: PROFESSOR SHEPPARD'S GAME N++ NOW AVAILABLE FOR XBOX ONE

N is making its return to Xbox. N++ launches today on Xbox Live! Professor Mare Sheppard, co-founder of Canadian indie studio Metanet Software, who teaches GAME CONTEXTS in our Program, is releasing the revamped version of the award-winning platform game:

This is the long-awaited sequel to the legendary N+, rewritten from scratch to be bigger, better, and more beautiful in every way. N++ is a fast-paced, momentum-based platformer about darting around obstacles, narrowly evading enemies and collecting gold in a beautiful minimalist landscape. N++ is all about using your momentum to complete levels and get high scores, but in this sci-fi world, there’s a slew of inadvertently homicidal enemy robots trying to prevent you from completing your goal. Through the hand-crafted (NOT procedurally generated) levels, you’ll experience platforming at its most intense. Using only your fluid movement, you need to ‘solve’ each level and get to the exit. (Major Nelson)

MARE SHEPPARD ON N++

Professor Mare Sheppard (GAME CONTEXTS discusses her minimalist momentum-based platformers N/N+/N++ on Gamasutra. You can read the full feature by clicking the image below. 

As she writes,

"[O]ver the last twelve years we've gone from a scrappy little sketch of a game called N to a fully-developed and mature one called N++, and we definitely think that some of the decisions we made really benefitted from our having devoted plenty of time and thought to them. It's not something that one can always do, of course, but we would recommend sleeping on an idea, once in a while, to see how it feels the next day. Or the next year ;) The journey to N++ has been a very personal for us, which seems natural for a project which has taken up so much of our lives. One thing is certain, this series will always hold a very special place in our hearts, and we're glad we've finally managed to do it justice." (Mare Sheppard)