Well, every year we keep wishing things will get better, and this year is no different. 2021 was not a great year, but with the bar that low, we are really hoping 2022 will surpass it easily, haha. ;D

It’s been a long and unpredictable year, again due to the pandemic. We recovered a bit from the shock and have been steadily feeling more creative as we adapt to the new normal. We’re still getting to know our new home city, and are discovering things about it that we love, so that’s helpful. And we’ve been busy prototyping some new game ideas that we’re starting to get intrigued by — we don’t have anything to share just yet, but we’re optimistic.

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In N++ news:

We made a bunch of new merch this year, from oft-requested stuff like new t-shirt designs, to more unusual and awesome stuff like little gold cubes and giant gold pillows. Thanks so much to everyone who answered our survey and gave feedback and suggestions for merch ideas! We’re really happy with how it all turned out! 🙂

In the gallery of photos above, you can see:
New stickers, including ninjas, mines and gold, so you can build your own N++ scene: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1103523794/n-nplusplus-new-stickers-pack-white-and

A gorgeous level poster (which you can have signed): https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1117471269/n-nplusplus-limited-edition-poster
For all you thirsty ninjas, the “I love gold” pack including an exclusive gold button: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/210741846/i-love-gold-10-pieces-of-n-nplusplus
Tiny and incredibly cute Gold cubes, by the piece: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1117482027/n-nplusplus-gold-cubes-handmade-tiny

The aforementioned and amazing Gold pillow: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1133516813/gold-nplusplus-n-18×18-premium-pillow

A beautiful white gold minimalist keyring (the first 6 sold out fast, so we’ve added some new options!): https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1054405096/n-nplusplus-keychain-acrylic-laser-cut
A charming stationery set including magnets, pushpins and paper clips: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1068459141/n-nplusplus-stationery-set-paper-clips

*** Most of these things were created with the help of Dean at Utopia Creates, who is amazing. If you need anything printed, we highly, highly recommend him! ***

And here are the exciting new tshirts, printed-on-demand by Printful and Printbest:
All: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/metanet?section_id=17568595

Ninja and Gold US/Can: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1099870550/n-nplusplus-ninja-and-gold-logo-tshirt
Ninja and Gold worldwide: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1108228146/n-nplusplus-ninja-and-gold-tshirt-short
Ninja and Gold women’s cut worldwide: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1108234100/n-nplusplus-ninja-and-gold-womens-short

Racing League US/Can: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1099874950/n-nplusplus-racing-league-official
Racing League worldwide: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1104992304/official-racing-league-tshirt-n

As always, every order from our shop includes some extra stickers plus a hand-written thank you note. Thanks for your support, everyone! ❤️

 
2021 wasn’t all bad — it saw the first ever N++ Invitational Tournament, PN++W (Pacific North-West), which you can watch here in all its glory: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1191504447

This was a really exciting event, with players from both coasts of the USA converging on Portland to see who has the most dynamic ninja skills — and the nerves to perform under pressure.

Big thanks to bigblargh for conceiving, organizing, and running the event. It was incredible to watch, and we’re hopeful that once the pandemic settles down a bit, there will be more local tournaments happening around the globe.

Spoilers, XandoToaster won! Congrats!

We made and tested a whole bunch of devious new Race Mode levels for this tournament, which was pretty fun! As is typical after we ship a game, we were pretty burned out on making levels for a few years, so it was really nice to get back to it without that crushing feeling, and to be able to enjoy the process again and be excited by new ideas. Such a great feeling, and it was especially awesome to be able to watch the reactions of players as they grappled with the fruits of our labour. 🙂

Here are some of our favourite new level names:

• Scrambled Legs
• Trolled-school
• Leg-salad Sandwich
• Nope-ing Mechanism
• Various Nefarious Areas
• Missile Dismissal
• Suddenly Befuddling Subtleties

 

Thanks also to our awesome Discord community, who continue to be a source of inspiration — it’s great seeing people able to play the multiplayer modes via Parsec or Steam Remote Play, and exploring the secret challenges together (shhh!).

So far an incredible 21 players have completely 100%’d the game, which is astounding considering we didn’t think anyone would be able (or willing) to perform such a heroic feat. You each are absolutely amazing. Kudos to everyone who is collecting gold and enjoying their journey. ❤️ Don’t forget, if you have 100%’d the game, post on the Discord and send us your mailing address so we can send you a handmade certificate!

Got some N/N+/N++ related news to share? Let us know on Twitter, we’d love to hear it, and retweet!

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In other news, our beautiful and constant friend and corporate fat-cat, Dr Doom, has not been feeling very well of late. She has been with us for almost the entire history of our company, and is roughly 18 years old — just a few months older than the first version of N! During the past 4 years she developed diabetes, which was in remission for a while but which is recently more on-and-off, and then she developed kidney disease, as most older cats apparently do. She is in the later stages now, but we are hoping she will stay a little longer with us.

If there has been one good thing about this pandemic, it is that we’ve had more time to spend with her — she is soft and sweet, and a wonderful companion, who loves treats with a passion. The multitude of medicines and procedures for her that we’ve had to go through together were made much easier by her clear joy about eating treats. She has a quiet meow and a very loud purr, and we love her an immense amount. Our other wonderful cat employee, Megatron, also has kidney disease and is a year or two younger than Dr D. She has a very loud meow (sometimes shockingly so! 😉 ) and a quiet purr, so the two cats complement each other well. Megatron has also been a great kitty friend to us, and we are constantly amazed by the great quality of life these little animals give to us. So we hope they’re both around for a long while yet! ❤️

 
That’s all we’ve got for this year — thanks again everyone, for your support and for continuing to be interested in playing our games. We hope to have more for you soonish! We hope you all stay safe and healthy, have the happiest of holidays and are in for a fantastic 2022. Until next time!