Categories
Art Design Fashion Games Photography

Urban Layers

golden-gai-street-at-day

My friend Mare is a game creator (maker, with her partner Raigan, of the fantastic N series) and she’s currently spending some time in Tokyo, something that has turned into an annual sojourn for the team. The reason for this post though is to share a fantastic mood board that Mare just shared through Pinterest, which she called “Game 1 – Urban Layers.” Having spent a lot of time going through these images — a lot of them relating to Japan, like the shot in this post of a section of Golden Gai in Shinjuku — I can’t help but dream of a game that is inspired by all of this visual goodness.

Categories
Games Tokyo Walking

Metanet Tokyo Map

Screen Shot 2016-09-02 at 01.09.12

When you visit Tokyo, it’s always nice to have a bunch of recommendations on places to check out before you get there, and my friends Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns — otherwise known as Metanet Software, creators of the fantastic N series of super platformers — have done everyone a solid by sharing a Google map of their favorite spots to hang out in, eat in, shop in, and play games in. And speaking of N, the latest iteration, N++, which was previously only available on PS4, has now just come out on Steam.

Categories
Debaser Uncategorized

N++

I love platforming, but I’m not particularly attracted to games that punish me – I only truly got into Dark Souls once I was able to play it with a couch co-pilot, who coached me through it. I always liked what I saw from the N series, but never ended up playing it that much because of difficulty (I refer here to N+, the first sequel). Getting to know the creators, and understanding/realizing their appreciation for good design (not just in gameplay, but in the graphical sense as well), I started getting excited at the idea of playing N++, and I wasn’t disappointed. From the fantastic minimalist and stark take on graphics – I don’t quite get why this game isn’t getting covered more in the graphic design world – to the insane amount of content, this is quite the game. I’m taking my time with it, going in every couple of days to do a few level sets (they are in packs of 5), and that suits me fine.