Ex-LucasArts devs form November Software, aim to 'elevate social gaming'

by James Ransom-Wiley on Apr 7th 2011 8:00PM

Three former Force Unleashed series developers and an ex-EA Sports programmer have joined up to form November Software, an indie studio with lofty ambitions: "to elevate social gaming to a new standard and deliver high-end 3D content to the web, iPhone and iPad." The team's first project, Inemeri: A Familiar World, will be a free-to-play social game for browsers and iOS devices.

"We are striving to hit a quality bar higher than any game running directly in your browser, iPhone or iPad," declares a statement on the game site's About page. The team claims to "have collectively invented a new way to build games from the ground up," with Inemeri said to feature a "new engine and plugin based around a concept of 'streaming'" powering a "challenging and inspiring 3D world that can be explored creatively." Yes, that's a hot air ... balloon.

November Software plans to launch a closed beta test of Inemeri this summer. Volunteers are currently being accepted through this signup page.

Via: Gamasutra
Source: Inemeri Blog

Tags: beta, browser-based, free-to-play, inemeri, inemeri-a-familiar-world, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, pc, social-games, startup

Reader Comments (11)

Oh, ex-employees of a major studio forming a startup that does social games? That's fresh.

@Haikiba

If they create good gaming experiences, I don't think it matters how "fresh" their story is.

Although that's a major "if"...

@Arturis

I mean, I understand that the first thing they need to do as a startup is bring in capital however they can (browser/iOS games are cheap to make), and I'm not saying the game won't be good. I just get tired of seeing talent break off from a major developer and, without fail, start talking about their exciting new ideas for social gaming. Have any of them actually succeeded, or are they just throwing around buzzwords that get industry people excited?

@Arturis

Here's hoping they go for copying .hack/sign and create "The World"... that is the only way they can truely elevate "social" gaming.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=605

Good luck with that, Vindictus and Battlefield: Heroes are pretty damn high quality.

Man, maybe it's wrong of me to think like this, against progress or whatever, but I would really prefer if they didn't. It's crappy enough having to deal with overpriced DLC, DRM and install limits and that crap. I would really be loathe to experience major games through such a throttled medium as facebook or the iphone, especially given how heavily rooted in repeated microtransactions as many are.

@TheDarkWayne

I agree completely. Not only that, but everything seems to go through Facebook nowadays.

I want more levels for Angry Birds? That's cool, I just have to "like" it on Facebook first though.

I was actually looking for the "like" button on your post, before I remembered there is a "plus" button instead..... that's pretty bad.