New Information on The Other Project Needlemouse

“We just want to make sure it knocks your pants off”

While fans are waiting patiently for something–anything–to leak concerning the actual Project Needlemouse that Sega has planned for next year, we have some overlooked tidbits regarding the Sonic fan game project that helped to cause such a stir.

Now dubbed Needlemouse: The Emerald Hills, developers Jono Forbes and Matt Schoen took some time earlier this month on the project’s forums to update eager fans on progress.  Both expect a public demo to see release “very soon,” in both their words.  And it may not only be across Windows and Mac OS X platforms–if possible, according to Schoen, we could be seeing an online edition, playable in a browser.

Here’s Schoen with more:

I’ve been working pretty diligently, trying to chip away every day, at a demo version of the code with you all in mind! I’m disappointed that our August Almost-Beta (let speculation refer to this phantom as the AAB) never got to see the light of day because it was another few days of work away from being pretty fun! That said, once this new movement controller is done (and as Jono says, it was in a pretty cool state two days ago) I’ll be able to incorporate all of my previous work into what we show you. Expect some crazy 3D twists on the 2D game dynamic you know from 16-bit Sonic. I’m also trying to get back to the roots of those days and create something as rock-solid as those mechanics. No crazy cameras, no glitchy physics, just simple platforming fun. And by no means is this demo a final draft. I’ll be including a usage-tracking system to see where you guys mess up, get stuck, take too long, or really ace to see how we’re doing.

Art director Jono Forbes preceded this statement with: “Sorry for the delay, we just want to make sure it knocks your pants off when you first get to put your hands on it.”

The art direction of Needlemouse: The Emerald Hills has been enough to gain a lot of fans’ attention.  But “very soon” may not be so soon, when you consider both are college students, and both are getting into their later years of study.  Still, the late December / early January period may be a prime time for see what this SFG is all about, and we’ll be sure to keep tabs all the way through.