Why Crowdfunding?
When we first announced our project in February it was as much to gauge the interest from fans as anything, and it’s fair to say that the response was massive - you only have to look at our amazing social media fans to see that! Back then, we said that our development was self-funded - and that’s true. But now we want to use crowdfunding to expand the scale and scope of those original plans to give fans what they want on their desired platforms of choice. We have decades-worth of ideas for worlds, characters and moves that we can now finally have the resources and freedom to bring to reality in Yooka-Laylee. Our game will release no matter what – but it will be bigger, better and on more platforms with a successful Kickstarter.
Is this project affiliated with Rare Ltd. or Banjo-Kazooie in any way?
No. Yooka-Laylee is a 3D platformer adventure inspired by games like Banjo-Kazooie, and it’s being created by many of the key developers who worked on that game series, but its 100% new and separate from those games. Although we hope our game manages to capture the spirit of our past work, it will share no actual characters, items, code or anything else. Our team is comprised of senior ex-Rare employees, and we are all big fans of that studio, but our project is not affiliated with it.
Which platforms will Yooka-Laylee release for?
Yooka-Laylee will be released for Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U on day-one.
How long have you been working on Yooka-Laylee and when will it release?
The game footage we’ve shown so far is the result of less than three months’ work. The conceptual phase for Yooka-Laylee began much earlier in December 2014, but we didn’t actually start building the game until February. Currently we plan to release the game on all platforms by October 2016.
Why don’t you partner with a traditional game publisher for Yooka-Laylee?
Playtonic Games was founded because our team wanted to make a certain type of game and we wanted to do it in our way, specifically the way we used to make games in the 90s – in a small, collaborative team in an environment that encourages creative autonomy. We believe these philosophies appeal not only to us, but fans of our past work, and so we are determined to ensure that they’re maintained. However, should a publisher or distributor approach us with an offer that preserved these principles, and helped us improve the game in a specific area that benefits our fans and backers, i.e. helping us create versions for other platforms faster or release a physical edition, then we would at least be open to the possibility. Of course, we would be transparent to all of our fans and backers should this happen.
Isn’t your accrued crowdfunding budget already way above what’s required for this type of game?
Not at all! Even including the personal money we’ve already contributed, the cost for this game will be a lot less than Banjo Kazooie on the N64 cost to make! It should be more expensive, but because we are paying ourselves below the industry average, we only have a basic office and we are using Unity, it really helps us focus every resource we have on to developing the game. We’re as determined as the fans to get this game made and hopefully, looking at what we’ve produced in just 3 months, you’ll agree that we haven’t compromised on quality to do it. In short, Yooka-Laylee will provide more content than BK, but cost less to make and cost fans less to buy too! Everyone’s a winner!
What is the ‘Toybox’ demo and when will it be released?
Our Toybox experiences are designed to deliver hands on time with Yooka and Laylee before the game comes out. You can be the first to take our heroic duo for a spin (literally, if you press X) but we promise this self-contained plaything won’t spoil the full game: It’s built from in-game assets arranged specifically for this experience. There won’t be any objectives to beat, just a controllable duo, nice music and a few surprises too. The Enhanced Toybox will include a special environment, advanced props and special moves right away. We’re aiming to release the Toybox experiences before the end of the year and we’ll update our backers with more precise timing in due course.
Current Estimated Shipping Date: April 2017
Last Updated At: 12/13/16 | See Kickstarter UpdateWhat is BackerKit?
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