Interview: Playtonic On Yooka-Laylee Progress And Its New 2017 Release Window

I can't wait, it looks amazing!

What? A Kickstarter game being delayed? That never happens!

Looking good so far! This game seems like it will be huge! If they already haven't they should consider a retail release.

Meh, it got delayed to the next quarter, I can wait. The toybox+ I am also looking forward to

And guess who isn't mad in the slightest. This game looks amazing and it definitely will be out Q1 2017, I just know it will be. One delay isn't that bad, especially as it's not as far as other games tend to be.

A delay? Now it's a true N64 era rare-vival!

So looking forward to this!

How does NL do an interview for a game releasing on Wii U, PS4, X1 and Steam without asking if there will be special Gamepad support? Seems like question #1 to me.

Question #2 - what engine was the trailer running on - Wii U or PS4?

They should sell that game engine. How many great looking 3D games are on PS4, X1 and Wii U? Skylanders is about it, everything else is 2D. I'm very impressed.

Normally I'd want to know about price and disc or download but it's still nearly a year out so that can wait.

I have absolutely no problem waiting a little longer for this game

How about a transcript of the interview for those of us that prefer read rather than watch?

Hopefully this means they're putting it on the NX as well.

I'd prefer they release a polished product. Also didn't really expect a 2016 release anyway.

Definitely picking this up when it releases. Looks lovely.

Q1 2017? Is there a chance it skips Wii U and goes straight to NX?

Alex looks like he is scaring the dude in white. I am so hyped for this game.

I think it's very telling that most people are cool with the delay. It shows that they've got confidence that the developers will do it right and actually take advantage of the extra time. cough Comcept cough.

At this point they should just port it to the NX and scrap the Wii U version. It's silly to waste time making a game for the Wii U when the system is on its death bed and when its successor is coming out in the spring.

Somehow, I'm actually relieved. I think Playtonic needs extra time to polish the game and make it really awesome. I'm a fan of old Rare and some of the original staff is working for Playtonic now, so hopefully we get something amazing. I'll buy it and support it and most probably love it.

I'm fan of Gregg Mayles, one of the only few that remains at Rare. He is Banjo-Kazooie designer. There's something about Yooka-Laylee's art that still does not connect to me but I will buy and support the game nevertheless. I hope that the final game wins my heart.

All I can say is, "Thank you" Playtonic. Thank you

I knew 2016 was too ambitious and it would slip.

I see how Playtonic is taking things from the original Donkey Kong Country game to improve the gameplay: Yooka's rolling is like Donkey standing on a rolling barrel, and the mine races are 2D-style like the original ones. The new footage looks honestly better than last time's footage and anyone can see that it's going to be a lot of fun to play. I hope it's a great success, they truly deserve it and I love this kind of games. Moreover, we Rare fans deserve some good old platforming after all this time, don't we? Super Mario 3D World is going to be a joke compared to Yooka-Laylee, so I hope Yooka-Laylee sales to be extremely high.

Looking forward too playing this ashame its not this year but should be worth the wait.

Don't wanna see anything from the game. I wanna go in as fresh as possible and hopefully experience the same magic the N64 Rare games had first hand! Also, I saw a delay coming when the project was first announced so no problem with me.

Liking what I see here, glad I backed it. Nice job bringing us this interview.

This could now be the Wii U's last game, even later than Zelda U/NX. Great that the Wii U seems to be the lead version. And I'm not upset about the delay. Completely understandable, they want it and I want it to be as good and polished as can be.

Honestly I was expecting a delay and I don't mind in the least bit. Rar- er, Playtonic will not disappoint and they will not delay unnecessarily. I might expect one more delay even towards the end if they have trouble getting it through the approval/rating process - again, not a big deal. It happens. They will release a polished product that will be worth the wait in the end.

@VanillaLake
And it was necessary to bring up Super Mario 3D World because?

@LaRaposa Not sure I get the logic. Potential sales from a 10 million user Base and a developer keeping a promise against a currently unknown user base and a loss of face with those who dropped their hard earned money for the Wii U kickstarter campaign... Seems pretty obvious to me and so they appear to be doing the decent thing. Besides, if it sells well enough on Wii U, we know that a follow-up game will most likely appear on the NX... Everyone's a winner

This isn't a typical Kickstarter game. These fellas know what they are doing. I am glad to see a delay; the more time they spend on this game, the better it will be!

Toybox next month! Perfect month, considering its my birthday month and all. Ghostbusters movie and Y-L Toybox++ for me!

@mjharper no chance this skips Wii U. Backers such as myself funded this project and most like me opted for the Wii U build.

(True Nintendo/Rareware fans from "back in the day" )

HOWEVER. The delay to 2017 does make me think that an NX build will be made available. It makes sense.

I personally would buy the NX version aswell, despite already down to receive it on Wii U as a backer.

@VanillaLake FYI: Gregg Mayles worked on Banjo Kazooie together with his brother Steve and Gavin Price, also aided by some other people, so he is not the sole person responsible for creating Banjo Kazooie. And Gregg is just one of two original employees of Rare still working for Microsoft, so Microsoft's Rare is nothing but a skeleton crew of the original Rare. All the rest are working at Playtonic, making up almost 85% of the original Rare (minus the Stamper brothers).

That alone should be more than enough reason to believe in this game and buy it. People holding their breath for Microsoft to publish another Banjo Kazooie game will probably see hell freeze over before that happens...

Gotta love that gibberish talk in the ending, reminds me of the Banjo nostalgia =) (and it's cuter than actual voice acting would be.)

@rjejr
The game runs on Unity, this was already known when they announced the Kickstarter. So they won't be able to sell the engine as they had to purchase it themselves.

How good a game looks is not all on the engine though, the skills of the developers is key.

I'm glad I backed this project, I have no doubts about these guys because they are the real deal. B-K is my favourite game of all-time for various reasons and just reading their Kickstarter page brought back 'scribes' memories and all the witty writing in their games which made me appreciate Rare so much more!

Awesome! :3

By the way, a text transcript of the interview would be very welcome! Can't watch videos in public on a mobile. :/

@Rin-go Because it's another 3D platformer, perhaps?

@noutBr Thank you, when I think of the Unity engine I think of mobile games like Hearthstone and Angry Birds, not big open world adventures. Apparently I'm a bit behind the Unity curve, time to catch up I guess.

I still think they've done a really good job though in a relatively short period of time.

@ThanosReXXX

You make comments that don't make much sense and you overreact so often.

I think you did not read my comment properly or if you did you are putting your words in my mouth, something that I don't like. First of all, I did not say "he (Gregg Mayles) is the sole person responsible for creating Banjo Kazooie", I said that he is the designer, and he is. Secondly, I am praising and supporting Yooka-Laylee, so no need to tell me "That alone should be more than enough reason to believe in this game and buy it".

And, let me tell you, if I love Banjo-Kazooie like most people posting here do, let me say it. And if I want a new Banjo-Kazooie game don't think I'm murdering Yooka-Laylee. And if I'm dreaming let me dream. Thank you.

I'll be surprised if they even release it on Wii U at all, tbh.

@IronMan28 Apparently, they have been working on the Wii U version since the beginning (May 2015) and since it is a kickstarter game they can't disappoint Wii U owners.

@VanillaLake "You make comments that don't make much sense and you overreact so often."

Well, that is quite a bit of generalization going on there, and I don't recognize myself in that at ALL. I hardly ever overreact, sticking mainly to facts or simply stating my opinion, and obviously, when I'm sticking to facts, the comments make more than enough sense, since I will then more than likely be quoting.

But apparently you seem to be following my comments then, yet somehow you grossly misinterpret them, at least in this thread.

Mistakes are bound to happen on both sides, but allow me to explain my own comment that may have come across as harsh (which I certainly didn't intend for it to be):
I interpreted yours as saying that Gregg Mayles was THE only designer of Banjo Kazooie, which in all honesty he wasn't, so that is all I was saying, also giving credit to his brother who was co-designing Banjo-Kazooie with him, and the other people that definitely contributed into making the final character what it is today.

But no need to be so angry about that mishap, it happens to every one of us from time to time, and I don't mind admitting that I did.

You say I overreact but then you go overboard yourself on the whole Banjo Kazooie thing. I NEVER once said that you aren't allowed to wish for a new game in that series, that would be too ridiculous to begin with, but besides that I based that comment on the fact that Microsoft has done literally NOTHING with the IP after Nuts & Bolts and has repeatedly shown no interest in ever picking it up.

Same goes for other older IP's from Rare, so all that Rare fans are getting from them is the Rare Replay disc and somewhere in the near future we'll play Sea of Thieves, an entirely new IP, so that seems to be what Microsoft is more interested in getting from Rare nowadays. That and avatars...

And lastly, I wasn't telling you (or anyone) to buy Yooka-Laylee. It is just my opinion that I'm stating. If that upsets you, then I can't do anything about that.

Some thicker skin probably wouldn't hurt you, though.

@ThanosReXXX You should apply the last sentence to yourself. I was not angry, I just don't like people putting their words in my mouth. It's different. Perhaps you should read twice before answering...

Rare hasn't done any "normal" game since Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts because they were asked to make programming and games for Kinect (that were very successful). They were asked to help other developers with Kinect, too. They were quite busy, if you know what I mean. After Kinect 2.0. fiasco, Microsoft told them to do a "normal" game and they are making Sea of Thieves (without any pressure by Microsoft, Rare is taking their time). They also helped with Killer Instinct 3. And now that you mention it, Rare Replay makes Xbox One a worthy purchase for any gamer.

I like Yooka-Laylee and I will buy it, that's one of the reasons why I think you did not read my comment. There's something about the characters that does not amaze me as much as Banjo-Kazooie characters though. Gregg Mayles is not Banjo-Kazooie only maker, I did not say so, but he is a superb designer and it had the main design role in Banjo-Kazooie and did a wonderful work, also helped by other people as you mentioned (and that I never denied).

After Sea of Thieves, who knows, perhaps we'll see Banjo and Kazooie again. Hopefully. In the meantime, there're plenty of games, like Yooka-Laylee.

@VanillaLake Well, that's just the thing, you see: I wasn't putting words in anyone's mouth, that is just how you interpreted my comment, which I already tried to explain (and apparently failed in doing). And I'll admit that I'm not always as clear as I like to be (or think that I am) but that is also why I did another effort to explain myself.

Suffice it to say that if you knew me, you'd probably have a bit more understanding for where I'm coming from. To me it is still quite bizarre at times that I, as a man of 46, am still trying my damnedest to bend over backwards (sometimes even to the point of apologizing, not because I'm wrong but simply to keep the peace) to explain myself to anonymous people online that are oftentimes way younger than I am but still seem to demand some respect or whatever, partially based on misinterpreting what I'm actually trying to say.

I've always learned that respect has to be earned and common decency, amongst other things, is one of the ways to get it. But unfortunately such rules don't seem to apply on the internet where everybody has a voice, can be as impolite as they care to be and gets into useless and heated debates over literally nothing. (speaking in general, to prevent any additional misunderstandings)

So, I hope we have eradicated that point by now, since I'm kinda done with explaining myself. No offense but even though I'm as social as the next guy, there are some limits to how many times I can and will explain myself in order to keep it nice and friendly here.

""They were quite busy, if you know what I mean."

I'm afraid I'm not following you there, unless you mean all the avatar stuff that they were doing besides the Kinect games.

But to end on a positive note, I certainly hope for the people that are still waiting for a Rare Banjo Kazooie game, that they get their wish, as small of a chance that I think it will be...

And I totally agree with you on Rare Replays being a worthwhile purchase, whether you know these games or not, because besides the missing Donkey Kong games, nearly all of them are worth revisiting and to have that on one single disc is a great addition to anyone's game collection.

Well, I'm off for some much needed rest, so I bid you good night.

Wow! This looks absolutely fantastic!
The expandable worlds and the free selection of upgrades sound rather neat, too!
Can't wait to get my copy.

My wallet is ready!

@VanillaLake that's semi true, but investing is always risky business, something many backers (like myself for a long time) are largely unaware of so we get screwed out of our money.

@ThanosReXXX Okay, peace.

@IronMan28 Yes, I know there are people that supported Slightly Mad Studios's Project Cars for the Wii U version, but Playtonic already confirmed they are working on the Wii U version of Yooka-Layle and it's almost completed, so there's no reason to think it would be cancelled now.

@InternetBowser Yeah, actually is looking much better than last time. The game is clearly being improved.

@IronMan28 Well, considering they went well over their intended goal of 1 million, harvesting a total of more than 2.6 million (in large part due to Wii U owners, if data is to be believed) and Playtonic continuously stating they are massive Nintendo fans, chances are it's pretty safe to say that this game is definitely coming to Wii U, and probably NX too, considering the delayed release date...

@VanillaLake Thanks, much appreciated.

I'm alright with the Zelda delay and I'm alright with waiting for this. If the devs think they need a little bit more time, than I'm sure it will be worth the wait. I'll admit I am a bit disappointed simply because there isn't much left this year to look forward to on the Wii U... Good thing I have a PS4!

I'd almost forgotten about this gem. Looking forward to Yooka-Laylee and delays are true to form as I remember there always being delays with Rare games - but it was always worth it.

@ThanosReXXX @VanillaLake I'm obviously slightly less pessimistic right now since they did say they're making the Wii U version in-house. Obviously I care so much since I'm a backer and my only dividend is a Wii U copy of the game. Of course, I'd buy the "GOTY Edition" on NX if it comes there, too.