Yooka-Laylee sequel in development
Posted on 3 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
A sequel to Yooka-Laylee is in development, developer Playtonic has confirmed.
That news comes as part of an announcement the company made earlier this week, revealing that it has sold a minority stake to Tencent.
More: Gavin Price, interview, Playtonic, Tencent, top, Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic on the response to Yooka-Laylee, how Switch visuals stack up to PS4/Xbox One, physical release possible
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 16 Comments
Playtonic finally delivered the news Switch fans had been waiting for regarding Yooka-Laylee. After a fairly lengthy wait, the 3D platformer is confirmed for December 14 as an eShop download.
Nintendo Life spoke with Playtonic Games’ creative lead and managing director Gavin Price following the news. Price talked about the original reception, how Yooka-Laylee’s visuals on Switch stack up to other versions, and a possible physical release.
Comments to these topics can be found below. The full interview is located here.
More: Gavin Price, interview, Playtonic, Team17, Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic on the long wait for the Switch version of Yooka-Laylee
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 2 Comments
Yooka-Laylee was confirmed for Switch many months ago. However, it wasn’t until today that we received a release date for the game. Playtonic will have the game ready for a December 14 launch on the eShop.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Playtonic director Gavin Price commented on the long wait. Price explained that since Switch is a new platform and the team is using a middleware engine, “it adds another link to the change” and they’ve had lots to learn. He did reiterate that Unity and Nintendo, as well as publisher Team17, provided assistance on a technical level.
More: Gavin Price, inteview, Playtonic, Team17, Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic has some interest in making a kart racer
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 13 Comments
Playtonic’s first project is the 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee, which began to launch this month (the Switch version is coming a bit later on). The team could have ended up going in a different direction though.
When asked about the possibility of creating something along the lines of Yooka-Laylee Racing during an EGX Rezzed session earlier this month, Playtonic’s Gavin Price acknowledged that fan interest is there. He also revealed that, when starting out with Playtonic, he thought a project in that genre “might actually be the first game we do.” Gavin ended with: “Let’s wait and see.”
Many staffers at Playtonic formally worked at Rare. Back in the day, Rare worked on the much-beloved Diddy Kong Racing for the N64.
Thanks to Stephan P for the tip.
More: Gavin Price, Playtonic, Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic comments further on Yooka-Laylee’s move from Wii U to Switch, all down to tech issues
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 112 Comments
Playtonic delivered the surprising news today that Yooka-Laylee’s Wii U version has been scrapped. In its place though, the team appears to be refocusing its Nintendo efforts entirely on Switch.
GamesIndustry spoke with Playtonic studio head Gavin Price to inquire further about the delay. He was asked if the recent news about Wii U production affected the decision, to which he denied.
Price explained:
More: Gavin Price, Playtonic, top, Yooka-Laylee
Playtonic talks a bit about bringing Yooka-Laylee to Wii U, still interested in amiibo
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Playtonic intends to create 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee for various platforms, including Wii U. One of the reasons this has been made possible is due to the Unity engine (which the game is built on), as it allows for a great deal of flexibility. Playtonic may encounter some issues along the way, but the team is “looking forward” to bringing Yooka-Laylee to Nintendo’s console, and the team’s passionate Wii U technical director should help in getting it up and running.
The studio’s Gavin Price told MCV:
Our engine, Unity, is multi-platform. But we will see what happens when we try switching on all the dev kits we will be receiving in the future. We have still got that hurdle to come across. But we are looking forward to it. We have a very good technical director, and he is a big Wii U fan. So we will be looking for parity across all the platforms if we can. And it would be nice to take advantage of a few platform features or exclusive content.
The possibility of amiibo support is something that Playtonic has mentioned before. It’s something that the company still hopes to pursue, but there’s no news on that front just yet.
With any big company, these discussions don’t happen as fast as us as a team of seven would like. When we want to do something, we can do it tomorrow. But when you are working with partners, we have to work with them at their speed. So something in that area is still very much in our plans, and there is nothing that is impossible to overcome, so what we do with that we will reveal at the right time. But we know what our own expectations are, because we are fans of this stuff ourselves, so we know what is right and what is expected.
More: Amiibo, Gavin Price, interview, Playtonic, Yooka-Laylee
Project Ukulele art
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Project Ukulele – the Banjo Kazooie spiritual successor from Playtonic – is featured in this month’s EDGE. The magazine shares concept art, which you can find above.
In the magazine, Playtonic lead and Gavin Price said: “There’s been so much pent-up passion for doing something like this, because we’ve all been sat on a lot of these ideas since Banjo-Tooie came out.”
The next step for Playtonic is to make a proof-of-concept. The company will then upscale to an “N64-size” team of between 10 to 15 staff, and several former Rare employees are in waiting on these positions.
