So, those of you who've been with us for a bit might remember this article I did for Playtonic Games' presentation at EGX Rezzed. They said that they were hoping to bring back the 3D platformer similar to how Rare once did with Donkey Kong and Banjo-Kazooie back in the 90s. Now the game has its official name: Yooka-Laylee and more besides.
The game is very similar to Banjo-Kazookie's set-up; two animal friends of differing species travel and work together to traverse a colourful landscape full of enemies and collectables. Yooka is a green chameleon with a tongue that can be used as a grapple and Laylee is the purple bat who can carry Yooka short distances through the air and uses sonar as a weapon. The main collectable are the Pagies and Playtonic have already said that there'll be a lot of inanimate objects with eyes and the same artist is doing the music in the same style as the original Banjo-Kazooie games. This game really is being set up as a spiritual successor to those games.
And it's working. The Kickstarter has only been up for less than a day and it already has over 3,900 backers and has made more than £170,000 of its £175,000 target. It's increasing even further as I write. There's a range of stretch goals that go all the way up to £1 million and they involve such things as releases onto consoles being timed with each other and the computer releases and boss and level design extras and all sorts. Not sure if they'll make it all the way to the 1 million marker but I expect to see some of the stretch goals being met at this rate.
Say what you will about it being a 'copy' of Banjo-Kazooie, but so far it seems that Playtonic are using the nostalgic love for their old games as a sure-fire marketing strategy to ensure that the next generation of buddy-duo platformers are off to a strong start.
Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter: [x]
EDIT: And just as I post this article, Playtonic have met their target in under an hour! Congratulations!