Yooka-Laylee- spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie on Kickstarter

[Nebagram]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playtonic/yooka-laylee-a-3d-platformer-rare-vival

HELL YES. This was an instant pledge for me, and I can tell by the fact that it smashed a million in just a few days I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

[buzz_n64]

I made my pledge! Looks promising.

[CDiablo]

$30 is steep for a DLC indy game. The lizard looks cheap and uninspired, I don't like the design. Not sure what all the hype is about but I await the full product.

[Bojay1997]

$30 is steep for a DLC indy game. The lizard looks cheap and uninspired, I don't like the design. Not sure what all the hype is about but I await the full product.

The team behind it created most of the great Rare/Nintendo platformers and unlike a lot of recent Kickstarters, it's actually the real designers and not some group of people with minor roles in the
earlier games. I backed it, but I agree with you that the main character designs are not attractive IMHO.

[Leo_A]

I hate the concept of Kickstarter so I came in here ready to be negative, but changed my tune after watching a video.

Looks promising, so while I won't be a backer, I'll definitely be watching this progress and crossing my fingers. I'll support them if it ends up like everyone hopes it will, especially if it receives a retail release (Hopefully, on the Wii U).

[Mayhem]

Looks promising, so while I won't be a backer, I'll definitely be watching this progress and crossing my fingers. I'll support them if it ends up like everyone hopes it will, especially if it receives a retail release (Hopefully, on the Wii U).
It broke a million on the first day, that means day one release on Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One. If you mean PHYSICAL game to buy in the shops, I doubt that will happen, because, you know, costs and a publishing deal.

[Tanooki]

Oh my god that thing wasn't just funded near instantly but the old Rare fans who have left that turd of a shell behind have blown out a crap load of stretch goals up into the 1.5M(GBP) level already.

I never kickstart, but that I think I'd actually play *IF* it's not loaded down with overkill idiotic collect-a-thon crap. They handle it with being light on it like Conker on N64 was and I'm probably game, though I am disappointed how much cash they want for the digital game and the physical at $110USD is pure bullshit. I'm sorry but when a site like fangamer or indiebox can squeeze out a physical console release in the $25~ range, that's robbery.

[CDiablo]

It broke a million on the first day, that means day one release on Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One. If you mean PHYSICAL game to buy in the shops, I doubt that will happen, because, you know, costs and a publishing deal.

It's getting easier to put disks out. A lot of indy games are getting physical versions: Stick It To The Man on PS4, Terraria, Retro City Rampage had a small physical PS4 run, Pure Pool PS4 and I just got The Escapists on disk for the X1. If any self published game has the potential to get a physical release it is this.

[Tanooki]

And I don't see a physical release if it came out that way going for $110 either. :)

[Bojay1997]

And I don't see a physical release if it came out that way going for $110 either. :)

Pretty sure you don't understand how Kickstarter works. The pledge you are making covers not only the physical goods and digital goods you are receiving, but a portion of development and other costs including taxes, KS fees, shipping on goods, etc... Even games like Deadwood where Indiebox is making the physical edition have a $100 physical tier and while it's possible to get the physical version as an add-on for a lower pledge at $40, that wasn't an option until the goal was already met. If you don't want to pledge, just don't. Maybe a physical release will happen down the road for non-KS backers and maybe it won't. I'm perfectly happy to spend the $110 up front for a guarantee of getting a physical version and knowing that my contribution helped make the game possible.

[Tanooki]

I'm clear how it works, I just don't support it. My wife is planning to set one up shortly for a business thing herself sooner or later. I don't believe in panhandling like that to develop something and my wife knows that too, but I'm not going to stop her either. It's just begging with the hope of maybe getting what you want out of it when it comes to game development, and at least what she's after is just a physical object to get her business going. I think if the project was as solid as they claim to be, as with any of them that go up there, they should be able to either self publish on the cheap with a loan over steam/gog type stuff to get started, or find a publisher that'll help them out if again that product is that sound. This, Mighty 09, and the rest is just digital begging and we've seen how the changes in how some backers get messed with ticks them off too when things change after the fact.

[Leo_A]

I never kickstart, but that I think I'd actually play *IF* it's not loaded down with overkill idiotic collect-a-thon crap. They handle it with being light on it like Conker on N64 was and I'm probably game, though I am disappointed how much cash they want for the digital game and the physical at $110USD is pure bullshit. I'm sorry but when a site like fangamer or indiebox can squeeze out a physical console release in the $25~ range, that's robbery.

I agree on both counts. They need to be careful with the collecting since they took it much too far on the N64 (Donkey Kong 64 in particular), and while I'd happily pay more for a retail edition, $15 is pushing it for a digital download by my standards. I don't see paying more than that if it's a digital exclusive on the Wii U.

I'd rather see more goal oriented tasks, like Super Mario 64 has. Outside of the 100 coin and 8 red coin stars in each world, it's not a 'collectathon'. That's just about the perfect amount, where you can still enjoy collecting, but it doesn't feel like that's all you're doing. And they're also purely optional in Super Mario 64. You can go all the way to the end and see everything that there is to see, without ever picking up a single coin.

So I hope that they're not afraid to deviate from the Rare blueprint for the benefit of the game.

[BetaWolf47]

The pledge you are making covers not only the physical goods and digital goods you are receiving, but a portion of development and other costs including taxes, KS fees, shipping on goods, etc...

Actually, that $110 does not include shipping. That's an extra $13. Also, @ Tanooki, I might agree with you on that if it wasn't a Collector's Edition. You're also paying for that fact. Soundtrack and art book.

[Tanooki]

I know it is, just still seems a bit high to me. I'd see no objection if they had like a $40-60 tier in there for just the game alone as a physical copy, like if you just got the disc and case like fangamer did with RCR DX on PS4. I think they'd suck in even far more dough than they imagined if they did something reasonable like that.

Either way they're not a write off to me that's for certain. They play their cards right, remove the nightmarish collect-a-thon garbage and tame it like they did with Conker on N64 and I'm good and likely will buy into it when it's done.

[Bojay1997]

I know it is, just still seems a bit high to me. I'd see no objection if they had like a $40-60 tier in there for just the game alone as a physical copy, like if you just got the disc and case like fangamer did with RCR DX on PS4. I think they'd suck in even far more dough than they imagined if they did something reasonable like that.

Either way they're not a write off to me that's for certain. They play their cards right, remove the nightmarish collect-a-thon garbage and tame it like they did with Conker on N64 and I'm good and likely will buy into it when it's done.

They've broken Kickstarter records for the fastest $1 million for a game raised in its history. They have also passed their goal by almost 7X so far at over $2.2 million. I'm pretty sure they know exactly what they're doing and they don't need to reduce the price on anything to be a massive success.

[JSoup]

They've broken Kickstarter records for the fastest $1 million for a game raised in its history. They have also passed their goal by almost 7X so far at over $2.2 million. I'm pretty sure they know exactly what they're doing and they don't need to reduce the price on anything to be a massive success.

Given the previous record holder reached two or three times it's intended goal and then had to do ANOTHER kickstarter due to budgeting concerns, you'll have to excuse some of us for looking cock-eyed at any massively over funded projected until the idea that "they know exactly what they're doing" is proven to some extent.

[Tanooki]

Yeah, umm just because there's a heap of people acting like Fry from Futurama going 'SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!' without thinking other than a quick glance and realization of what's being done there doesn't mean they know exactly what they're doing and so on. This is a huge outcry much like the rush to fund Mighty 09 because you have a massive fan pool of people disgruntled by a former great company who's employees left to go and do the right thing.

Reaching funding 1, 4, 8x over doesn't mean squat until there is a tangible product in hand as jsoup said. The proof is there already in record, kickstarter is flaky and being well overfunded doesn't automatically mean reality will happen as intended.

[Bojay1997]

Yeah, umm just because there's a heap of people acting like Fry from Futurama going 'SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!' without thinking other than a quick glance and realization of what's being done there doesn't mean they know exactly what they're doing and so on. This is a huge outcry much like the rush to fund Mighty 09 because you have a massive fan pool of people disgruntled by a former great company who's employees left to go and do the right thing.

Reaching funding 1, 4, 8x over doesn't mean squat until there is a tangible product in hand as jsoup said. The proof is there already in record, kickstarter is flaky and being well overfunded doesn't automatically mean reality will happen as intended.

While anything is possible, I choose to be an optimist and of the 80 or so video game Kickstarters I have backed, I haven't had any that completly failed to deliver and many of them including Wasteland 2, Divinity, Shadowgate, Tex Murphy, Broken Sword and Project Eternity among others have delivered great games with physical items available only to Kickstarter backers. Have you ever considered that maybe it's you who constantly has a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything that doesn't fit a traditional publisher/developer model? Frankly, without Kickstarter, most of these projects would not exist as there is no longer much of a mid-range game market and I love the fact that experienced creators are using Kickstarter and actually delivering great games on a very regular basis. But please, feel free to live in your sad world of negativism and doubt despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

[Bojay1997]

Given the previous record holder reached two or three times it's intended goal and then had to do ANOTHER kickstarter due to budgeting concerns, you'll have to excuse some of us for looking cock-eyed at any massively over funded projected until the idea that "they know exactly what they're doing" is proven to some extent.

Not sure what you're referring to, but Double Fine actually went to Steam Early Access for additional funding by selling the first half of the game and pre-selling the second half, thus covering the deficiency. The second Kickstarter was for a completely different game that is wrapping up development. While I agree that Double Fine didn't do a great job of project management, it doesn't change the fact that the first game is actually pretty good and the full game released a little over a week ago to some good reviews. I know I personally enjoyed it and feel like my support went to something worthwhile. Frankly, the team of former Rare developers behind Yooka-Laylee have the creative chops to make this happen and I am confident that they will deliver. You can choose to wait and see which is fine because the project doesn't need your support. Of course, by waiting, you lose out on the chance to get some exclusive Kickstarter physical items and insight into the development process which may or may not matter to you.

[Tanooki]

No I really don't feel it's a knee jerk reaction at all from me. I've been consistent on the fact I don't back kickstarters and I've seen some of the more broadcast ones end up getting changes that tweaked off some of the backers or end up just being downright hosed over. Reading Rainbow, Ouya, Mighty 09 had some backlash on changes. I'm not saying it's a majority thing, but it is an issue. I don't consider my negative view of the current game industry a bad thing as they've dug their own graves, supplied the wood and the nails for the coffin too. I don't buy a lot of games anymore as the current state of things rightly well sucks other than a few projects a year per system on the whole.

You do realize most people don't care about overpriced trinkets and thank you toys so jsoup does there have a point on why not to back a kickstarter too there. I've rarely bought into the extra box stuff, and so far I've yet to open one up that was worth the money. Maybe whenever I can get to unwrapping FFType0 for PS4 that'll change as I love manga, but we'll see. I'd rather money go right into the game, if someone wants to peddle shirts, books, plastic toys and other crap, then setup an online store for it as that'll help fund the project too. Given the notable lineage of this former Rare employee made project and the cute scale of the characters I would find it very believable if they put out presales/orders for some of the stuff in the kickstarter and delivered it, they'd get some good cash rolling in quick too, including from those who won't pay into kickstarter campaigns.

[kai123]

I don't preorder so why would I back a Kickstarter? If it gets funded from other people then I still win because I get to just buy it somewhere else. If it doesn't get funded? Oh well I have tons of games I haven't played yet.

[Bojay1997]

No I really don't feel it's a knee jerk reaction at all from me. I've been consistent on the fact I don't back kickstarters and I've seen some of the more broadcast ones end up getting changes that tweaked off some of the backers or end up just being downright hosed over. Reading Rainbow, Ouya, Mighty 09 had some backlash on changes. I'm not saying it's a majority thing, but it is an issue. I don't consider my negative view of the current game industry a bad thing as they've dug their own graves, supplied the wood and the nails for the coffin too. I don't buy a lot of games anymore as the current state of things rightly well sucks other than a few projects a year per system on the whole.

You do realize most people don't care about overpriced trinkets and thank you toys so jsoup does there have a point on why not to back a kickstarter too there. I've rarely bought into the extra box stuff, and so far I've yet to open one up that was worth the money. Maybe whenever I can get to unwrapping FFType0 for PS4 that'll change as I love manga, but we'll see. I'd rather money go right into the game, if someone wants to peddle shirts, books, plastic toys and other crap, then setup an online store for it as that'll help fund the project too. Given the notable lineage of this former Rare employee made project and the cute scale of the characters I would find it very believable if they put out presales/orders for some of the stuff in the kickstarter and delivered it, they'd get some good cash rolling in quick too, including from those who won't pay into kickstarter campaigns.

I strongly disagree. There are lots of great games coming out not only from Kickstarters, but from major and indie studios on a very regular basis. The state of the gaming industry has never been stronger in my opinion and the availability of tools like Unity just keeps opening the door to more and more creativity without requiring a massive up front investment.

This is a site dedicated to collectors and gamers. A lot of us are collectors and being able to obtain exclusive versions of games is a very big deal, especially if they become the only physical version of those games released or the only DRM free versions of the games released. It's fine that you don't care about physical goods or media, but a lot of us do and this whole line about how Kickstarter is somehow begging or shady is just getting old. Yes, there have been some shady Kickstarters and some projects that didn't deliver exactly what was promised. Of course, even some of those projects did right by backers and offered refunds (i.e. Reading Rainbow) or at a minimum tried to provide some alternative to backers that would be more acceptable. Like I said, I'm very pleased with what Kickstarter backed games have been delivered so far and I believe things are only getting better as developers become more adept at working with backers and focus more on delivering great quality games with a well-managed budget and development process.

[Tanooki]

Yeah I know it's a gamer site, but I have a right to voice my opinion that games on the whole thanks to various forces have gone down hill and that the industry is heading into a crossroads because their model is a failure that keeps taking down studios and careers in its wake. It's why you do see stuff like Unity and more freelance projects that do get taken up, they are the dislodged game makers and upset parties that don't have things catered to them anymore, or at least how they want it, so they'll do it themselves, which is good.

And kickstarter is 100% panhandling and begging for cash to get whatever the project someone wants off the ground, that's a fact. If you don't mind begging that's fine, but some people might. I've found some kickstarter games to be nice too, but I wait for them to make retail not in the development phase. Kickstarter is not a sure thing by any means, on the whole going by their numbers as of April 38% of things were properly funded and the rest were not. What they conveniently do not cover is the failure rate of the minority that do end up funded. Given the low true rate of total follow through I have little faith in it.

[Bojay1997]

Yeah I know it's a gamer site, but I have a right to voice my opinion that games on the whole thanks to various forces have gone down hill and that the industry is heading into a crossroads because their model is a failure that keeps taking down studios and careers in its wake. It's why you do see stuff like Unity and more freelance projects that do get taken up, they are the dislodged game makers and upset parties that don't have things catered to them anymore, or at least how they want it, so they'll do it themselves, which is good.

And kickstarter is 100% panhandling and begging for cash to get whatever the project someone wants off the ground, that's a fact. If you don't mind begging that's fine, but some people might. I've found some kickstarter games to be nice too, but I wait for them to make retail not in the development phase. Kickstarter is not a sure thing by any means, on the whole going by their numbers as of April 38% of things were properly funded and the rest were not. What they conveniently do not cover is the failure rate of the minority that do end up funded. Given the low true rate of total follow through I have little faith in it.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. In my opinion, Kickstarter is no different than any other means of funding something, whether that's a company taking preorders or selling stock or seeking private equity investment or taking out a loan. In this case, in exchange for a contribution, backers are entitled to certain digital and physical items as well as some role in shaping how the project progresses. You may not like it, but a lot of people do and it's not any more or less valid than any other way of funding something.

Similarly, your statistics are worthless. The 38% refers to the percentage of projects out of the total started that have actually funded. It has nothing to do with the success or failure of those projects that were funded. Since you seem to keep throwing out unsubstantiated claims, please tell me exactly how many Kickstarter projects have failed to deliver? Like I said, none of the 80 plus video games I have backed have failed to deliver to date and I suspect you won't be able to come up with more than a handful of projects that really didn't deliver anything.

[Tanooki]

The 38% of them funded was direct from their own website which I googled when I posted that. Not all of that 38% were funded which you're leading into right there too. You're not liking the data I'm pulling from their own site just because 'none of the the 80 games I've backed have failed to deliver.' That doesn't mean on the whole kickstarter stuff is a success, if anything you clearly beat the odds. I'm talking about the entire site, not just gaming so I really don't feel a need to go cherry picking for failed games or those who changed gears after getting paid. I think you're just getting hot because you don't like people who have no faith in donating money into a kickstarter fund.

[Bojay1997]

The 38% of them funded was direct from their own website which I googled when I posted that. Not all of that 38% were funded which you're leading into right there too. You're not liking the data I'm pulling from their own site just because 'none of the the 80 games I've backed have failed to deliver.' That doesn't mean on the whole kickstarter stuff is a success, if anything you clearly beat the odds. I'm talking about the entire site, not just gaming so I really don't feel a need to go cherry picking for failed games or those who changed gears after getting paid. I think you're just getting hot because you don't like people who have no faith in donating money into a kickstarter fund.

You misunderstood their data. Of all the projects that have ever started a campaign on Kickstarter, 38% of them have received enough pledges of support to meet their goals and therefore they have been funded (i.e. the pledges were collected). The other 62% did not meet their goals and therefore nobody was charged anything. That's the beauty of Kickstarter, the marketplace and the backers determine what projects should succeed and which should not. Again, I challenge you to cite more than a tiny handful of projects in any category on Kickstarter that have either been fraudulent or failed to deliver. To date over 84,000 projects have successfully funded on Kickstarter. I am only aware of a tiny handful that haven't delivered. Those are great odds and strong evidence that Kickstarter is a great way to create art that otherwise would never be created.

The only thing that makes me irritated is small minded people who are afraid of innovation and evolution and hide behind made up statistics and risks to make themselves feel better about the fact that they are too scared to do anything positive.

[JSoup]

Not sure what you're referring to, but Double Fine actually went to Steam Early Access for additional funding by selling the first half of the game and pre-selling the second half, thus covering the deficiency. The second Kickstarter was for a completely different game that is wrapping up development.

I was referring to the Double Fine Adventure, but I forgot that they chose the other path on that one. Tim brought up the idea of setting up another Kickstarter on the private backer forums in a topic about the games budget. He apparently only thought of it because there was another project for something completely different going on that started it's second Kickstater for similar money needs. Then that Kickstater failed for all the predictable reasons, so Tim decided it was a bad idea. I had completely forgotten it was tossed into Early Access months later.

At any rate, I don't think a little caution is a bad thing when dealing with hypothetical products. In all likelihood, I'll be tossing whatever it was to secure a copy of the game at it, but I'm still going to wait for that invisible "a-ok" to be tossed up.

[Tupin]

Using Broken Age isn't the best thing to do when you want to measure Kickstarter success.

[Bojay1997]

Using Broken Age isn't the best thing to do when you want to measure Kickstarter success.

I don't know. The project had its share of problems and was very late, but ultimately, they delivered a fully formed game that most backers seem satisfied with.

[Tupin]

I don't know. The project had its share of problems and was very late, but ultimately, they delivered a fully formed game that most backers seem satisfied with.
Wasn't the new chapter of the game really underwhelming and reused a lot? Plus the project as a whole showed how incompetent Schafer is, especially with money.

Honestly, Kickstarter was the medium that showed how he and Inafune were bad at what they tried to be famous for, which especially hurt in the latter's case.

[The Adventurer]

Wasn't the new chapter of the game really underwhelming and reused a lot? Plus the project as a whole showed how incompetent Schafer is, especially with money.

Honestly, Kickstarter was the medium that showed how he and Inafune were bad at what they tried to be famous for, which especially hurt in the latter's case.

Both projects have shown that video game development might be a bit more complex then the average gamer might suspect. Usually delays and money problems are kept behind closed doors, these projects have aired their situations publicly. and for that alone, they have been a rousing success.

Also the games are pretty good/look solid. So that's nice.

[JSoup]

I don't know. The project had its share of problems and was very late, but ultimately, they delivered a fully formed game that most backers ,and pretty much only backers, seem satisfied with.

Had to edit that a bit.
The private backer forums had repeated refund request topics following the early backer release until the put their foot down and said to contact support personally about this. At least one guy was called out directly in the documentary, or so I've read (I've not watched all of them yet).
To say this project has been anything greater than an 'ok success' is rather pushing it.

Edit: While I am parroting what people have been on about for the last few weeks, my personal opinion of the game is "I expected a tad more, but what I got is pretty good and I feel fine about my purchase." Balance this against me being one of the $100 backers.

[YoshiM]

A new support character has been announced: Trowzer the sales-snake:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/05/introducing_the_very_first_support_character_in_yo oka-laylee_trowzer_the_serpent_salesman

It's innuendo that has a couple people on NintendoLife rattling their sabers on how it's inappropriate for kids but I'm of the mind set that if the kid doesn't get the innuendo, who cares? Things get a bit too PC- just don't SAY it's a trouser snake.

I think I might back this. I loved Banjo Kazooie (even with the collectathon gig) and Conker's and this is sounding like it'll be along the same lines.

[Tanooki]

Wow before I even read beyond the first line of your post I was laughing -- trouser snake, very subtle. :D I post on and off at NintendoLife, they need to grow up. Whining about that is pointless, no kid will get that. It's just like Sponge Bob or even old Looney Tune cartoons. Some of the stuff they say, show, or two is just plain awful and adult if you get the joke, but to the kids it's funny or ignored as a pun because it's made that way to appeal to all groups. PC crybabies need to jump in a river.

[Nebagram]

The whole 'Trowzer Snake' gag has got me hoping that we're gonna see some subtle Conker-esque humour in the game- the very thing (in addition to sublime gameplay) that made Rare so great in the first place. :)

[BetaWolf47]

Wow before I even read beyond the first line of your post I was laughing -- trouser snake, very subtle. :D I post on and off at NintendoLife, they need to grow up. Whining about that is pointless, no kid will get that. It's just like Sponge Bob or even old Looney Tune cartoons. Some of the stuff they say, show, or two is just plain awful and adult if you get the joke, but to the kids it's funny or ignored as a pun because it's made that way to appeal to all groups. PC crybabies need to jump in a river.

If you see anyone else whine about Trowzer, just show them this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpPnK2Bl0Pk) That's case in point as to kids not getting the adult humor. Look how much we missed as kids!

[JSoup]

So, yeah. Similar to Bloodstained, I feel like enough "we've thought this out" has been presented that I felt comfortable backing. Just enough for a console version.