The team of Rare Ltd. veterans at Playtonic Games launched their Kickstarter campaign for a spiritual successor to the Nintendo 64 classic Banjo-Kazooie today. They have already crushed their original goal and are now well past half a million British pounds.
Check out some gameplay footage from this IGN exclusive reveal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXBjstzwNE
I was a bit worried when yesterday's IGN article made no mention of Linux. However, when the campaign launched today, Linux was listed as a day one platform at the base funding goal of £175,000 (~$265,000), along with Windows and Mac. The goal was met within 40 minutes, and at the pace it's currently going, it won't be long until they run out of stretch goals.
If you wonder why people are going crazy over this campaign, it's because the team behind it consists of the creator of Banjo and Kazooie, Steve Mayles, along with a handful of other former Rare Ltd. veterans. Rare was responsible for some of the most popular third party platformers on Nintendo consoles before Microsoft bought the company and had them making Kinect games.
The game will feature the titular dual-protagonists Yooka and Laylee. Yooka is a chameleon with a tongue that can be used as a grappling hook, and Laylee is the bat that can pick Yooka up for short bursts of flight.
There has been no mention of a DRM free version so far, but if you're OK with Steam, you'll get a digital version of the game by pledging £10 (~$15) or more to the Kickstarter campaign. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Check out some gameplay footage from this IGN exclusive reveal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXBjstzwNE
I was a bit worried when yesterday's IGN article made no mention of Linux. However, when the campaign launched today, Linux was listed as a day one platform at the base funding goal of £175,000 (~$265,000), along with Windows and Mac. The goal was met within 40 minutes, and at the pace it's currently going, it won't be long until they run out of stretch goals.
If you wonder why people are going crazy over this campaign, it's because the team behind it consists of the creator of Banjo and Kazooie, Steve Mayles, along with a handful of other former Rare Ltd. veterans. Rare was responsible for some of the most popular third party platformers on Nintendo consoles before Microsoft bought the company and had them making Kinect games.
The game will feature the titular dual-protagonists Yooka and Laylee. Yooka is a chameleon with a tongue that can be used as a grappling hook, and Laylee is the bat that can pick Yooka up for short bursts of flight.
There has been no mention of a DRM free version so far, but if you're OK with Steam, you'll get a digital version of the game by pledging £10 (~$15) or more to the Kickstarter campaign. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Very surprised to hear this! I hope to see this come to full fruition, as a old fan of those games. :)
Edit: Jaw hit the floor as I see a flood of backers by the second (thinking about it myself!). O.O
Edit: Jaw hit the floor as I see a flood of backers by the second (thinking about it myself!). O.O
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I'm anti early access/kickstarter so I won't "back" it, but I'm very much looking forward to it!
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codyaj1995 May 1, 2015
Nice! Cant wait for this!
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I've been waiting for this! I'm very selective when it comes to backing early-access/kickstarter games, but they can take my $15. The main characters are adorable<3 and the theme seems to be consistent so far. On top of that, many of Grant Kirkhope's tunes have been stuck in my head since I was a child.
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jayarnielsen May 1, 2015
Not but a few days ago I was pining for a Banjo Kazooie like platformer on Linux!
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Jesus; over a million dollars on there first day :O These guys seem like the real deal, here's hoping the Linux version gets good performance, considering the FAQ mentions they're using Unity. I was hoping it would be UE4 or something, but they seem pretty capable regardless.
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I've been waiting for a game just like this since I heard about the Steam Machines. There'd be no point in putting a steam box in my living room to relive the glory days of console gaming in the 90's if I didn't have a 3D platformer in my game catalog. I've already backed it and secured my $15 copy.
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openSUSE the game.
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In the FAQ it says: "If funded, Yooka-Laylee will be released for Windows, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U." But Linux is clearly included in the main text, so this seems to be just a simple oversight. One of you backers might want to get them to fix this anyway. Personally I won't back the project, but probably will buy it when it's released.
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And the progress they've showcased is 3 months of work.....so the final game, come end of 2016, will be epic. :)
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I am highly disappointed that in the video on the Kickstarter site includes ZERO ukulele music. I mean seriously, people!
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I am highly disappointed that in the video on the Kickstarter site includes ZERO ukulele music. I mean seriously, people!
They rectified that shortcoming of the campaign in the second update though:
View video on youtube.com
@tuubi: That is probably just an oversight, but I sent them a message about it anyway. With 30,000 backers, it might take them a while to process feedback though. They did tweet this a couple of hours ago:
https://twitter.com/PlaytonicGames/status/594487419560419329
£1 MILLION! #YookaLaylee will release day-one on Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, Mac, Linux and PC!
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Really nice to see this genre coming back. I know I'm not the only one getting sick of side scrollers.
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I've been waiting for a game just like this since I heard about the Steam Machines. There'd be no point in putting a steam box in my living room to relive the glory days of console gaming in the 90's if I didn't have a 3D platformer in my game catalog. I've already backed it and secured my $15 copy.
There's also the Kickstarter funded Lobodestroyo. I think they're aiming for a release this fall, but I missed out on the campaign, so I haven't been able to follow it very closely.
In addition to that, there's also Clive 'n' Wrench, that I've written about on GOL. It's a one-man effort though, and as a result of that, it looks very rough so far.
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In the FAQ it says: "If funded, Yooka-Laylee will be released for Windows, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U." But Linux is clearly included in the main text, so this seems to be just a simple oversight. One of you backers might want to get them to fix this anyway. Personally I won't back the project, but probably will buy it when it's released.
Messaged and fixed :D Also, closing in on 2 million bucks! I gotta learn how to make games, there's all kinds of stuff I'd like to revive :p
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