A group of former Rare developers have founded a new studio called Playtonic Games and are currently in the early stages of development for the debut title.

“Playtonic’s the name, and fun games, unique characters and absolutely-frickin-amazing worlds to explore are our game,” the studio wrote on its website, in part. “Currently we’re a sextet of artists, programmers and designers – sort of like The Pussycat Dolls with computer science degress – with one thing in common; we were all once core member of famous UK studio Rare, where we helmed franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country and Viva Piñata.”

“We’ve got the bloke who programmed Donkey Kong Country, the character designer behind Banjo and Kazooie, and the artist who made your console fit to burst with lavish environments across a decade’s worth of adventure games.”

The studio is planning to make its debut title, Project Ukelele, into a “worthy spiritual successor to those fondly remembered platforming adventures we built in the past.”

The studio will detail the project as well as its future plans over the coming months and it plans to get the community involved with the direction of the game. “You’ll ultimately shape the destination of our project and we plan to continue exchanging sweet glances across cyberspace at you until we get there.”

(via CVG)