The public scrutiny that comes part and parcel with a successful crowdfunding campaign has claimed many a victim in the past; just look at the troubles that befell Comcept's Mighty No. 9 after it raised a cool $3.8 million on Kickstarter. Playtonic, the studio founded by ex-Rare employees, will soon face similar scrutiny. In a month's time, 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee will be released to the public after smashing a £175,000 Kickstater goal to raise just shy of £2.1 million.

With a wide range of stretch goals and constant feedback from the public, Playtonic isn't so much making the game it wanted to make, but rather the game that backers have demanded. Yooka-Laylee is a 3D platformer that celebrates and re-establishes the kind of visually stylised, exploration-focused platformer popularised in the late '90s and early '00s by the the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, both games that Playtonic's founders worked on.

"I think players expect us to be the best of indie as well as the best of triple-A," says Playtonic studio director Gavin Price. "They expect a game created with the spirit of independence along with really high production values... Certain assets have been redone, and features that we'd been going back and forth on have had to go in no what matter what once we'd raised so much money. We had set a bunch of stretch goals that we thought, at best, might be hit at the very end of the campaign, but they were all reached within a few days."

This unforeseen popularity means that everything that might have made the final cut of Yooka-Laylee now has to be included, lest Playtonic succumb to the same bellicose fan reaction that led to Mighty No. 9's myriad problems. For a small indie studio, even one with veterans at helm, that's a lot of pressure.

Of course, the volume of money raised from over 72,000 backers also validated the idea that a long-forgotten genre was still in demand. Cartoon-like visuals, a focus on exploration over combat, and a lack of signposting as to where the next challenge might reside are all things that Yooka-Laylee prioritises, despite modern platformers tendency to shun them.

"I think a lot of realistic visuals got done simply for the sake of it, simply because the hardware got to a point where it could handle it," laments Price. "Personally, we've always tried to put style over technical brilliance in games. I think stylised art is more fun and creative. From a business perspective, it's a great shame it's seen as a risky prospect to do bright, colourful games... Essentially, we make games for ourselves in that they're fun to play and they're mechanically very strong. However, they're also completely fine to give to anyone of any age."



















Having now played Yooka-Laylee's opening hours, I'm confident Playtonic has hit its goal. The broad, vibrant colour palette and fantastical character designs will be a hit with younger players, as well as an older crowd eager to relive gaming's past glories. Indeed, there are many nods to the older audience. Early on, you can choose to explore a boat called "Bat Ship Crazy." Then there’s a snake. His name is Trowzer. I suspect further genitalia-based euphemisms are all but guaranteed.

"Trowzer actually started as a joke in the office and something we were using as a concept name for him," explains Price. "But the name stayed that way for long enough that it was mentioned in public. By that point we can't U-turn and change the name because people would think we're too scared to use it. Certainly, the writing is very much aimed at being witty and funny without ever crossing a line into dubious territory. It has a Pixar or a Simpsons-like quality whereby adults can enjoy it on one level and kids on another level."

The core goal of players in Yooka-Laylee is to acquire pages torn from a book, each of which allows you to visit new worlds and attempt new challenges. Some of these pages are positioned obviously in the world and are easy to pick up. Others are more hidden and difficult, and others still are a mixture of both designs: easy to find, but difficult to obtain.

Many of the pages reward exploration and that childlike sense of wanting to see what's around the next corner simply for the sake of it. They are a "thank you" for showing interest in the world, a pat on the back for being curious. Jumping, gliding, slamming, spinning, and a range of other abilities unlocked throughout the game all help players reach new areas and discover new pages. One piece of game design that developers live by is to first teach players an ability, and then have them practise it and reward them for using it. This design is alive and well in Yooka-Laylee.

When asked how he and his team are setting about making a 3D platformer feel modern as opposed to merely nostalgic, Price said, "We looked across what had been going on in games in general and their much greater focus on not having linear paths that have to be followed at all times. Therefore, we allowed for expandable worlds so that you can get comfortable with a world and then decide to expand upon it. Or you could choose not to expand and just move on to the next world, if you like.

"The worlds being open and us not putting any markers to guide players is our way of letting people do what they like when they're playing," continues Price. "It's our job to make sure there's something interesting for them no matter where they go."

Total freedom in games is always something of an illusion. No matter how vast the world or how deep the physics system goes, there's always something that a game won't allow to do you, whether what you're attempting has been foreseen by the developers or not. Oftentimes, if a developer wants to create a sense of freedom, they have to make something so expansive that players struggle to think beyond what they see.

Either that, or they fill the game with so much to do that a player's attention isn't given a chance to wander. Yooka-Laylee tries to blend both the illusion of freedom and volume of content into a single package. If only to please the thousands of backers and eager players like myself, I hope the final product pulls it off.

Yooka-Laylee should be released on Windows, MacOS, Linux, PS4, and Xbox One on April 2017. Nintendo Switch is apparently coming later.