Yooka-Laylee

Playtonic Games wrote:Dear backers, friends and people who misspelled ‘platonic’ in Google search,

Playtonic was founded because our team wanted to create the kind of games we used to, in the way that we used to; in a small, collaborative team in an environment that breeds creativity. We believed these philosophies appealed not only to us, but also to you, the fans – and through your incredible support of our Kickstarter you proved that we were at least half-right.

Today we’re heads down, full of caffeine (and cake), totally focussed on delivering a game that lives up to your expectations and ticks every one of our Kickstarter promises. A quick look over my shoulder and I can see animations, characters, sprawling levels and new gameplay features flying in to the latest build… the pent-up passion from the whole team for this game is unstoppable, and we can’t wait to show you more of Yooka-Laylee in the future.

In order for the Playtonic team to continue concentrating 100% on delivering the best game possible, we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with independent games label Team17, who will handle the long list of support tasks we need as an independent developer.

From the start we said we’d welcome a partner that could genuinely improve the creation of Yooka-Laylee, but only if that relationship maintained our core principles and independence. Team 17 impressed us from day one with both its passion for the game (in fact, a lot of their staff are backers!) and its vast experience of collaborating with indie devs.

To clarify, this isn’t a traditional publisher deal: Team 17 understands what we want to achieve as a studio and has created a unique partnership with us. Team 17 will improve Yooka-Laylee in a myriad of ways, not least in expanded localisation (more languages!), QA testing, certification and store management – Basically, all the stuff that game creators don’t want to worry about.

Playtonic remains completely independent and owns everything we do – thanks to you – and we’re really, really proud to be able to say that our game is 100% funded via Kickstarter.

The whole team are chuffed to bits to have Team 17’s support. It’s taken lots of non-game dev pressure off our ageing, clicking shoulders (not a joke sadly) while Team 17 uses its expertise in other areas, including the various business necessities that indie studios traditionally struggle with.  Because let’s be honest; nobody wants Kev Bayliss searching for bugs all day, or Grant Kirkhope attempting to translate a joke into Portuguese – you want them focussed on creating a great game.

With the resources and expertise of a great partner behind us, we’re now more confident than ever that we can deliver Yooka-Laylee to backers and new fans alike on time and in the best possible shape it can be. If you have any questions about the announcement feel free to contact us on Twitter, email or via the forums – and thanks again for your support.

Gavin Price & The entire (still growing) Playtonic Team