Dear Reader:
Yooka-Laylee devs discuss the 7 biggest game design changes since the N64 era
“N64 characters could be concepted, modeled and animated in a week (if you worked as hard as me, anyway.) We were working with around 500 polygons, as opposed to the 10,000 we use now. Sure, tools have improved, but even with 1997 tools you can see how 500 polygons is going to be much quicker to produce than 10,000. Think a month for the same process today and you won’t be far off.”
It’s of greater importance now to make sure a character is going down the right path from inception. Being a relatively small team, the last thing we need is to have to re-do work. ‘Going down the right path’ might involve several people if necessary – questions need to be asked such as ‘Does it fit the style of the game? Does it fulfill all design requirements?’ etc. Sometimes the look of a character will spark new ideas around design, so it works both ways.” - Steve Mayles, character art director on Yooka-Laylee