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Playtonic shares thoughts on Yooka-Laylee's release, reaction from public/critics

by rawmeatcowboy
08 May 2017
GN Version 5.0

A portion of a Game Informer interview with Playtonic's Andy Robinson...

Game Informer: Looking at the final product of Yooka-Laylee, how do you feel about what you set out to accomplish versus what you did accomplish?

Andy Robinson: The team is really proud of what we've accomplished in such a short amount of time with a tiny (but experienced) team, especially considering we had to build a company at the same time! Not long ago we sat in a tiny office the size of a gent's toilet, and now we have an incredible group of creators and our debut game on the shelves – made possible 100 percent thanks to our Kickstarter budget.

Yooka-Laylee is the type of game that we wanted to make and it's gratifying to see the positive response from Kickstarter backers. Thanks to them we're now in a really strong position to make even better games that appeal to them in the future (which of course means lots of colors and fart noises).

Game Informer: What has the feedback looked like from your end?

Andy Robinson: It seems to confirm that we delivered what we promised to our fans and backers. It's difficult to please everybody all the time of course, but the comments we've seen – good and bad, and there were a lot of really positive reviews – suggest that fans of golden age 3D platformers will enjoy Yooka-Laylee a lot. Of course, we take all constructive criticism on board, which is why we've already released a patch to further improve things like performance and polish, and we're continuing to do that behind the scenes.

Game Informer: Did you expect it to be as critically divisive as it was? Why do you think it ended up like that?

Andy Robinson: We did – but perhaps not quite as broad as it ended up! We set out to make a '90s- inspired platformer for fans who missed the experience those games offered; an open-world style of platforming where the adventure is just as important as the jumping about. We had a clear mandate for Yooka-Laylee via our Kickstarter and while that wasn't a blueprint that would necessarily appeal to everyone, it's pleasing to see so many people enjoying Yooka-Laylee as much as we did making it. It's been a big maiden success for us and we're excited for the future.

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