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ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove dev team talks DLC interest, bringing the duo back, 4-player local multiplayer, potential sequels, and more
After quite a long development period, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is finally out! To celebrate the momentous occasion, the ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove dev team took to Reddit to answer some questions from fans. Check out a summary of the questions below.
On a sequel in the style of ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron
I would love to! Lots of fans have asked for this. It just depends on how successful this one is. IT would be a total blast to do another side-scroller type like that. I would love to go back to Funkotron, and maybe lots of other planets. I actually have a whole story already planned for that one.
Adding 4-player to consoles
We hope to be able to add 4 player local play to all consoles if this game sells enough to give us more dev time. For now you can play 4 player via network so hopefully that will hold you over for awhile. We have more optimizing to do to get it to run on consoles with 4 player local play.
DLC plans
Planning... well hoping is more accurate. It depends on if this game makes enough for us to keep going. We have lots of ideas about what we want to do. Here's hoping we get the chance.
On the potential for another 3D entry in the series
I doubt it, but never say never right? There are lots of new cool non-photo-real rendering techniques these days that make 3D look like not-3D. I could see doing something like that perhaps. Maybe a VR TJ&E?
Macaulay Culkin getting involved
It was actually through AMA. Macaulay posted that photo of himself playing on the night of the Grammys and I reached out to him after that. Then he and his brother Keiran and good friend Stew came up to our office for a 3-day marathon toejam play session. It was a blast. All 3 of those guys are pretty crazy and pretty into TJ&E.
It was beyond exciting to meet him. Of course, he is an icon both from Home Alone and now from Bunny Ears, but more than that he is just a really fun crazy guy. He says whatever pops into his mind and his mind is a fascinating place. I love that guy and hope I get to hang with him some more. When he is with his brother and friend Stew they are like a total comedy act. Far as what he contributed to the game - we got lots of feedback about presents and Earthlings and game balance from him and his crew. Lots of Multi-player feedback especially. They actually knew game one better than I did sometimes. We also added a special powerhat based on Macaulay.
The DS pitch that never got off the ground
We never got as far as "working on it". It was just a pitch to try and get funding, Never got off the ground. It was before the 3DS though. Pretty sure it was just for the DS. We had some fun ideas about how to use the 2 screens.
On why TJ&E came back
It seemed like the right time. I have been wanting to see them come back for decades... and KickStarter seemed like it would finally make that possible. Other games? LIke Panic or Mission to Earth? Maybe Panic - we'll see. Depends on how well this one does I think. We just launched this rocket - gotta see if it gets into orbit or not.