Tag Archives: gregg mayles

According to this MTV piece, Rare actually set out to make a straight Banjo remake, even including the same worlds as the original, but binned the idea because it “wasn’t the way” the team wanted to go.

“We started off thinking, ‘Okay, let’s do almost a clever remake of the original, where we have the original worlds,’” said studio boss Gregg Mayles.

“We actually started on Mumbo’s Mountain, but all the tasks that you played in Mumbo’s Mountain weren’t quite as you expected it and different things would happen. We thought that’s not the way we wanted to go. Then we tried something else.”

Nuts & Bolts was eventually born of an idea to give the player increased freedom to accomplish tasks.

“In traditional games of this genre, there’s usually a loaded task that’s created by the designer and then it’s up to the players to work out what the solution is to that task, and there’s usually only one solution. Then we thought ‘What we can we do with that? Kind of give the player more choice, kind of turn that around.’

“We actually got these quite simple tasks, but the solutions to them — there isn’t one correct way of doing it. And it came from that. I felt like it’s a different way of looking at it. Rather than [giving] Banjo and Kazooie these abilities that you learn and that are bolted on this character, can we give players abilities in a different way?”

More through the link.

Speaking to MTV, Rare boss Gregg Mayles has shrugged off Peter Moore’s opinion that the studio lacks relevance in the modern industry, saying that he just sticks to his plan.

“I don’t take much notice about what people say about our games I work on, whether positive or negative,” he said. “I think you just have to get it clear in your mind what you want to do and try and let that vision come to life.

“Obviously, when it’s finished, you can look back and say ‘yeah, that was really successful’ or ‘no, that wasn’t quite so successful,’ but at least I can sit back and say, ‘Yeah, that’s the game I wanted it to be.’”

Mayles said the question of how thge studio fits into today’s games trade has been pushed more than usual recently.

“We’ve been asked that question quite a lot — and even more recently,” he added. “I guess our position…that’s a difficult one. We’ve always been seen as a bit, I don’t know, willing to take a chance on doing something different and trying to come up with new experience.

“Or, if it’s a game in an established genre, what we can do to add to that genre, rather than just tag it on and we can do a game in that genre.”

More through the link.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts dev lead Gregg Mayles reckons platform adventuring of old is over – and the new Rare game is the true evolution.

“It’s true that anyone wanting a carbon copy of the previous two games will be disappointed, so I’m not even going to make out that it is,” he said in a live chat with Rare fansites.

“What I believe it to be is an evolution of the platform adventure genre. The genre is too stale: it needed shaking up, so we’re trying something different, but within the framework of a ‘traditional’ Banjo game.

“It has a familiar structure, things to collect, characters to talk to and all the humour you would expect. I said on one forum that all we have done is to make the travelling fun. So that pretty much sums it up, we have taken the boring bit (travelling) and made it fun.”

Mayles went on to give an abolute ton of information on the upcoming game, which was announced earlier this week at the Microsoft Gamer’s Day in California. Fill your lunchtime with Rare bear.