Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Developer Diaries

Hello, Banjo fans.

I’ve continued to play the game over the last couple of weeks, and the improvements between builds are getting more and more dramatic. For example (and this could turn into an awfully long list), the game’s opening has now been fully populated and animated—you’ll see various contraptions flying and driving around Spiral Mountain dynamically—they don’t follow a set path, so no two presentations of the opening scene will be 100% alike.

Players yet to be indoctrinated into the Banjo lore (outrageous, I know, but apparently they do exist) will also be in for a special treat, as we’ve included a rather snazzy intro to the game that should bring them up to speed. I shan’t ruin it by saying more, but we hope to raise a few smiles—just remember that nothing is sacred and we enjoy poking fun at ourselves.

As you might expect, the game is peppered with references to our other games, like Viva Piñata and Grabbed by the Ghoulies, right from the get-go. LOG makes a great addition to the cast in this regard, as he claims to have created every videogame ever made—just don’t expect him to be so precious as to not send up his previous works. In fact, I’ve half a mind to run a competition on release with a prize for whoever manages to spot every single in-joke. I’ll have more details when we launch the Banjo-Kazooie Community Site forum, which is coming soon.

I think my favourite new addition to the game is Grunty’s reluctant sidekick, Piddles the Cat, who has, without question, the most adorable sound effects I’ve ever heard in a game. I’m pretty sure she’ll be a hit with the community once you get to meet her in game, too.

The other dramatic new thing I noticed was the introduction of night scenes within Nutty Acres and Showdown Town. In fact, these may have been in for a long time and I’ve only now played long enough to reach them. Check out this screen to see what I mean, but it really doesn’t do justice to the atmosphere. I don’t want to toot our own horn, but some of the game’s lighting effects are really quite special indeed. For example, all points of interest within Showdown Town and the various game worlds are made more visible by large hologram projections. It’s a nifty idea so you don’t have to rely on your mini-map to find stuff. You can kind of see what I mean in this screen with Mumbo. However, you’ll need to see them animated to really appreciate the translucent effect. Okay, so I’ll stop gushing about all of the pretty lights now.

One of the interesting and more tricky things I’ve found about the gameplay is how the physics affect everything you do, something I mentioned last time. This is very different from previous Banjo games where objects moved in fairly predictable ways. In one challenge, Banjo has to plug several burst pipes with stones or anything else he can find, while Kazooie uses her magic wrench to levitate them and plunk them down. The wrench is magic, so if it’s used properly it’ll do much of the hard bit for you, but if you misjudge releasing the stone, tree, clockwork cow or other cork-like object, then it’ll go flying—especially if you’re being chased by Grunty’s Gruntbots at the time. I still managed to beat the challenge first time ‘round, but it took me a further four attempts to get it done perfectly and collect LOG’s special prize.

Lastly, I’d like to fulfil a fan request. People on the Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts board on the Xbox.com forum wanted to see the Godzilla contraption that’s mentioned in this article on Kotaku. Well, here it is. But giant flying lizards are so last week. Check out this gargantuan robot man … actually two contraptions welded together. It dwarfs Banjo, who is standing just underneath.

Anyway, that’s your lot this time ‘round. I know—I didn’t touch on the editor, music, or script like I said I would last time. But, hey! That’s because the people responsible for the music, script, and um … editing are too busy to share their thoughts! Okay, okay—it’s actually because I was having too much fun playing the game. You can count on me to pick these up next time.

Adios!