Hey Playtonic! I wrote a review ages ago but only now have just submitted it. I hope its still valid!
So far I'm ADORING the Toy Box!! I'm so excited to play the full game and as a backer I feel happy that I was able to help with the development in some form!
Nevertheless, like many others agree, there's room for improvement. Here's what I think should be looked at in order of importance.
1. The jumping. I feel like this is a BIG PROBLEM. Yooka's jumping could be perfect with one little tweak. The first jump can be any height you want (within the limits) depending on how long you hold A for. However, if you double jump, that second jump height should stay constant no matter how high you jumped on your first jump. I can't emphasize how important I feel this is.
2. The swimming isn't fun to control at all, it feels VERY unresponsive. Sadly, Banjo 1's swimming controls I've felt weren't nice to control either (I haven't played Banjo Tooie, so I don't know whether that game fixed it). Even the beast Super Mario Galaxy didn't have the best swimming. The BEST swimming controls in a 3D platformer in my opinion are from RATCHET AND CLANK 2 and 3. It uses the same button layout and they just feel beautiful(especially with the hydro pack).
3. The camera. This will already probably be in the game since it did what I wanted with the box moving challenge. But still, I found myself disoriented when jumping between platforms. Maybe move the camera a fized orientation in certain sections?
3. As someone else on the forum already mentioned, combo moves. For instance, I found it odd that I couldn't ground pound when jumping from a roll. Another would be rolling and then pressing LT to skid to a halt to prep for a big jump. Another would be when I ground pound, if I kept pressing LT I would keep ground pounding. Implementing these would make the game feel much smoother to play and blend together Yooka's move-set.
4. The rolling could be improved by reducing the turning radius depending on the speed you're rolling. It feels pretty good but a little tweaking could help.
Here's just one extra request if its possible.
Squash and stretch animation.
I understand it's difficult, but squashing and stretching would benefit the game so much! When Yooka spins, wouldn't it be great to see his tail get a bigger to emphasise the spin? Or maybe when he jumps, Laylee and his body compresses? What's crazy is that is FEELS much nicer to play. Don't get me wrong though, the animations of Yooka and Laylee are beautiful, so full of character and so damn smooth! Whoever animates this game, buy them a Michelin Star meal.
There's a really good video on Jak And Daxters animation here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYP7rJni1vcOther than that. Playtonic. You deserve all the love for this phonomenal project. The demo is amazing so far and I CANNOT WAIT for the final release!
Love you all,
Tim!