Developer Playtonic Games was already filled with former Rare employees, but another two have been added to the list. The indie studio has announced its new hires ahead of the release of "Yooka-Laylee" -- game industry veterans Gary Richards, who will join the design team, and Andy Wilson, who is set to be a producer.

Richards' previous work includes "Donkey Kong Land 3" before ending up as Rare's handheld design director. He originally joined Rare as a game tester and went on to become the lead designer on all of the studio's portable titles. That means if you should thank anybody for games like "Banjo Pilot" and "It's Mr. Pants," it's him. "Having spent over two decades working with most of the guys at Rare, I already know what a talented and awesome team I have joined... I can sense great things ahead," remarked Richards.

Wilson, on the other hand, worked on "Yooka-Laylee's" spiritual successor "Banjo Kazooie" before taking a design role on "Donkey Kong 3." Additionally, he worked on several of Rare's best games like "Conker's Bad Fur Day," "Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts" and "Banjo Tooie." "... Playtonic came knocking and that itch to get back into game development became too hard to resist. It's great to be back with a small team in control of their own destiny," Wilson said via Playtonic's blog post.

In other news, Playtonic has also announced that the Official PlayStation Magazine UK will be giving out a free "Yooka-Laylee" music sample CD later this month. The CD includes several tracks from the final game, which will be available from January 17 onwards. Worldwide deliveries are available via the My Favourite Magazines website.

"Yooka-Laylee," Playtonic Games' debut platformer, is set to release March 2017 for PlayStation 4. Game details and photo stills are available in the magazine issue.