Two Tribes will employ an open development model, where interested players can closely follow the progress of the development. Direct access to the developers through Twitter, regular blog updates on all facets of game development and access to playable early versions from day one are planned.

As of today, gamers can sign up for the free Steam development version of Toki Tori 2! Initially only 200 copies will be distributed, so if you are interested, quickly write to tokitori2@twotribes.com and get involved in the development process!

Two Tribes issued the following statement:

People who’ve followed us in recent years know we’re pretty big fans of Nintendo. We’ve made games for Game Boy, DS and Wii that were released both in shops and on digital services. The first Toki Tori was a launch game for the original WiiWare download service in 2008 and today we’ve decided that we are going to do everything in our power to make sure Toki Tori 2 graces Nintendo’s upcoming HD console as well!

You may wonder why we decided this just now. Nintendo recently released information on their online strategy, which sounds much more robust than before. The 3DS eShop has been a big step in the right direction compared to the Wii and DSi online shops, and it would be strange if they did not at least match it’s functionality on Wii U. Since Toki Tori 2 is designed to be a downloadable title, these things are vital to making the correct choice of which platforms to develop for.

So how are we going to tackle this? Up until now we could just focus on the initial release for Steam, where we decided to go for traditional directional controls on keyboard or joypad. The translation of those controls to the Wii U controller should be smooth sailing as it features two analogue sticks and we only need two buttons for the whistle and stomp moves. But the Wii U controller offers many more options of course.

We would definitely include playing on the Wii U controller directly without the need for a TV. Toki Tori 2 has been designed with minimal use for a graphical user interface, so the game should be perfectly playable on the controller’s smaller widescreen display. As for the motion controls, we don’t think Toki Tori needs those and adding them to the game as it is currently designed does not make much sense.

What could be very interesting, and what’s been requested countless times from the fans, is if we could incorporate a level editor utilizing the Wii U controller. This could mean that the game runs on the TV while you make adjustments to the level on the touchscreen in real time. We think that would work really well!

But this is pure speculation at this point, since there is nothing known about the Wii U’s ability to share and store levels at this point. In any case, we are excited and will do everything in our power to make sure you get to play Toki Tori 2 on Wii U!