In both the sequel and the original, the development team volunteered to record the sounds used for the piñatas. The sequel was built atop the original and the developers re-used many of the tools from the original game's development. Mayles left the team to work on Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Justin Cook became the team's lead designer. The team incorporated player feedback and worked towards a 'more definitive version' of the original. Rare's Gregg Mayles said that the game sold well and steadily on par with their expectations and Xbox's Phil Spencer added that the game was considered a success inside the company. The developers had cut partial ideas from the release in order to meet their deadlines. Īs Rare released the original Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 in 2006, its development team saw it as incomplete. In 2006, a Microsoft Games executive called the game its most important franchise, but its reception was tepid. Microsoft pressured the Viva Piñata development team to keep the game's themes kid-friendly, as the parent company planned for the game and resulting franchise to increase the market appeal of their Xbox 360. Microsoft also transitioned its development teams to use the company's XNA package to streamline and reduce duplication in engineering efforts. The Viva Piñata team included about 50 people at its zenith. Though compared to the 12-person teams behind earlier Rare games, the company's Xbox 360 development teams consisted of 50 to 60 people. The Viva Piñata team was a model for productivity and regular output within Rare and Xbox Game Studios. The connection between piñatas and candy-filled insides led to new gameplay directions. The idea was exciting to Rare, as piñatas were not commonplace in England. Rare wanted its animals to have a unified style, which was how the game's concept artist arrived at the piñata concept. The game's development transferred to the original Xbox and, ultimately, to the Xbox 360 for its graphics capabilities. A small (three-person ) team began work on a simple prototype while Rare was still affiliated with Nintendo, prior to its Microsoft acquisition.

Rare co-founder Tim Stamper conceptualized a gardening game for the handheld Pocket PC platform around 2002. The game received two console sequels: Viva Piñata: Party Animals (2007) and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008), as well as a handheld release, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (2008), for the Nintendo DS.ĭevelopment Rare decided on the game's animal and gardening motif before adding the piñata (pictured) theme. It launched alongside an animated series produced by 4Kids.

The series' first game, Viva Piñata (2006), was conceived as a mobile gardening game before Rare was acquired by Microsoft. Viva Piñata is a video game franchise created and produced by Xbox Game Studios and Rare.

Animated adult pinata images