Transforming TMNT: Splintered Fate into a Unique Gaming Experience

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon has been entertaining audiences for over four decades, with each generation experiencing the characters through various forms of media, including comics, animated series, live-action films, and video games. The latest iteration, TMNT: Splintered Fate, is the result of a collaboration between Super Evil Megacorp and Paramount Game Studios, launched on iOS last year. According to Tom Westall, Super Evil's director of product management, working with Paramount on such a significant IP has been a creatively rewarding experience. "Paramount has been very supportive, and their recent investments in the IP have been invaluable," Westall notes. Initially developed for Apple Arcade, the studio always envisioned Splintered Fate as more than just a port. The game's transition to other platforms began in February this year, with releases on Switch in July and PC earlier this month. Westall emphasizes that the timeframe for porting the game may seem short, but the studio felt no external pressure from Paramount, with any pressure being internal, particularly since they self-published the game for these ports. "We hold ourselves to high standards, and as a smaller studio, we must capitalize on every opportunity that makes sense for us," Westall explains. Super Evil's lead game designer, Daniel Stansens, is proud of the team's accomplishment in producing a successful cross-platform title. "It's great to see our game, which we've put a lot of care and time into, being released on the PC market. Players can tell we've adjusted the game's controls, and it's nice to see the game feeling at home on all platforms, even from day one," Stansens says. Westall adds that the studio couldn't resist catering to each platform, with each iteration having unique features. "We had to enhance the game each time, and on Switch, we focused on bringing couch co-op, while on PC, we prioritized online matchmaking and ensured the game felt great with a mouse and keyboard," Westall explains. The potential pressure of working on a well-known franchise was outweighed by the joy of creating a TMNT game, according to Stansens. "If you're having fun making what you love in the TMNT universe, it resonates with people. There's obviously pressure to get things right, but loving and paying attention to the franchise helps ease that pressure," Stansens notes. The team worked with Tom Waltz, a senior editor and writer for IDW Publishing, who provided valuable insights and a "stamp of approval" on their vision for the franchise. Waltz's involvement also helped the team gauge what fans would want to see in Splintered Fate. Westall emphasizes that Waltz reminded them that, at its core, TMNT is about "mutated turtles that wield ninja weapons" and is a "really wholesome" story about family and working together. With Waltz on board, both Stansens and Westall agree that the IDW world of TMNT was a significant influence on Splintered Fate, but they wanted to create their own branch of that universe. "We take tones from that universe and go slightly above the child-orientated stories that some of the TMNT franchises go for," Stansens explains. The team dropped hints and Easter eggs from their childhood into the game, but they wanted to distinguish themselves visually and gameplay-wise from other TMNT games. Splintered Fate is a roguelike instead of a beat-em-up, with the team feeling that the genre fit well with the story they wanted to tell, especially the multiplayer aspect. "Making co-op action games is in our DNA at Super Evil, and as we explored the co-op genre, roguelikes really stood out. We felt that there hadn't been any great co-op roguelike experiences, and that was an area we could explore and make our own mark," Westall says. Adding co-op to Splintered Fate came with challenges, particularly since it was added towards the end of development. "It's always a challenge to ensure the overall game holds up the same way, considering online and control scheme considerations, as well as the gameplay itself, which changes as you play together," Stansens notes. Following the success of Splintered Fate, Stansens and Westall agree that co-op and crossplay are something that Super Evil wants to continue implementing in their games. "I'm sure we will do it better every time, but I'm really proud of what we produced in this situation," Westall concludes.