Elevating TMNT: Splintered Destiny Beyond a Simple Port

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been captivating audiences for over four decades.

Each generation has experienced various adaptations of the characters across different media, including comics, animated series, live-action films, and of course, video games.

The latest version comes from Sizable Hotfoot Megacorp, who collaborated with Paramount Game Studios to launch TMNT: Splintered Destiny on iOS last year.

Tom Westall, Sizable Hotfoot’s director of product management, shared with GamesIndustry.biz that working with Paramount on such a significant intellectual property has been creatively fulfilling.

“Paramount has been incredibly supportive as partners – they possess a deep understanding of TMNT and have been investing significantly in the IP recently,” says Westall. “They’ve shown enthusiasm and eagerness to engage with our projects.”

Initially designed for Apple Arcade, Splintered Destiny was envisioned by the studio to be more than just that, leading to a multi-platform release this year.

The conversion of Splintered Destiny to other platforms began in early February of this year. It was released on Switch in July and on PC earlier this month.

Although the timeframe for porting the game may seem brief, Westall states there was no external pressure from Paramount. He mentions that any pressure they experienced was internal, especially since they self-published the game for those ports.

“We hold ourselves to high standards. This is Sizable Hotfoot’s first title on Switch and our initial real venture on PC. We aimed to ensure we made a significant impression with the players, so the quality bar was always exceptionally high for us.

“There are always those pressures; as a smaller studio, we need to seize every opportunity that aligns with our goals.”

Daniel Stansens, the lead game designer at Sizable Hotfoot, expresses immense satisfaction with what the team accomplished in delivering a cross-platform title.

“It’s exciting to see a game that we’ve devoted considerable care and effort into making its way to the PC market. Players can sense that we’ve refined the game controls – it’s a pleasure to expand and showcase our capabilities on different platforms and ensure the game feels at home on all of them from day one.”

Westall adds that they “couldn’t resist” catering to each platform, ensuring every version of the game possesses unique features suited for its platform of operation.

“Super Evil can’t just step into a new platform,” he clarifies. “We needed to thoroughly enhance the game each time. For Switch, we invested a lot of effort into implementing couch co-op – it needed to support four controllers with players sitting around the TV playing together. For PC, online matchmaking was essential; we wanted to ensure the game felt robust with a mouse and keyboard and supported various windowed modes and graphics cards.

“It was never simply about porting the game to these platforms; we always aimed to guarantee it felt fantastic as well.”

Regarding the performance pressure that accompanies working on such a renowned franchise, Stansens articulates that the joy of creating a TMNT game outweighed any anxiety.

“When you’re enjoying the process of making something you love in the TMNT universe, it resonates with audiences. There certainly is pressure to get things right, but it helps to be passionate and familiar with the franchise, understand the turtles, and collaborate with many individuals who have shaped the franchise [to alleviate the pressure].”

One key individual involved was Tom Waltz, a senior editor and writer for IDW Publishing. Waltz was a principal writer of the ongoing TMNT series that debuted in 2011 and contributed to Splintered Destiny as a consultant.

“As a smaller studio, we need to seize every opportunity that makes sense for us.”

Tom Westall

Stansens lights up when mentioning Waltz, acknowledging that receiving his “stamp of approval” on their interpretation of the franchise and its characters served as a great support.

“Having solid partners along the journey makes all the difference; you don’t feel the pressure when you’re experiencing joy in the process. When you propose ideas, and they’re embraced rather than dismissed, it feels like you’re on the right track.”

Westall highlights that Waltz is deeply connected to the TMNT fanbase, which provided significantly more insights for Sizable Hotfoot as they could better understand what fans would want from Splintered Destiny as the team developed it.

Waltz was also available to remind them that, at its essence, TMNT is “all about mutated turtles wielding ninja weapons.”

“It’s genuinely heartwarming, with narratives centered on family and collaboration,” Westall remarks.