The place:
New York City.
The time:
Three years after the deaths of Shredder and Hamato Yoshi…
…the father, mentor, and friend also known as Master Splinter.
Strange Scaffold, as a group of developers, are known for making their own small contained worlds like I Am Your Beast or El Paso, Elsewhere, but when the opportunity arose for us to play in another playground we couldn’t turn it down! We got to make a game, with our own story, set inside the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” world. And if you read the above, you know we really got to make our story.
TMNT: Tactical Takedown began its life as a totally different game, well, kind of. I’ll let Xalavier Nelson Jr, our Studio Head tell you. “Teenage Demon Slayer Society, another Strange Scaffold project, was the origin of our journey adapting action game mechanics to a turn-based format.” This game served as a jumping off point, letting the team hit the ground running even faster when Tactical Takedown began development. “While that project is still in development, we’re incredibly glad that its technology got to result in TMNT: Tactical Takedown existing, and coming out sooner than later!”
“The game has a more focused scope and scale than most TMNT projects, we had really exciting conversations with Paramount about that giving us the freedom to pursue large, bold creative leaps.” Xalavier noted, “So, we took the biggest leap we could–with the Turtles on the cusp of adulthood, in a world where Splinter and Shredder are both dead. Paramount signed off without a single note and the rest is history.”
Bringing in a new leader for The Foot Clan had a natural choice, to us, in Karai but they are teaming them with Baxter Stockman? “Karai is a complex character. She’s ambitious, but forever in Shredder’s shadow. She’s honorable, but ruthless.”, Michael Futter, Licensing Producer on the game, “Teaming her up with Baxter Stockman may seem like a curious choice, and players will need to experience the game to understand why she’s thrown in with him. Not all is as it seems…”
An interesting challenge was translating the feeling of each Turtle to a tactical combat system. “Tom Vinita, our game’s lead designer, did an excellent job in identifying early on what the brothers would need in order to feel different from one another without overloading the player with too much information (or making the moves too difficult to understand).”, Amanda Farough, Executive Producer on the game noted, “He struck those chords relatively early on, allowing our level designer, Aubrey Rugroden, to build out the individual ‘biomes’ with each of the Turtles’ moves allowed to shine through.”
Another question for the team was how can you marry the more fast-paced feeling that the TMNT are known for with what is traditionally a slower genre? “The real tricky bit”, Amanda went on to explain, “was finding the right rhythm in balancing the game’s methodical tactical rhythms with its fast-paced beat-em-up elements. It took time to tune the kits and the biomes to find that balance, but it’s been worth it, especially in refining for Remix Mode and this console release.”
Remix Mode, which is available right away with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, allows you to ratchet up the difficulty and variety as soon as you finish a chapter. New enemies and new problems will require you to rethink your strategies while also customizing your Turtles loadout to create the perfect moveset for the challenge ahead of you.
We were incredibly fortunate to get to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that was still very much a Strange Scaffold game, as Xalavier noted the game featured “Eccentric, player-first decisions.” which is always a hallmark in a Scaffold game. “We didn’t put any polish or feature in the game unless it fit the scope of what our team could make–and would be directly visible to players. That involves putting a lot of ego aside, which is a hard thing to do!”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is out right now on Xbox Series X|S!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown
Strange Scaffold
$19.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is the first-ever turn-based TMNT video game. Inspired by the classic cartoon, you’ll experience a bold new approach to the world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Splinter and Shredder are dead, and as the Turtles approach adulthood, they’re not just growing up… they’re growing apart.
Battle the Foot Clan as a powerful new leader takes control in action-packed campaigns that showcase each Turtle individually. Carve through enemies in 20 constantly-mutating levels that grow, shrink, and add new threats with each turn, inspired by classic TMNT games! Rack up points for high scores while experiencing a powerful original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story from acclaimed indie studio Strange Scaffold. This is the next step for Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael–and you can experience it with flying, slashing figurines in graphic novel-inspired splendor.