A look back on Ninjatown with Developers Venan

Late last year, a tower defence game called Ninjatown hit the Nintendo DS. The game was based on characters created by Shawn Smith, who used to be editor of the (now) defunct Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. His toy line, ‘Shawnimal’, and one particular character was the inspiration for Ninjatown. The game blends a great art style with classic tower defence gameplay, though the cute (awesome) exterior probably let the game to fly under your radar, and thats where our interview comes in. For the best answers, we went to the producer of the game, Katy Smith. Our interview waits inside.

Why don’t you tell us a little bit about Venan?

Venan was founded in 2002 with the goal of developing games that push the limit of whatever platform they are on. After developing Super Putt for mobile phones, we were able to expand and develop many other titles. Some of our latest work has been on the award winning mobile version of Monopoly. Ninjatown was our first DS project.

In a nutshell, how would you describe Ninjatown?

Ninjatown is a tower defense game with a strategic twist. It pits the player, as Ol Master Ninja, against Mr. Demon. The Ninjas of Ninjatown make the best cookies ever, and Mr. Demon and his devil minions are trying to steal the recipe from the ninjas. You have to protect Ninjatown from the invading demons by building ninja huts to fight off the incoming horde.

How and when did the project start?

I think it was the fall of 2007 that Jeremy Pope approached us with the idea of doing a DS game based on the Ninjatown IP. We worked with Jeremy previously on a few mobile projects and he knew we were looking to branch out on the DS platform. We were really excited about it, not only because it was a big step for us, but because Ninjatown is so cool.

Was the Ninjatown conceived as a Tower Defense game from the beginning?

Yes, it was. When we were approached to do the game, it was pitched as a tower defense game with cute ninjas. We definitely liked the idea, and we wanted to see what else we could do with it. Instead of the ninjas being stationary towers and just punching things that walked by, we thought it would be neat if the ninjas were more like bullets than the towers. This means they can travel around and attack enemies as they walk by. This added more of a strategy game element to it. I think the game is more action-strategy now instead of purely tower defense.

As this was your first DS game, what were the challenges you faced moving from Mobile to Nintendo DS as a platform?

Getting to know the ins and outs of any new hardware is always the hardest part. Were used to doing that because in reality, all mobile devices are different and have their own quirks. How much memory we have for textures, sprites, etc. is something that we had to figure out early. Its funny because most developers look at the DS and think how can we make our game smaller? while were looking at the DS Card sizes and thinking wow, we have so much space to work with!

What was the most enjoyable part of the project?

The most fun was working with Shawn and the Ninjatown characters. It was really neat to be able to take these cool, interesting ninjas and make them into video game characters. Wed have meetings with Shawn where we would talk about what a ninja or devil was supposed to be like, and then wed go and get it in game. Its so satisfying to see something that you create on paper come to life in game and have it work.

From the game credits we can tell that Shawn was very involved in the development process, how was it for Venan to work with Shawnimals?

Shawn was great to work with. He already had this incredibly detailed world that we could look at for inspiration. He gave us a lot of freedom with his characters, which I imagine has to be scary. Wed meet with him regularly to go over what we were doing and hed give us feedback. I can only think of a few times he didnt like a direction we were taking, and we had no problem switching things up so it would be more in line with what he was thinking.

The game had a very good reception around the internet, were you expecting that positive buzz?

Its hard sometimes to judge how good something is when you work on it for a long time. I think you can get too close to it. You see the game when it is totally broken and think this is never going to work! I remember at one point thinking you know, this is kinda fun! which says a lot when youre playing a game for 12 hours a day. After that, there was sort of a cautiously optimistic vibe in the office. We were really hoping the gamers would get the game, and Im glad they did.

The ninjas of Ninjatown bake the finest cookies, what kind of cookies does the team like?

Im a traditional chocolate chip girl myself. Although Ive been known to indulge in sugar cookies if the frosting is right, or if theyre in a really cool shape : )

What game on a Nintendo platform are you currently addicted to?

Im still playing Professor Layton because I am a logic puzzle junkie. Ive also been playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney on the DS. On the Wii, Im working through Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People between playing the turnip market in Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Which ninja would represent Venan and why?

Id have to say the Wee Ninja. We arent the flashiest of game developers, but were hard working and we get the job done. We also wear a lot of black.

What other shawnimals would you like to see in a DS or Wii game?

Id love to see more of the mysterious Moustachio. Where did he come from? Where is he going? How can a moustache grow a moustache? These are all very important questions that need to be answered.

What’s next for the team?

We have several unannounced titles in the pipeline on various platforms. I wish I could say more at the moment but I cant. I can tell you that once they are released, theyll be fun.

Thanks to all involved for their time!