Gabriel Vasco, Game Producer for Mexican Ninja. My dad says I’ve been “working” since I was 4 years old, when I started playing video games. I’m the producer of Mexican Ninja—and the best one, if you ask anyone.
We started conversations about making a new IP that matched a lot of our team’s tastes. We’re old-school gamers, and when we met with Carlos and he started talking about his Mexican Ninja concept, it just clicked. We knew we wanted to make something unapologetic, funny, fast, and satisfying. But we also knew this is 2025—so Mexican Ninja is an old-school beat ’em up made for new generations. i.e. a roguelite.
Hey, I'm Dario, Creative Director of Mexican Ninja. Fun fact about me, I'm Mexican. I'll tackle this question and let my silly producer invade this interview with terrible jokes. Mexican Ninja is a frantic beat 'em up rogue-like that plays en chinga (meaning super fast in Mexican). It is set in Nuevo Tokyo, a mixture of Japan and Mexico, where the Narcos and the Yakuza joined forces to create the Narkuza Clan! WHAT?! Legend has it that Juan (one) badass motherf*cker will free the people of Nuevo Tokyo from their oppression: THE MEXICAN NINJA. This means you'll have to become an expert in the ancestral martial art, The Way of The Donkey, and learn its forbidden moves: master Mexican jutsus, throw shurikens, sandals, and rampage with your katana-machete. We wanted to create chaotic fun from "maquinitas" (arcade machines in Mexico), the kind with enough button mashing to fuck up your controller, combos, epic bosses, and dialogue you'll skip to jump right into los vergazos (meaning "the fight" in Mexican).
We kicked off development in March 2024. At first, we were missing one big piece: the game is about a Mexican ninja, but our studio is in Colombia, and at the time the team was mostly Colombian. We had a producer leading some hypercasual projects, so we quietly asked him if he was really Mexican. When he confirmed and showed us a valid ID, we knew we’d found the missing link—and that’s when development truly started.
Madbricks has been working with Unity since 2014, so it was a no-brainer to use the engine we already knew inside and out. We’ve been building the game step by step, constantly validating whether it’s fun. We began with a prototype focused on beat ’em up mechanics and art style. From there, we moved through the phases: First Playable, Vertical Slice, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta… right now we’re somewhere around Omicron (I became a dad right before kick-off, so the great dad jokes came with the job).
We have an open-door mentality in the studio, where we value input from everyone. We believe great ideas can come from anyone who’s passionate about the game. That means we get a constant influx of: “YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE COOL??”
So the real challenge has been stopping feature creep. Deciding what makes it into the game is tough—and honestly heartbreaking—because there are a LOT of really cool ideas we’re saving for Japanese Mariachi (yes, more dad jokes).
That’s a hard question because the honest answer is: lots. But whenever I read advice like this, I think every game is such a unique journey that it’s not always easy to apply someone else’s lessons to your own project.
That said, I’m always open to answering questions if people hit me up on Twitter (@gabrielEVasco).
If I had to give one piece of advice right now, it would be: don’t be afraid to try things you think might work for your game. Even if they don’t work, you’ll learn valuable lessons about what your game truly needs.
Also—have a producer. Even if it’s a one-person project, put on a producer hat. I have a Sombrero...
¡AGÁRRANSE LOS HUEVOS! See you in Nuevo Tokyo. And don’t forget to Wishlist Cabrones!
Madbricks
