INTRODUCTION
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan was released on the Nintendo Switch and Steam on September 12, 2019. Our studio, CollectorVision Games, has been around since 2008 – but this was the first game we developed and released for modern platforms. Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is heavily influenced by the Castlevania and Mega Man series, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros. 2, and more.
To date, CollectorVision Games has published and developed more than 120 games for several different classic consoles – including the Atari 2600, NES, Master System, SNES and Commodore 64 – but nothing could have prepared us for the Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan launch.
You might know me as Gamester81 on YouTube. My actual name is John Lester, and I’m co-owner and head of marketing for of CollectorVision Games – an indie studio where everyone grew up playing ColecoVision. Hence the studio name!
My YouTube Channel Gamester81:
When we started working on Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan back in 2014, it was supposed to be an NES game. I was one of the project leads and helped with story, character development, game direction, and testing. We love Montezuma’s Revenge – so we wanted to create a Montezuma’s Revenge-type clone for the NES. We’re all fans of the Battle Kid games by Sivak Games as well; if you’re not familiar with these two games, they’re platformer homebrew games for the NES.
Early Sydney Hunter and the Mayan's Revenge Home Screen
Battle Kid for the NES Screenshot:
We had brought on Sivak Games to program the new game project – which we titled Sydney Hunter and the Mayan’s Revenge. The project evolved and expanded; we eventually decided to move it to modern platforms – switching from assembly to Unity. This meant changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, for example. We were already nearly a year into development at this point, so it was a major decision to make – one that would completely change the trajectory of the game moving forward. Once we were done with the move to modern platforms, the game’s title was changed to Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayans.
Some Early Screenshots:
In 2015, we got approved to release the game on the Nintendo Wii U and Xbox One. This was a huge milestone for us – and it fulfilled a long-standing dream of ours. Sivak Games would move on to focus on other projects – and we brought on Russ Kumro as lead programmer for this project. We had previously worked with Russ on several ColecoVision games, so we knew how capable he was. Russ also had experience working on mobile games built on Unity.
Once we decided to switch gears and focus only on modern platforms, we knew we had to create a unique and fun game that people would remember. Our primary focus would be to create a game that featured tight controls, a memorable story, and unique Easter eggs. We wanted Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayans to be a love letter – not a knockoff: a game to be enjoyed not only by retro gamers like ourselves, but also millennials, and even younger players!
Early Screenshot:
During development, we eventually changed the name to Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan. We also added new levels and characters – and everything eventually fell into place. The Wii U became obsolete, so we reached out to Nintendo and tried to secure a Switch devkit back in late 2017. It took nearly a year for Nintendo to get back to us with an approval (we thought we were out of luck, of course!) – but to our delight, we were selected. Finally, Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan would not only be released on Steam, but also on Nintendo’s latest console.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
1. Switching Platforms Mid-Development
Going from a legacy platform like the NES to Unity – where the game could be easily ported to modern platforms – was a huge decision for us. It was a MAJOR pain in the ass, too – to be honest. We had to redo every single screen and adjust the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. However, we ultimately knew that the game had some serious potential to be received well on modern platforms. We saw how titles like Shovel Knight were performing and saw evidence of the big 8-bit/16-bit platformer resurgence everywhere. Going to Unity was the right decision – and we’ve learned a lot in the process!
Game on the NES Playing in 4:3:
Game on Unity playing in 16:9:
2. Crafting a Memorable Narrative and World-building
We knew we had to come up with a unique story that people could easily remember and enjoy. Even though Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan started off as a Montezuma’s Revenge clone, we kept some aspects of that game in this one – which included collecting keys to unlock gates. We ended up doing a ton of research on the Maya culture and mythology. The gods you fight in this game are actual Maya gods! Many of the sprites and graphics you see in the game are Maya art that we pixelated and put in the game. The story takes place during the time of “Wayeb” which is part of the Maya calendar year – the five “unlucky days” of the year, according to Maya beliefs. We added plenty of humor to the game, too – such as referencing 80's and 90's pop cluture, and even poking fun of ourselves in the name in game, very early on. We were also torn between two different endings – and we couldn’t decide which one to use … so we decided to include BOTH! Depending on a particular item you may (or may not) get, the game will trigger either a happy or sad ending. We also added a lot of Easter eggs – some subtle … and some not so subtle!
Examples of our research, and how we added things to the game:
3. Implementing Tight, Responsive Controls
From the start, we knew that Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan would be “retro hard” (because we assumed people would die a lot!), so having reliable controls with pinpoint precision was essential. If players died as often as we expected, they wouldn’t be able to blame it on the controls. This may sound easy – but implementing low-latency, responsive controls is one of the hardest things you can do in this business. Furthermore, we had debated whether to include the “knock back” feature present in many of the classics – including Casltevania. Personally, I was never a big fan of that – so we decided against the knock back feature altogether. Had we done so, the game would be even harder than it is now. In the end, most reviewers agree that Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is tough but fair – which is what we were going for in the first place.
4. Catchy Music that Never Gets Old
We brought on Ben Allen to compose the 8-bit chiptune music for Sydney Hunter of the Curse of the Mayan. We had worked with Ben previously on other games we released for classic consoles, so we knew he was more than qualified. The music in Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan is catchy and memorable. It doesn’t get repetitive (which we certainly wanted to avoid!) – and it perfectly fits the feel of the game.
5. Leveraging an Experienced Team
We were (and still are!) very fortunate to have an awesome team that really worked well together. We all knew our roles and were very open to new ideas when they were originally presented. Throughout the five years of development, we fed off each other like we were a single organism – a rarity in the industry. We were on the same page with Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan from the get-go. As you’d expect, the game was self-funded by the whole team. We truly believe in it, and we’re incredibly proud of the finished product.
WHAT WENT WRONG
1. Spending Too Much Time in Development
Sydney Hunter and the Curse of the Mayan took a little over five years to develop. A lot of the delay was due to us not coming up with a solid story and level design first –
