'Where winners go': New game makes Winnipeg a safe haven from the wasteland

The last Mexican is on mission to save the world and to do that he has to bring his family taco truck to Winnipeg.

That's the premise of a new video game launched over the weekend called Gunman Taco Truckand it was designed by a 12-year-old boy.

Donovan Brathwaite-Romero came up with the idea when he was only nine after a coding lesson with his game designer parents, John and Brenda Romero.

"I just laughed when I heard the name because it sounded so funny," Brenda said. "And later that evening he came into our bedroom and said, 'Mommy, I want to tell you about this game'."

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Donovan explained to his parents that in the game the United States is a wasteland after atomic bombs fell and most of the people and animals have mutated.

But there is one man from Mexico determined to take his family's taco truck through the badlands to a safe haven Winnipeg whileserving tacos made of mutants to survivors along the way.

The family has no connection to Winnipeg. They currently live in Ireland and were in California when Donovan came up with the idea, although Brenda previously lived in Ottawa for six years.

While developing the game, Brenda asked her son where the safe place would be and he took a look at a map.

"He just sort of walked away from the map and said, 'Well, winners go to Winnipeg,' and that's how Winnipeg was chosen," Brenda said with a laugh.

"We totally love the angle of going to Canada, the safe haven of Canada," John added.

Donovan took about three months to design the entire game and then his images were passed along to an artist. The artist turned them into graphics and the family of game designers got to work coding.

"We think the game turned out pretty well and a lot of people are liking it right now on social media," John said.

There's already been plenty of downloads of the game on the popular website Steam, but for the proud parents it's all about seeing Donovan's dream game realized.

"Watching Donovan watch somebody play his game and just seeing the smile on his face, those are the moments a mother looks for I think," Brenda said.

"We weren't planning on the game actually making money or anything we just thought it would be a really great experience to make it and for him to see his game out," John added.

For the avid gamers ready to take the taco-based journey, Donovan added a treat along the journey to Winnipeg.

Although many people may head straight from Fargo, N.D., to Winnipeg, Donovan made sure there are some side roads worth checking out.