User:TheJoebro64/drafts/Pizza

Pizza Tower is a 2023 platform game created by the indie developer Tour de Pizza. It follows a pizza chef, Peppino Spaghetti, who must scale a tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. Across 20 side-scrolling levels, the player increases their score by gathering collectibles and defeating enemies to build combos. At the end of each level, they activate an escape sequence and must return to the beginning within a time limit. Pizza Tower does not feature health or lives, and its difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve.

The development lasted around five years and was led by the pseudonymous McPig. Pizza Tower began as a role-playing video game with survival horror elements before evolving into a platformer inspired by Nintendo's dormant Wario Land series, to which McPig wanted to provide a spiritual successor. It was developed with GameMaker and features a cartoonish, high-resolution pixel art style inspired by SpongeBob SquarePants and French comics. Wario Land 4 (2001) served as the basis for the gameplay and level design.

Pizza Tower was released for Windows on January 26, 2023. It received positive reviews and was frequently compared to 1990s media like Nicktoons and the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Critics praised the gameplay, music, visuals, and humor. They considered it a worthy substitute for Wario Land, and some called it a rare spiritual successor that is better than its inspiration.

Gameplay
Pizza Tower is a side-scrolling platform game. Its story begins when Peppino Spaghetti, a pizza chef and the owner of a struggling pizzeria, is approached by Pizzaface, a sentient floating pizza. Pizzaface threatens to destroy Peppino's pizzeria with a nuclear laser atop a nearby tower. Frightened and angered, Peppino sets out to ascend the tower and defeat Pizzaface to save his pizzeria. The tower serves as the setting and hub world of the single-player game. It has five floors, each containing four levels and a boss. Each level has a distinct theme and unique game mechanics, such as a cemetery with surfable corpses and a Five Nights at Freddy's homage with jump scares.

Peppino, the primary player character, can walk, run, jump, roll, and slide. He can body slam, grab, and throw enemies and parry their attacks. If Peppino runs for long enough, he begins to dash, allowing him to run up walls and plow through enemies and objects. Defeating an enemy initiates a timed combo; to maintain it, the player must defeat more enemies and collect items. Certain levels feature power-ups that alter Peppino's abilities, such as guns or knight armor, and Gustavo, an alternate player character who rides on the back of his giant pet rat. Palette-swap outfits for Peppino can be acquired through obtaining achievements.

Each level contains various secrets: trapped pizza topping creatures that the player rescues to unlock boss fights; a treasure locked behind a door that can only be opened by a janitor the player must find; and three hidden rooms that provide points. At the end of most levels, the player finds a pillar they must destroy. This activates "Pizza Time", a phase in which the player must outrun Pizzahead and return to the level's entrance within a time limit. The player is forced to restart the level if they fail. A portal allows the player to do an optional second lap in which they return to the end and must make their way back to the entrance again for bonus points.

After completing each level, the player is given a letter grade—D, C, B, A, S, and P—based on their score and performance. The highest grade, a P rank, can only be acquired if the player collects enough points for an S rank, finds the three rooms, collects the treasure, and completes the second lap while maintaining a single, uninterrupted combo. Pizza Tower does not feature traditional difficulty levels; rather, the difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve. Finding secrets is optional and there are no lives and Health (game terminology). Colliding with an obstacle does not hurt the player, though it lowers their score. The only stages where Peppino can be harmed does not apply are the boss fights.

Conception
Pizza Tower was the debut project of the indie developer Tour de Pizza, which developed it for around five years. Development was led by the pseudonymous designer and artist McPig, also known as Pizza Tower Guy, and funded through Patreon. The concept originated from the Peppino character, who McPig created for comics and drawings in which he imagined pizza monsters appearing in his restaurant at night. McPig conceived a role-playing video game (RPG) with survival horror elements similar to Resident Evil in which Peppino traversed his restaurant while battling pizza monsters. It featured a cartoonish but dark style that McPig compared to Courage the Cowardly Dog.

McPig attempted to develop the game using RPG Maker, but the game engine's limitations prevented him from achieving the animation quality he desired. McPig switched to GameMaker since it was accessible and he had seen other developers use it for smaller projects. He began developing a platform game featuring a sentient hot dog who battled junk food criminals. Though he described this project as "all over the place in the gameplay department because it wasn't very well conceptualized", it got him accustomed to GameMaker. He also conceived a game in which Peppino attacked using a pizza cutter chainsaw, inspired by Wario's dash from the Wario Land series.

Wanting to work from a point of reference, McPig switched to a Wario Land-inspired platformer. The series had been dormant since Wario Land: Shake It! (2008) and McPig felt it needed a spiritual successor in the vein of games like A Hat in Time (2017), Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019), and Wargroove (2019) to show its publisher, Nintendo, that fans were still interested. He decided to use Peppino as the protagonist—thinking he "was just fun to draw and relatable enough in his character traits"—and retained the basic concept of "a scared crazy pizza man fighting pizza monsters" from the RPG. The title, Pizza Tower, came from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as the "Pisa" reminded McPig of "pizza". Development began around 2018, and the pseudonymous Sertif joined as the programmer in 2020.

Design
McPig initially designed Pizza Tower as a puzzle-oriented platform game similar to Wario Land. To prepare, he played every Wario Land game and dropped Peppino's chainsaw to make the gameplay more similar. The Game Boy Advance entry Wario Land 4 (2001) was the biggest inspiration, with McPig likening Pizza Tower level design to Wario Land 4 with a greater emphasis on dashing. He modeled the level progression on Wario Land 4 "frog switch" game mechanic and use of power-up-based puzzles. Power-ups were originally designed in the style of Wario Land, opening new areas while slowing the player down. Early versions included a traditional health system, but McPig and Sertif removed it to make the gameplay more accessible; the ranking system was included to reward skilled players.

Peppino's basic moveset was based on Wario's from Wario Land 4. It evolved as McPig and Sertif observed how players played a 2019 demo that experimented "with a more free-form moveset" and decided to emphasize speed and score-attack elements. They linked Peppino's different abilities, which Sertif described as "an absolute nightmare when doing level design" since it complicated the game balance. McPig and Sertif experimented with limitations, but found them unfun and chose to go with the freer moveset. As the gameplay became faster, McPig and Sertif changed how they handled power-ups so they would fit the speed without feeling like a burden.

Each level began as a basic theme, such as a city or space. McPig and Sertif conceived around 28 levels; they cut and combined themes to make development feasible. They wanted each level to feel distinct and accessible to both skilled and unskilled players. Sertif said that after conceiving a game mechanic, generally, he would begin prototyping while McPig created animations in Aseprite. Sertif described this process as challenging since it meant many ideas ended up scrapped, but felt it was for the best since they both worked quickly: "we implemented a lot of things we wouldn't have otherwise, scrapping the bad ideas, leaving only the decent or good ones." Sertif estimated that every level was redesigned two or three times between 2020 and 2023. Members of McPig's Discord server provided feedback throughout the development.

SpongeBob SquarePants and the French comics McPig had grown up reading inspired Pizza Tower pixel art style. McPig chose a cartoon style because it was the only one he felt confident using. Additionally, he felt low-resolution pixel art evocative of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super NES era was too common in the indie game scene, and that Pizza Tower style and higher resolution art would make it stand out. Sertif described Peppino as "an absolute mess, and we (or rather McPig) wanted to convey that in every animation." McPig colored Peppino like Wario's sprite from Wario Land 3 (2003) and his pants black to make animating them easier. One antagonist, the Noise, was based on the Noid, who McPig felt would be a suitable villain for a pizza-based game. McPig did not put much thought into the character and enemy designs, preferring to "make it up as [he went] along".

Music
Pizza Tower soundtrack was composed by Ronan "Mr. Sauceman" de Castel and the pseudonymous ClascyJitto (also known as Frostix). It was de Castel's first published work; composition was mostly a hobby for him and he never released any of his music out of insecurity. He learned about Pizza Tower around the time he was beginning to take composing seriously and was mesmerized by the gameplay videos he saw on Twitter. He wrote a demo track and emailed it to McPig. To de Castel's surprise, McPig loved the track and asked him to join the project. The track, which McPig felt "sounded perfectly insane and dynamic", became "It's Pizza Time!", the escape theme. De Castel's video game inspirations included Sonic CD (1993) and the Wario Land games (specifically Wario Land 4). He also looked to the electronic, funk, and house music of artists such as Chick Corea, Daft Punk, Mr. Oizo, and Justice. McPig recruited ClascyJitto after he shared remixes of de Castel's work in the Discord server, while the pseudonymous PostElvis composed the title screen theme.

Release
Pizza Tower was announced in 2018. McPig initially promoted it by sharing screenshots on Tumblr, before moving to Twitter to raise the project's profile. He released two game demos in 2018, and opened a Patreon where he offered early access builds for those who pledged $5 monthly. A third demo released during the Sonic Amateur Games Expo in 2019 featured an exclusive playable character, Snick.

Pizza Tower developed a large fandom, which Sertif attributed to the demos, Patreon builds, and livestreamers such as Vinesauce showcasing it. It was released for Windows via Steam on January 26, 2023. Coinciding with the release, Tour de Pizza collaborated with Fangamer to produce merchandise including plushies, T-shirts, and pins.

Reception
Pizza Tower received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregate website Metacritic, and became one of the highest rated games of 2023 on Steam within a day of its release. Critics were surprised by Pizza Tower quality and considered it a worthy substitute for Wario Land, some calling it a rare spiritual successor that is better than its inspiration. Polygon said Pizza Tower "has sharpened, tuned, evolved, and damn near perfected [Wario Land] odd niche of platforming", and PC Gamer found it difficult to expect a potential Wario Land revival to be as invigorating and inventive.

Reviewers favorably compared the visuals to 1990s Nicktoons like The Ren & Stimpy Show, Cartoon Network shows, and Microsoft Paint art. IGN said the intentionally cheap-looking art style lent Pizza Tower a striking, idiosyncratic appearance, and Multiplayer.it said the levels were so detailed that players would continue to find new animations for hours. The animation quality was also commended, as was the humor. IGN enjoyed Pizza Tower use of the 1990s cartoon trope in which characters are depicted in a different style for comedic effect, and alongside PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, praised the expressiveness of Peppino. PC Gamer said Peppino's animations made him feel like a fleshed-out character despite never speaking.

The soundtrack was acclaimed for its intensity. Multiplayer.it wrote it combined funk with metal while remaining true to the style of 1990s platform games, and PC Gamer likened its "clever" blend of a retro style and samples to Jet Set Radio (2000). IGN said the soundtrack did an excellent job conveying the distinct atmosphere of each level. IGN and PC Gamer considered "It's Pizza Time!" a particular highlight. Beyond the soundtrack, Multiplayer.it praised the sound design, describing the sound effects as instantly iconic.

Critics commended Pizza Tower gameplay. They enjoyed each level's distinct theme and mechanics as well as the secrets scattered throughout,  and compared the sense of speed to the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Reviewers felt it improved and expanded on the Wario Land formula, with Den of Geek calling it "faster, crazier, [and] sillier". Polygon and IGN highlighted the escape sequences, Multiplayer.it said the power-ups surpassed Wario Land in terms of surrealness and fun, and PC Gamer said the final boss's spectacle rivaled that of the Bayonetta series. IGN said that while Pizza Tower would only take five to six hours to finish, the secrets and ranking system provided substantial replay value. Polygon thought allowing the player to choose what they liked to achieve instead of featuring traditional difficulty levels was an "elegant-ass approach to game difficulty".

IGN, PC Gamer, and Polygon found controlling Peppino satisfying, PC Gamer likening his moveset to a Swiss Army knife for its versatility. Polygon described Peppino's abilities as limited but intuitive and excellently complementing the level design. Conversely, Multiplayer.it and Rock Paper Shotgun felt it was challenging to become accustomed to controlling Peppino since he requires considerable precision, which Rock Paper Shotgun said was Pizza Tower biggest flaw. While its levels were still designed in Wario Land slow and methodical fashion, Rock Paper Shotgun wrote, Pizza Tower expects the player to move fast, leading to the repeated frustration of losing momentum. They said this meant the game would not be for everyone, though some would consider the "rough edges... an essential part of the appeal".