Prerelease:Pizza Tower/Video Previews/Thing of the Week (2024)

Thing of the Week

Thing of the Week is a video series on Youtube McPig has started on January 2020 showcasing progress on Pizza Tower every...well, week. This video series lasted for an entire year, with 12 videos worth of content to look through.

Thing of the week 1: Entrance Glance

January 17th, 2020
As the title implies, the first Thing of the Week is a showcase of Pizza Tower's first level, John Gutter (originally called Entrance). Layout-wise, it's much more developed than it was in the SAGE-era demos, and more closely resembles how it appears in the final game, save for a few different aesthetics and John Block placements. Also showcased are a scrapped Pizza Shield, the finalized Super Taunt animations, and an early version of the Pepper Pizza/Satan's Choice from Refrigerator-Refrigerador-Freezerator; Instead of being a Metroid-esque power-up, it originally simply allowed Peppino and The Noise to instantly achieve Mach 4. The original upload with the Pikmin music has yet to be uncovered.

Thing of the week 2: Dragon Lair WIP and quip

January 25th, 2020
A first look at the now unused Dragon Lair level, in a very unfinished state. It introduces the equally unused Toppin Warriors and Camembert Squire. Peppino can be seen jumping with the Weenie Mount, instead of jumping off of it. Irregularly-sized purple blocks make up the lack of tiled geometry, instead of the tiled blue blocks seen in previous builds (possibly for optimization purposes). The video ends with a zoom-in on Pizzaface's early sprites, which would eventually be replaced after the Eggplant build.

Thing of the week 3: Dragon Gauntlet playthrough

February 1st, 2020
A second look at the now unused Dragon Lair level, now further along and using tile and background elements from the first four levels. The idea of the Toppin Warriors adding more time had been scrapped at this point. A framerate counter can also be seen in the lower-right, which would remain until Thing of the week 10 (see below).

Thing of the week 4: PTG is so embarrassed by his dumb idea that he reuploaded the video.

February 16th, 2020
Not only is this a video with a title name length that just might rival Don't Preheat Your Oven Because If You Do The Song Won't Play, it's also a showcase of the first rework of Oregano Desert (desert_#, not badlands_#). The first revision of the Heat Meter can also be briefly seen in action, complete with Cheeseslimes swinging their baseball bats at Peppino, before cutting to a little meme about Peppino's ball form. The cut portion that goes into detail about this early heat meter was later reposted separately, on Twitter.

Thing of the week 5: Where placeholders are buried

February 23rd, 2020
A first look at Wasteyard, being in a very early WIP state at this point. Graphics-wise, the only thing implemented here was the background for the outside areas. The initial concept for conveying and revoking the Ghost transformation is showcased which, like the Knight transformation slamming into a wall, had its own unique method for returning to normal from before the Priest was introduced; It's triggered by the Ranch Shooter here, instead of a Ghost Pepper. The gravestone doesn't yet have its own graphics, so it has a couple placeholder stand-ins. This older version also had the Shotgun transformation, which was originally going to show up in many more levels. It also shoots as a spread, instead of one instantaneous blast within Peppino's horizontal range. Lastly, the "Free Milk" cow from Refrigerator-Refrigerador-Freezerator can be seen; This was originally how Peppino disposed of the Firemouth transformation, before being repurposed as being what disposes the Satan's Choice power-up.

Thing of the week 5 and 6??: Invisible Mort

March 8th, 2020
Confusing numbering aside, this is the first look at multiple levels at once, all in varying states of incompleteness.

• Farm: This level would become Fun Farm in the final game. Introduces multiple gimmicks, like flammable haystacks, Rayman-styled teleporting enemies and everyone's favorite (citation needed) special guest, Mort the Chicken. Notably, Mort allowed Peppino to fall slower, a feature which would later be scrapped. It uses the background from the outside sections of Oregano Desert as a placeholder.
• Ufo: This level would become Space Pinball before becoming unused in the final game. It introduces the teleporter and timed gate gimmicks, both of which actually are used in the final game, respectively in Deep-Dish 9 and Fast Food Saloon. It uses the background from the UFO section of Oregano Desert as a placeholder.
• Beach: The original version of Crust Cove (then called Pineapple Beach) before it switched over from beach_# to plage_#. It introduces various enemies that would show up in the final version of Crust Cove as well, such as Cannon Pizza Goblins and Pineacool, as well as the Piranhapple which would later be used in Don't Make A Sound (the pineapples of which were first notably seen in the Halloween Demo's Ancient Tower). The revised Barrel transformation makes its public debut (which would also show up in the final version of the level), although its sprites are still overly detailed. It uses the background for the outside sections of Wasteyard as a placeholder.

Thing of the week 7: The obligatory forest maze and gnome pizza delivery level

March 15th, 2020
A first look at Gnome Forest, which used a different pizza delivery mechanic at this point. Other levels' enemies and mechanics (such as Crust Cove's barrel transformation) can be seen in use, and most of it is visually taken up by placeholders. The background at this point is from the outside portion of the scrapped Mansion level, the Noise Goblins use the Pizza Box Goblin and Pizzard sprites, and the Pickle also uses Pizzard sprites.

Thing of the week 8: Soul soil

March 21st, 2020
A second look at Wasteyard, being almost finished at this point, but still looking nothing like the final version. It showcases the nerf on Peppino's Super Jump, which would be reverted in later builds of the game.

Thing of the week 9: No harm in making a farm

April 5th, 2020
A second look at Fun Farm, still very different from the final version. Like Wasteyard above, this early version includes level gimmicks and enemies seen in other levels, such as Kentucky Kenny from Oregano Desert, and the shotgun from War.

Thing of the week 10: UFO, pinball... whats the difference

April 19th, 2020
At this point in development, Ufo has been rebranded and retooled into the first rendition of Space Pinball, due to Ufo's gimmicks being more fitting for a Pinball-themed level. It also shows a little gameplay portion of The Vigilante in John Gutter.

Thing of the??? 11: Tiny little beach showcase

May 13th, 2020
A second look at the beach_# version of Crust Cove, being almost finished at this point, but still looking nothing like the plage_# version from the final game. The finalized "level subtitle" banner makes its first public appearance here.

Thing of the end of the year.

December 17th, 2020
The final Thing of the Week video, perfectly timed for the end of the year. This one is a highlight reel of multiple things that were in development at this point.

• The HUD has seen a slight revision before being overhauled;
  • The P meter has been placed further away from Peppino's head.
  • A small meter was added to the middle-right of the screen, which provides 4 seconds of combo leeway, in comparison to the 2-second leeway from previous builds.
• Peppino got new moves, including the Uppercut, which at this point could only be performed at ground level; It couldn't be used in midair until some point after the Octobe22 build.
• Many other attacks were also shown, that would end up getting scrapped.
  • Among the scrapped moves is an attack where Peppino uses a pizza cutter (previously explored prior to the Early Test Build), and an early version of the grab move where players can intentionally juggle enemies.
• The second revision of the Heat Meter is showcased, also known internally as the Style Bar. It's the thought bubble next to Peppino's head. During a maxed out Heat (dubbed Crazy), enemies change their color and gain new attacks.
• Enemies and collectables spawning specifically during Pizza Time, and the idea of finishing a level in one combo, have been introduced here; Both would be retained for the final version of the game (albeit in a more refined form). Previously, it was only extra breakable blocks that spawned during Pizza Time.
• Gerome is introduced as an alternate take on the Lap 2 mechanic. The idea is that Gerome appears at the start of a level, but can only be picked up during Pizza Time, after which the player would need to rush towards the locked Treasure Room, acting as an alternate exit. While both Gerome and the Lap 2 mechanic show up in the final version, those two would be separated into two mechanics instead, with Lap 2 reverting back to how it worked in the Golf demo. Gerome can also clean up the mess left behind broken blocks at this point of development. Since blocks don't leave behind any residue in the final version anymore, Gerome's ability to clean up has been removed as well.

A couple of levels are also shown here:

• Kung Fu: This level would be merged with Space Pinball before becoming unused in the final game, although most of its art assets would be used for The Pig City. It introduces the equally unused Arena mechanic, where you have to defeat a certain amount of enemies in a room before you can progress.
• City: The original version of The Pig City before it switched over from city_# to street_#. It has a circus section not seen in the final version of the level. The Taxi sprites were used as placeholders for the scrapped Weenie Police cars.
• Factory: The second version of Peppibot Factory before it switched over from factory_# to industrial_#.
• Mansion: The second version of the Mansion level from earlier builds. Like Space Pinball, this level also didn't make the cut, though the grind rails made a return in The Pig City.
• Farm: This level would become Fun Farm in the final game. The Mort transformation has been reworked at this point, being closer to how it acts in the final version, but still not quite finalized.
• Freezer: This level would become Refrigerator-Refrigerador-Freezerator in the final game. It originally had a completely different temperature mechanic than the final version, being tied to a timer instead of a breakable object.
• Golf: If you thought the Golf level was just an April Fools joke, here it is in full swing (haha, get it?). The mechanics seem to be mostly the same as in the final version of the game, but it's still in a graphically primitive state. The camera follows Greaseball's trajectory here, and the tied points are spawned in as collectible pizza slices, instead of being automatically awarded.
• Kids Party: This level would become Don't Make A Sound in the final game. While the idea of having to run from animatronics is already there, its execution is different, with the level being more free-roam than linear, including a mini map indicating which room of the level the player is in. Peppibots stand in as the Toppin Monsters.
• Space: This level would become Deep-Dish 9 in the final game. At this point in development, it was intended to be a level made specifically for The Noise, being designed around his old pogo-stick moveset.
• Sewers: This level would become Oh sh*t! in the final game. It already has the pipe travel gimmick implemented, but it's all in a very unfinished state (again).

Lastly, a couple boss fights have been showcased as well:

• Boss fights are presented in a very "boxing match" kind of way, with healthbars for both the player and the boss, as well as there being multiple timed rounds, with the boss changing their attack pattern in each round.
  • Presumably, the healthbars are why the P-meter had been relocated.
• Pepperman, The Vigilante and The Noise would keep most of the attacks they use here in the final version of the game, albeit altered in one way or another. However, they all lost the ability to taunt (and thus, parry your attacks).
• Mr. Stick is shown as a boss, with the ability to summon previous bosses to help him out. In the final version of the game, Mr. Stick would serve as a paywall for boss fights while Pizzahead would gain the ability to summon previous bosses. The final version of the game would also promote Fake Peppino to boss status, presumably to replace Mr. Stick.
• No unique "Round #" graphics were implemented yet, so the only denoter is text on top of the screen.