January Build (2019)
The January 2019 Patreon Demo is the first Patreon build for Pizza Tower. Compiled shortly after the last build, it was supposed to be the first of monthly Patreon builds. However, there was no build following this one in February, and the idea of intentionally releasing builds monthly was abandoned.
Gameplay
The game starts off outside the Pizza Tower, and the player, as Peppino Spaghetti, can only walk inside. However, upon approaching the tower, an unsuspecting soul can be caught in a trap and fall into the Tutorial. There, they will learn some useful movements before finally getting inside the tower itself.
The humble hub area doesn't offer the player much, aside the three levels this build has to offer: Desert, Mansion and Factory. In each of these levels, the player has to simply run through them, passing some small challenges on occasion, and collect the Tower Secret Treasure. After collecting it, Pizza Time will activate. At this point, the player has to run all the way back to the beginning of the level, escape, and get their final rank for completing the stage. The player can collect Toppins that are placed throughout the levels, but collecting them does not contribute to anything.
In this build, the health system was introduced, indicated by a sliced pizza graphic in the upper left corner of the screen. Each of these slices indicates one hit point, and if the player loses all of them, Peppino will die and fall out of the level. Health can be replenished by collecting pizza slices placed throughout the levels, but it's best to play safe, since they are scarce to find.
Levels
Mechanics
Transformations
The Cheeseball transformation makes its debut in Mansion.
Gimmicks
The following gimmicks debut in this build:
- Health System and Pizza slices
- Greaseball and Basketball net
- Grind Rail
Enemies
Level Differences
Tutorial
While the Tutorial is mostly the same as in earlier builds, there are still noticeable differences. As the main levels now require walljumping to proceed, this move is now included in the tutorail. As well as that, with the Grab now properly implemented, in is now also present in the tutorial. The player can now learn about grabbing and punching enemies.
Desert
This level is the earliest version of Oregano Desert (aside from Christmas Race version of this level), and, as the name suggests, it takes place in a desert, and later, in a cave system. Unlike in the finished game and later demos, it doesn't feature Rock or TNT blocks, Pizzamarts or the UFO section. As well as that, Boulders that make an appearance in later demos are also absent.
Big Cheese and Spit Cheese enemies make their debut in this level. While Spit Cheese functions the same as in the final release, Big Cheese is greatly different. Here it isn't stationary, can be defeated, and can't interact with the player in any way.
Mansion
This is the earliest version of the scrapped level, Pre-release:Mansion (Janurary Build), and as the name suggests, it takes place in a mansion, which is full of halls, puzzles and traps. The Cheeseball transformation makes its debut in this level in the form of a trap. Upon collecting a key in the heart of the mansion, a cheese ball falls from the ceiling, and, if Peppino can't outrun it or avoid it, he will get stuck inside and roll all the way down to the bottom of the room, where he will get freed upon rolling into some outlets.
Grind rails also first appear in this level, and they are a mild inconvenience to the player, mostly placed in awkward spots and hindering the player's progression. They can only be used if Peppino is dashing, otherwise they cannot be interacted with.
As well as that, Peasanto also debuts in this level. Its mechanics have stayed relatively the same, however at this point in development, it can only hurt the player. In later demos and the final release, interacting with Paesanto will grant the player the Fireass transformation.
Factory
This is the second revision of Peppibot Factory. It has been completely reworked, from being a level focused on exploration, to a semi-straightforward style level. It is more enemy-packed, with danger lurking at every corner. Here, it also has greater focus on conveyor belts, utilizing them in various small puzzles, including the optional GOLF room.
Trivia
- McPig originally promised to release Patreon builds on a monthly basis. This can be seen in the .zip's file name (PTjanuarymonthlybuild1.zip) and in the Patreon release post. Despite this, McPig didn't release a build in February, and the "monthly build" name was dropped with the release of the next build.
- Despite this, from October 2019 to February 2020 the builds Noise's Hardoween, Coop, Peppino's Xmas Break, Noise, and the 3 February 2020 builds being Boss, Desert Playtest and Graveyard Playtest were released on a monthly basis, however they do not share the naming convention of a "monthly build".
- Even though Peasanto had been added, the rest of the Vegetable Farmers were not added to the game until the Rework build, nearly 3 years later.
- When the player's health is full, collecting a pizza slice does nothing. However, the slice doesn't disappear.
- In addition to the palettes from the previous builds, it is now possible to choose a Grinch-inspired palette seen in the Christmas Race build.
- There is a mistake with Peppino's palettes: some of the sprites and animations don't support them, and Peppino can be seen wearing white clothes. If a palette that changes Peppino's skin color as well as the outfit has been chosen, only the clothes will be white. These instances are, for example, a frame of Peppino's rolling animation, the entire grab animation and entering a level gate animation.
- Despite being scrapped in this build, the pause menu still features a counter for Pizza Coins.
Gallery
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The health system. -
Pizza Slice
| Prerelease builds from Pizza Tower | |
|---|---|
| 2018 | |
| 2019 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | |
| 2022 | |
| 2023 | |
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