By Brad Sewell on July 17, 2014 at 4:34pm
On the surface, “Ninja Pizza Girl” is an action platformer starring 16 year old Gemma, a - you guessed it - ninja pizza girl on a mission to deliver her pizza to hungry customers in 20 minutes or less. This is a game that takes place in the near future, in a time when megacorporations mitigate costs by exploiting the work of underpaid teenage ninjas. Meanwhile, Gemma works for her father’s privately-owned pizzeria.
Gemma races through levels that Australia-based Disparity Games says drew inspiration from “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Mirror’s Edge.” With side-scrolling action, she leaps from skyscraper ledges, dives across tight ropes, and climbs up sheer walls in a manner expected of a ninja. The visuals are sharp, the animations are fluid, and the music is driving. Colors are vibrant and keep getting brighter. Gemma is full of life, ready to get the pizza delivered and make her father proud. Everything looks great, and she’s on top of the world.
Until she meets the competition.
Working a family-owned business is strange and bizarre in the cyberpunk future. Other teenage ninjas flit between buildings on their own missions, but they always have time to point and laugh at the weird girl who fell on her face in front of them or came just short of landing an awesome jump. Rather than attack with roundhouse kicks and throwing stars, they call Gemma names, fling trash at her, and snap pictures with their phones as she retreats into an ever-tightening ball against their ridicule. The amazing colors drain from the world, even to the point where the game becomes black-and-white with lengthening shadows. Depression creeps in, and Gemma’s performance suffers heavily.
“Ninja Pizza Girl” is a game designed to help players stand up to bullying and to resist depression. Gemma may be mocked for being less than perfect, but it’s the player’s job to help her shrug it off and keep going. With some quick moves, she can shut the bullies up and bring a little more light to the world. Action can remedy her depression, and she can take pride in her uniqueness.
Although Disparity cites “Sonic” and “Mirror’s Edge” as inspiration, some gameplay elements seem familiar enough for those who play “Bit.Trip Runner.” The game rewards you for exemplary performance while flinging more at you for dipping below expectations. As in “Bit.Trip,” it’s up to the player to overcome the hurdles of the more difficult game, but that can often make the victory that much sweeter. Deal with the hecklers, get back in your groove, and ride out on your awesomeness.
The story unfolds through beautiful comic panels. In the sequence on the Kickstarter page, a vibrant Gemma rings the doorbell, proudly pushes her pizza forward, and begins her thank-you spiel only to cut off when she sees the underwear-clad slob who answered the door.
“Ninja Pizza Girl” is the fledgling title from family-owned Disparity Games. Disparity consists of parents Jason and Nicole Stark and their eldest daughter, Raven. The game premise came about when Raven herself worked in her high school years in pizza delivery. She came home every night and told her parents stories of the night’s deliveries as well as troubles she’d had with peers (at the same time she was learning kung fu), and the idea blossomed. Jason admitted that he originally intended for the game to be much simpler, but some elements could not be ignored.
There’s no point in making a game that’s no fun. There’s a lot of games that I don’t play because the controls are too fiddly, the game itself is too hard or too dull, or the plot’s just stupid. Raven Stark
Disparity says that one goal is to make a game that anyone can play, even if it’s the first time the player has touched a video game. They promise a game that’s easy enough for the casual gamer to finish with some reward and still take a lot away with them, but that the levels have alternate routes and challenges to help any hardcore gamers or fanatics find ways to shave time off the clock and get Dad’s pizza to the customer even faster.
Disparity currently has the game on Kickstarter with a $35,000 AUD goal (around $32,800 to $33,000 USD) and an estimated delivery date for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android in March 2015. Nintendo has already approved “Ninja Pizza Girl” for release on the Wii U, and Disparity is currently in discussions with Sony and Microsoft. The $10 tier can get you a discounted copy of the game (and, yes, there are still about 50 spots left to be claimed as I write this), but $15 will get you the game if you wait on it. $30 gets you four copies of the game. With 26 days remaining, “Ninja Pizza Girl” is just short of the halfway mark.
There are links both on the Kickstarter page and on the Disparity site to what they’re calling the pre-pre-pre-Alpha demo. It may show the basics of the game, but remember that they still have a long way to go before shipping it out.
If you’re interested, there’s still time to contribute and help Disparity fund its game. If not, at least tell your favorite teen that you think they’re awesome.
Disparity Games "Ninja Pizza Girl" Kickstarter
