Save Game Sunday Kickday: Ninja Pizza Girl

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Ninja Pizza Girl is a serious game about bullying, emotional resilience – and pizza delivering ninjas!”  That’s the pitch for Ninja Pizza Girl, a fantastic looking platformer which also tries to tackle some serious issues facing teenagers.  It’s a tough provoking, family made game, and it’s our pick for this week’s Kickday.  Read on to learn more about it.

Ninja Pizza Girl is the story of Gemma, a sixteen year old girl working for her father’s pizzeria.  It’s the near future, and slums teeter on the tops of enormous skyscrapers.  Gemma must use her acrobatic ninja skills to traverse these futuristic landscapes and deliver the pizzas before time runs out.  The gameplay is inspired by games like Mirror’s Edge and Sonic the Hedgehog, and looks like a heck of a lot of fun.  Check out Ninja Pizza Girl in action in the trailer below.

Ninja Pizza Girl is designed to be a welcoming experience, with newcomers and hardcore platforming junkies alike being able to find an equal amount of enjoyment.  New players will be able to glide through most levels with relative ease, while more seasoned veterans can seek out far more difficult, and far more rewarding routes through the gleaming cityscapes.  This is accomplished through a multi-tiered level design that rewards skill without punishing mistakes.  Miss a jump, and instead of dying, you simply fall to an easier, lower scoring tier.  This not only creates a game that instantly adjusts to your skill level, but also offers a deep gameplay experience, worthy of multiple playthroughs.

But Ninja Pizza Girl is about far more than slick moves and death deying jumps.  It’s about the real world experiences of a teenage girl, and the difficulties she faces just trying to survive.  Instead of tracking Gemma’s physical health, the game keeps tabs on her emotional well being.  The world is populated by other teenagers, and if Gemma misses a jumps, or falls on her face, they’ll stop and laugh at her.  They’ll throw garbage on her.  They’ll film her failures and post them to the internet.  Expose Gemma to enough of this ridicule, and her emotional state will begin to deteriorate.  The color will drain from the world, and she’ll slip into sadness.  On the other hand, run fast and jump high enough, Gemma will enter “the zone.” a state in which the world fills with color and she literally leaves rainbows in her speed running wake.

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Ninja Pizza Girl is being developed by Disparity Games, the husband and wife duo of Jason and Nicole Stark.  Two industry veterans who spent twenty years developing AAA titles, they’ve decided to make a game based on the real lives of their own teenage daughters.  And while their daughters didn’t actually fight ninjas on dystopian rooftops, their eldest really did deliver pizzas, and much of the story has been gleamed from her own experiences.  They’re currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get the game completed, and with 3 days left, they’ve raised about $31,000 of their $35,000 goal.  If you feel like pitching in, there are a number of pledge tiers left to choose from.

  • $15 – BBQ Soy LoversA digital PC and Mac copy of Ninja Pizza Girl. Access to the backers-only section of the Ninja Pizza Girl forums. 
  • $23 – Combo SpecialA digital PC / Mac / Linux or Wii U or XBox One copy of Ninja Pizza Girl PLUS a digital PC / Mac copy of Fantastic Jack. 
  • $30 – Family PackFour digital PC and Mac copies of Ninja Pizza Girl for Mac and PC. Access to the backers-only section of the Ninja Pizza Girl forums for four people.
  • $50 – Smokey Pigeon & FetaA digital, DRM-free PC and Mac copy of Ninja Pizza Girl and the Digital Art Book. Backer only in-game player character costume. Access to the backers-only section of the Ninja Pizza Girl forums.
  • $50 – NeapolitanA digital PC and Mac copy of Ninja Pizza Girl and a sketch with a written Thank You from the entire Stark team. Every backer receives a different, unique sketch.
  • $70 – Margherita: All of the Smokey Pigeon & Feta rewards plus a selection of Ninja Pizza Girl badges, stickers and one Ninja Pizza Girl T-shirt in the size of your choice.
  • $100 – PepperoniAll Margherita rewards plus a physical copy of the Ninja Pizza Girl art book.
  • $300 – Capricciosa: All Pepperoni rewards PLUS a limited edition framed original artwork print signed by the artist.

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If all goes according to plan, Ninja Pizza Girl will be released next March for PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Wii U and Xbox One.  It will be a game that tackles important issues in a fun, inclusive way.  Most importantly, the game is inspired by real life events.  Beyond the catchy name and slick presentation, Ninja Pizza Girl is a personal story of teenage vulnerability and resilience, told from the heart.  For that reason above all others, we encourage you to support the game make this Sunday a Kickday.


About the Author: (@Joe_of_the_Dead) Lead Editor, Writer

Joe was born in a time of war. A console war. Two electronic titans were locked in a heated battle for the living rooms of America. Which titans, you ask? Well, the Fairchild Channel F and the Atari 2600 of course. You see, Joe is old. So many of his favorite games tend to be on the older side as well. But that hasn’t stopped him from developing unhealthy obsessions with such modern franchises as Halo and Mass Effect. Just don’t tell him how long it’s been since the original Metroid was released. His aging heart can’t take the shock.

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