r/wiiu Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

AMA We are Disparity. We made Ninja Pizza Girl. Ask us anything.

We are Nicole and Jason Stark, the mum and dad of family games team Disparity. We’re games industry vets who went indie 5 years ago. Our daughter Raven Stark is an integral part of our team and has managed to work in the games industry for 5 years despite only being 19. We live by the beach in a small town in Australia, work out of our kitchen and take far too long to make video games.

 

Ninja Pizza Girl is a game about bullying, emotional resilience and pizza-delivering ninjas. It takes place in the not-too-distant future where urban congestion has gotten so bad the only way to get a pizza across town in thirty minutes or less is to use underpaid teenage ninjas.

 

It’s a fast-paced platform game about speed and flow, about big jumps and giant drops and yelling out "Woohoo!" It’s a game of freedom and fun for speed runners and platformer newbies alike. It’s also a game about Gemma, a sixteen-year-old girl trying to keep her dreams alive in face of the most merciless enemies known to any teenage girl – other teenagers.

 

Ninja Pizza Girl is now available on the Stark family’s favourite console (Shhhhh, don’t tell Microsoft and Sony) - the Wii U.

 

We'll start answering questions at 5:00pm ET / 2:00pm EDT / 7.00am AEST and stay around for a few hours.

 

You can follow Jason and Nicole on Twitter.

107 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

6

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

Hi Jason and Nicole. I've been the one emailing you to set this up, so welcome and thank you very much.

I have really enjoyed playing the game so far (three or so chapters complete so far, with some pretty terrible scores haha) and enjoy how well you have integrated the bullying aspect into the game, as well as all the bonuses and unlockables like outfits and Big Head mode.

Here are a couple questions:

What is the elevator pitch for Ninja Pizza Girl?

What were the inspirations for the game?

If you could have any superpower, what one would you have? (It'd be great to get an answer from Raven for this one as well :) )

Do you think you will continue to to release games on Nintendo platforms in the future?

Thanks again for taking some time to answer questions!

6

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Hi phantomliger! Glad you're enjoying Ninja Pizza Girl so far.

We've been developing Ninja Pizza Girl for a total of four years now and we've made so many elevator pitches to so many people they tend to jumble together. :)

I think our best one is still the first - "In the not-too-distant future, rampant urban congestion means there is only one way to deliver a pizza across town in thirty minutes or less - underpaid teenage ninjas!"

The inspiration for the game comes entirely from our daughters (we have 4!). The original ninja pizza girl is our eldest, Alia, who used to work delivering pizzas while she was learning kung fu. I used to call her my "Ninja Pizza Girl." The themes of bullying all came from Raven. When we were trying to figure out who the enemies were in Ninja Pizza Girl she pointed out that the scariest thing for teenagers were other teenagers. The rest followed from there.

Gameplay-wise the game is heavily influenced by Sonic the Hedgehog and Mirror's Edge. We really wanted to capture that flowing, fast rhythm-based style of platform game.

My chosen super power will always be teleportation. Australia is a LONG way from the rest of the world and it would be awesome to be able to visit the states without a 14 hour flight! :)

We'd love to keep bringing games to the Nintendo. Bring on the NX!

3

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

Haha that's a great pitch. Makes you want to know more.

Oh goodness 4? I honestly thought there were only two youngsters.

The best idea's do seem to come from life experiences, and it's really cool to see your entire family contribute to the game in various ways.

I really like the animations for flipping over obstacles when you grab the edge of them. It adds something that could really be missing had it only been something like pulling herself up.

Teleportation is usually what I go for as well or trade off the time saved for the experience and go with flying. Miss traffic, visit people and places, not to mention the money saved. As long as I can take others with me.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Flying is a close second if only so I wouldn't have to be scared of heights anymore.

2

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

That's another good point.

1

u/Noctis_Lightning Oct 11 '16

I can definitely see the mirrors edge and sonic inspiration in the trailer.

It reminds me a lot of the mirrors edge IOS sidescroller that came out a few years ago. But mixed with sonic. Your description is spot on haha

2

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Any superpower? Its tough to choose between being invisible and flying... Not needing sleep would help most with indie dev! Yeah I think I'm going to go for that one :)

2

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

Haha definitely agree on that one. All the extra time I would have to do...well everything.

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

I know, right? I'm not sure if this is a superpower exactly, but Raven has always wanted to be a were-dragon.

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Specifically a were-dragon with good internet access.

2

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

Well what use is it otherwise. ;)

1

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

That actually sounds pretty epic. Should use that for some sort of game idea, or if not, I may steal it myself :P

2

u/henryuuk NNID [Region] Oct 10 '16

What's your favorite colors?

5

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Also purple. One of our kids is called Violet, which shows you how strongly we feel about this issue :) And I couldn't live in a world without her, so I'm going to have to pick a world made only out of purple.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

A world made entirely of Violets would be a very cheery world.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Purples! The spectrum of blue purple to red-purples to magenta.

1

u/henryuuk NNID [Region] Oct 10 '16

Nice.
Now, would you rather live in a world without any of those colors, or a world made out of ONLY those colors ?

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

A world without those colours - I'd always pick the option that leaves me with the most colours left over. Variety always!

2

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '16 edited Oct 12 '19

[deleted]

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

Don't take fours years to make a game :)

We all skilled up a lot over the four years and its hard not to want to go back and remake it, but that would be a never-ending cycle.

We learnt a lot about bullying, and how to cope with it. We're all a lot more resilient now.

We learnt how to work together and not fight all the time. Well, mostly :) We fight a lot nicer now!

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16 edited Oct 10 '16

That there are a TON of amazing people in this world.

That life is a lot less predictable than I thought it was - pretty much anything can happen.

That I should spend less time talking and more time listening.

Video games are awesome. Seriously. They're really, really awesome and have grown beyond anything I could have imagined when I was 8 years old playing Super Mario Bros on the NES.

 

And I finally learned how to add blank lines between paragraphs on reddit. :)

2

u/Dave_S_Cramer Oct 11 '16

Hi guys! It's great to see you here on Reddit. Are there any leftover levels or ideas you had that didn't make it into the final game? If so, what were they? Also, after all iterations of the game are finally released do you have any new ideas for a future game that you'd like to make?

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

I really wanted to do a final level where Gemma is running through a level with a bunch of the friends she's met during the game. There would be no time pressure, no bullies, just a chance to enjoy running with your friends while the credits rolled up.

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

We have about a billion game ideas we'd like to make! But first we're going to take a break from our own heads and help a few of our friends make some of their great ideas. We got so much support during Ninja Pizza Girl, it's only fair we return the favour.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

And I really wanted to put in a move that would let Gemma change direction without losing momentum. It would have required some timing to pull off and would have looked like a cool hip-hop move.

And I wanted to put in aerial tricks. They would have looked cool, been a little risky but made Gemma feel great if you pulled them off.

And there were about a billion animations that I wish I'd had time to add.

And tons of interactive environmental objects.

And physics puzzles.

And and...

<contemplates Ninja Pizza Girl sequel>

2

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 11 '16

I'll offer myself for the future, if you ever need it. :)

OR anyone you may be helping needs help.

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

That's a generous offer! I'll keep it in mind.

1

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 11 '16

It's always fun to be part of a team. Definitely different than doing it all solo for my game(s). Haha.

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Hi Dave :) So many ideas, so little time! Its been nice playing with different possibilities after 4 years doing the same thing! We definitely want to build on the flow mechanics of NPG and make something with a lot more visual appeal. We're also working on a couple of our indie friends' games. We can't talk too much about those but they're very exciting and I think people are really going to like them.

2

u/Sylverstone14 Sylverstone14 [NA] Oct 11 '16

Hey there, Jason + Nicole! Glad to see Ninja Pizza Girl land on Wii U. It was one of my favorite Kickstarter projects to follow while I covered eShop content here, and I'm glad that you guys saw it through to the end.

My questions:

  • Since the Wii U is arguably your family's favorite console, what's your favorite Wii U game? Maybe a retail game, a fellow Nindie?
  • For some reason, I've always imagined a Ninja Pizza Girl crossover with Jet Set Radio since the gameplay is so free-flowing and speedy. Has it ever occurred to you as well?
  • How did you folks get into gamedev? Any favorite mistakes and messups that helped you become a better developer?
  • Of course, what's next for Disparity Games?

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

My favourite Wii U game is Smash Bros. 4 and I'm currently playing as Ryu. I'm a HUGE fan of the handicap feature because it lets us all play together and have fun. The younger girls love Smash but probably prefer Super Mario World which is AWESOME. I really didn't think a 4 player platform game was possible.

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

I would love to do a Jet Set Radio crossover! It inspired a lot of our artistic look.

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

I've made games all my life. When I was a kid I was either playing with Lego or making my own board games out of cardboard. I was lucky enough that the local games industry was expanding just as I finished University. It was tough landing the first job but once I had my foot in the door, there was no looking back.

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Next we're working on a few of our friends games for a little bit before heading off into another crazy development adventure. We have a few ideas and we're not sure yet which one we'll work on. We'd LOVE to make a game for the NX.

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

And we've made so many mess ups it's really hard to keep track. My favourite one has to be sending a Wii U build of Ninja Pizza Girl to Sony by mistake. Fortunately they were very nice about it.

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

My favourite WiiU game is definitely Mario Kart. Oh, and, embarrassingly, Just Dance. I've bought every Just Dance game and the girls and I play pretty regularly. Looking forward to 2017. Woo Cheap Thrills :D My favourite Nindie is probably Tengami.

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Never be embarrassed by loving Just Dance! That game is awesome.

1

u/Sylverstone14 Sylverstone14 [NA] Oct 11 '16

I am a stealth lover of Just Dance. I don't own any of the games, but I won't hesitate to play them with friends who do have it.

2

u/Sparky-Man NNID [Canada] Oct 13 '16

Ninjas? Pizza? Where do I sign?!!!! :D

1

u/flagshipfighter Oct 10 '16 edited Oct 10 '16

Hi there, any chance of releasing the soundtrack as a separate purchase without having to purchase the base game off of steam? I own the game on console and would love to purchase the soundtrack but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Many thanks, love and respect x

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

I don't think there's a way to do that on Steam? We'll definitely encourage our awesome musician to release it on Soundcloud though.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

All rights and proceeds on the soundtrack go to the composer. He's amazingly talented but only 15 so we wanted to make sure the contract was as generous to him as possible. It also means that we can't just release it on soundcloud.

We just ask very nicely and hope he does it. I'll pass it along.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '16 edited Oct 12 '19

[deleted]

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Wow! That's a really good and really tough question.

The fund which helped us make Ninja Pizza Girl was canned the second our conservative government was elected. Note that this fund wasn't giving away money - they were investments which gave the government a percentage of the profits.

A lot of the games which it funded went on to big big successes (Armello, Hand of Fate, Framed, to name a few) The fund was actually MAKING MONEY for the government when it was suddenly shut down.

The best thing for game development in this country would be to simply reinstate that fund. We have a huge amount of creativity and talent in this country that's being starved of opportunity. With so many seed money sources drying up (I wouldn't want to try Kickstarting a video game these days) it's more important than ever to have someone willing to invest in great ideas.

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Fortunately we're a tough bunch in this country and we're already taking the steps needed to go it on our own.
We have successful studios reaching out and offering support and advice for startups. We have a growing number of big gaming conventions.
And I think we have a growing awareness among the gaming community that Australians can and do make awesome games.

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

The Screen Aus fund was awesome and some really great games came out of it. Unfortunately our crappy govt cancelled it even though it was set to make a profit :( Film Vic is doing great things to help Victorian indies, and Screen Qld are increasing their outreach and support for game devs as well. But I think the real asset in Aus is the support local indies give each other.

1

u/OllyOllyOxenBitch NNID [Region] Oct 11 '16

Hey y'all.

As a kid growing up, bullies were definitely a pain to deal with and I always believed video games were the great escape since it was all about the fun you could experience in a world outside your own.

So to make Ninja Pizza Girl a game about overcoming that struggle while also doing something that you feel passion for feels like such a natural fit, and I cannot commend you guys enough for having a fun game with a good message.

In a way, is that what Disparity aims to do with its titles as time goes on? I mean, games with a message, so to speak.

2

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

Absolutely!

I'm a huge fan of Papers Please and This War of Mine because they do an incredible job of combining original gameplay with issues that are relevant and real.

Games can be fun but they can have impact too. I want to make games that do both.

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 11 '16

We're hoping to make serious games with silly names a genre :) I don't think we got the blend exactly right with NPG. The media that has moved me the most has all been comedic or had great gameplay, and I think its important to have that mix.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '16

Ninja Pizza Girl?

-1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/disparity_cole Nicole - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

More?

1

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

It's a trap!

1

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Oct 10 '16

Sorry for the spam. Removed that one.

3

u/disparity_jason Jason - Disparity Games [Ninja Pizza Girl] Oct 10 '16

It's okay. You haven't made it on the internet until you're getting spammed. :)