Ciao Pizza Managers!
We promised you a few post-playtests notes based on the forms you’ve filled out. Some of you were more exuberant and some were strictly on point, all of you though were extremely helpful! All in all we’ve received well over a hundred filled out answers, which is a phenomenal statistic given the very limited access to the playtests. So without further ado, here’s a neat summary of your likes and dislikes and what we’re going to do about them.
The Good
When it comes to the whole experience you were very positive 80% of you gave a rating of 7 or more out of 10. Thank you! This means that we’re on the right track and we now need to iron out the details and improve some of the more frustrating mechanics you did not like.
We were over the moon, when we saw almost everyone mentioning that they enjoyed the ‘freedom of action’ aspect of the game - the need to go shopping, make the prep work, clean and serve clients outside of only designing pizzas. This was clearly our base concept for the game and it validates the whole idea for us.
A lot of you also mentioned the art style and the game’s visual mood - thank you on behalf of the artists working on Pizza Slice! Our goal was to create a romanticised, cosy version of New York and it clearly hit the mark.
From the gameplay perspective the most often mentioned mechanic was pizza creation - from the various steps required to prepare and bake one to the freedom of designing your own custom pies. This feature was very closely followed by shopping, throwing objects and doing dishes - the last one took us a little by surprise, but we’re happy you’re enjoying doing mundane chores (we hope you’re helping at home with this as well!).
In summary, you mostly agree that there’s a lot of stuff to do in the game and that Pizza Slice excels in offering the whole restaurant running experience and not just a part of it. That’s truly music to our ears!
The Bad
The most disliked aspect of the game was, what can generally be described as, ‘hustle’.The need to constantly run with ingredients with a never ending stream of impatient customers waiting to be served was a tad too much for most of you. This also includes a short amount of time available for your prep work. We hear you! We’re looking into changes, which will improve this part of the game, while still preserving the realistic aspect of the ‘busy work’ when running a restaurant.
One of the more frequently mentioned critiques was how you roll your dough into a fantastic pie, ready to be topped off with delicious ingredients. Even though you liked the pizza creation process in general, this aspect remained a nuisance. We agree with you on this and changes will be made.
Finally, the tutorial and the lack of communication from the game - some of you had issues understanding how everything should be done properly. This is definitely something we will look into immediately. Another aspect of this problem was the lack of understanding what is considered the ‘ideal pizza’ - most notably the score for the sauce. This is also something we will be working on to improve as soon as possible.
The Ugly
Yes, there were bugs. We’ve made two hotfixes to resolve the most pressing issues during the playtest but some of them unfortunately needed more time to be fixed. We’re on them!
Having the chance, we would also like to thank the entire playtest community, as you’ve been very understanding and patient throughout the whole event!
So, what’s next?
With the basic concept for Pizza Slice validated by you, we’re now moving into polishing the experience - looking into the critique and improving the design of less favourable gameplay mechanics. We’re also expanding the features you’ve experienced as well as preparing completely new stuff but that’s a topic for a future devlog.
For those who didn’t have a chance to check the game out and those who didn’t have enough of it - we’re planning to give you guys another opportunity soon. We’ll keep you updated on our plans as they iron out internally.
In the meantime, consider joining our Discord server, where you can wait for said opportunity alongside fellow pizza lovers.
See you at the table!
The Pizza Slice Team