Proto:Pizza Tower/Eggplant

This is a sub-page of Proto:Pizza Tower.

To do: Investigate unused content, such as the early unfinished boss fights. Apparently The Noise's arena used to have a giant Noise mech in the background. Not every unused leftover level needs to be documented here; Just the ones that've been changed any since the Rework build; For instance in factory_1, a cheese block was replaced with a metal block. (Is this true? Because changes to the game itself could count as changes to the levels, like a level that could be completed in an earlier build might not be able to be completed in a later build due to changes to the game.)

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

The Eggplant Build, with revisions dated June 14th - 15th 2022, is the final Patreon exclusive build to be made before the game released on January 26th 2023, with most level layouts finalized and working (though rank requirements are hidden, so instead you get a rank with a big ol' eggplant).

General Differences

Inaccessible Content

• The debug console's code has been mostly wiped, thus disallowing any sneaky Patrons from easily accessing the unfinished hub areas and other spoilery locations of interest.
  • Stuff related to Pizzaface as a boss, particularly its final phases with Pizzahead, have also been removed for similar reasons. These would still exist in the enclosed private playtesting builds, as these were not meant for general audiences to yet see.

• All the rank-related code and sprites are still present:
  • The rank screen animations are all coded in, but they're overwritten with the temporary eggplant rank by a single line of code at the end of obj_rank's Draw GUI event, making it appear regardless of the player's true rank. Removing that line of code reverts this.
  • All the rank icons are still present, but the line of code to display them was changed to display "spr_ranks_hudeggplant" instead of "spr_ranks_hud", and then moved below the line of code that displays the rank filling to cover it up. Reverting these changes in obj_camera's Draw GUI event makes the ranks appear as they do as the final game.
  • Reverting the prior changes will reveal that P ranks are present and fully functional, though the requirements are different. The only requirement for a P rank is completing a level with an S rank without losing your combo. In the final game, completing lap 2, collecting the treasure, and doing all 3 secrets were also made necessary for obtaining the rank. Additionnally, there's no unique music for obtaining a P rank in the files, though this doesn't matter anyway since the code for playing rank music has been removed, and the D rank music always plays instead.
• The music system has been rewritten, leaving many tracks that were coded to be used up until this build unused in the files. These tracks include:

Music	Pre-Eggplant Use
mu_hub	Hub
mu_chase	2019 Mansion Pepperman Chase
mu_tutorial	2018-Early 2020 Tutorial
mu_snickchallenge	SAGE 2019 Demo Snick Challenge
mu_snickchallengeend	SAGE 2019 Demo Snick Challenge (2 minutes left)
mu_noiseescape	Early Noise Escape
mu_characterselect	Character Select
mu_dragonlair	Dragon Lair Level
mu_noiseentrance	John Gutter (While playing as the Noise)

Other

• For the first time since the early 2019 Patreon Builds, laps have been reintroduced. They function identically to how they functioned back then, being infinitely usable and not changing the music.
• None of the levels have proper escape times yet, instead using the default 5 minutes and 30 seconds. This is a result of the game switching to a different escape time system sometime around the Rework Build. The system wouldn't be finalized until the Octobe22 Build.
• During Pizza Time, the escape timer now pauses when the player is in a secret room, however points still get depleted as if the timer was still active.
• Pizzaface now chases the player at a faster speed than he did in the Rework build.
• This is the last publicly available build to use GameMaker Studio 2 (and by extension the original music controller object) for its music and sound effects. The final game uses FMOD and stores its audio files in external .bank files.
• At the start of the levels, namely Fast-Food Saloon, Deep Dish 9, Golf, Gnome Forest, and The Crumbling Tower of Pizza, the first cheeseslime will have brighter yellow colors. This is actually an early version of Snotty, as evidenced by the variable to use this palette being "snotty". In the next build, Octobe22, the first Cheeseslime of every level uses the Snotty palette, but this would be heavily reduced to only appearing in Floor 4 in the final game.

• 

  Palette showing that the early Snotty palette has replaced the blue one from previous builds.

• 

  Sprite with early Snotty palette applied.

Main Control Differences from the Final

Peppino

Between Eggplant and the v1.0.184 release, Peppino's had some notable changes to his moveset, perhaps for the better.

Mach Run

Like (most) other builds, Peppino can do a mach run and keep a mach 3 pace when turning. However unlike those builds, the acceleration increase when going from mach 3 to mach 4 has been drastically decreased, making the extra gain of speed appear minimal at best. This was later reverted in the Octobe22 build.

Wallrunning

After one last hiccup, Peppino was re-granted his ability to willingly run on walls. In Eggplant, Peppino has a bit of weight to his wallrun; If he reaches a wall after falling in a downward trajectory, he'll kinda rubberband in a way, gradually picking up the necessary speed to climb that wall instead of instantly having the speed to do it right then and there. It's also required to hold the dash button to start wallrunning when grabbing a wall, as not doing so will make the player hit it as if they grabbed it while on the ground.

Superjump Cancel

After cancelling out of a superjump, the player can move forwards and backwards, giving this move a more floaty feel. It also doesn't allow the player to start wallrunning, instead making them bounce off a wall while backflipping when coming into contact with it.

Uppercut

Much like in the April 2021 builds, Peppino's uppercut can only be performed at a ground level.

Breakdance

In Eggplant, the player has to hold Up to make Peppino breakdance. In the final, this is done by holding the Taunt button instead.

Super Taunt

By this point, the Super Taunt is still visually as it was in the April 2021 builds, however its met requirements are now as they are in the final game.

Shotgun

Since the SAGE 2019 demo, the shotgun was a wide-range weapon that shoots out 3 projectiles at once, in a similar fashion to Contra's "Spread" power-up. Starting with Octobe22, this was changed to be more in line with how it was in the 2018 Halloween Demo, though now with fancy graphics for its blast radius. Also as a holdover from previous builds, the player is required to press the Shoot button to use the shotgun, which was removed in favor of being a temporary replacement for Peppino's grab move.

Enemy Swing

Swinging an enemy by grabbing them while mach running is mostly the same, but if the player hits a wall they'll enter the same bounce-off backflip state as when hitting a wall during a superjump cancel.

Enemy Throw

Throwing enemies is significantly floatier than in the final game, and the player can move while throwing an enemy instead of needing to wait until the action is nearly done.

Gustavo & Brick

A few moves changed here and there, nothing really too out of the ordinary.

Ramming

Gustavo & Brick can dash not unlike Peppino, though their speedcap is already in place. Their max speed animation is instead the one where Brick is biting the air, instead of the one where he's rolling as a ball. They're still capable of ramming into enemies, and pressing Up + Grab still works as one would expect.

Double Jump

The double jump is functionally much different, and might possibly be another scrapped Yoshi allusion; Instead of doing a high second jump whilst Brick curls into a ball, Gustavo does a short double jump as he dismounts Brick, sending the rat plummeting down to whatever beneath. So then how do they wall jump?

Wall Jump

Instead of being part of their double jump, the player is expected to hold the Jump button for longer than they've jumped for. After the duo have landed on the ground, only then will Brick roll into a ball, and thus be able to perform the wall jump. If the Jump button is held for long enough, Brick will bounce pretty high off the ground, with one of the secrets in Gnome Forest being built with this feature in mind.

Visual Differences

HUD

• This build is notably the last available appearance of the Heat Meter underneath the score tally, though most of the functionality from the April 2021 and Rework builds has been taken out, with it only being able to affect the amount of points the player earns from collectables, and the animation speed of some enemies.
• The numbers on the score tally can appear in multiple different colors, ranging from red, green, dark brown, and light brown. In Octobe22 onward, only light brown is used, most likely to make the score tally more easily readable at a glance.
  • Only light brown is also used in this build's pause screen, which is generally unaltered from how it was in the Rework build, minus the removal of showing the player's current rank.
• The rank bubble is now present next to the score meter like the final game, though it only displays a placeholder eggplant icon, due to the ranks for some of the levels not being set yet. However, it still does the rank up/down animation when the player crosses a certain point threshold, even though the icon itself just stays the same.
  • The proper rank bubble icons + fill sprites have been drawn and can be found temporarily unused, with the exception of the P rank bubble.
• There is still shading present on a few of Peppino's TV HUD sprites, which was removed to make it easier to be adjusted for the final game's unlockable palette swap clothes.
• The TV screen transition animation is just a generic TV static effect instead of the final's white-out effect.
• The various combo titles that appear when the player's combo reaches a multiple of five appear above the player instead of below the combo meter.
  • There is also a bug present which prevents any combo title from "Brutal!" onwards from appearing, instead just repeating the previous title.
• The Pizza Time meter is missing the timer in the middle.
• The background during Pizza Time, security alarms in Don't Make A Sound, and the War timer, are also capable of creating a focal blur effect. This was likely removed as it can tend to briefly bugger out some computer screens for a brief frame, and potentially damage the system if it's left lingering.
• This is the last known build to use Pizzaface's old sprites from the Boss builds.

Differences in Levels

John Gutter/Entrance

• The 5th room, the wall above the exit to the 6th room is missing the proper wall tiles, instead being cut off.
• The 2nd secret has a checkpoint, which is absent in the final.
• The entrance to this secret, located in the "Sweden Heaven" room is not obscured, unlike the final game, which is obscured, with the only hint being a detail on the ground.
• In the "Deadly Escape" room, the last ladder is absent, so to access the 3rd secret the player has to jump over a gap, comparably making reaching said secret a bit more difficult.
  • No enemies respawn in said room either.
• The tiny section after that room and most of the next room are missing some collectibles and an enemy, making it very easy to lose your combo.

Pizzascape/Medieval

• This is the last known build where "Spaghetti" plays in the first four interior areas.

Ancient Cheese/Ruin

• The Forknight in the first room has its elite variable set to true, making it use its otherwise unused rage attack.
• This is the last known build where "Theatrical Mischief" is used instead of "Put On A Show!!"
  • The song change is also a bit later in the level than the final.

Bloodsauce Dungeon/Dungeon

• The third secret is entirely different, and doesn't involve the pizza cutters at all.

Oregano Desert/Badlands

• The entire level has been remade from scratch since the Rework build.
• The main sky background lacks the additional layer of dark clouds at the top.
• The other outdoor background has a gradient sky which was replaced with a flat color after the Octobe22 build.
• Two rooms, badlands_6 and badlands_7, are part of the main level. In the final game they were moved to after the room where the UFO drops off the player to make the escape sequence longer, as it's rather short in this build. Escape clocks were also added to those rooms for the same reason.
• A door that goes to an enclosed room which leads to the UFO section is absent; A hallway object with its visibility set to true appears in its wake instead.
• Though their sprites have been drawn and used in the old version of the level, there are no merchants in any of the Pizzamarts yet, so no "unnecessary violence" to be found here.

Wasteyard

• Due to the track used in the final game not actually being finished by the time this build was released on Patreon, "Phantom Tower" is played instead.
• The Ghost transformation functions differently; instead of collecting ghost peppers to move faster and break ghost blocks, the player can just press the Dash button to dash at a set speed and the form is only used to move through cheese grater blocks and defeat Grandpa Peppers that block the way.
• Most of the rooms that utilize the Ghost transformation are constructed differently, acting more like obstacle courses with multiple Priests to dodge, instead of linear puzzles.
• The 2nd secret's layout is identical, though its setup is vastly different; Instead of the player going through a one-way path as a ghost flying past some Bandito Chickens, the player starts at the end of the room, as they travel to the start while dodging various Grandpa Peppers. Then they pick up the Ghost transformation and head back while ramming into the Grandpa Peppers to destroy them.
• The John Ghost that chases the player during the escape only has two frames of animation compared to the final's eight frames.

Prototype	Final

• The escape is also missing the room graveyard_9b.

Fun Farm/Farm

• The tileset is still using the old staircase sprites from the Western build, complete with incorrectly colored step.
• The first secret with the Potato Farmers is different, and there aren't as much of them in it.

Fastfood Saloon/Saloon

• The hidden area to the left of the entrance door in the first room is missing.
• The first background sprite doesn't loop properly.
• The beer bottles that the player can knock over are absent.
• Flush cards don't float towards the score tally once they're all flipped.
  • They also don't add time to the Combo meter.
• Horsey moves slower compared to the final game.
• The Horsey race cages are smaller, this was changed likely due to it being unintentionally possible to obtain the Toppin inside even if the race has been lost.
• The Weenie Mount transformation controls differently, instead of simply staying put, it bounces up and down constantly and turning happens instantaneously without an animation.
  • It is also missing its own TV Hud sprite.
• The first secret room is shorter, and lacks obstacles.

Crust Cove/Plage

• There are no visible red X marks to distinguish where a Treasure Guy is hiding.
• Despite having sprites of his early design in the files that were used in the previous build, Captain Goblin doesn't visibly appear during the sections of the level where he shoots cannonballs at the player.
• The path to the third secret is different, requiring the player to take an upper path, rather than parrying a cannonball.
• The ditch between rapids near Pillar John contains a bottomless pit, instead of a hidden PTG.

Gnome Forest

• "Wudpecker" plays for the entire level, instead of starting with "mmm yes put the tree on my pizza" as Peppino and changing when the player switches to Gustavo.
• There are more Peppino and Gustavo swap areas, unlike the final where only one is present.

Golf

• Some of the Greaseball's collectables use monochrome placeholder art.
• The secret involving the Golf Demons is different, being more similar to Fun Farm's first Secret in the final game.

The Pig City/Street

• The bacon room doesn't have its own tileset nor the bacon god yet, and "Bite The Crust" continues to play here instead of "Meatophobia".
• Only two secrets can be accessed in normal play, as one of them was accidentally left out of the level.

Peppibot Factory/Industrial

• The tileset for the first two areas is practically unaltered from its use for the City level in the April 2021 hotfix (so the foreground wall tiles are purple instead of blue, for instance).
• The only Weenie enemies present are of the Elite variant, however they do not expel a can of whoop after their defeat.
• The spring object is the basic present with a boxing glove in it, rather than the stylized ones seen in the final game.
• Peppibots take multiple hits to defeat, instead of one like most other enemies.
• A hidden trigger point for extra collectibles can be found in industrial_2, near some dash panels.
• The first secret is very different, instead involving the player being expected to use a present box to be launched up into some Elite Weenies, rather than avoiding their afterdeath Whoop attack as they one-by-one run into a wall of electrical sockets.
• "Pizza Engineer" continues to play into the factory interior portion of the level, rather than switching to "Peppino's Sauce Machine".
• The various Peppibot decorations are missing.
• The 2nd Secret has a slightly different layout, and exploding the rat isn't required to exit out of the secret.
• The brief ball transformation segment in industrial_4 uses the re-spawning dough blocks seen in some areas of the Rework build.
• There are dash panels in industrial_5 that Peppino in the pizzabox transformation can interact with for additional speed.
• The sloped part near Pillar John can be entirely jumped over, as there are no enclosed walls guarded by Stupid Rats.
• The 3rd secret has a different layout, and no rats to kill, purely putting focus on the pizzabox transformation's ability to hover.
• The escape portion of industrial_2 has the first few platforms separated by ladders rather than cheese blocks. The Peppibots also don't respawn in subsequent laps.
• A teleporter object during the escape portion of industrial_1 hasn't been made invisible.
• The exit door doesn't have a unique sprite for when it's being carried up by a grabbie hand.
• The treasure door doesn't have a shortcut to the exit door right next to it, so when the player grabs the treasure, they're expected to go back down to where that door is manually.

Refrigerator-Refrigerador-Freezerator/Freezer

• The temperature bar at the right of the screen is always present in the main level, however it remains empty, as the old gimmick it was made for is no longer used.
• Peppino has a different, less lively animation for using the jet packs.
• The first secret has less spawning Snowmen, making getting to the end notably less easy.
• One of the rooms has a big ➡️ hanging around over a wide pit.
• "Celsius Troubles" doesn't play in any of the later rooms.
• The 2nd Secret has a lot of respawning dough blocks in lieu of extra jet packs (the primary ones are still there, however).
• The Pepper Pizza as it's presented in the final game is still a work-in-progress, and is not located in its own exclusive room; It uses a temp sprite of The Noise using his jet pack, and when Peppino reaches it, he will be granted what is temporarily dubbed "The Super Jet Pack".
  • Instead of being able to infinitely spin mid-air, this instead gives the player an extra double-jump.
  • "On The Rocks" doesn't play when the player has the super jet pack equipped.
• The 3rd Secret, although the layout is identical, also comes bundled with respawning dough blocks on account of the power-up only acting as a double jump at this point in development.

Pizzascare

• One of the more noticeable differences from the Eggplant builds to the final is that there are no priests to grant Peppino the power to kill the ghosts in Pizzascare, which makes the level slightly harder as a result.
• Some teeny tiny layout differences are also present here and there.
• A few animated decorations of "The Doise" and "Peddito" are absent.

Don't Make A Sound/Kids Party

• The Pineapple Toppin Monster is able to jumpscare the player if they run into a Toppin Monster awoken by the Pineapple one.
• The TV screen transition plays between jumpscare animations.
• All three secrets in the level are vastly different, and contain no Toppin Monster chases, nor any enemies in general.

WAR

The entire level is a lot more different in the final. A few comparisons can be drawn:

• The timer, alongside "Thousand March", start pretty much as soon as the level starts, unlike the final where both only start when the Shotgun is obtained instead.
• The timer in the HUD is noticeably taller; It would be shrunken down in the Octobe22 build, due to it originally occupying too much space.
• All of the collectible points are the regular pizza toppings, rather than the clocks that respawn between laps.
• The secrets and Gerome's closet are nowhere to be seen, as judged with the lack of both the Treasure (Eggplant) and Secret counter in the level select.
  • The Lap 2 portal is also absent; First because it's infinitely useable in this build, and 2nd because it wasn't initially built like other levels (noting the lack of secrets and Gerome).

Early Music

The Death I Deservioli

Despite not being used in this build, The Death I Deservioli (internally called mu_chase) has been updated from the version that was in the files of all previous builds since early 2019. This version is very close to the final, but the ending bit at 2:11 is different.

Tunnely Shimbers

To do: Give description, I don't know how to describe the changes very well

Unused Graphics

Pepperman arena

• 

  Pepperman’s old arena.

An early sprite for Pepperman’s arena. This version has more art elements and depth in it than the final game’s version, but many decorations on the wall were reused on the walls of the final design.

Unused Rooms

Unfinished Hub

An unfinished version of the hub world from the final game is present in this build. Every floor is completely untiled, lacks a boss gate (and by extension Mr. Stick), lacks the Chef Task doors, lacks any secrets, lacks music, and the enemies for The Crumbling Tower of Pizza aren't set to only appear during the escape sequence.

• The Entrance Hall is significantly longer than in the final game. It lacks the level gate for the tutorial, as it doesn't exist yet. Entering it also puts the player out of bounds, as it doesn't have a door object to place the player at the entrance gate.
• The first floor is the most different, having no exclusive room for John Gutter's level gate and a completely different layout.
• Floor 2 has a pretty similar layout to the final version, though it has an odd foreground layer featuring what appears to be deserty-looking ground. This layer is still present in the final version, but set to be invisible. Floor 2 is also the last floor to have its own background, as every one after this uses the first floor's background as a placeholder.
• Floor 3's layout is mostly the same, but it has a narrow gap to enter the path that leads to Deep-Dish 9's level gate and the door to the next floor is where the Noise's boss gate is in the final game.
• Floor 4's layout is the same, but the door you enter it from is where the floor to the next floor is in the final game, and the door to the next floor is where Fake Peppino's boss gate is in the final game.
• Floor 5's layout is the same, but the door to Pizzaface's boss fight instead takes the player directly to The Crumbling Tower of Pizza.

Early Crumbling Tower of Pizza

The music that plays in the level is internally called mu_finalescape, but instead of being "Bye Bye There!" as one would expect, the file is actually just a slap sound effect. This may have been to annoy dataminers trying to play the level early, as the sound effect repeatedly loops throughout the entire level. The level itself is entirely untiled, is missing all the followers, and has some sections that would be changed in the final version.

Early Boss Rooms

3 of the 4 bosses from the April 2021 Build have been reworked, this being the final major attempt at changing how bosses work before the final boss system was created sometime between this build and the Octobe22 Build. They're all broken and unfinished, sometimes requiring modifications to work properly. All the bosses are on a timer that initiates the game over sequence after running out, but killing the bosses does nothing so it's impossible to avoid this.

Mr. Stick's unused boss fight is completely unchanged from the version found in the April 2021 build's files, indicating that he had already been scrapped by this point. Fake Peppino's fight hasn't yet begun development.

boss_pepperman

In this fight, Pepperman jumps around the room to some switches, dropping a placeholder marble block when he reaches one. He then charges at the last statue he placed, getting stunned if he hits one. If he hits the player at any time he'll jump offscreen and fall down to another switch, spawning another block. Picking up and throwing him kills him instantly, making this a rather short fight.

boss_vigilante

Appears to be a loop-around race with the Vigilante. He'll run if he's inside the player's view and walk if he's outside it, but he always accidentally hits a plug and kills himself near the start, ending the fight. Continuing down the course reveals that it's pretty short and simple, featuring only a few basic platforms and a platform with spikes on the side that Mort can be used to get on top of (although uppercutting also works) before looping around to the start again.

boss_noise

This fight spawns you in as Gustavo, although Brick will disappear due to some variables not being set correctly, which makes the fight unbeatable. Fixing the issues or modding the game to enter the room from one of Gustavo's sections in either of his levels can circumvent this. This fight takes place in a small arena of sorts. At the start of the fight, the Noise places dynamite on one of the platforms. Touching it will make Brick enter his caught state, though hitting him will return him to normal. Hitting the Noise as Gustavo alone makes him spin and hurt the player, but hitting him with Brick kills him instantly.

boss_pizzaface

One of the few remnants of the Pizzaface fight present in this build. The boss object itself is missing, so the fight ends up being nothing more than a platform in an orange void. It's worth nothing that the platform doesn't cover the side of the screen, implying that the player and/or Pizzaface could fall off the level during the fight.

boss_pizzaface_p3

Another remnant of Pizzaface's boss fight, this time for the third phase. While the room is also empty in this build, it's still left over in the final game's files, where it has an old version of the Pizzahead phase 3 object. However, the object in the final game crashes the game due to it trying to call deleted scripts, which leaves very little insight into what the fight was like around this time.

Differences between Builds

To do: Add differences.