Pizza Nostra! - Crime and Comedy in the 30's

Khristian Cammilleri · Mon 24/06/2013 20:23:14

[embed=425,349]<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IP0DKDd5Y04" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/embed]

Pizza Nostra!
Part I
Chicago 1930, Joe Matone a petty thief, is caught by the police in a confusing episode.
A desperate police officer with a serious problem offers him freedom if Matone meets the tough mission
to infiltrate the dangerous Muzzarelli Family, in order to save his kidnapped daughter.
Therefore, Joe will get involved in a great adventure, with many plot twists, difficult decisions, lies, betrayals and violence.

Featuring:

Over 100 rooms
Tons of characters
Minigames
Intuitive interface
Music from the '30 era!

Steal!

Kill!

Blackmail!

Earn your freedom!

This is the webpage:
http://pizzanostra.webs.com/

Game page:

For Hints & Tips: HERE

Screenshots

[imgzoom]http://d2bm3ljpacyxu8.cloudfront.net/width/680/pizzanostra.webs.com/PizzaNostra%202013-02-10%2016-52-37-62.jpg[/imgzoom]
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cacaro · Mon 24/06/2013 20:27:03

This looks amazing. I'll definately try it.

gspit1124 · Mon 24/06/2013 21:15:45

This game looks amazing! Trying it now! Thank you!

Phemar · Mon 24/06/2013 22:39:59

Hi there! This game looked really promising from the trailer and I was quite excited to start playing it... however!

The next bit might sound quite harsh, but here a few thoughts so far.

1. I haven't managed to get past the first puzzle. I'm guessing the combination is under a floorboard, but I've tried EVERY single plank there is, to no avail. There's nothing else I can do in the room, so it has to be there somewhere, right? I think it's really unfair to force a puzzle like this on a player (especially a first puzzle). I ended up rage-quitting after 20 minutes of non-stop clicking.
Also, why did he move the painting right in front of the door? And is there another room to the right, or is the illusion that there is just a red herring?

2. I'm guessing English isn't your first language? You should really ask for some help proof-reading before releasing your game. There are quite a few typos/grammar mistakes I picked up, even in the first few rooms.

3. Sometimes bad interface design can be excused in lieu of excellent gameplay/storytelling (as in the Chzo quadrilogy), but the interface here was far from intuitive. It's really annoying to have to cycle back to a walk cursor just to move the player (because for some reason he's not cursor invisible, even though clicking on him results in no action), just because you need to click on a hotspot he's in front of. I know you can walk with the WASD keys, but in a primarily point and click game this is rather redundant.
Also, having to switch back to a pointer mouse just to select an inventory item will get tiring very fast.

4. The inventory should be more easily accessible, or at least show more than just two items at a time.

All that being said, I was really looking forward to this as the trailer looks really cool. Congratulations though on finishing a project of this size, I know it can be quite a daunting task.

And I apologize if I sounded mean, I'm only trying to be constructive. And I guess it's better to know what gripes your players had for future improvement, right?

Khristian Cammilleri · Mon 24/06/2013 22:44:56

Quote from: Phemar on Mon 24/06/2013 22:39:59
Hi there! This game looked really promising from the trailer and I was quite excited to start playing it... however!

The next bit might sound quite harsh, but here a few thoughts so far.

1. I haven't managed to get past the first puzzle. I'm guessing the combination is under a floorboard, but I've tried EVERY single plank there is, to no avail. There's nothing else I can do in the room, so it has to be there somewhere, right? I think it's really unfair to force a puzzle like this on a player (especially a first puzzle). I ended up rage-quitting after 20 minutes of non-stop clicking.
Also, why did he move the painting right in front of the door? And is there another room to the right, or is the illusion that there is just a red herring?

2. I'm guessing English isn't your first language? You should really ask for some help proof-reading before releasing your game. There are quite a few typos/grammar mistakes I picked up, even in the first few rooms.

3. Sometimes bad interface design can be excused in lieu of excellent gameplay/storytelling (as in the Chzo quadrilogy), but the interface here was far from intuitive. It's really annoying to have to cycle back to a walk cursor just to move the player (because for some reason he's not cursor invisible, even though clicking on him results in no action), just because you need to click on a hotspot he's in front of. I know you can walk with the WASD keys, but in a primarily point and click game this is rather redundant.
Also, having to switch back to a pointer mouse just to select an inventory item will get tiring very fast.

4. The inventory should be more easily accessible, or at least show more than just two items at a time.

All that being said, I was really looking forward to this as the trailer looks really cool. Congratulations though on finishing a project of this size, I know it can be quite a daunting task.

And I apologize if I sounded mean, I'm only trying to be constructive. And I guess it's better to know what gripes your players had for future improvement, right?

Spoiler

1.Flowerpot on floor

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Shadow1000 · Mon 24/06/2013 22:49:25

I'm in agreement with the first poster. I gave up at the same time for the same reason. The hint you provided didn't help.

Spoiler

there is no hotspot for the flowerpot

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I'm not abandoning the game completely but I hope it gets more smooth than a 20 minute fruitless pixel hunt..

SHADOW

Khristian Cammilleri · Mon 24/06/2013 22:53:23

Yes.. It does... It doesn't have a name when you move the mouse over it.. Sorry for the mistake!

You can also walk with the middle mouse button

Shadow1000 · Mon 24/06/2013 23:14:37

Quote from: Khristian Cammilleri on Mon 24/06/2013 22:53:23
Yes.. It does... It doesn't have a name when you move the mouse over it.. Sorry for the mistake!

You can also walk with the middle mouse button

Ok, got that now. If the game has the clickable hotspots with captions then they really should all have captions.

SHADOW

Khristian Cammilleri · Mon 24/06/2013 23:19:47

Quote from: Shadow1000 on Mon 24/06/2013 23:14:37
Quote from: Khristian Cammilleri on Mon 24/06/2013 22:53:23
Yes.. It does... It doesn't have a name when you move the mouse over it.. Sorry for the mistake!

You can also walk with the middle mouse button

Ok, got that now. If the game has the clickable hotspots with captions then they really should all have captions.

SHADOW

It's was my mistake, sorry.. I have uploaded the corrected version..

Phemar · Mon 24/06/2013 23:50:26

Cool, well I've made it a bit further and I'm stuck again...

Spoiler

I'm in the prison, and I need something to make my 'body duplicate' seem more real. Any hints on what that could be? I've cut holes in the sheets and scared the morgue guy, placed my prison clothes on my mattress but I can't figure this part out.
I've also noticed quite a few bugs so far

Right now my talking view hasn't been reset back to normal, so I still look like a ghost when I talk!

[close]

Khristian Cammilleri · Mon 24/06/2013 23:53:18

Quote from: Phemar on Mon 24/06/2013 23:50:26
Cool, well I've made it a bit further and I'm stuck again...

Spoiler
I'm in the prison, and I need something to make my 'body duplicate' seem more real. Any hints on what that could be? I've cut holes in the sheets and scared the morgue guy, placed my prison clothes on my mattress but I can't figure this part out.
I've also noticed quite a few bugs so far Right now my talking view hasn't been reset back to normal, so I still look like a ghost when I talk!
[close]

Spoiler

You need some hair (maybe your dear jail mate?)

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For Hints & Tips: HERE

Eric · Tue 25/06/2013 00:03:06

Quote from: Khristian Cammilleri on Mon 24/06/2013 20:23:14

Oh my. That is particularly lovely. You guys are all dropping amazing games while I have no time to play them!

kaput · Tue 25/06/2013 03:05:50

Congrats on the release (been watching this one)! I'll give it a play over the weekend. From what I gather it's pretty jammed packed with different varieties of game-play styles, which is a bonus.

Gotta say, though... It's incredible that even with all the bright flashing lights and signs that people haven't found the hints and tips section of the forum! Heck, folk are still posting modules in the Advanced technical forum

. Ahh, well.

Khristian Cammilleri · Tue 25/06/2013 03:11:37

Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Tue 25/06/2013 03:05:50
Congrats on the release (been watching this one)! I'll give it a play over the weekend. From what I gather it's pretty jammed packed with different varieties of game-play styles, which is a bonus.

Gotta say, though... It's incredible that even with all the bright flashing lights and signs that people haven't found the hints and tips section of the forum! Heck, folk are still posting modules in the Advanced technical forum . Ahh, well.

Well! I'm glad to hear that you are willing to spend the weekend playing my game!

Phemar · Tue 25/06/2013 20:45:25

Quote from: Sunny Penguin on Tue 25/06/2013 03:05:50
Gotta say, though... It's incredible that even with all the bright flashing lights and signs that people haven't found the hints and tips section of the forum! Heck, folk are still posting modules in the Advanced technical forum . Ahh, well.

I was under the impression modules should be posted in the Technical Forum, to be moved by moderators into the Modules forum at a later stage.

I'm a lot further in the game now, and besides the numerous (!!) bugs, I'm starting to enjoy it. But I can't continue unless you increase the walking speed, please!! It was fine while I was in jail and all that, but now I'm doing missions for Tony and suddenly I'm walking at the speed of a snail. I just can't continue like this!

Could you please update the original with a change to the walking speed? (Try not to change anything else, lest it break my savegame!)

Khristian Cammilleri · Tue 25/06/2013 21:01:43

Could you send me a message with the bugs you have spotted please?
I noticed when I was testing that in certain part of the game Joe walks slowly.. I'll try to fix it
pd: After which part you started to walk slowly?

Phemar · Tue 25/06/2013 22:10:48

Quote from: Khristian Cammilleri on Tue 25/06/2013 21:01:43
Could you send me a message with the bugs you have spotted please?
I noticed when I was testing that in certain part of the game Joe walks slowly.. I'll try to fix it
pd: After which part you started to walk slowly?

I can't remember exactly, but pretty much when I started wearing my gangster suit. It might be easier to just add in a slider to let the player adjust the walking speed.

Khristian Cammilleri · Tue 25/06/2013 22:23:39

Quote from: Phemar on Tue 25/06/2013 22:10:48
Quote from: Khristian Cammilleri on Tue 25/06/2013 21:01:43
Could you send me a message with the bugs you have spotted please?
I noticed when I was testing that in certain part of the game Joe walks slowly.. I'll try to fix it
pd: After which part you started to walk slowly?

I can't remember exactly, but pretty much when I started wearing my gangster suit. It might be easier to just add in a slider to let the player adjust the walking speed.

Let's talk privately because I don't want to turn this post into a bug report post!
(Send me a PM)

Armageddon · Wed 26/06/2013 07:04:24

Oh man, the conflicting pixel resolutions and the typos. They burn so much...

Also I stopped after using the safe and pressing every number, never let me leave.

Khristian Cammilleri · Thu 27/06/2013 01:27:33

Quote from: Armageddon on Wed 26/06/2013 07:04:24
Oh man, the conflicting pixel resolutions and the typos. They burn so much...

Also I stopped after using the safe and pressing every number, never let me leave.

Spoiler

Have you tried using the flowerpot on the floor?

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