Good pizza, great pizza sees players take a hands-on approach to making delicious-looking pies for the many customers who enter their custom-made pizzeria.
The game developer sat down with the Tapblaze team to talk about giving the player a chance to express themselves through pizza making, the real-world experiences and fond memories that helped shape the cooking and shop features, and how they developed systems that can create players could meet more for a million different pizza orders.
Good pizza, great pizza see players handing out pizzas to customers. What got you interested in creating a game about running your own pizzeria?
Yuni Cho, Community Marketing Manager: Our CEO, Anthony Lai, grew up in Queens, New York, where people from all cultures and walks of life ate and enjoyed pizza as a universal food. One of his fondest childhood memories was going to a pizza place by the slice and visiting his neighborhood arcade, which later became the inspiration for the overall feel of the hole-in-the-wall pizza place. Good pizza, great pizza.
We were inspired to create a game with the same global and diverse reach through the eyes of pizza manufacturing. After iterations My pizza shop and My pizza shop 2, Good pizza, great pizza finally born. Its unique structure combines a story-driven casual game, a technical business simulator, and a creative pizza-making mechanic.
What thoughts went into the gameplay around the actual pizza making? What appealed to you about creating such a hands-on style of cooking game? How do you think this hands-on game adds to the experience?
Anthony Lai, CEO and Founder of Tapblaze: The original team were big fans of pizza. The original artist even worked for Costco Pizza, and we were looking for an artist with a unique style that would appeal to a universal audience. With a belief in pizza’s global reach and an understanding of how pizza is made, we designed for Good pizza, great pizza.
There is beauty in the art of pizza making. The dough acts as a canvas for whoever makes it. It’s an empty space where everyone can paint a picture, add their own flair and express themselves by making an equally delicious pizza. Hands-on gameplay allows players to personalize their experience and adds realism to the game. It’s important that a game gives players a chance to express themselves, and for us that was pizza.
![Good pizza. Great pizza without the pepperoni. Screenshot Good pizza. Great pizza without the pepperoni. Screenshot](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt740a130ae3c5d529/blt2a4c13d72c468958/6646571678477dd0de793400/Good_Pizza_Great_Pizza_No_Pepperoni.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Images via TapBlaze.
During the game, the food looks pretty tasty Good pizza, great pizza. What visual design ideas help you make food that looks good? What thoughts go into creating a game that will make players hungry?
Come on: The visual idea was to make players crave the pizza they cook in the game. The unique art style combined with the overall warmer tone of the game enhances the appetizing look of the pizza. Each topping also goes through several internal concepts before it is introduced into the game. We think it’s the “beauty in the details” that makes in-game pizza so delicious.
Give it: Our goal is to maintain realism. Many of the pizza orders you see in the game are based on real pizza orders/menus, such as Supreme, Veggie, or Meat Lovers. We wanted to take advantage of the familiarity and nostalgia associated with eating pizza.
With game reviews from real pizzeria employees, we seemed to have really nailed customer realism in particular. Many would write us app reviews about how overwhelmed they were by outrageous but very realistic customer requests, such as no cheese or sauce on a pizza order.
The game’s Steam page mentions that the designer worked at a pizzeria for years and brought that experience to the game. Can you tell us a little bit about how that real-life experience shaped the game? Any stories from your working years that made interesting elements or storylines in the game?
Come on: The original artist worked at Costco Pizza and dreamed of becoming a game artist. But due to lack of experience, no one gave him a chance. As a new gaming startup, TapBlaze saw the artist’s potential and considered his pizza-making experience a bonus for the company.
His real-life experiences ended up shaping the overall feel of the game. The game resembles “indie” in terms of art style, color shades and characters. Characters like the fan-favorite vagrant clients often have a backstory where they come from nothing, like our studio and the game’s original artist.
Give it: We do our best to include slightly modified versions of what we see in our daily lives. The variety of characters in the game are reminiscent of the customers our CEO saw growing up in pizza parlors. We also draw inspiration from the people we encounter in our daily lives; The postman in the game is also the postman who used to come to our office.
![Good pizza Great pizza oven Good pizza Great pizza oven](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt740a130ae3c5d529/blt6e17815de0c7db62/66465767e1e41076306bb3cb/Good_Pizza_Great_Pizza_Oven.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Images via TapBlaze.
What were the thoughts on the cooking equipment that players will be using in the game and how they will be able to upgrade it? How did this equipment further capture the realistic pizzeria experience?
Come on: The cooking equipment was created as a result of finding what pizzerias use to make pizza. The pizza oven is based on those used at Costco and other pizza chains. The “autobuddy” upgrades available in the game came directly from the idea that Costco was saving a lot of money by using their automatic saucer machine.
It aims to capture a realistic pizzeria experience, as everything you see will look like your mom and dad’s pizzeria. Toppings, pizza peels, pizza boxes, and shop decor should remind players of their local pizzeria. The only difference is that the car buddies add a game mechanic to magically quickly place your toppings in the perfect spots.
You claim that over a million unique pizza orders are possible in the game. What kind of work went into creating so many different orders? How did you manage it?
Keian Zhang, game designer: There are thousands of orders broken into four different parts. Essentially, these strings are randomized for each pizza order to create an entirely new order from the last order the player encountered. It’s divided into toppings (with more than 20 different ones to choose from), sauces, number of slices, and extras like double-baked pizza.
When you mix these components together to create an order, over a million order types can be generated.
![Good Pizza Great Pizza Customize your store screenshot Good Pizza Great Pizza Customize your store screenshot](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt740a130ae3c5d529/blt58d3fdc08b51569c/664657b2d6a5363d2c18fabe/Good_Pizza_Great_Pizza_Customize.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Images via TapBlaze.
Players can heavily customize their stores in a variety of ways. Why was this important to you? What thoughts go into the design of beautiful things that players can use to decorate their shops?
Give it: The customizable shop was and still is a very important aspect of the game’s charm. It’s the #1 place where players can show off their style and personality by truly making the pizzeria their own. This is evident in the game’s reviews and communities, where players often share their admiration for decorated shops in numerous “Rate My Shop” posts. This is another form of creative expression for players.
Artists are given a theme and different locations for the decor. After that, they have to create magic. For example, the theme of Halloween in 2021 was “goth”. The artists have designed lavish tableware, blood-red chandeliers, a stucco stove and burgundy “gothic” decorations to match the theme of the vampire’s castle.
You keep updating the game with seasonal events and new content. What are some thoughts on adding something fun to pizza making for certain holidays and seasons? Can you tell us a little bit about developing additional toppings and items for a particular event that you’re particularly proud of?
Come on: First of all, we ask, “How can we make this pizza?” Whether it’s Mother’s Day, summer, Halloween or Christmas, the main thing is to do everything in style.
Mary Le, Narrative Designer at Tapblaze: The latest add-on additions were inspired by how different cultures interpret pizza; some have figs, some have avocado, and others may have duck. We try to broaden the perspectives of our players and tell them about the pizza that people around the world eat. A great way to do it is with new, exciting and sometimes surprising ingredients.
Zhang: We’re especially proud of the 2021 Summer event, where we introduced Avocado Stuffing and Gardening to the game for the first time. It was a huge success as players were able to grow their own pizza ingredients, showcasing a true farm-to-table moment. Players liked it so much that we later added it as a permanent feature to the main game in chapters four and five.