The Unfinished Sarge Game Demo is a demo of Sgt. Crushida Pepper, an intended sequel to Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack! that would have featured Sarge as the protagonist. The demo was officially released on May 15, 2019, as part of the month-long OnionFest celebration. While not a complete game, it does show what the game could have been like if fully developed.
From the Flipline Studios Blog[]
Happy OnionFest Everyone!
As a big “THANK YOU!” to all our fans, here is a playable version of the Unfinished Sarge Game Demo! [2]
Flipline Rewind[]
Hey Everyone!
To celebrate OnionFest, we have an extra-special Flipline Rewind for all of you!
It was January 2007 when we decided to start work on a sequel/spin-off of Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack! We wanted to focus on Papa Louie's main antagonist, Sergeant Crushida Pepper. We now simply refer to him as Sarge.
We wanted the player to see things from the perspective of Sarge immediately after the biggest defeat of his career by Papa Louie. Sarge was demoted in the Onion Army and put on recruitment duty by the Army General.
In order to rise through the ranks and bring glory back to his name, Sarge needed to rebuild the Onion Army one recruit at a time.
This puzzle-platformer was going to be structured around picking up and throwing things. He would recruit new onions by pulling them out of the ground, and use them in battle by tossing them around. Along his journey, he would come across a wide variety of onions. One such group of onions were Rocket Onions. You may have seen them in a past holiday post. Fun fact: our customer, Boomer, was created based off of our old designs for the Rocket Onion.
Some old friends and fresh enemies were to also set to make appearances in the game. Radley Madish was originally created for this game, and was to be the mad scientist who created Rocket Onions. Ever wonder why Jellybacks seem a little out-of-place in our games? That's because they were designed for Sarge's game, and at the time, we had planned out a world that wasn't entirely made up of food-based baddies.
At the time, Flash games were still at their infancy and they were still a few years from reaching their peek. During that time, many companies and portals were experimenting with different ways to monetize Flash games. While ad-revenue was just starting to pick up for Flash games, the emerging concept of Microtrans for free games were being beta tested in the form of Kongregate’s Kreds and Mochi Media’s Mochi-Coins.
By the end of planning, we had decided on an episodic style for the game. As Papa Louie's ad revenue was not sustainable at the time, we decided that Sarge’s game would be divided into many Episodes. Each episode would then have three chapters. The first chapter was free, while the remaining two would be unlocked by our favorite salesman, Big Pauly. He would sell you a key to unlock the rest of the map via a small in-game purchase.
Being episodic, the gameplay would be very story and character driven. Lots of NPCs and story based goals for each of the levels. Looking back at the plans, it sounds like a pretty fun game. [3]
Baddie List[]
Episodes and Levels[]
There is only one level in the demo, but the full game would have had episodes, each with 10 levels grouped into 3 chapters. Each episode would have focused on one new type of onion, with the first episode introducing normal onions and rocket onions. Boss fights would have occurred at Levels 3, 6, and 10, with Radley Madish, a large Papa Louie Scarecrow, and Grootus Maximus, respectively. [4]
Episode 1: Where the Gourdos Grow [5]
- Chapter 1
- Level 1: Onion's O' Plenty
- Level 2: All Eye's on the Sky
- Level 3: Rank and File
- Chapter 2
- Level 4: Mooner Ranch
- Level 5: Cannons to the Clouds
- Level 6: The Overgrown Greenhouse
- Chapter 3
- Level 7: Stormy Stormy Night
- Level 8: The Great Melon Harvest
- Level 9: Through the Multi-Grain Fields
- Level 10: The Impenetrable Castle Barn
Legacy[]
Although the game never did pass this stage of development, many of the game elements and concepts that were used did wind up appearing elsewhere in Flipline Studios' catalog of games.
- Boomer was inspired by the Rocket Onions that were to be a part of this game.
- Jellybacks eventually made their appearance in Papa Louie 2: When Burgers Attack! and returned in Papa Louie 3: When Sundaes Attack! and Slider Scouts.
- Furthermore, the game engine used in both Papa Louie 2 and 3 is based off the one that would have been used in this game. Some animation from Sarge's game also found its way to the aforementioned games.
- In Remnants of Skystone, "enemies and mission ideas from Sarge’s game [appeared], albeit in a much more edgy/grittier fashion."
- Wrangling cute cow-like Mooners back to their mother became guiding explosive Embermites to their targets.
- Fuzzy Slender-Foots became creepy Stiltskins.
- Bonnie and Yalanda are inspired by two enemies from the game, possibly due to in Papa's Cluckeria To Go!, they escape prision once all of the customers are served.
- In Expedition Munchmore, several of the characters (Gourdos and Feathered Daloons) encountered by Ripley share names and sometimes design with concept art from the game
Gallery[]
Promotional Material[]
Concept Art[]
Miscellaneous[]
