Papa Louie

The Papa Louie series is a series of platforming and time management^[1] video games created by Flipline Studios. The first installment, Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack!, was released as a free-to-play Flash game on November 9, 2006,^[2] with future games being released on mobile devices (under the To Go! subtitle) and Steam.^[3] The web games were initially impacted by the shutdown of Adobe Flash on December 31, 2020,^[4] but can be played on websites including Cool Math Games using Flash Player emulators such as AwayFL and Ruffle.^[5]

Playing as either a preselected male or female character or a custom character, players are tasked with running one of Papa Louie's various fast food restaurants. The time management games (or Gamerias) typically involve four stations: One for taking orders, two for cooking and preparing food, and a final station for plating and serving the finished meal. Players are tasked with accurately and quickly completing customers' orders, which awards them tips and points that contribute to the player's rank. Accurate orders also reward the player with stars that can promote a customer to Bronze, Silver, or Gold awards, which increase tips, the speed at which customers order, and the amount of points they give.^[6][7] In later games, earning enough points rewards the player with tickets that can be used to play minigames. These minigames can reward the player with cosmetic items.

Unique customers include various closers, who give complex orders at the end of the work day, and Jojo the Food Critic, who orders something new each time and gives a Blue Ribbon that temporarily boosts tips for 3 days if served properly. In some entries of the series, customers can order via a delivery phone or sit down in the dining room. The ultimate goal of the game is to unlock Papa Louie as a customer. In Gamerias up until Papa's Freezeria, this is done by achieving a Gold award for every other customer in the game. In subsequent entries, the criteria was changed to reaching a certain rank, which is typically rank 65 during the last unlockable holiday.

Tips earned from completing orders can be used by the player to purchase kitchen upgrades, decor, and clothing. In Cupcakeria, seasonal holidays were introduced that boost the decor points of holiday related items and increase the amount of tips awarded when the player's character is wearing a holiday related outfit.

The first game featuring Papa Louie was the platformer Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack!, which was released on November 9, 2006. The game stars the titular chef, who must run and jump through various food-themed locations to save his kidnapped customers. After the success of this game, developer Flipline Studios transitioned to full-time game development and began work on a spin-off, Papa's Pizzeria, starring Papa Louie's nephew, Roy. The game was released in 2007 to even more success than its predecessor.^[8]

After Papa's Pizzeria was released, Flipline Studios began to expand.^[4] In total, there are 17 different games that fall under the Papa Louie series. Due to their names all ending in -ia, the Papa Louie games are often generally referred to as Gamerias.^[9]

Since 2012, Gamerias designed for mobile phones and tablets have been released on Google Play and the App Store, making them accessible on mobile devices.^[3] Throughout the years, these games have performed successfully. In 2018, Papa's Scooperia HD was in the top 10 in paid iPad games in the UK, and Papa's Freezeria To Go! was in the top 10 in paid iPhone games in the UK.^[10] The success of these games has continued for nearly a decade, with Papa's Freezeria To Go! being the sixth top paid iPhone game in 2023, according to Apple.^[11]

A remake of Papa's Freezeria, Papa's Freezeria Deluxe, was released on Steam in 2023 to "overwhelmingly positive" reviews.^[4][12][13]

Flipline IDS LLC, also known as Flipline Studios, is an American video game development company which mainly produces online games, mobile games, and PC games made in Adobe Flash. It was founded by Matt Neff and Tony Solary in 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio. Flipline Studios is best known for producing the Papa Louie series.

Matt Neff and Tony Solary were two digital arts students at the Cleveland Institute of Art.^[15] During their time at college, they made The Mawglin: Rise of the Half-Breed, a side-scrolling role-playing game, and worked with clients such as Donley's, a construction company^[16] and the Cleveland Museum of Art.^[17]

After graduation, Neff and Solary wanted to make a digital design company, and founded Flipline Interactive Design Studios (shortened to Flipline IDS) in May 2004. It initially focused on web animation and web design, while continuing to work with clients. Their first product was an unreleased television series set in Antarctica, named Freezing Pointe. Jurgen Faust said about its creation, "Neff and Solary made more money than they paid tuition". He also said that they were capable of making a business before they started.^[16]

The name Flipline was decided in college while trying to find a name that rhymes with "design" and had a .com domain that was not taken. Initially, Neff and Solary wanted to use the name "Flipline Design", but they forwent this idea after graduation because it "sounded a little too rhyme-y."^[18]

Other personal projects made by them during this time include 555 Modified, a clothing shop for punk rock bands and FlipChat, a messaging service. They also went under the trade name of Frozen Dinner Studios.^[19][20]

On February 28, 2005, Neff and Solary legally established Flipline IDS LLC.^[14]

In 2006, Flipline discontinued Freezing Pointe and started releasing Adobe Flash games. Their first games were Guppy Guard Express and Meteor Blastor. Later that year, they released Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack!, starting the Papa Louie series. In 2007, Flipline completely moved away from web design and officially transitioned to strictly creating Flash games.^[15]

In 2018, Flipline launched their last web game to run on Adobe Flash, Papa's Scooperia. In 2020, they moved away from the Adobe Flash platform when Adobe announced its discontinuation.^[21]

In 2019, Flipline announced that they would stop making "HD" games, as their "To Go!" games could be played on both small and large screen sizes from then on.

In 2023, Flipline released their first game on Steam, Papa's Freezeria Deluxe.^[22] The next year, they remastered their original Gameria, releasing Papa's Pizzeria Deluxe.

• Papa's flash games on The Flash Museum