23 replies to this topic

[HomeBrand Gaming]

The game has been completed! Download it from here:

http://sandbox.yoyog...---tides-of-war


View the game's new thread to comment and critique:

http://gmc.yoyogames...howtopic=540256


See the story trailer released May 5th 2012 to learn more about the game!

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 19 May 2012 - 03:54 AM.

[jackyboyhenry]

Please do not post two topics of the same thing in the wip section of the forums, it annoys people.

Edited by jackyboyhenry, 24 June 2011 - 07:19 PM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

PENS 3: TIDES OF WAR is nearing a fourth and final beta release! Currently, all missions are developed (but some are very glitchy), and half of the game's music has been made by superb composers and has been implimented into the game. This fourth and final beta is roughly one to two months away from release, after being in development for four months!

The following screenshot is of a very important key point in the story. I won't spoil any of the details, but it is a very important story point.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

PENS 3: TIDES OF WAR makes use of five brand-new, never-before-seen-in-a-PENS-game weapons. Some weapons have been improved from what they were in PENS 1, improved in such a way that they are essentially new weapons. The improved weapons are the Spike - a more powerful Punch, the Pistol - an improved Shotgun (a pistol stronger than a shotgun, you say? They're Pens; they do things differently to us), and the Cannon - a drastically modified and improved Bazooka without the arching trajectory. The brand-new weapons are the Ectoplasm Launcher - which causes immediate self-combustion, and the Holy-Crap-O-Matic - the mother of all explosive devices.

Want to know what the Holy-Crap-O-Matic does? This shrunken screenshot should give you a pretty good idea...



The fourth beta of PENS 3: TIDES OF WAR will be released within two weeks. It will include all of the game's missions and its story (told through temporary default text boxes), but the game is not yet complete. The release date for the completed version of the game is March-May 2012.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:01 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

Download the new beta! http://sandbox.yoyog...s-of-war-beta-4

When an enemy from the past returns for revenge, only one unnamed pen grip can rise up and save his species from annihilation! Battle through 13 action-packed missions to uncover a tale of conspiracy and quirky humour.

Battle foes with 5 unique weapons!
Explore a massive open-world environment!
Laugh out loud with ridiculous parodies of famous games and wacky jokes!
Engage 5 ruthless bosses!

The beta has it all... some of it glitchy, though, but I'm still open for critique and feedback so I can change or fix things for the final version which releases before the end of May.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:02 AM.

[TheUltimate]

I had your game sitting around on my hard drive for a couple of weeks, so I decided to try it and was pleasantly surprised. It was entertaining and has a pretty good length. Kinda surprising that there haven't been any other replies, to be honest, but it's nice to see you continuing to work on it despite that fact.

Couple of things:
=== Maybe a bit more background info? I could piece together what happened in the previous games, but it would still be nice.
=== The Holy-Crap-O-Matic is awesome. Lol.
=== I liked all the sound effects and stuff too, especially how you can tell which weapon you have selected without having to look. I also liked the explosion animation a lot.
=== If you're too far to the right during the part where the Spring King breaks the ground, you'll stay above ground and get stuck at that part.
=== Police boxes can only be used with $100, not $10.
=== Either attacking should be when you hit the key instead of when you release it, or you should have your own dialogue boxes. I have wasted SO many bullets because I always hit space to advance those grey boxes.
=== Sometimes there are way too many enemies on-screen and the game will lag, since they seem to respawn when they’re outside the view. Another thing I noticed is that they can't really be outrun, so all you can do is turn and spam the punch attack so you end up killing them faster than they can hurt you, and you still end up with full health.
=== There should be some more variety with bosses and enemies... So far, every enemy just follows you around so they can get close enough to hit you, and all you do during bosses is jump and avoid attacks while waiting for that lone bullet to appear. It gets kind of old after a while, and it’s a bit of a nuisance to have your attacks taken away from you.

Anyway, good game! I liked it.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

[HomeBrand Gaming]

I had your game sitting around on my hard drive for a couple of weeks, so I decided to try it and was pleasantly surprised. It was entertaining and has a pretty good length. Kinda surprising that there haven't been any other replies, to be honest, but it's nice to see you continuing to work on it despite that fact.

Couple of things:
=== Maybe a bit more background info? I could piece together what happened in the previous games, but it would still be nice.
=== The Holy-Crap-O-Matic is awesome. Lol.
=== I liked all the sound effects and stuff too, especially how you can tell which weapon you have selected without having to look. I also liked the explosion animation a lot.
=== If you're too far to the right during the part where the Spring King breaks the ground, you'll stay above ground and get stuck at that part.
=== Police boxes can only be used with $100, not $10.
=== Either attacking should be when you hit the key instead of when you release it, or you should have your own dialogue boxes. I have wasted SO many bullets because I always hit space to advance those grey boxes.
=== Sometimes there are way too many enemies on-screen and the game will lag, since they seem to respawn when they’re outside the view. Another thing I noticed is that they can't really be outrun, so all you can do is turn and spam the punch attack so you end up killing them faster than they can hurt you, and you still end up with full health.
=== There should be some more variety with bosses and enemies... So far, every enemy just follows you around so they can get close enough to hit you, and all you do during bosses is jump and avoid attacks while waiting for that lone bullet to appear. It gets kind of old after a while, and it’s a bit of a nuisance to have your attacks taken away from you.

Anyway, good game! I liked it.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

Thank you! :D

The problems you have had with the Spring King and the textboxes will be fixed, as I figured out the problem with the Spring King, and I am removing those textboxes - they're there temporarily so that players understand the story.

I have planned to add a bit more info about the back-story to the game, but I haven't put it in yet.

The bosses are so similar because I ran out of ideas. I do plan on making them less repetitive. I made it so they 'leech' your Ammo away so that you actually have to play the boss properly - but because they're so similar it's just a nuisance. This repetitiveness will be solved once I have more ideas.

Enemies are similar so that you actually have a fighting chance. I suppose I could change some of them to make them a bit different. I didn't realise that they were too fast, I'll work on that. I'll lower the enemy count so that there's less of a chance of lag.

Thanks for the comment about the explosion animation - it took me four hours to animate!

Looks like I forgot to change one of the textboxes for Police Alerters... I thought I changed them all to $100. Oh well, it's an easy fix. They used to cost $10, but it was too easy to get the police to leave you alone.

Once again, thank you! I finally have feedback :D

I plan to release the final version somewhere between December this year and March next year. All problems will be solved!

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 09 February 2012 - 07:30 PM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

Development is continuing! There will be no new beta releases, but to allow anyone who's interested in a zany teenager ranting on about a video game he's been working on for five years listen to a zany teenager rant on about a video game he's been working on for five years, I will now rant on about a video game I've been working on for five years.

Since the release of PENS 3: TIDES OF WAR - BETA 4 on August 20th 2011, the number of plays it has received has risen to over 200 - becoming my most-played game to date. It has also received a rating of 4.8 out of 5 from six members. This universal praise has kept me in high spirits to keep working on the game, and I have already fixed every problem that has been spotted in BETA 4... and much more.

A number of the fixes, additions and changes that have been done since the release include:
- The glitch with the Spring King has been fixed.
- The glitch with the final boss has been fixed.
- The menus have been completed.
- The height of the world has been increased slightly, to allow the player to be at the centre of the screen the entire time.
- Some dialogue has been edited further.
- The electrical barriers have had a visual face-lift.
- The tutorial default text boxes have been replaced with their final version counterpart.
- The credits have been completely rewritten to reflect some unfortunate family events and to fix problems with the previous credits.
- The glitch with the final mission has been fixed.
- Music quality has been lowered, reducing file size by 4 MB.
- Several glitches with mission 11 have been fixed.
- And much more...

These fixes and changes won't be seen by the public until the release of the final version during April - May, but for those of you who may be following development, this is to let you know that the project is still going strong. If possible, I hope to release a trailer for the game before the end of the year.

As a little sneak peek of what else is coming in the final release, here's a small teaser list:

1) Fully voiced storyline complete with subtitles - over 300 lines of recorded dialogue!
2) Fully fleshed out back-story to fill in the gaps for those who haven't played the previous two games!
3) Three all-new bonus weapons!
4) A multitude of Extras that detail the unstable development of the game and so much more!
5) A vast achievement system with over 20 achievable achievements!
6) True cutscenes!
7) For the first time, you can truly understand what Big Bad Bob parodies!
8) And so much more!

PENS 3 is likely among the largest games developed with Game Maker of all time!

I am also remaking the first Pens game (which was a complete disaster, looking back at it) under the new title PENS: RELOADED. I plan to release this remake before PENS 3.

And now I have ranted on about a video game I've been working on for five years. Enjoy the rest of your day, go buy an ice-cream, play some video games, and go to bed. You've just exhausted the rest of your day. And you've just spent the last thirty seconds reading a forum post that ended... a long time ago... Okay, it hasn't ended, but it has now.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 20 March 2012 - 05:07 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

607 views, 1 comment, and me talking to myself about upgrades to the game no one seems willing to comment on? I feel slightly upset about that But I will finish the game, no matter what happens here.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 27 September 2011 - 05:53 AM.

[TheUltimate]

607 views, 1 comment, and me talking to myself about upgrades to the game no one find interesting enough to comment on? I feel slightly upset about that :sad: But I will finish the game, no matter what happens here.

Here's something important you should definitely know: The GMC isn't the only place you can post your game.

There are a LOT of sites where you can show off what you've created, and if you're truly looking for more attention, you should post it in several other places, like the YYG forums, GameJolt, Tigsource (I think that's what it's called), etc. It's what I'm doing as soon as I finish the new version of my game.

Don't worry if people aren't giving you much feedback. I've seen other good games go completely unnoticed on this forum, so you're not the only one. The more places you put it in, the better the chances are that you'll find more people who will give feedback.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

[HomeBrand Gaming]

607 views, 1 comment, and me talking to myself about upgrades to the game no one find interesting enough to comment on? I feel slightly upset about that But I will finish the game, no matter what happens here.

Here's something important you should definitely know: The GMC isn't the only place you can post your game.

There are a LOT of sites where you can show off what you've created, and if you're truly looking for more attention, you should post it in several other places, like the YYG forums, GameJolt, Tigsource (I think that's what it's called), etc. It's what I'm doing as soon as I finish the new version of my game.

Don't worry if people aren't giving you much feedback. I've seen other good games go completely unnoticed on this forum, so you're not the only one. The more places you put it in, the better the chances are that you'll find more people who will give feedback.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

Thanks I feel a bit better now
I was actually pondering posting it on GameJolt, but I'm not so sure about it yet. I was planning it to be a YYG Sandbox exclusive, but it may end up on GameJolt as well.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

This is big BIG news for me... I suppose most of you folks out there on the GMC think otherwise, but it's still big news for me. Thanks to YoYo Sandbox member Nik, the enemy AI has been fixed - they can no longer see through walls! Trollsplatterer is helping with enemy animation glitches, and there's been a change with one of the characters - namely he's not a 'he' anymore... she's a 'she', and there will definately be a voice actor for her. Besides this, there's also voice actors for the other characters as well.

That is all for now. The final version of the game will be released before the end of May this year.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:03 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

Unsure about the game? Don't know what it's like from screenshots? Then have a look at the game in action! The trailer showcases several of the game's strongest points, as well as showing you what things look like in motion! It doesn't spoil everything, leaving enough mystery about the game to make it exciting when you actually play! You can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=6TtQQo2GkL4

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:04 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

It is a great time regarding development of PENS 3! Four voice actors have signed on to voice characters, one has delivered all of their lines, and the other three are on their way! A lot of the game's previous dialogue has been minorly-to-heavily edited to improve some jokes and tell certain story points better.

Gameplay-wise, all that needs to be completed is the cutscenes. The game has been vigorously tested since the beta's release and many, many glitches have been eliminated and new features added. After completion of the cutscenes, the game will then be ready for release!

If development continues at this speed, the game will be ready for its March-May release.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:06 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

And here comes an update, two months since the previous. And good news just keeps on coming!

1 - Every piece of dialogue has been recorded and is ready to be put into the game!

2 - Every bonus can be accessed (and if necessary, unlocked)!

3 - It is possible to gain all 25 G Achieves!

4 - Over 50 tweaks and fixes to the overall game!

5 - Boss battle encounters have been drastically improved!

6 - A system has been developed that allows you to view your progress in the game!

7 - And more...

With March just a few weeks away, it will be very likely that the planned March 20th release date will be met. I'm hoping to release a story trailer within two weeks.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

Well, it's getting close. All that needs to be finished is 95 subtitles, and the insertion of the final cutscenes, and PENS 3 is completed. After a grueling six years, this mammoth of a project is finally almost ready for its completed release.

Also, the remake of Pens 1 has been released. It could almost be considered a teaser for PENS 3 because of the major overhaul of everything in the game. If you are interested in seeing some of what PENS 3 will be like and also heavily improve upon, you can download the remake, PENS: RELOADED at this link:

http://sandbox.yoyog...pens---reloaded

[TheUltimate]

Well, I spotted this topic and it reminded me that I still haven't finished playing the beta, so I opened it, accidentally hit New Game, aaannnddd... it deleted my game file! That's something you'll probably want to fix before the final release...
Still a cool game though.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

[HomeBrand Gaming]

Well, I spotted this topic and it reminded me that I still haven't finished playing the beta, so I opened it, accidentally hit New Game, aaannnddd... it deleted my game file! That's something you'll probably want to fix before the final release...
Still a cool game though.

◊ TheUltimate ◊

That issue you had with accidentally overwriting your saved game is a problem I realised just after releasing the beta. Because of the deactivation programming that has gone into the game, it has broken several default Game Maker functions that require a LOT of additional programming to work around, so there's still only going to be one in the final release, but when you click 'New Game' when you have a saved game, it now asks you to confirm before it begins a new game. So there's no extra save slots, but it gives you a second chance if you accidentally hit 'New Game' instead of 'Load Game'.

Thanks for your encouragement!
Hopefully it will be finished before the end of April. It was going to be released this month, but that's seeming less likely now. Thankfully the cutscenes are the only things that need adding before the game is fully completed.

Edited by HomeBrand Gaming, 13 March 2012 - 04:09 AM.

[HomeBrand Gaming]

There's news on progress! The final subtitles have been written, all known glitches have been ironed out, and some new extras have been subtly added! Once the dialogue has been programmed into cutscenes, the game will be completed and released.

The game may have been delayed, but it will be released before the end of May. At the moment, I'll place a release date of April 25th, but it may be pushed back to May 15th. Whatever the case, PENS 3: TIDES OF WAR will be released before June.

[DonnieM]

Very Unique concept, I like it!