Monday, October 21, 2013

SWITCHING TO A YOUTUBE CHANNEL SOON (we had a good run)

Hi, if you're reading this. Thanks! I had a dream one day to run a website and be an awesomely rich geek. I'm not awesomely rich, but I did run a website and I had a blast doing so. It's not the end though, not yet!

Pixel Pencil is becoming a YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

I honestly think it's more fun to watch a video than to read, so that's what kind of content we will be producing now. I must gather my bearings first though, but we will live on as an epic Youtube channel.
Thanks so much for visiting my website and making at least part of my dream come true. Thanks guys. GOD BLESS YA!

The link to my channel is right here: http://www.youtube.com/user/boogerguy2

It's not finished yet, and we haven't begun producing content : / but you'll notice when we do if you SUBSCRIBE.

Thanks again for the amazing attention on this site guys. I would have never expected to have 1500 views.

-Jerfy

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Burger Warlords Alpha Test

Hey bros! I've been working on a game recently with Scratch called Burger Warlords. It's in Alpha, but still you should check it out anyway, because I know you'll love it. More and more updates are coming daily, so stay informed. You can be a lazy guy and click the link to the game right here:
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/10796284/

OR...

You can go to the "Flash Games" section of the site and find it in there.

Thanks for reading up on Pixel Pencil! God bless and have a good life!

-Jeff

Friday, June 14, 2013

Flash Games Update: Back To Scratch

Hi all, just a quick message to say I'm back to using scratch programming to making my games for a while. I believed stencyl was just harder to use and really didn't offer anything different in standards of quality. The stencyl games in development have been halted momentarily but will be ressurrected at some time. I won't use scratch forever though. I've begun to use Codeacademy to learn to develop games the right way. But until I learn the languages in and out, scratch will be in use :).

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Review (Xbox 360)

     Hello fellow internetians, I have not made a review recently (thanks to school and the production of a lot of videos) so I figured I would do another on the most recent installment to the the first person shooter most infamous for its cult following of nine year-old children; CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 2. Also I'm reviewing in a different format today, tell me if you like it. If you all don't like it, then it will go away!

      Most critical reviewers absolutely loathe this franchise, saying it craps out new sequels each year *cough, right before Christmas, cough* to milk money out of the idea as a cash cow. I do believe most of what I just said, despite the loathing part. What reviewers should look at is what a first person shooter is trying to convey to them, which is a real, action-filled, experience that tries to out-do other games on the market. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 does that very well, and very grotesquely if the profanity filter is off. Reviewers also argue that there is no innovation in the repeated iterations of the series. I tend to agree to that statement, which is supported by this little cartoon...
    Black Ops 2 delivers differently though, keeping the old "shoot people with new guns logic" and adding a very free class building system, which is what the game seems to revolve around nowadays. This class system is called the "Pick -10" system, where each addition to your class costs you 1 point, and you have 10 points to spend. Here's an example of a class in Black Ops 2.
     This does change this up quite a bit, which was expected. As I stated earlier, the game revolves around class building. So if the class building is changed, that changes a large portion of the game. 1 grenade on your class is equal to 1 of your perks. Treyarch, realizing this unfair balance in class building has super-powered semtexes and frags as well as a whole lot of other stuff you think this logic could apply to. Most tacticals? Check. New, hidden effects in perks unmentioned within their description? Check. Secondaries that sucked in the previous games now are amazing? Check with a capital, YOU BET YOUR BOOTIES, GRANDMA!

     Now that the big change from the previous game is out of the way, I would like to let you know that I have never actually fully played through a Call of Duty game before, I've played at friends' houses, but have never owned an entry from the series. But don't leave just yet, I can still review this game quite legitimately. My importance in saying that  though is because I would like to describe the gameplay. There are multiple modes, but I'll start out on the popular multiplayer mode.

     In multiplayer, you choose a class (setup of weapons and powers) you've created  and enter a game mode you choose. The game modes range from self explainitory modes like capture the flag, team deathmactch, and free-for-all, to creative modes like sticks and stones, one in the chamber, and sharpshooter. There are a lot of these modes and it will take a while to get tired of all of them. When you finally begin the game, you're faced from a first person view of your soldier on the battlefield. You'll be able to see the weapon in his hands and a heads-up display that shows you your ammo, score, and emblem which you can fully customize. When the game starts, a one sentence explanation on what-to-do will pop-up and you are pretty much on your own from there. The core mechanic is to kill the players of the opposing team though.

     The next, critically acclaimed, section of the game is zombies. Zombies has a whole complicated story behind it which you could only enjoy if you are a devoted fan, but otherwise, it's a very entertaining thing to do when you tire of multiplayer or the next mode I will explain. The whole shabang with zombies is that you and your fellow players are placed in a predetermined area where you must survive as long as you can, find weapons, and reveal secrets of the story. Even a few people I know enjoy zombies more than multiplayer, which says something about more of  this minigame-like part of the package really being a selling point. Not really much to say here about the complexity of gameplay... Just mow down as many zombies as you can while trying to stay alive.

     Lastly, the campaign, a very underrated part of the game, which is an opinion that prove to be a fact at many points, proves to be where the "M" rating of the game comes from. Now parents, please, please, please don't listen to those reviews of angry parents saying "CALL OF DUTY WILL MAKE YOUR CHILD INTO A SERIAL KILLER WITH ROIDS AND CHRONIC URGES TO HAVE EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA!" It honestly won't, and if you are not tolerant of violence of the nature, the developers knew non-mature kids were going to play the game. So there is a profanity and violence filter for the game on start up which you can turn on and remove some the close-up, bloody, kill scenes from the campaign, the swearing and etc. But past the angry parents' butthurt, campaign is a very well thought out linear mode where you complete a variety of objectives and kill a whole bunch of enemy infantry, which is usually composed up of Nazis and Terrorists. This is paired with a surprisingly excellent story that has characters that have been called great despite the lack of time and personal time we have had with them to develop.

     After figuring-out the basic mechanics of each game mode, it gets pretty simple after you get your personal play-style down. Specifically, what the gameplay is varies depending on what weapon you are using and how you use it, or even if you have a weapon at all, but it is moving from target to target, aiming down sights, and shooting. Afterwards you move toward your next target and rinse and repeat. That's the core of it, but in between taking down targets, you can throw grenades, set-up equipment, sneak behind the foe, or do a variety of other things. Really, the gameplay of Black Ops: 2 is what you make of it.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

  • The music is just average. For almost every FPS game I've seen, the music is nothing special. If Black Ops 2 was so revolutionary, why wasn't the music at least on par? 
  • The ridiculous animations your character models make in any game mode seen by others are just so choppy and broken. Reloading, switching weapons, etc. they're all goofy looking.
  • When you get damaged, you can immediately shrug the lead you have in your chest off in a few seconds of waiting. This is a part of the game which is vital to survival of the player, but it can really take you aback and out of immersion.
  • The "Prestige" mode was enfuriating. Having to back through the same 55 levels, unlock the same things... Seriously, we needed a longer  development cycle here. If the developers expected you to play the game to Prestige Master, we needed 550 levels worth of content. Also, I absolutely despise when the game takes away power from you, having to unlock all of those weapons, perks, and equips... It just was another way they could get 10 times the amount of gameplay for the amount of content they created.
  • Campaign is a decent length, but just feels short. It needs to have more replay value and feel like a more open world. I enjoyed the linear aspect, but there needs to be a hub you can walk around in before all of the missions, where you can buy weapons, check out side missions, and do a couple other things. I just request an open world, RPG sort of element within campaign. 
WHAT I DID LIKE:

  • There were enough easter eggs that the Otaku would have a hard time finding all of them.
  • In Black Ops 2, there is just about a weapon for everyone. LMG rushing? QBB LSW for you my friend. Wholesale close-up slaughter? PDW-57. Fancy a quickscope? Ballista. Almost every play-style has a weapon suited for it. 
  • Objectives now count to your scorestreaks (used to be called killstreaks) which makes objective playing a whole lot more doable.
  • Zombies has made a triumphant return. I really don't have all that much to say bad about it, it's just a solid gameplay mode that can entertain anyone who likes the FPS genre.
  • Wildcards in create-a-class were needed in the first place. Finally, we got 'em, here in blops 2!

THE RESULT: 8.2/10 B-

GAMEPLAY 8.5/10
Not bad, but not exactly perfect. A longer development cycle was needed to increase immersion and the amount of equipment. But I guess Treyarch's wallet comes first eh?

GRAPHICS 9/10
Graphics are great in general, but goofy animations and mouths that don't move during talking get in the way of putting this game in the limelight for its good picture. Also, don't forget the realistic violence. It is gross, yet portrayed so well that I almost have to give the game points for it.

MUSIC 6.5/10
Average. The music normally consists of undertone rock music loops, which constantly get blocked out by explosions or gunfire. None of the tracks are remotely memorable except the dubstep club music, which was kind of cool.

CONTROLS 9.5/10
The trigger buttons on the Xbox even make it feel like you're firing a real gun. The control layout is just fine, but if one size does not fit all, you can customize the controls in the options. 

FUN 7.3/10
Strange really, but I've never really had an elated fun sensation while playing Black Ops 2. I mostly just get frustrated at the unforgiving difficulty in campaign, the people ruining my scorestreaks in multiplayer, and straight-up dying in zombies. But I guess the only fun of this game comes from playing it with other people and having satisfaction of winning or advancing in rank. If you want to be relaxed and have some fun though, play some Kirby, or just a more forgiving game. 


     So I guess I liked Black Ops 2, but I'm not sure. It's a very competitive shooter that lets you be creative with how you go about making your weapon set-up to devastate your foes, but past that... It's just a really addictive shooter. The addictive aspect probably comes from the fact that you keep on ranking up to try to be the best as you can. So I would recommend this game to those with lots of time to eat up because this game will be like a time machine. You put it in the console, and it only seems like a minute later you have to go to a rest home. 



    Thanks for reading my Black Ops 2 review everybody, tell me what you think in the comments or the "WHAT DID YOU THINK?" module below. Also, in other news, I'm building my own computer to start PC gaming on. I should get it up and running in a couple months!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Update #6


  • School almost over guys, I'm going to be back producing content. 

  • Also videos are still being made, but output has slowed since it is no longer a school project.

  • FINALLY going to finish top 10 underrated Pokemon moves.

  • Doing a black ops 2 review.

  • Doing game blogging as well as reviews, countdowns, etc. now.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Update #5 New vids and more!

  • Sorry for the wait! I hope to get the SNES cleaning guide up by tomorrow, it's about an hour long right now so I'm making cuts and separating it into parts.
  • Planning and researching for how to clean out cell phones, iPods and other personal devices guide.
  • Beginning another game's development. Farticus hasn't progressed recently due to burnout, but I hope to finish it. The new game is called 'How Many Zombies Can YOU Take In a Fight?'.
  • I'm actually thinking of submitting to Anoj's top ten videos from my Black Ops 2 footage.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Suggestion Post #1

This is Pixel Pencil's first suggestion post. Please comment (ANYONE CAN COMMENT) below with your own suggestions and criticism to the site! Anything will be suggested and considered if it's necessary. I will go over comments and choose suggestions I like, and they will be added to Pixel Pencil.

Example of a good suggestion:

I want you to make a sequel to Burger Maze that's a street fighter parody!

Example of a bad suggestion:

Blow up Alec Baldwin (I actually may consider this one)

Happy suggesting!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Update #4 THE SWITCH HAS BEEN MADE! WELCOME TO PIXEL PENCIL!

Hi readers. Our website has been completely overhauled. I'm still working out kinks and imperfections, so if you see ANYTHING wrong at all, just comment below, or something you would like to see; you know, while I'm at it I might as well handle a few suggestions. Besides all of that, Welcome to Pixel Pencil!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Update #3 PLEASE READ

This is more of an announcement than an update, but I am considering changing the name of this website for YOUR CONVIENIENCE. I have known for a while that the title 1-Up has been used for many gaming websites and I wish to make my site easier to find with a unique title. The title I will be using is Pixel Pencil Games, as I cover tabletop pen and paper games and video games (games with pixels). I will leave this post up in front for a while to avoid viewer confusion. I will also wait awhile to change all of the details. THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING.

Magic: The Gathering- Scary Story Set



Hi all. A while back, I made a set of magic cards for a multi-genre project in my English class. It's pretty geeky, I know, but I decided to make homework into something I enjoyed doing. So this isn't the set I announced I was making earlier (Still working on it) but this is Creepypasta themed magic set. I like it and it's pretty awesome, but it really breaks the rules lol. So enjoy! Note that you need MSE to view the set. You can get it right here.

http://www.4shared.com/file/dEKKRSxy/Scary_Story_Set.html?

Click the blue button that says download to receive the set.

If there's a problem with the links, comment below and me will fix!

-Jeff

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Arcade Review- Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

A little late for this review... As this game is about 2 to 3 years old, but maybe too early, as the Multiplayer DLC pack has yet to be put on the shelves. But really, I kind of just got an Xbox and this game has given me more fun than I would find in most feature-length titles. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is a game that  really sucks the player into the 8-Bit universe, even though there's not really any explanation for what's going on in the game besides the brief intro, it makes you want to know more... So I watched the movie and am planning to order a few of the books, just by playing through this charming little gem.

     Scott Pilgrim Vs. The  World may be one of the greatest-received, most critically acclaimed downloadable title, ever. It's a side scroller that reminds us of our friends, Castle Crashers and The Simpson's Arcade. There's about over 4 hours of gameplay required to beat it and yet you still will find yourself continuing to play it after that, it's just so charming. Story Time: Scott is a loveable loser that gets a girl in Toronto, Canada. In order to keep on dating her, Scott must defeat her 7 evil ex. boyfriends. So yeah, after this is found out, you just go around town beating the snot out of anyone in your way, just to get to kill one of Ramona's exes. Pretty snazzy.

Gameplay(9.2): Yeah, don't look at me funny. I gave a beat em' up over a 9 for gameplay. Even though the idea of repeatedly smashing hipster's faces in may seem invigorating for a short time, Scott Pilgrim keeps it fresh by adding an action RPG vibe by adding skills, new powers acquired at each level, and special/co op attacks. It's a very charming beat em' up that will have you on your couch for hours. The Gauntlet problem occurs in this too though. YOU NEED FRIENDS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS GAME. So get outta that basement and make some friends, ya deadbeat! Past these negativities, this is probably one of the most replayable games I've ever seen. One or two cons here though, there's not many levels. I guess that's a good thing that the game leaves me wanting more, but more means sometime soon I want indulged. The other bad thing is that game's ending leaves you thinking (no spoiler) "Why did I do all of that then?" No matter how funny the ending is, it's not really satisfying.

Graphics(9.5): The game excels at excellent 8-bit artwork, with colorful backgrounds and vibrant environments that really pop. Any classic game collector will appreciate this game for many reasons:
1. The Beat'em Up gameplay defines a lot of retro games
2. 8-bit artwork is very well done
3. Lots of references to classic games, like the Super Mario 3 character select screen, or the Super Mario World level selection system, or even the reeling, flaming body reference from Street Fighter II.
After looking at this game, most people can't really help from smiling.

Music(9.9): I would give this game a 10 for music for a reason I'll explain in a bit, but... OMGZ, ANAMANAGUCHI MAEK MOOSIK, MEH WANT!!1 The Anamanaguchi chiptune band creates the entire soundtrack spanning from the tune you hear while in the shop to the excellent boss-fight titles like Vegatable Rock and Bollywood. THIS MUSIC IS AMAZING. I don't care about what genre of music you prefer, but this music will make you want to punch things, like the Power Rangers theme song, lol. The Reason why it's not a 10 is because I believe some of the loops are too short, I would like more variety of sound while I'm knocking the wind out of random people.

Controls(8.5): The controls are nothing excellent and have some issues, as running is a little difficult. I'm not necessarily complaining about how a run is preformed in game, but it took a while to learn and confused me a bit. Next, your character's placement on the screen is solely determined by your shadow. It can be hard to line yourself up with enemies if you're new to the beat'em up genre. One redeeming factor though is that everything is there, strong attacks, weak attacks, blocks, counters, ground pounds, and more. A few of these techniques are hard to preform but, hey, if you want to do the extra difficult things: go right ahead.

Fun(9): With friends, this game is an absolute party, alone it is a slightly frustrating challenge. Either way though, you'll find yourself walking away wanting to try more of the beat'em up genre. I recommend Castle Crashers if you become obsessed with this title.

Overall... 9.2(A)
I've really enjoyed Scott Pilgrim's debut in the gaming world and I hope you all do too. The DLC has good content if you really are desperate for more of this gaming gem and to get the most of it, play with your buddies. You can find this title on the PS3 or Xbox, to my knowledge it cost $10 (800 MSP). I really do suggest getting it if you have a Saturday to chuck out the window by playing this all the way through with some friends.


Thanks for being a viewer of 1-Up Games! We will continue to entertain you with a lot of junk in the future!
-Jeff

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Update #2

Added categorized pages at top.

Beginning fix-it tutorials

Working on site a bit more because of a school-project.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Magic: The Gathering, Red Vs. Blue Announcement

As few know, Magic: The Gathering is a totally legitimate and large part of modern gaming. For tabletop gaming fans and so this site covers everything about gaming, I've been developing my own magic set independentally for a while. In a bit, it will be released onto the web for all to download and print.
 So I'll keep you posted on my progress, but so far, I've made about 4-5 pieces of art for the cards, but there are still about 72 or 73 left. Comment if you want to submit your artwork and I'll give you the details. One detail I can give you now though is to have your image sent to my email and save it to a Usable format with MSE, preferably Jpegs.

THANKS!

Update

Update:

Site's background image has changed, as well as some of the layout.

Newest flash game is nearing beta. (Farticus)

Newest posts are being worked on periodically.

That's all folks!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Xbox 360 Review- Skyrim

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or at least a few days after X-mas. I got an Xbox! Yay! More modern reviews, starting off with a behemoth of a game called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim!

Skyrim is a huge fantasy land in the nation of Tamriel, and the whole idea of Skyrim is to see how would you live your life in this place, as a legendary adventurer, in the dragons tongue, known as Dovakiin (Dragonborn! FUS RO DAH!) LOL. You have options ranging from joining an assassin's guild, becoming a Werewolf, disguising as a guard, becoming a serial killer, to much more that serve as positive role-models (Lol, actually, you can do some good things too, like rescue people and beat-up bad guys). For parents reading this review, Skyrim is OKAY to give to a teenage youth if they can separate fantasy from reality. This game may not be suitable for ages under 12 due to occasional swearing, violence, and ideas of fantasy life. For kids who imitate everything they see on a T.V. , you may want to wait until they mature a bit. But getting on, Skyrim is the best single-player game for anyone willing to waste a little time.

Gameplay (9.8): Skyrim's gameplay is none other than addicting and fun. You will spend hours immersing yourself in make-believe places that feel real to you when your character has developed a personality. Skyrim is a FPRPG, which is short for, First Person Role Playing Game. You see out of your character's eyes like in Halo, or Call of Duty, but you wield swords, axes, bows, maces, magical spells and etc. in your hands instead of some kinda tricked out boom-stick. Combat is the meat of the gameplay, where you clash swords, snipe with bows, and stun with spells. It's actually incredibly deep gameplay with the combat, where choosing to wield a shield could make a difference between life and death. You have many options to attack, you could akimbo-wield daggers and go in for a cinematic killing spree, you could decimate everything in your path with a warhammer, or you could have a spell in one hand with a shield in the other. Each setup provides with different moves. You have a shield? Well bam! You have yourself some extra armor, ability to block well, and a shield bash! Dual swords? You have an amazing array of power attacks and killer cinematic animations, but oh no! YOU CAN'T BLOCK! Skyrim's gameplay with combat is very strategic to say the least, and that's not even all of the game play there is! There's lockpicking, alchemy, archery, smithing, and much more that I don't have time to talk about. The only flaw is that once you chose a style of playing, there's really no going back and it's hard to switch later in the game. It needs to feels less stiff.

Graphics (9.1): Skyrim's graphics are pretty nice. The landscapes are divine and the draw distance is pretty far. Shading is nice and armor is well detailed. I kind of have a problem with it though. A lot of the characters (especially kids) look stock. They all look like the same body type with different clothes and hair. They really need to upgrade the amount of customization to face details on their own NPCs. Dragonborn looks good, but Braith and Lars look practically the same LOL.

Music (9.5): The trailer's music for "Song of The Dragonborn" was phenomenal. The rest of the music in the game was just pretty good. Nothing more to say about it except that it's mostly ambient. Not during combat though, it sounds like the "Duel of Fates" song from Star Wars III when you are kicking Bandit butt.

Controls (9.2): The game controls just as well as regular FPS games but maybe even more, like when you're riding on a horse and shooting a bow. I thought there would be limitations on that! Drawbacks are few though, since in 3rd person, it's a little hard to do combat. Also, it's kind of weird to use Y as jump. Speaking of which, jumping is a little clunky.

Fun(10): THIS IS THE FIRST TEN A GAME HAS RECEIVED! YAY! Skyrim is the ultimate drug for anyone's want to be immersed in a fantasy RPG. Even when you're done questing, you can go mammoth hunting, annoy towns people, or throw cabbages at horses! IT'S AWESOME! There's nothing like that feeling of taking out a whole encampment of Stormcloak soldiers without being detected!

Result... 9.5/10 (A)

Skyrim gets a solid A. It's addictive, immersing, fun, and intense. Perfect for a casual gamer on the verge of being a hardcore one. But it's hard to be satisfied after you're done playing Skyrim for the day, there's always one more camp of bandits to take out with a... FUS RO DAH!

This is Jeff for 1-Up Games.com! CYA!