PenPalz was a neat little game that was being developed back in Jan 1997 by John Pericos and Nathan Perry – intended for GO64.
The idea is simple – draw on the screen as much as you can and try to fill in a certain percentage of the screen before time runs out. Sort of like Qix in many ways – and with the same problem of having creatures on the screen which are trying to stop you. Collecting the bonus colour blocks on the screen are there to make your life far easier.
Although the game got to a promising early stage (with titles, music and at least a level) – unfortunately the game was never finished due to both developers getting tied up and busy at University. After that, the game was shelved and forgotten about, and John went onto developing for the GameBoy.
In early 2012, John got in touch with GTW64 and offered the game to us. He had been cleaning up stuff in his old room at his parent’s house and found a bunch of disks – one of which had the last version of PenPalz. To ensure it got preserved and share it with others, John kindly passed on a copy of the game to put on the website. And here it is!
The game is fully playable, and contains one level for you to try. This is as far as the game got before it was shelved. The download also includes a text file which explains more about how to play the game.
John offers hope that maybe one day he may even complete the game – however, John lost contact with Nathan Perry and hopes that maybe this entry will get Nathan in touch again to maybe get this project moving again. If you’re out there Nathan, then please get in touch!
For now, check out this superb preview of a very promising game!
Contributions: John Pericos
