The Pengz

The Pengz™ is a strategic life-simulator game developed by Mixis and published by Penguin Electronic Arts. It is a 3D simulation of daily activities of one or more penguins ("Pengz") in a suburban household.

Gameplay
While gameplay occurs in the game's Live mode, the player may enter Build mode or Buy mode to pause time and renovate the house or lot. When the game begins, each family will start off with 20,000 Coins, plus 1,000 for each adult and elder, 500 for each teenager and 100 for each chick. These funds can be used to purchase a small house or vacant lot on the Neighborhood screen. Once a lot is purchased, a house can be constructed or remodeled in Build mode, and/or purchase or move furniture in the Buy mode. All architectural features and furnishings customizable in the Build and Buy modes follow a square tile system in which items must be placed on a tile. Walls and fences go on the edge of a tile and can follow the edge of the tile or cross it, but furniture items cannot be placed on either side of a crossed tile. The base game contains over 500 items including furniture and architectural elements. Pengz are instructed by the player to interact with objects, such as a television set, or other Pengz. Pengz may receive guests, invited or not, from other playable lots or from a pool of unhoused NPCs. If enabled in the game's options, Pengz can have a certain amount of free will, allowing them to autonomously interact with their world. However, the player can override most autonomous actions, by cancelling them out in the action queue at the top of the screen. Pengz unable to take certain actions without specific commands from the player, such as paying their bills, finding a job or working out.

The player can make decisions about time spent in skill development, such as exercise, reading, creativity, and logic, by adding activities to the daily agenda of the Pengz. Daily needs such as hygiene maintenance and eating can and must also be scheduled. Although Pengz can autonomously perform these actions, they may not prioritize them effectively. Much like real penguins, Pengz can suffer consequences for neglecting their own needs. In addition to fulfilling their needs, Pengz need to maintain balanced budgets. The most conventional method of generating an income is to obtain a job. The game presents various career tracks with ten jobs. Pengz may earn promotions by fulfilling skill and friendship requirements of each level, which lead to new job titles, increased wages, and different work hours. Other means of generating an income include creating and selling various items such as artworks and gnomes at home.

Create-a-Pengz
The "Create-a-Pengz" is the place where the player is able to create their own Pengz. They can change the name, colour, gender, fitness level, clothes, traits, astronomical signs and even pitch of voice. There is a lot of custom downloadable content online for the game that adds even more clothing and colours.

Music
The game's music was composed largely by the Penguin Band and Cadence, but artists like DoggyGirl and Gary the Gaget Dude made appearances as well. The base game's soundtrack consists of 49 different songs, but expansion packs/stuff packs add even more.

Track Listing

 * Only the tracks released in album The Pengz™: Best of the Tracks (which features only some Base Game tracks) are listed here!

Late at Night!
The Pengz™: Late at Night! is the 1st expansion pack of The Pengz™. It features 257 new items, from furniture to architectural elements, 23 new songs and 16 new lots. Late at Night! allows Pengz to go out from home and travel to a new destination, the Downtown.

School Life
The Pengz™: School Life is the 2nd expansion pack of The Pengz™. It features 155 new items, 14 new songs and 8 new lots. School Life gives the player the option to send their chicks to school, and see a rough view of what's happening there. The player can also apply to be a teacher, which will allow the player to see what's happening in the schoolhouse.

Pets
The Pengz™: Pets is the 3rd and currently last expansion pack of The Pengz™. It features 687 new items, 9 new songs and 22 new lots. Pets allows Pengz to adopt Puffles and other animals, set up furniture for them and love them, as they are. This expansion pack also adds 4 "non-alive animals", animals that Pengz can buy into different cages, but who aren't really controllable and are actually solid objects, set to move around in the cages.

Trivia

 * It is a parody of The Sims™