Twisted Pixel has a Kinect game in the works that should appeal to the undead cowboy in all of us.
Twisted Pixel’s Gunstringer is definitely the most unexpected Kinect-related announcement yet. The independent developer hopes to show what can be done with the motion device when dancing and minigames aren’t involved.
Gunstringer follows an undead cowboy marionette on a quest for revenge and what Twisted Pixel calls “mildly creepy puppet love.” Players lead the Gunstringer through levels that play out in both 3D and side-scrolling 2D, aiming his six shooter at plenty of enemies and obstacles along the way. Twisted Pixel says the game has “the feel of marionetting a puppet’s movement through a 3D world, then mixing that with the fun and mayhem of targeting-focused shooters like Rez.”
Gunstringer‘s world has the style of a puppet show, with Gunstringer himself riding on a horse made of a pencil stuck through a spool with a springy horse head. Foes consist of wind-up alligators, oxen made of beer cans, and gun-wielding puppets that ride on those horses from the toy store that flatten out when you push a button. Very charming.
The way gameplay works isn’t entirely clear yet, but Gunstringer‘s first trailer shows what appear to be targeting reticules that you presumably move around with your hands. Above the Gunstringer’s head is a cross that looks like the ones which control marionettes in the real world, so it likely comes into play too. According to the footage, players will move Gunstringer around and not simply aim at objects onscreen. One key aspect to note: Gunstringer will let you sit down to play.
Though Kinect’s initial push reached out to the casual gamer, Gunstringer indicates a desire by the creative videogame development community to see what else we can get out of controller-free input. Even if you aren’t a Kinect fan, you can’t hate on an undead cowboy.
Source: Gunstringer Website
