Tap-Repeatedly
  • Features
    • All Features
    • A Weekend With
    • Dark Souls Diaries
    • Death in Fire
    • Diary Of A Call Girl
    • Games of the Year
    • Kermdinger Chronicles
    • MrLipid’s Closet of the Odd
    • My Idea of Fun
    • Quest for 7:00 on the Nordschleife
    • Superficially Relevant
    • Tap Dance
    • Tap vs. Tap
    • Tapping Down Memory Lane
    • The Log of Shame
  • Editorials
    • Tap Editorials
    • Culture Clash
    • Celebrity Guests
  • Reviews
    • All Reviews
    • Impressions
    • Revisited
    • FFC Archives
  • News
    • News
    • Ephemera
    • Site Announcements
  • Forum

A Preview of Gunpoint

03/21/2012|Amanda "AJ" Lange|Editorials4
Home » Home » Editorials » A Preview of Gunpoint
A Preview of Gunpoint

Here is another cool thing I did at GDC: play a lot of the games in the IGF. Some of the games have been released already, while others are still works in-progress. The first game I played there fell in to the latter category: Gunpoint. Gunpoint is a work-in-progress being designed and programmed by Tom Francis, with help from indie artists and sound designers.  He keeps an extensive development blog, and I’d been following the project for a while, so I chatted with Tom at the event. Somehow from there I managed to get him to send me a test build to play with at home, for the full Gunpoint experience.


Gunpoint is a stealth-action-puzzle side-scrolling game. The player-character is a freelance spy, who is tasked to break in to buildings and get important code off of computers. He does this by using super-human leaping, gratuitous punching, defenestration, and a tool that allows him to re-wire the electrical systems of buildings to troll the heck out of security. For more explanation of the hook, here’s Tom trying to explain it to an asshole in his talk at GDC. I missed seeing the talk live, but it appears to be all there and in order.

When I actually started playing Gunpoint at GDC, I thought I pretty much knew how it would go because I’d been reading about it. But at first, I was pretty bad at it. There’s a certain category of Flash games that use a mouse-and-keyboard style control, and that’s what’s happening here. Typically, a game like this uses the keyboard to move, with the mouse to aim and shoot. Normally I’m not really a fan, because the two input methods are so different. It’s a little like trying to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. But this type of input works really well for Gunpoint after some practice. The mouse is used to aim a jump, and adjust the angle of the jump in order to launch. Launching at a guard when his back is turned means a chance to get a few punches in, and knock him cold. Launching when his back is not turned, means, well… pain.

But that’s okay. Retries are unlimited, and saves are allowed mid-level. Generally, to succeed, it’s best to plan a route through the building out in advance, timing big jumps carefully, but there are always going to be surprises. There’s almost always more than one way to solve any particular puzzle and get out alive. Sometimes, especially near the end, my solutions felt pretty luck-based and hacky, but I think being able to potentially limp my way through was part of the charm. The game is relatively short so far, but there’s replay value inherent in trying to redo levels for a better or more elegant solution. Lots of missions also have secondary optional objectives, such as trying to traverse a whole level without alerting security cameras.

Sometimes alerting a camera may actually be helpful, though. The Crosslink mode allows the player to rewire certain elements of a building’s security; that’s the puzzle part of the game. Shown here, for example, are light switches on the walls. Right now, they’re wired, predictably, to lights, but if I wanted to I could remotely rewire so they opened doors instead. Or, I could rewire the security camera, so that when I pass under the camera, the door would automatically open. Other levels include motion detectors, alarm systems, different types of security guards to foil, and tricky timed vault doors that only stay open for a limited time. I learned to hate those.

The character also has access to a gun, but it’s mostly used to threaten people, not to shoot them. It’s all paced fast, with no protracted run-and-hide sequences; either get away, or get shot.

Here’s something that surprised me a little about this title: it’s made in GameMaker. I became more acquainted with GameMaker at the Global Game Jam this year, so I recognized the little loading bar that pops up when I initially booted the game. GameMaker has some quirks, but I think it’s cool to see more games made in authoring tools like this. It’s a great thing for people who want to get involved in game creation but aren’t interested in writing a lot of raw code, and opens the floor up to more developers.

If you go here, you can see a list of all the features that Francis plans to add before releasing Gunpoint, on a date described as “later than July.” Or, you can just have him e-mail you when it’s done, if it’s the sort of thing you’d be interested in. I’m especially intrigued by the promise of additional story sequences to tie it together. Based on the fun I had with the demo I’m looking forward to grabbing the full build later this year!

Email the author of this post at aj@tap-repeatedly.com

03/23/2012 Amanda "AJ" Lange

About the author

Amanda "AJ" Lange

Amanda Lange is a lifelong gamer, game designer, 3D artist, and engineer. She likes RPGs, horror, action, fighting games, and anything pleasantly quirky. Also, she enjoys writing at great length about same, often posting articles to her personal blog at http://secondtruth.com. In the past, she has worked on educational titles, and taught game design and art in Detroit, MI. She is currently living in the Philadelphia PA area where she works with Microsoft.

Related Posts

  • Boyfriend Dungeon
    Boyfriend Dungeon11/24/2021
  • Three Thoughts about Undertale
    Three Thoughts about Undertale11/01/2015
  • Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne – A Real Actual Game
    Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne – A Real Actual Game06/24/2015

Popular Posts

  • Impressions: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    Impressions: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim11/12/2011
  • PC Gaming Diagnosed with Lung Cancer
    PC Gaming Diagnosed with Lung Cancer02/18/2010
  • Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic
    Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic10/05/2011
← Dark Souls Diaries: Deaths 735-897
Kermdinger Chronicles #6: GDC Edition →

4 Responses to A Preview of Gunpoint

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey 03/21/2012

    This looks pretty cool, like a stealth Elevator Action or sidescrolling Syndicate. I’ll have to try it out. Thanks Amanda!

  • Gregg B 03/22/2012

    I’ve been keeping a sly eye on this for some time now and it’s looking and sounding mighty fine to me. Seriously, to any devs out there reading this comment: stop making good games, I can’t possibly keep up. Fallout 3 is really putting my backlog on ice at the moment…

    It’s worth mentioning that Tom wrote a terrific piece on what makes games good called ‘What Makes Games Good’. Well worth a read.

    So let me get this straight: you use the mouse to direct your jumps? I’m a big fan of the WASD + mouse combo for ‘aiming platformers’, like Trine or Capsized or Vessel (which I’m still playing), but I’ve never encountered one that uses the mouse to direct jumps. Bizarre!

  • Phlebas 03/23/2012

    Reminds me mostly of Trilby:The Art of Theft (another game from a creator (now) best known as a journalist – coincidence?) but the puzzly rewiring mechanic is new and interesting. I’m excited.

  • lakerz1 03/24/2012

    This is one of those games I definitely would need to try out to see if I care for it.  I do like the graphic style, nice and clean.  Gunpoint…I’ll have to keep an eye out for its release and hopefully a demo.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Log In


Lost your password?
Register
Forgotten Password
Cancel

Register For This Site

A password will be e-mailed to you.


Tap Us

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on SteamFollow Us on RSS

Tap At Random

Tenderfoot Tactics

Tenderfoot Tactics

11/15/2020|Gregg B|Reviews
Culture Clash: The Game of Life

Culture Clash: The Game of Life

10/12/2010|Matt "Steerpike" Sakey|Culture Clash
The Bobby Kotick Show: Nice Try Edition

The Bobby Kotick Show: Nice Try Edition

02/18/2010|Matt "Steerpike" Sakey|Editorials5
On Tap

On Tap #4

04/21/2014|Tap-Repeatedly|On Tap8
Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic

Impressions: Star Wars: The Old Republic

10/05/2011|Lewis B|Impressions59

Blogroll

  • A Hardy Developer's Journal
  • Acid for Blood
  • Dubious Quality
  • Electron Dance
  • Fanboy Comics
  • Plot is Gameplay's Bitch
  • The Experimental Gameplay Project

Tap Categories

Tap Archives

Follow Us on RSSFollow Us on SteamFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTube

Tap-Repeatedly finally updated the footer.
Tap-Repeatedly likes oatmeal cookies.
Tap-Repeatedly prefers they have no raisins.

Contact

Your message was successfully sent. Thank You!

Tap-Repeatedly Supports

Search Tap

Tap-Repeatedly Remembers

Brad “Doublesauce” Boivin
Bill “The Game Doctor” Kunkel
Ethan “Finkbug” Sicotte

Copyright © Tap-Repeatedly. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication or distribution prohibited.
Some copyrighted material appears on this site under Fair Use.
If you believe a copyrighted work appears inappropriately, please contact steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.