Gunstringer dev: Kinect was "fun ride"

By Tom Phillips Published 4 November, 2011

But future Kinect games will "depend on the idea".

The Gunstringer developer Twisted Pixel Games has no plans to become a Kinect-exclusive developer despite the studio's recent buyout by Microsoft.

While Kinect game The Gunstringer was "a fun ride", whether Twisted Pixel will continue to develop for Microsoft's motion-sensing camera will have to "depend on the idea", chief creative officer Josh Bear told Gamasutra.

"What we don't want to do is make something for Kinect just to make it, it has to make sense for the game," Bear said. "I think Microsoft understands that as well and wants to make sure Kinect experiences are vastly different than what you could do with a controller."

Despite making a name for itself with downloadable releases The Maw, 'Splosion Man and Comic Jumper, Twisted Pixel hinted its next release could be another retail release.

"We obviously have a great deal of love for downloadable XBLA releases," Bear commented, "but I think what you will see from us in the future are just great games regardless of the distribution method."

"Microsoft has been great about letting us fit in where we need to, which I think was shown with The Gunstringer which was originally XBLA, but turned into a retail title later in development."

But despite now being owned by Microsoft, Bear insists Twisted Pixel still maintains its indie spirit.

"Honestly, I think that spirit is stronger today than it was even when we started," he answered. "I think that will be shown to an even greater degree once we unveil the next projects that we are working on - they are definitely 'out there' ideas in a really good way."

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Xardan #1 7 months ago

    There are no doubt many many great ideas (as seen by the numerous hacks) that can be realised using Kinect, but the problem is forming those ideas into an entertainment product the mass market is willing to buy.

  • Inmediasress #2 7 months ago

    So basically it's a powder keg full of ideas but like gun powder it's worth shit without a fuse.
    In other words Kinect is more or less useless in convnetional gaming you'd have to buid games around it entirely but those fail to be epic AAA games.
    Simply because you can't have a game built around hopping like an idiot for several hours.
    Other features like face recognition and whatnot may get around to do something interesting but it's still too undeveloped to be of importance.

    Biggest issue with Kinect is that M$ forces it down the troath of devs and market it as the next big step in gaming whereas it's just a pice of extra for your console a rather pricy extra but that's not the issue here.

    The controller/keyboard and your couch is still your best friend when it comes to convnetional, shall we say hardcore gaming and that won't change anytime soon.
    Edited by Inmediasress at 04/11/11 @ 16:57

  • Doctor_What #3 7 months ago

    This time last year, I was very doubtful about Kinect, but a little hopeful too. Nine months ago, I was amazed by the sales and fairly impressed by the tech, but very doubtful about the games. Now I've got less hope than I had a year ago. Ho hum.

  • fabiosooner #4 7 months ago

    So they didn't make the Gunstringer to make a quick buck on the Kinect craze? Riiiight. Keep telling this and I'll pretend I believe you.

    Gunstringer is material proof that if you believe independent companies are intrinsically less 'evil' just for being independent, you're a fool and as easy to manipulate as you think others are. People who really care about the design and the end result of whatever they're making will make their best no matter if the budget is $100 or &100 millions. People who want to milk something will do it no matter if they're independent or not. Put it in your thick skulls and stop accepting any crap just because it's 'indie'. It actually HURTS the 'scene' you've sworn to follow.
    Edited by fabiosooner at 04/11/11 @ 17:16

  • Machiavellian #5 7 months ago

    So they didn't make the Gunstringer to make a quick buck on the Kinect craze? Riiiight. Keep telling this and I'll pretend I believe you.

    So let me get this straight. You are stating that Kinect is selling like crazy. For a casual device you are also saying that TP targeted Kinect users who are probably less than 5% of the 360 market because they wanted to make a quick buck. Next that 5% has to be online and willing to purchase a downloadable game.

    Not sure what you use for logic but something really is not adding up right.

    Actually it was a smart ideal for MS to make Gunstringer a retail product. The reason is because of the smaller number of customers for the game as a downloadable tile that can only be played using Kinect.

    Gunstringer is material proof that if you believe independent companies are intrinsically less 'evil' just for being independent,

    I am sorry but what the hell are you going on about??? Seriously you really should take a long look at your opinion because it seems to be based on some pretty biased information or point of view.

  • rotsujin #6 7 months ago

    @Machiavellian Not to get in the middle of this argument but 10 million Kinect were sold making it closer to 20% of Xbox 360 owners.

  • Vyggo #7 7 months ago

    Anyone know if the Gunstringer actually sold all that well?

  • Machiavellian #8 7 months ago

    @Machiavellian Not to get in the middle of this argument but 10 million Kinect were sold making it closer to 20% of Xbox 360 owners.

    From what I remember that was retail. It also does not include people who purchase the device for other means like the hacks that were coming out. In other words, saying there was some huge land grab of money just sitting out there for an independent developer spit out a crap game and get paid seems to be reaching.

  • Subdominator #9 7 months ago

    @lollage Yeah, more like 25 %. Every second Xbox 360 these days is sold with a Kinect. Not exactly because people want it, but because Microsoft limits availability of the non-Kinect consoles.

  • Crazy_Colt #10 7 months ago

    motion controls without any sort of feedback just feel weird.

    add to that the lag between the input and execution.

    either the game is designed with these limitations in mind or it bombs.
    .

  • eviroboy #11 7 months ago

    Still think they should have included conventional control methods, if only to appeal to a wider range. Kinect only titles will never be anything more than cheap, cheerful novelties.

  • IronGiant #12 7 months ago

    In other words Gunstringer didn't sell very well or nowhere near as much as expected, familiar story.