Twisted Pixel's Teasdale Unveils Gunstringer For Kinect

Splosion Man developer Twisted Pixel revealed its first Kinect game, The Gunstringer, a marionette-inspired title from former Rock Band 3 lead designer Dan Teasdale. The Gunstringer stars an "undead cowboy puppet" that players control as if it were a marionette, Teasdale wrote on the game's official blog. The Wild West revenge story is presented as if performed on a marionette stage. Teasdale, who's lead designer on the game, said The Gunstringer would be decidedly different from current games for Kinect. The motion-sensing 3D camera launched in November last year alongside an array of full-body sensing games ranging from sports to fitness titles. "There are no minigames, forced gestures, or end of level photos of you in your underwear here," Teasdale explained. "You can play it sitting down, which is great if you just want to play and relax rather than burn crazy calories." He added, "Most importantly, you can aim and move with precision not seen in any of the Kinect launch titles, and with a speed and feel that’s just not possible with a traditional controller." Teasdale said the studio is working to convey the feel of controlling a marionette puppet through Kinect's controller-free interface. "From the start of this project, we’ve focused on getting across 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," he said. Austin-based Twisted Pixel also unveiled a Splosion Man follow-up, Ms. Splosion Man, in December. The studio also developed 2009's The Maw and last year's Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley. Typically focused on digital titles, the studio did not announce a release date or distribution method for The Gunstringer.