GUNPOINT
A stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people.
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Release
Out now! $10!
Platform
Windows, Mac and Linux.
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Yes, You Can Monetise Videos You Make Of This Game
Here's the formal permission bit.
Other Projects
Here's a page about what else I'm working on and what else I've done.
Team
Design/Code/Words
Character/Level Art
Background Art
Mission Music
Title Music
Menu Music
Theme
By Tom Francis. Uses Adaptive Images by Matt Wilcox.
Gunpoint Now Has Music
After spending more than a week listening to more than 45 submissions for Gunpoint’s music, I’ve decided to go with Ryan Ike’s cool, moody upright-bass style for Gunpoint’s missions.
There were also two particular songs among the submissions that just clicked perfectly with different parts of the game: for the shop and upgrade interfaces you access on your phone, Francisco Cerda’s gorgeous smooth jazz was exactly what I wanted. And for the game’s more sombre moments, John Robert Matz’s mournful and sinister theme tune was magnificent. So Gunpoint has sort of ended up with three musicians.
Coming to a decision was harder and much more time consuming than I expected. I got more submissions for this than for the game’s artwork, and listening to a full music sample takes 1,833 times longer than looking at a sprite. The more I listened and played, the more I liked less prominent tracks that supported the game’s existing atmosphere.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/29664976″]
Thanks again to everyone who did such awesome work, and sorry to everyone I couldn’t use. I was amazed by the calibre of what came in. Obviously I feel terrible turning anything good down, but I still believe in the open submissions process because I’ve been on the other side of it a few times. Both times I wrote short stories for the Machine of Death collection, it was with no expectation they’d get in – I just did it because I enjoyed doing it. I hope that’s the feeling among everyone who’s submitted stuff for Gunpoint, music and art.
You might remember I also did the same thing for the Crosslink noise, and got some awesome stuff. I’ve decided to use Jeremy Watssman’s smooth warbly sound, which you can actually hear in his music submission video here. I’d also like to use the sound Ben Royle submitted for a different purpose, if he’s OK with that: it makes a great satisfying thunk when spending points upgrading your gadgets. Update: he says, quote, “Fuck yeah!”
Gunpoint in 2010, before it had a title. The filename was just ‘grey’, after the background.Lastly, I talked a bit about how far Gunpoint has come on and asked you guys if you thought I should charge money for the game when it comes out. I was expecting around 90% of you to say I should keep it free, and if it was as low as 80% I’d start to believe it might be worth something. The figure was around 1%. Over a thousand comments, the vast majority of people said “No! Don’t give us a free thing! Charge us money!”
That’s an amazing and confusing response for me, but you don’t have to tell me twice. Well, you don’t have to tell me more than a thousand times. I will obey your command to charge you money for Gunpoint, though I plan to keep it low and provide a substantial free version. I won’t claim anything specific yet since I’d like to confirm how and through whom I’ll be selling it first, in case they have advice or rules that affect it. I’ve talked with all my awesome art and music collaborators and we’ve agreed on a split we think is fair.
Exciting times! Although the music selection process and Christmas took up a lot of the break, I also managed to build a dynamic system for context sensitive music layers and overhaul the way your gadgets are powered and upgraded.
I still have a few levels left to make, and a fair few more I’m not happy with variety- and fun-wise, so I’ve used some of the time away from my PC to plan out new puzzle ideas, come up with some new gadgets and devices, and figure out which ones will be easy to code and add a lot of fun possibilities.
Aeoneth:
Wow those are some awesome tracks.
James:
Humble Indie Bundle potential? :)
PurePareidolia:
Contrary to what reputation pirates have given us, there’s a lot of people on the internet who want to see quality work and original, clever game design ideas rewarded.
And if it becomes wildly successful and inspires some bigger studios to take some more interesting risks to give us more original games then so much the better.
MNM1245:
I really liked C418’s submission. Wish you would have included him.
Oh well those other guys music sounded great too
dtzortzis42:
Give it for free?! What are you talking about?!
I was about to ask you if I could pay for it before it was released!
I can’t wait, keep up the good work and oh, put a donate button somewhere here, it will be used ;)
I’d pay 20 euros to get the game, it’s a great concept, I’d invest in this game :) I say, don’t be afraid to raise the budget :)
somini:
I think the game has potential for Steam, as long as it gets noticed by the right people(RPS,IndieGames.com, mainly indie and PC-centric sites).
You can even keep it DRM while selling through Steam, just ignore the haters.
dtzortzis42:
Please, no DRM…
sriki:
can u release a version with the levels that u completed and “update” the game later when u get finish the other levels…willing to pay upfront though…anything to play it as soon as possible
JigokuSenshi:
I agree that you should charge for it. Even before you should have at least decided to make it something like the humble bundle that way people could pay little or more depending on their budget. I’m also with the others for no DRM. Steam is a must for me too or Desura, but I don’t like it as much.
To be fair, I’m sure it could be perfectly feasible to have both a non-Steam and a Steam version for those who are that against it, although obviously this is all still going to be all up in the air and unable to be disclosed until later.
Anyway this is great stuff and fantastic news – I definitely think with all the work put in by the entire Gunpoint team, it’s only right you guys should stand to reap some rewards from that.
Wizardy:
Come on, really? We are the indie games generation, and we like to pay for a quality stuff. You have no idea how much i’m(WE are!) hyped about this game, and like others have said, i would have no problem paying for it even if it wasn’t finished yet, cause i have a hard time waiting =D There is always a place in my budget for great games, and i’m sure others feel the same way. Keep up the good work!
Also, i don’t really care if you do Steam or not. I don’t use steam that much, but i can see the potential for sales there.
Bret:
Huh.
Music and the rain’s all making me think of Cowboy Bebop now. Not the worst thing in the world.
Jackrabbit:
So damn hyped about the music choice, that was my favourite track I would definitely pay $20 for this game. Probably no more than $30, but I doubt you’d charge that much.
Michal:
You might think about talking to the guys at GOG.com. It’s a great platform, and they are, from what I heard, planning on expanding to indie, and other modern, not only “good old” games. Also they are strong believers in DRM-free content. Their attitude towards both the games and the community is great. There might be something there for you. Just a thought.
Jonathan:
Love the music choice! Moody and an incredibly good fit.
To me, paying for an original high-quality game makes me feel like I’m giving you a good reason to consider doing another high-quality original game.
Iddan:
Let the people design levels for you! Just like the music and art submissions, but instead with levels using a level editor you could make.
Knarf:
Try contacting the humblebundle folks! Then parts of your income for the game goes to charity :D
If not, a pay what you want model might work for you. Or what about a Minecraft/Notch model? 25% of full price in alpha, 50% in beta and 75% right before full version.
But you should defiantly charge something for it!
What about actually contacting mojang and releasing it together with them? That way you get a lot of free publicity!
Jason L:
One thousand times – To the best of my knowledge Humble Bundle requires Linux support, which Gamemaker doesn’t do.
And GOG/CD Projekt has recently revealed that they simply prefer non-D RM; they’d rather invade your privacy and extort crippling penalties out of you than install an executable on your computer.
Smartypants:
All tracks work. It would be a cool option to give players a choice to the music style they like. Some may choose the jazz tracks, others the more cyber punk style track. It’d depend on how the game makes an impression on them and personal taste in music.
Well, that happened. « Final Form Games:
[…] of musicians for his upcoming master-spy-meets-malevolent-electrician espionage game Gunpoint, and our very own Francisco Cerda is among them! Well done, Francisco! We are now even more excited about this game than we already […]
SirPrimalform:
Please whatever you do don’t make it Steam exclusive! I’d cry to see yet another indie game go down that route. By all means release it on Steam, but please give those who don’t like Steam some kind of DRM-free option.
Gunpoint Commercial Release Confirmed Along With Music | DIYGamer:
[…] soundtracks for Gunpoint’s varying states of play. You can check them all out via his blog, here, which will also helpfully afford you your daily jazz […]
Anonymous:
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE adopt a sales model that gets this out as a paid alpha. It’s doesn’t even need to start at 25%. I would gladly pay 100% of your expected retail price NOW. I also like the idea of some community involvement in level design, if you’re open to it.
Anonymous:
$10 in a heartbeat, and now with Ryan Ike’s music selected, you would even have me at $20. Give it some room so people who really want to support you can, while allowing for a 75% off steam sale someday to drive mass volume once the word is out. I humbly submit that this game already shows promise of going the ultra high profile route of World of Goo, Braid, etc. This has “everyone” written all over it, and I mean that in a good way.
Chris:
Tom, how does it feel to be up against your favourite Spelunky in the IGF? Bet you didn’t think that would happen a year back.
I think your choice hits the nail on the head. It gives a feeling of a cigar smoke filled private investigator room in down town Chicago.
Sneaking about, trying to get info from people who should remain unaware.
Personally I really love the Assassin’s Creed Eagle Dive that this guy can pull off :)
TooNu:
Holy awesome shit Batman! the jazz music isa belter, it’s very 40-50’s private eye, god damn. Is it coming out in March? RPS hinted at March. It’s my birthday month, I’m right in the middle so I’m hoping for March. Will it be March? I’m so very much looking forward to this game regardless :)
Can’t wait!
Lem:
Just discovered your game, it looks fantastic, and you now have a lovely music to go with.
You should really consider a pre-order-beta-access thing at some point, I’d gladly put my monnies in your pocket ASAP. :)
Awesome musical selections, Tom! Can’t wait to see the changes to the gadget system.
I’m generally a fan of paid alphas, if the game in question looks like it’s going to develop into something cool (which Gunpoint absolutely does), but, considering that, at least in the past, the process for becoming a tester for the game has been “Ask Tom if you can test,” it might be a little late for that. Looking forward to being able to pay for the full product, though.
Solidplasma:
Congrats on making finals in the IGF! I’m really looking forward to this game. Just don’t feel like you have to do an early access beta; it’s not obligatory. Take as much time as you need; we’ll wait.
Ninjaman999:
Indeed, the tracks are awesome and I want to give you my money, like NOW cause I want this game very much and Ill pay 10 or 15 bucks as long as its fleshed out with a hefty amount of levels and such :D
Geen:
Looking good, keep up the great work! I sent an email about testing, did you get it? I’d be willing to pay $10 for this in the blink of an eye, so keep on being awesome!
Jabberwok:
Definitely would pay money for this. Hoping there will be a Mac version, or I may be out of luck.
D. Young:
Hm. You could do a Dr. Mario-type thing, where you have three tracks you enjoyed, and let the user decide which one to use, or the option to have a random track for each level. This would prevent the music from redundancy, although the somber atmospheric music you chose sounds just right.
Maybe have an option to not have the music get more exciting once a computer is hacked, because it doesn’t look like things get that much more exciting after that event (unless an alarm goes off or you get spotted).
Indie Jeff’s Weekly Pick: Gunpoint | Gameritto:
[…] hadn’t been totally incorporated into a IGF build I’ve been playing, we can check out some videos that showcase a final song selections on a game’s […]
Ryan H:
Hey, I’m late to this so I hope you are still reading comments here.
Please charge some money. Maybe not a lot but I’d love to toss a few bucks at it.
But also please make it easy to pay for it. Get it onto Steam or something. There is nothing worse than wanting to support something neat and having the payment being the show-stopper.
So please make this a one-click purchase for me on Steam and not a harrowing experience with paypal and odd self-rolled delivery systems.
Justin:
Music sounds great. I expected more electronic-espionage-y tunes (like MGS combined with Mass Effect or something), but the new choices fit perfectly.
In terms of charging, I see two options:
1. why not use a model that has been very successful for a number of games that have used it? The “Pay What You Want” model. This way, you have people like me who will gladly give you $19.99 USD because they can appreciate the love and quality that has gone into this, but you also have the people who will pay $0.99 USD for it because it is not running in UE3. Either way, it is all money in the bank for a new project (yes, please).
2. Steam would be a fantastic way to reach a LARGE number of gamers who buy buy buy whenever they see a deal or a really unique looking title. I could see this doing a heck of a lot of business at $9.99 USD, esp. if it is accompanied by a really slick neo-noir jazzy trailer that highlights the story and puzzle elements.
Just my thoughts. Thanks for creating such a beautifully thought-provoking game!!
I just have to say I *LOVE* the music selections. Tasteful, understated, cool jazz is all too rare in games nowadays – LA Noire recently brought it briefly to the forefront, but jazz in general is sadly overlooked most of the time. In this case, I think the cool jazz selections fit the mood of Gunpoint perfectly. Great submissions, great selection. I’m so hyped for this game! (And yes I will pay you for this, either via PayPal donation to you personally or via the pricetag for the game. Please let us compensate you for your work and creativity.)
Haha, the upright bass is awesome, and mixed in with some more techy sounds occasionally.
A bit TWIN PEAKS too, which is ALWAYS welcome. :)
Vik:
I reckon that you could use all songs. There could be a choice where you could change songs ingame and switch to various soundtracks of their choice. That would be awesome.
Henry Parsnip:
This was my entry for the game music, which was sent in after submission entries closed. Doh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2prPkbwXXx8&feature=youtu.be
Qbex:
Shaping to be a lovely window smashing little game, Tom you can easily ask for 10-15$ range and there will be lot of takers, I know I would. Best of luck, and can’t wait for release !
BerthierGS:
Hi!
Speaking of music….
Launch the game first time, had it.
Lanched the game a second time… no more music…. :(
Does someone knows a fix?