GUNSPORT

Gunsport takes place in an alternate future where humans have grown tired of war. Nations’ petty disputes are now settled with the World’s Game, Gunsport. It’s the cyberpunk future of Neo Tokyo, Neo USSR, The Free Congo, Blue Cambodia, Nuovo São Paulo. Neon lights and repurposed technology populate this world, filling it with a restless analog hum.

TRAILER:

Gunsport is like volleyball or sepak takraw, except instead of using hands or feet, you use guns to propel a ball into your opponents’ territory. Gunsport is all about keeping the ball in the air, and getting it into a goal at a choice moment. The more times the ball passes the net (during a volley, as it were) the more points it’s worth, and the more dangerous it becomes to miss a shot. And your shots are limited, so you have to aim carefully, time your shots with care, and communicate with your teammate.

Gunsport is a 2-on-2 (or 1-on-1) competitive eSport for discerning individuals who like: cool times, hot times, rough times, and dangerous times. It’s a cyberpunk vision of the neo future, like volleyball or sepak takraw with a shotgun and a laserbeam (and a bunch of other weapons, of course).

Gunsport is all about keeping the ball in the air. The more times the ball passes the net the more points it’s worth, and the more dangerous it becomes to miss a shot. Shots are limited — the keeper, in the back, can’t move, but gets two shots in a full clip. The striker, in the front, can move and jump, but only gets one shot. Teams reload when the ball crosses the net toward them, but only then, so you have to economize your shots. Every time the ball crosses the net either direction it’s worth one additional point, so when you’ve got a 30 point volley going, and you’re playing to 60, well, the stakes get pretty high.

Then there are the goals. If you get the ball into a goal, you get a bonus. Strikers can snipe it in, or Keepers can double-tap it in, shooting twice to change the ball’s direction. Or, if you’re truly drift compatible, you and your teammate can shoot the ball at the same time for a focus shot, causing the ball to go twice as fast.

So it’s an eSport, yeah, but we think about it a bit like a fighting game. Rather than being reactive, you have to be predictive. The aiming is deliberately analog. It’s not immediate. You have to watch the angles and predict where the ball is going to be, rather than reacting to where it is now. You need to predict how long it will take your shot to reach the ball. You need to see where your partner is aiming, as well as whether your opponents have any shots left with which to vex you. You’ve got to take in the whole screen at the same time. Pay careful attention to your timing and positioning.