Gunster: Rain of Bullets/Gameplay

Chrome
Chrome is the currency of Gunster. No physical representation of it exists in the game and is thus more like credit. Chrome is gained through the completion of missions and rewarded for doing well in matches. It can only be used in the shop for the purchase of characters, weapons, equipment and items.

Shop
The shop enables players to purchase new characters, weapons, miscellaneous items, and equipment. Most of these have a level requirement, disabling low level users from saving up for powerful guns and better characters. Weapons have level requirements and can be purchased for 7 days or permanently. Equipment involves passively active equipment that modifies a players statistics and capabilities; for instance giving a laser sight to sniper rifles when the laser scope is equipped. Other types of equipment include bullet proof vests (which reduce damage by a percentage) and booster effects (which change the color of the booster).

Levels and Experience Points
Every time a player finishes a mission or game they are rewarded with experience points. Players level traditionally but are only rewarded with meeting the level requirements for purchasing things from the store. The character being played does not affect the level or experience gain of a player. Experience points gained through missions are given by a specific amount for the mission, plus an additional amount based on the number of points gained through kills.

Battle mode however is different;

Experience gained is proportional only to what rank you were, if your team won/lost and how long the mission was.

Ladder points are proportional to what rank you were, if your team won/lost, how long the mission lasted, AND your level.

For example: If you are in a 1v1 mission and you're level 50 against a level 5, and the mission runs 20 minutes, if you get one kill off your opponent and you are never killed, thus winning the match, you will get 100XP, and maybe about 5 ladder points.

If you are in a 4v4 mission and you get 2nd place and your team wins, and it was a 5 minute mission, and the other team was a higher level than you, you will get about 10 ladder points, and about 25XP.

Losing to the other team halves your experience points, but barely affects your ladder points, it seems.

Licenses
Licenses categorize players into levels of ability. Each license gained by a player unlocks new modes of gameplay, Challenge License Area is given, and the subsequent Mission and Battle licenses are earned.

Challenge License Area
The Challenge License Area is where players begin, as novices. Gunster refers to this as the bootcamp of the game. It is only accessible independently, and is a practice area for the different skills necessary for gameplay. For example, target practice (gun and grenade), booster training, survival against an unlimited amount of enemies, and running are all encompassed in the 11 challenge levels available. The best time for each level is recorded and placed in a ladder in which players compete to be in the top 5; although currently times have been butchered by players who have chosen to hex edit their times. Survival levels, metal orbs and sky fighter, do not keep track of any score but reward players with experience and medals. The survival levels are also unique to the Challenge License Area in that they provide the Extra Life power-up.

Mission License Area
Once achieved, the Mission License Area (a.k.a. Quest Mode) allows players to play six different missions on three different difficulties with up to 2 other players. All missions are available for solo play, but the medium and hard difficulties often require multiple players with much experience to complete the levels.

The three difficulties provide three different versions of the six stages. Each stage, when completed, unlocks the next stage for availability for that difficulty and every difficulty below it. If you beat the first stage on easy mode, you won't be able to play the second stage on medium or hard unless you beat the first stage on those difficulties, but if you finish the first stage on medium without doing so on easy mode, stage two will be unlocked in easy mode as well as in medium mode.

Stages in mission mode consist of a central theme, the mission goal and the location, represented by the scenery and types of enemies. Each stage actually consists of multiple levels, usually around four. Each level, besides the final, requires players to eliminate every unit on the map and then proceed to the exit, denoted by a portal like object.

One element that adds to the strategy of the missions is the use of extra lives. Teams share lives, and thus more skilled players are often chosen rather than playing with a full team of three. At the same time, going solo may be chosen for easy modes when a player wants to gain all of the chrome and experience while being able to rush levels by themselves. Strategies such as these exist and cause variance in player interaction.

The final level of a stage has a boss, who's life is noted at the top of the screen in the form of a large red bar. As the boss takes damage, the red is replaced by black, signifying the amount left.

The reward for completing a mission, besides experience and medals, is a random item. It can be either a miscellaneous item such as a set of bandages or specialized grenades, or it could even be a weapon usable in the Battle License area. Weapons gained in this way only last for seven days, thus most experienced players do not play mission mode where they are not able to gain skill against other players.

The following are the six playable missions:
 * Mission 1: The Morning of Training
 * Mission 2: Steel Mill
 * Mission 3: Danger Signal
 * Mission 4: First Counter Attack
 * Mission 5: Giant Tree
 * Mission 6: Surprise Attack

Battle License Area
Achieved after gaining several medals from the Mission License area, the Battle License area allows players to fight head to head in battles of up to 8. Players can play on teams of any size but most people won't play without a fair game where the number of players on each team is equal.

Death Match
Death Match mode puts players in a traditional frag fest scenario; where teams or individuals play simply to get the highest kill count while keeping their deaths to a minimum. The player with the highest score, and the one with the least, get bonuses to their experience, chrome and ladder score at the end of the game.

Survival
Like Death Match mode, Survival is as it sounds. Players must fight their enemies, either by themselves or in teams, while trying to not get killed. If killed, a player cannot be revived until the end of the game.

Capture The Flag
Although not implemented yet (its not selectable in game), Capture the Flag practice is in the Challenge License Area. Like most capture the flag games, Gunster's rules have players run across the map to the enemy's flag, touch it, and then have them run back to score. If a player with a flag dies, then it can be recapture by the other team simply by touching it - they don't even have to run it back.

Recently, players have been able to hack the game to allow CTF games to be played; they are fully operateable (i.e. there are no glitches), all of the maps have already been outfitted to play CTF while in this mode, the sound files/graphics/text on screen reflects this in game as well, and the leaderboard during/after the game shows the number of flag captures + kills.

However in this hacked mode, no experience points/ladder points/kills/deaths actually *count* on your character, so it's useless to use it to level up etc. at this point.

Medals
Players must progress through the modes in Gunster sequentially. Medals are gained by completing levels or doing well in battles. Once earned, users can insert medals into medal cards; when completed, the cards can be transformed into various rewards, such as the licenses required for gameplay modes.

Iron is the type of medal needed to increase your card to subsequent levels; to get it, play on Easy mode and complete a mission in the mission license area. Playing on any other difficulty will not get you Iron, and Bronze has no use in the game as of yet.

Power-Ups
In game power-ups allow players to get a distinct advantage over challenges and players. They appear in two different ways, depending on the game mode. In challenge mode (survival levels) and battle mode, power-ups appear in either random locations or specific ones. Sometimes the power-up produced at a location is completely random, but at others it is specified by type (modifier, health, weapon). In mission mode, power-ups are gained by defeating an enemy, whereby the power-up appears at the final resting place of the enemy. Also in mission mode, enemies drop special weapon power-ups not available in other game modes, providing players the use of a normal weapon, often to their advantage in the current situation. Power-ups include:


 * Double Damage Offense Modifier - When active on a player, a red circle with the letter P circles the player.
 * Extra Life - A stick-figure like icon graphic, it adds one life to the top right of a player's screen.
 * Flame Thrower - Equips the player with a flame thrower, disables the ability to change weapons and when depleted it causes the primary and secondary weapons to have to cool down before firing.
 * Grenade Refills - Gives a player three regular grenades.
 * Half Damage Defense Modifier - When active on a player, a blue circle with the letter D circles the player.
 * Health - Restores some depleted health. The icon graphic has currently been changed to a turkey for the Thanksgiving holidays.
 * Invisibility - Mainly used during missions, when active, the computer characters will not fire at you.
 * Rocket Launcher - Equips the player with a rocket launcher, disables the ability to change weapons and when depleted it causes the primary and secondary weapons to have to cool down before firing.
 * Speed - Increases your jetpack amount, as well as your jumping/walking speed, and air manuverability.