GunBound
GunBound (full name – GunBound: Thor's Hammer) is a free online computer game developed in South Korea by Softnyx.
GunBound is similar to the turn-based Worms game series. Players are assigned on opposing teams that take turns firing at their opponents with their "mobiles". Players can choose from a variety of unique mobiles, ranging from a giant mechanical slug (Grub) to a Triceratops (Trico). Players can move their mobile a limited distance, choose a weapon (either weapon 1, 2 (blue buttons) or SS (yellow button)) and adjust the angle and power to which they will fire their shot within a limited time, and this will be affected by the wind and its direction on different maps, as well as a green laser called Thor which takes effect in certain rounds to give more damage. Similar to the Worms games, the map is entirely destructable and makes it possible to destroy a mobile by making it fall off the map. Gold is awarded for performing well and winning the game, which can be used to buy avatar items. These items boost your statistics in one or more areas, such as attack strength, speed, and so forth, but only have an effect on the "Avatar On" worlds/servers (with the exception of popularity, which gives you 1% more money per point in any world/server).
Prior to each game, powerups can be purchased and equipped. These items offer a variety of benefits to the user, such as "Dual", which allows you to fire two shots in one turn. Furthermore, there are different modes of playing as well. In Jewel players attack targets which give gold and points. When a team gets to 100 points or over, they win. Score is the most commonly played, where each team shares a number of lives. A team loses when their score is 0. When a player runs out of life, it is deducted from the team total regardless of who died. Tag mode is where each player has control of 2 mobiles and can switch between them (the second selected mobile will only have half or less life of the total). Finally, Solo mode is where each player has only one life. For Tag and Solo modes, dead players can spin a slot wheel which allows them to drop a variety of benefical or harmful items to the remaining players.
Players also gain "GP" (Game Points) for good performance in game and winning, but may be deducted for penalties, such as hurting and/or making team members and/or yourself fall off the map. As players gain GP, their rank increases, allowing them to visit other servers and form and join guilds. Typical of many other online games, many players tend to put a high value on rank, where it is seen as a sign of skill to have a high rank. Experienced players who use low-ranked accounts are known as "fake noobs".
List of GunBound mobiles and their attacks
- Aduka (Laser Electricity Machine) – also nicknamed the vulgar 'AssBot' as the machine itself fires its bullets from the rear.
- Shot 1: Fires an electric ball that shocks nearby enemies
- Shot 2: Fires three projectiles that trigger Thor
- Super Shot: Fire a large projectile that goes through everything; triggers Thor when it hits an enemy mobile (even if all their health is gone in Solo/Tag mode), jewel, or mini-Raon
- Armor Mobile/AmorMobile (Explosion Machine)
- Shot 1: Fires a missile
- Shot 2: Fires a missile that explodes twice
- Super Shot: Fires a missile that transforms into a stronger one after a few seconds
- A.Sate/A. Sate/Asset/Sate (Laser Shield) – has a disc floating above it that shoots lasers
- Shot 1: Fires a projectile, a green laser is shot at projectile landing spot from a lower disc position
- Shot 2: Fires a projectile, 3 yellow lasers are shot at projectile landing spot from a higher disc position
- Super Shot: Fires a projectile, a barrage of yellow lasers are shot down vertically at projectile landing spot
- Big Foot/BigFoot (Explosion Machine) – also known as NoobBot or NoobFoot
- Shot 1: Fires missiles
- Shot 2: Fires a barrage of tiny missiles
- Super Shot: Fires red missiles similar to its shot 1
- Boomer/Boomer Launcher (Hit Creature)
- Shot 1: Fires a boomerang
- Shot 2: Fires 4 boomerangs
- Super Shot: Fires a boomerang that transforms into a stronger golden boomerang after a few seconds
- Grub (Electricity Creature) – also considered a 'NoobBot' because its second shot features spherical bullets that roll down terrain and bounce of the edges of the screen, requiring very little aiming skill to use.
- Shot 1: Fires a blue ball that explodes on contact with the ground or a mobile
- Shot 2: Fires 4 purple balls that roll around until contact with a mobile, and cannot go off the screen before contact with the ground
- Super Shot: Fires a purple ball that rolls around and does more damage the longer it touches
- Ice (Hit Creature) – also nicknamed as Elephant or Mammoth
- Shot 1: Fires a piece of ice from the bazooka
- Shot 2: Fires a snowball from the mammoth from a slightly lower angle position than its shot 1
- Super Shot: Fires a snowflake that turns into an enormous snowflake on contact with the ground or a mobile
- J.D. (Electricity Shield) – also nicknamed as Cake or Cakebot because of its idle animation which involves 2 smaller versions of JD that pop out of its head like a wedding cake.
- Shot 1: Fires an electric ball that shocks nearby enemies
- Shot 2: Fires a ball that sucks in surrounding mobiles, jewels and also mini-Raons; affects Creature-types less
- Super Shot: Pushes mobiles away from impact site, but cannot push them off cliffs; affects Creature-types less
- Lightening/Lighting/Lightning (Electricity Shield) – also nicknamed Lovebot because it makes a heart shape out of lightning when idle.
- Shot 1: Fires a projectile, a thunderbolt comes down at impact site
- Shot 2: Fires a projectile, 2 thunderbolts come down in a "V" shape at impact site
- Super Shot: Fires a projectile, a thunderbolt hits every mobile in the surrounding area
- Mage (Laser Shield)
- Shot 1: Fires a laser
- Shot 2: Fires 2 intertwining lasers
- Super Shot: Fires a circle that removes mobiles' shields
- Nakmachine/NakMachine/Nak (Hit Machine) – also nicknamed as Bubblegum or Bumble Bee due to the way it blows bubbles when idle, or it could also be vulgarly named as another 'AssBot' as this machine also fires its bullets from the rear.
- Shot 1: Fires a brown ball
- Shot 2: Fires a ball that goes underground and explodes on contact with the surface; accelerates upwards while underground
- Super Shot: Fires a miniature Nak that goes through ground and explodes upon impact with a mobile, jewel, or mini-Raon
- Raon Launcher/RaonLauncher/Leon Launcher/LeonLauncher/Raon/Roan (Laser Machine)
- Shot 1: Fires 3 strings of gears
- Shot 2: Fires 2 mini-Raons that walk into a nearby mobile at the beginning of your next turn; less sensitive to Creature-type mobiles
- Super Shot: Fires a larger mini-Raon that walks on contact with the ground until it hits a mobile, jewel or mini-Raon, or time expires
- Trico (Explosion Creature) – also nicknamed as Dino.
- Shot 1: Fires an exploding green ball
- Shot 2: Fires 3 exploding green ball with the 2 on the outside revolving around a center one
- Super Shot: Fires a rainbow coloured ball that turns into a earth-removing spinning attack upon impact
- Turtle (Hit Creature)
- Shot 1: Fires a stream of water
- Shot 2: Fires 2 streams of water that intertwine
- Super Shot: Fires a blob of water which splits into 6 smaller blobs after a few seconds
You can choose "random" on the mobile selection screen in addition to the above mobiles. The following mobiles are unselectable and there's a rare chance of getting them through random.
- Dragon (Explosion Creature)
- Shot 1: Shoots a breath of fire
- Shot 2: Shoots 4 breaths of fire
- Super Shot: Shoots a projectile which summons four dragons to attack its landing spot
- Knight (Laser Machine) – has a sword above it that shoots lasers
- Shot 1: Fires a projectile, a burning sword is shot at projectile landing spot from a lower sword position
- Shot 2: Fires a projectile, burning swords are shot at projectile landing spot from a higher sword position
- Super Shot: Fires a projectile, a barrage burning swords are shot down vertically at projectile landing spot
Each mobile has their strengths and weaknesses, and their modes of attack differ by their shot types. For example, J.D. and Big Foot are known to make large holes in the map, which is useful for bunging. On the other hand, A.Sate requires more precision, but a well-calculated shot will yield lots of damage.
Mobile and attack types
Each mobile is one of three types:
- Creature
- Strong against Electricity-type attacks
- Weak against Laser-type attacks
- Healing items extra effective
- Machine
- Strong against Hit-type attacks
- Weak against Electricity-type attacks
- Shield
- Strong against Laser-type attacks
- Weak against Hit-type attacks
- Shield regenerates with time
The four attack types are:
- Electricity
- Explosion
- Hit
- Laser
Explosion-type attacks do the same damage to all mobiles.
Items
Items are chosen before the game begins. You may not choose items disabled by the room administrator or take up more than six slots total. In solo games, you can gain new one-slot items by grabbing treasure chests dropped by defeated players.
| Name | Slots | Delay | SS Allowed | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blood | 1 | 0 | No | User loses 8% of remaining health; next attack 33% more powerful |
| Bunge shot | 1 | 50 | No | Next attack 25% more powerful and does greater land damage |
| Change Wind | 1 | 150 | Yes | Changes wind speed/direction |
| Dual | 2 | 600 | No | Selected weapon fires twice in one turn |
| Dual+ | 2 | 250 | No | After selected weapon is fired, the other weapon fires also |
| Energy up 1 | 1 | 100 | Yes | Regain some health |
| Energy up 2 | 2 | 300 | Yes | Recover 25% of maximum health |
| Power up | 1 | 150 | No | Next attack 33% more powerful |
| Team Teleport | 2 | 50 | Yes | Switch places with the teammate with the lowest health; ends current turn |
| Teleport | 2 | 100 | Yes | Shoots a projectile that teleports you to its landing spot; ends current turn |
| Thunderbolt | 2 | 100 | No | A thunderbolt hits where the next attack lands |
Sudden Death
Sudden Death mode activates after a set number of turns. Each type of Sudden Death has a special effect on shots.
- Big Bomb Death: Shots destroy more ground; Super Shots are disabled.
- Double Death: Shots are fired twice; Super Shots are disabled.
- Super Shot Death: Super Shots can be used every turn.
- No Death: Sudden Death doesn't activate at all for the duration of the game.
List of slang/shorthand commonly used on GunBound
- bb = bye bye (could be used to signify leaving a game/room, or to signify to someone just before they are killed)
- bs = back shot (for a boomer mobile mostly, referring to a trick shot that can be use to earn money)
- bunge = making a player fall off the map, presumably used due to a badly translated bungee on Softnyx' part.
- dk = double kill
- dt = double team
- eBay wand = reference to an player with rank wand with bad skills. As if the account is bought off eBay.
- gb = GunBound
- gg = good/great game
- haircut/headcut = someone's shot "sliced" the top of another person, but didn't actually hit
- ks = kill steal (killing an opponent one's teammate had already been attacking extensively)
- lmao = laugh my ass off
- nado = tornado/hurricane
- nb = nice bunge
- nerfed = when a GunBound update weakens something; e.g. "Cake's SS got nerfed yesterday! It can't bunge anymore."
- nk = nice kill
- noob, n00b, newb, newbie = new/bad/unskilled player
- np = no problem
- ns = nice shot (frequently used as sarcasm as opposed to commending one on a true good shot, some even call it noob shot)
- nt = nice try
- 0wn/0wnage = own/ownage
- pro, pr0 = professional/good/skilled player
- pwn/pwnage = own/ownage (pronounced "own"/"ownage" also)
- qk = quadruple kill
- qt = quadruple team
- rdy = ready (a call to action, rather than a question; all players must signal they are ready before the game begins)
- rofl = rolling on floor laughing
- sg = shotgun (meaning straight direct shoot, without doing any tricks, eg. boomer shot)
- Singlish = an English creole spoken in Singapore, common on GunBound. No punctuation or capitalization is ever used, and sentences often end with "la" or "leh". Examples: "you use bigfoot you so noob la", "zomg qk bunge ks you so pro leh". Note that nowadays most Singlish found in the game is just stereotyping, rather than actual Singaporean players.
- SS/55 = super shot (yellow button, once used it can't be used for a number of rounds, frequently called 55 as the other 2 buttons are "numbers", and SS looks like 55 as well)
- tele = teleport
- tk = team/triple kill
- tt = triple team
- ty = thank you
- vns = very nice shot
- wc = wind change
There are also other varieties of vulgarities for undesirable words such as
- fish
- fuk
- sheit
- shyt
- sux
- sh!t
- @ss
- @sshole
- @$$
External links
- GunBound International Official Website (http://www.gunbound.net/)
- Softnyx (http://www.softnyx.co.kr/eng/) – game developers
- Gunbound Avatar Planner (http://www.gunboundavatar.net/) – avatar design tool
- Pockethouse (http://www.pockethouse.com/) – GunBound-based webcomic
- Gunbound Strategy (http://haa.homeip.net:8080/gb/gb.shtml) – Gunbound Strategy