Bomberball: Gun Soccer

📍 Houston, TX (US)

🏷️ Video Games

The Game

Compete in galactic rivalry in this multiplayer sport-FPS hybrid. Run, pass, and shoot a planet-killer bomb into the opposing team’s rift. Coordinate tactics and expend an arsenal of class-based loadouts in tightly-crafted arenas. Experience the fast-paced, strategic combat of the future.

Work with your team to get the bomb into the enemy team's rift, by any means necessary. Fight for every inch in a brutal stadium, hold your ground at choke-points, maneuver into powerful vantage points, and position yourself for the perfect score!

Equip yourself with weapons fitting a variety of playstyles to win - whether it’s guns-a-blazing with explosion-on-impact rounds or taking out your enemies with a precision energy rifle. Katanas, futuristic machine guns, gravity bombs - There’s no shortage of surprises.

Elevate the first person shooter experience with superhuman abilities - shield, grapple, or launch your hero into action - avoid imminent danger in intense situations or assist your team.

How To Play

Your objective while playing Bomberball is to get the bomb (ball) into the enemy team's rift (goal). You will play on a team, against a rival team of players. The match timer counts down, and whichever team scores more goals in that time wins. You start near your team's rift, the bomb spawns at the center of the map, and everything is reset to this position after each goal is scored.

You can move the ball by picking it up, running, and throwing it, or they can shoot the ball with their guns, melee it, or let a grenade blast it away. You have an energy meter which represents how long you can hold the ball before being forced to drop it. You can also drop the ball at-will, as another method of ball control. Energy recharges after a short delay.

You can use your character's arsenal, equipment, and movement to execute skillful strategies, and teams can coordinate their abilities to great effect. The fun of Bomberball is balancing combat with the ball objective, as well as competing over micro-objectives such as power ammo pickups. There is never a moment where you aren't considering your next move, your positioning, timing, and lines-of-sight.

There are dedicated servers for quickplay matchmaking, and we allow community-hosted servers as well. You can party-up with friends and play casual, competitive, or custom matches.

Classes

In Bomberball, you choose between one of three classes to play, and you can switch between them any time, with a respawn. The three classes are light, medium, and heavy. Each class fulfils a unique role within the team, and it's up to you to decide which classes to use for your strategy or playstyle.

Each class has a primary gun, secondary gun, power weapon, equipment ability, grenade, and melee attack. All primary and secondary guns have infinite ammo, though some recharge ammo while others can be reloaded. Power weapons require you to collect power ammo pickups in the arena, then the ammo will go directly into your gun, no need to reload or wait to fire. Equipment abilities have a cooldown after activation. You will start out with one grenade when you spawn or respawn, with pickups in the arena that resupply a grenade, and some classes can hold extra grenades. Each class has a unique melee attack, some more deadly than others.

Light Class

The light class is your sniper/infiltrator class, which can reposition quickly for a headshot or hit-and-run tactics. This class has the lowest health and armor, but highest mobility and smallest stature, which is harder to hit. The primary gun of the light class is a sniper rifle that does a lot of damage, with a fast muzzle velocity, but only a 4-round magazine which needs to be reloaded. The secondary gun of the light class is a submachine gun (SMG), which shoots a spray of bullets at a high rate of fire, and a 30-round magazine that is quick to reload. The light class's power weapon is called the Mega Volt, which shoots out an electrically charged bolt that arcs to anything within a radius, and it can hold up to two shots. The light class's grenade is a smoke screen, which conceals player movement and blocks lines-of-sight. The melee weapon of the light class is a katana, with decent reach and damage. The light class's equipment ability is a thruster pack, which can be activated while on the ground or airborne, and it quickly thrusts the user upward or sideways to reposition during combat, to reach a vantage point, or intercept the ball.

Medium Class

The medium class is your all-rounder assault class, which can keep the pressure on and overwhelm their opponents. This class is in the middle for health, armor, mobility, and stature, but that doesn't mean it's without a unique role on the team. The primary gun of the medium class is an automatic plasma rifle, which has slow projectile speeds, but good damage, and it recharges ammo over time (even when unequipped) instead of being reloadable. The secondary gun of the medium class is a laser shotgun, which has a quick fire rate but only 4 rounds, and also must recharge ammo over time. You'll need to juggle between the two weapons to maximize effectiveness, but if done right you'll be an dangerous, oppressive force. The medium class's power weapon is called the Thumper, which can shoot up to two bursts of two magnetic (sticky) explosive warheads. The medium class's grenade is an impact frag, which explodes shortly after its first bounce. The melee weapon of the medium class is a dagger, with fast attacks. The medium class's equipment ability is a grapple hook, which pulls the player quickly towards the grapple point, to cover large distances for an assault or flank maneuver.

Heavy Class

The heavy class is your area-control class, which can suppress the enemy or push their team through a choke point. This class has the highest health and armor, but lowest mobility and largest stature, which is easiest to hit or hide behind. The primary gun of the heavy class is a light machine gun (LMG), which locks down the area with a 100 round magazine, but afterwards it must be reloaded. The secondary gun of the heavy class is a gravity pistol, which creates a sphere that pulls players towards the center, and has a single shot that recharges. The heavy class's power weapon is called the Acid Rain, which shoots a single burst of four acid goo balls that stick, then explode into smaller goo balls which also stick and explode. The heavy class's grenade is a napalm, that spreads a trail of fire after its first bounce, which burns the area for some time. The melee weapon of the heavy class is its clawed fist, with heavy attacks. The heavy class's equipment ability is a hard-light barrier, which deploys a hologram that solidifies into a shield, blocking bullets, players, and the ball, until it expires, is recalled, or is destroyed.

Maps & Modes

Competitive

The competitive maps and modes in Bomberball are tightly designed for dynamic gameplay that highlights skill expression. The arenas provide an even playing field where the better players, strategies, and teamplay come out on top. The modes demand that the player understand the strengths and weaknesses of every class, and find a way to outplay the enemy team.

Casual

The casual maps and modes in Bomberball are simply designed for good fun. The arenas provide interesting obstacles to overcome and enable players to explore the game's mechanics in tailor-designed environments. The modes are fun for all classes and playstyles, even if players aren't playing optimally. Here, we keep things fresh, change up the rules, and have some laughs.

Tutorial

Why Kickstarter?

We are far along in development, but we need up-front funding in order to provide a good player experience during the demo and on launch day, with robust matchmaking via official dedicated servers. The game will get made, even if this Kickstarter fails to be funded, but we see this campaign as a win-win for us and our players.

We are trying to launch a demo that uses dedicated servers for Steam Next Fest, so the game cannot even be in early access on Steam yet. Furthermore, Steam delays payments to developers for a few weeks after launch, and we may not have the capital to keep the servers up during the launch window, unless we get help from backers.

Wishlist Now On Steam!

History

Bomberball is a passion project that began when two developers, Jonah & Emil, discovered a shared vision for a new type of first-person arena shooter. After a prototype was formed, the duo invited Dillon, another dev who became enamored with the project, to join the team.

The idea of balancing two games in one, a team sport and an arena shooter, was a challenge in the start, but parity was honed-in through playtesting and experimentation. To enable players to fulfill roles within their team, the class-based concept was introduced, where each class has unique forms of combat effectiveness and tools that enhance the team sport element.

We are proud of what we’ve crafted with Bomberball, and are excited to get it into gamers’ hands.

About Texaur Digital

Texaur Digital is a studio of dreamers working on their passion projects. With creative perspectives in interactive entertainment, we are developing the world’s next exciting videogames. We are dedicated to crafting experiences that no player has felt before, and expanding what’s possible in gaming.

The Team

• Jonah - Game Design, Programming, Networking
• Emil - Art Director, Music Director, Level Design
• Dillon - Technical Director, Game Design, Programming

Socials

• Website (press)
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• BlueSky
• Reddit (sub)