Inside Ironwood: Why GUN NOSE on Kickstarter Is Redefining Pixel Art Detective Games - The Interview

Campaign Overview

GUN NOSE on Kickstarter is an action-mystery RPG that blends semi-procedural murder investigations with chaotic real-time combat, all rendered in a groundbreaking top-down 3D pixel art style.

• Platform: Kickstarter

• Category: Video Games

• Funding Status: $227,054 pledged of $35,000 goal

• Backers: 5,028

• Days Remaining: 14

• Creator: Addy Valentine

Set in the handcrafted pixel city of Ironwood, GUN NOSE puts players in the role of a robot detective hunting Serial Murder-Bots hiding among civilians. Each case features different suspects, victims, and killers every playthrough. It’s not just about solving crimes — it’s about surviving them.

With stretch goals already unlocking new regions, co-op modes, expanded pixel cutscenes, console ports, and even a potential animated mini-series, GUN NOSE has clearly struck a nerve with backers. We spoke with Addy Valentine about procedural storytelling, next-gen pixel art, and building a living city where anyone can die.

Blending Mystery with Real-Time Combat

GUN NOSE combines semi-procedural murder investigations with chaotic real-time combat. How did you approach balancing thoughtful detective work with fast-paced action so neither aspect overshadows the other?

Gun Nose is very much an action focused game. The player will be shooting, boosting, and jumping around the city as they follow leads and move between points of interest. The action adds tension since you may be surrounded by little dinosaurs nipping at you or under fire by some of the Serial Bots psychic projections while looking around a crime scene scanning for clues.

I myself am not a huge fan of giant walls of text so the the game tries to make the player the aggressive participant in the detective work as much as possible. Players will only talk to NPCs if they want to, they’ll be asking the questions, and presenting the evidence. If the player feels an NPCs response is untruthful than they’ll be pressing them for that as well. A player could, if they really wanted, talk to every NPC in the city on a case, but that’s really not good detective work and there are penalties for that kind of thing.

So the interrogation and clue finding process are more for gathering leads to point the player into the direction the action actually is. Sometimes things will be spelt out but most the time they won’t, and so the detective work is less about sitting in a menu, connecting strings, and more about moving around following your gut.

Semi-Procedural Storytelling

Each case features different victims, suspects, clues, and killers in every playthrough. How do you maintain narrative coherence and emotional stakes while using semi-procedural systems?

The procedural systems are a mix of handcrafted design and procedural generation similar to the dungeons in Enter the Gungeon. There are a number of designed blueprints that are selected from at the beginning of a case that are used to dictate the flow. Whereas the generation can fill in the spots like who’s who, what clues to find, etc.

Other systems rest on top and add a layer of personalization like the relationship system between different NPCs. However, the most important emotional relationship is between the player and the victim, and I’ve got a couple of tricks up my sleeve for that.

The 3D Pixel Art Revolution

You describe GUN NOSE as pushing pixel art into the next generation with a custom 3D pixel system. What technical and artistic challenges did you face in building a fully rotatable pixel-art world that still feels handcrafted?

The graphics of Gun Nose are achieved through multiple rendering techniques. Some 3d models, billboards, sprite stacking, and then a full-stack solution for the player and NPCs. I specialize in technical art programming but my first love was pixel art and so no matter the technique I use I do my best to make sure everything is as close as pixel perfect as possible. And if it looks hand done, it’s because most of it is.

There’s not a single thing in the game that hasn’t been touched by my pixelart editor of choice GraphicsGale. The biggest hurdle in all this is the sheer amount of time in making the art as well as the systems that needed to be coded to support it. And there’s a lot of back and forth between editor and game to make sure something is just right. Hopefully as I hire more artists this time will be reduced!

A Living City Where Anyone Can Die

Ironwood’s residents have schedules, memories, and permanence. What design philosophy guided the creation of a city where “anyone can be the victim” and choices carry lasting consequences?

When I was first planning the game and doing research into procedural systems, the company I worked for was sold for the second time in a row after not even being there a year. And what I noticed in these systems, much like in my work life, is that the NPCs are treated like interchangeable cogs in a larger machine. It didn’t really matter if they had a name, or a face, because they’re really just stats on a sheet. But I don’t really think of people that way, and I want Gun Nose to reflect that. You can say the same design philosophy that created the NPC system is the same one that wrote the games song “I’m a Machine”.

From Solo Passion Project to Expanding Universe

You’ve built most of GUN NOSE yourself — from code to soundtrack. With the campaign exceeding its goal and unlocking major stretch goals, how do you envision scaling development while preserving the personal identity that defines the game?

Solo development is hard and isolating. It’s also not a recipe for getting something done fast. After the Kickstarter, I’ll be hiring specialty programmers to help with systems like porting, or programming specific systems that handle things like localization, achievements. That kind of thing. Really important, complicated systems that need to be done, but don’t necessarily touch the main gameplay. I’ll also be looking for more pixelartist to work with that specifically focus on my weaker areas like environments or animation so I can focus more on the design of the game and character. Of course id love to get as much help as possible, but you can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen and I plan on keeping my hands on the parts of the game that have defined Gun Nose so far.

By the end of our conversation, it became clear that GUN NOSE on Kickstarter is not just another retro-inspired indie title. It is a deliberate attempt to merge procedural systems with authored emotion, action-heavy combat with meaningful investigation, and pixel nostalgia with forward-looking technology.

Ironwood feels alive because its citizens matter. The murder bots feel dangerous because they are not scripted set pieces but reactive threats. And the 3D pixel system is not a gimmick — it is the backbone of exploration and clue discovery. GUN NOSE is shaping up to be one of the more ambitious indie action-mystery projects currently on Kickstarter.

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About the Creator Behind GUN NOSE on Kickstarter

Addy Valentine, also known as Adam Meredith, is a veteran contract pixel artist and indie developer. Known online for his YouTube content focused on character design and pixel art techniques, he has built GUN NOSE almost entirely himself — from code and animation systems to soundtrack composition.

What makes GUN NOSE stand out is not just technical skill, but personal investment. This is a world Addy has been shaping for years. Kickstarter funding now allows him to transition from nights-and-weekends development to full-time production, while carefully expanding the team without losing the creative identity that defines the game.

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FAQ about GUN NOSE on Kickstarter

What type of game is GUN NOSE?

GUN NOSE is a top-down action-mystery RPG combining semi-procedural murder investigations with real-time combat in a fully rotatable 3D pixel art world.

Is GUN NOSE coming to consoles?

Yes. The game is planned for Steam (PC/Mac/Linux) and has unlocked stretch goals for PS5 and Xbox. Additional console ports may unlock with further funding.

Does every playthrough feature different cases?

Yes. Each case features different victims, suspects, clues, and murder bots, making investigations semi-procedural and highly replayable.

Will GUN NOSE include co-op?

Stretch goals have unlocked couch co-op, and higher funding tiers aim to introduce online co-op as well.

Who is developing GUN NOSE?

The project is primarily developed by Addy Valentine, who handles pixel art, programming, and even the soundtrack, with plans to expand the team post-Kickstarter.