From the makers of Rust comes “tennis crossed with Street Fighter”

Facepunch Studios, best known for survival starlet Rust and the ever-evolving Garry’s Mod, today revealed yet another new project: Deuce.

Facepunch describes Deuce as “tennis crossed with street fighter,” an unlikely hybrid sitting somewhere between Mario Tennis and lucha libré wrestling. “Deuce is an arcade style tennis game with a focus on unique characters and courses,” programmer Ian James said in a post to the studio’s blog.

“I’ve faced a couple of challenges in development so far,” he continued, “building a convincing animation system where it feels nice to return the ball has been particularly tricky. I implemented a system that helps the player get in a good position to return the ball and it’s now a case of finding a balance between having to get in exactly the right position or it feeling more like a quick time event.”

A few snippets of character art (seen above), show that, as James puts it, athletes won’t be a couple of suits in their “Wimbledon starch white shorts.” Potential courses are equally colorful, already spanning Eastern temples to the distinctly … southern United States.

[FacePunch via Eurogamer]