Video game: The Gunstringer
Platform: Kinect for Xbox 360
Developer: Austin-based Twisted Pixel
Price: $40
Game synopsis: “Buried and left for dead by his former posse, a skeleton cowboy marionette begins his journey of revenge, aided only by his gritty resolve and trusty pistol. He will track his betrayers down, one by one, and bring justice upon them. … Nothing can stand in his way, nothing will stop him on the vengeance trail.”

by WES FERGUSON

Tonya Roberts figures she’ll be making dinner at her home in Buda one night when she looks up, notices the TV and has to tell her kids: “Hey! Stop shooting me!”

Roberts, a part-time actor, stunt performer and cleaning-service owner, has a bit part in a video game that pairs cartoony scenes with real life actors.

In a free download that accompanies The Gunstringer, a game for Xbox 360, Roberts draws her pistol, and you have to shoot her first before she fires back.

“Oh Lordy,” she hollers as she falls off the porch of an Old West saloon.

Austin-based game developer Twisted Pixel created The Gunstringer for Xbox 360’s Kinect. The main character is a skeleton cowboy marionette seeking revenge against the posse that betrayed and killed him.

Because Kinect uses a webcam-style device to sense the player’s movements, you don’t need a controller to play The Gunstringer. Instead, you use your left hand to move the skeletal puppet as he runs forward dodging bullets and obstacles, as your right hand shoots the targets of his vengeance.

Roberts’ 13-year-old son, Bradley Scharmann, has been playing the game after school. He says it’s really fun.

Roberts filmed her scenes for The Gunstringer over two days this summer at the 12-acre Stunt Ranch in Austin. She has also appeared in the 2004 movie “The Alamo,” as well as TV shows, anime DVDs, commercials, independent films and children’s parties as Batman’s nemesis Catwoman.

“I’ve been doing weird costume stuff for a long time,” she said.