Enjoy!

Gaming Age: Why did you pick the Western setting? What were some of the inspirations that you tried to model the game after?
Joel Jewett: No law, whiskey, and everyone, including women, carried a gun at all times...that's about all the inspiration you need to get started. Then you find out it all happened in your own backyard barely a hundred years ago, so many factions colliding headlong in the name of greed...it really doesn't get much better than that for a new gameworld.

GA: The storyline is well written and the game is very cinematic. Was the story something you developed first and built the game around, or did you come up with the Western theme and certain key concepts that you wanted in the game and develop the story around that?
JJ: We came up with the theme, started to do research, and hired Randall Jahnson ( a Hollywood screenwriter who brought a wealth of knowledge about the West along with him). Then we worked out what we thought were the most entertaining things a gamer would want to do in a Western game. With that list in hand, we sat down at the table with Randall and began to craft the story. Once we had the bones of the story in place, Randall hammered out a script for us.

GA: One of the things that people seem a bit let down on is the length of the game. Pushing through it, you can beat the game in about 6 hours. What do you have to say about the length of Gun, the limited replayability, and the design decision about it?
JJ: Glad you asked me this one...there are four difficulty settings for the game. We balanced the game with the casual gamer in mind for the "Normal" setting, and then increased the level of difficulty for "Hard", and reserved "Insane" for the most experienced action players. On the "Insane" setting, you must play through the side missions to increase the main character's attributes in order to complete the more difficult missions. I doubt it is even possible to get through the game on "Insane" in hours.

Why did we create an "Easy" setting? Hey, if Uncle Bob spends fifty bucks on the game, we want him to have a chance at seeing the entire story too!

If someone buys one of our games, we want to be sure they get to enjoy the whole experience. For Gun, one of our goals was to bring into the gaming fold people who may have never played a game before, but had their interest piqued because they heard about a Western game. We want to make sure if they choose to play on the "Normal" difficulty setting they will be challenged yet still be able to enjoy working their way through the storyline. And we made that choice because we don't think that any of these guys, casual or not, are going to choose a brutal, mature-themed Western and then go home and play it on "Easy". Basic testosterone says that's not going to happen.

So the game is balanced to challenge a casual gamer on the "Normal" setting. This of course relies on more experienced players being able to ascertain whether the game is too easy for them on the "Normal" setting and then actually changing the difficulty setting...of course it is the more experienced guys that we want to rely upon to be able to figure that out.

Gun is a really fun game. It is balanced, as described above, to ensure that the greatest number of people can really enjoy the experience. If you read some of the message boards, it is apparent that a lot of people get that.

Personally, I believe that reviewers who say the game is too short could be doing a disservice to the consumer if they do not consider the length of the game in the context of all players and all difficulty levels. It kills me to think that someone might miss out on all the fun because a professional gamer can get through the "Normal" setting in a short amount of time...of course he can...we balanced the game that way.

GA: Getting the shooting mechanics in a game like this is very important and the system used in Gun works pretty well except in a bit more chaotic situation which is where the quick draw system comes in handy. Why did you choose this system of a free aim with a bit loose accuracy and a short time usage of quick draw over an auto target/lock on system that can be found in other games?
JJ: Our control system blends freedom with precision, and thus works for players of all skill levels. Players can easily toggle between enemies using the analog sticks, but they still have the freedom to move the reticule across the body of each enemy for more precise shooting. This allows for faceshots, kneeshots, gutshots, shooting weapons out of enemy hands...quickdraw time can be extended by scoring more precise hits on enemies...this can make the most chaotic situations feel very empowering to the player, in other words, this makes you feel like a badass son-of-a-bitch.

We also chose to focus the gameplay on movement and firing, not requiring pinpoint accuracy on a console shooter (which is hard - especially for new players). We still reward accurate shots (headshots, weapon shots, limb-specific shots) but keep the gameplay about movement and crouching and dodging while picking and choosing targets and weapons.

GA: Although Gun is trying to capture the gritty feeling of the old west, it seems like a few areas weren't represented such as bank robberies and one on one quick draw showdowns. Were these things that were planned but didn't make it due to time constraints? What were some other ideas that were planned but just didn't work out in the end?

GA: Many games that give you freedom to wander through the world have a transition from the various times of the day. In Gun, time transitions seem to be at only certain missions or sub-missions. Why did you choose not to implement this?
JJ: There are many factors that influence design and content choices in a game - storyline, character development, mission settings, time constraints, art-style and cohesiveness, player control objectives, and many others. We had a reason for every choice we made in Gun.

GA: What is the purpose of being able to scalp people and why wasn't it tracked in the stats?
JJ: Scalping did not seem completely congruous with Colton's character, so we chose to leave it in the game as an "Easter Egg."

GA: With the Xbox 360 version now being shipped to stores and looking like a port of the already released versions, what advantages does the 360 version have to justify the $10 MSRP price difference?
JJ: The Xbox 360 versions of both Gun and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland are simply the best versions of the games to come out of Neversoft. Seeing the games running with normal mapped characters on a hi resolution television is killer. I think the Xbox 360 launch is really going to fire things up for the Holiday season.

GA: Is there any plans to create a sequel or is Neversoft moving on to an all new original title? If there is talk of a sequel, was this something that was planned from the beginning or something that developed during the course or even after development as you realized you wanted to do more but didn't have time for the current release?
JJ: We have been planning on making more than one version of the game from the beginning. The team has been having a lot of fun taking in feedback from the reviewers, as well as gamers on the message boards. Gun is a blast to play, so if you haven't already, you should set yer sites on a copy. As far as a sequel… stay tuned for details.