Wild West Online: Gunfighter

In Wild West Online: Gunfighter, players take on the role of a gunfighter in the Wild West of the 1870s. The game consists primarily of a series of duels against computer opponents or bots. It was originally designed as the combat system of a larger MMO roleplaying game, Wild West Online, but after its development Tenderfoot Games decided to release it as an independent game. Players engage in random duels against other opponents, earning experience and loot after each fight.

Although set in a colorful 3D environment, Wild West Online: Gunfighter can be played right from a web browser. The software is available for download, for both Windows and Mac.

Gunfighting
How does it feel to be in a gunfight? It's not a shoot 'em up action game, but is more reminiscent of the combat systems found in earlier-style RPG (role-playing game) video games. Which isn't surprising, since it was originally designed to be just that. Still, with its own advancement system, lots of gear choices, and plenty of human and "bot" opponents, it can be played as a stand-alone game.

A typical gunfight replicates the cinematic-style pistol shootout. Gunfights are always 1-on-1, and you start facing your opponent, some distance away. From then on, it's a turn based game with you and your opponents each choosing actions such as Vengeful Gaze, Keen Instincts, Taunt, etc. There's a paper-scissors-rock aspect to the actions as you guess what your opponent will try to do as he manages his resources of Health, Energy, and Accuracy, and tries to prevent you from doing the same. Finally, someone will perform a Draw action, and a lot of new actions become available such as Aim and Shoot.

You want to Shoot first, of course, but the more you aim, the higher your Accuracy will get. After you shoot, your Accuracy will drop considerably and you'll have to start Aiming again. So deciding when to shoot and how long to aim... and how long your opponent will keep aiming, and when to take a chance, are all parts of the game... small parts. There's a lot of resource management and actions available. For example, different actions take up different amounts of Energy, and you only recover energy by resting, which could leave you vulnerable.

At the start of the game, you have only a few actions available and will gain more as you gain experience and "level up" -- one new action every level. Some of these actions open up all new abilities, such as quickdraw or the ability to recover health for a short time, and others help manage resources or improve on abilities you already have. There are 90 actions altogether that you can choose from when advancing your character, not including those you start the game with.

"Wild West Online: Gunfighter is not just a quick-draw test of reflexes," says Ariel Butler, Executive Producer for Tenderfoot Games. "The outcome of gun battles hinges on players' tactical decisions, actions, and their appetite for risk leading to the decisive moment." .

The Economics of Wild West Online
A large amount of items are available for purchase on the website's "General Store", where you can spent virtual currency to outfit your character's clothing, weapons, and ammunition. Different "classes" or items/clothing have different overall effects. For example, a vest tends to increase the health rating and healing abilities of your character. Gloves tend to reduce the recoil effect on accuracy after shooting. Your character is limited to one hat, coat, set of boots, and up to 3 other accessories.

As you win various shootouts against bots and other players, you'll be awarded "scrip", one of the game's virtual currencies. At higher levels, you'll "travel" to other virtual areas where new items will be available, as well as harder opponents with more scrip dropped as loot. Every 5 levels or so, the player will be challenged by a "Legendary" bot such as Wyatt Earp or Jesse James, who is equipped with very potent gear and can be difficult to beat. If you beat them, however, you get to keep one of their items. Often this is equipment that can't be purchased in the stores or won't become available until you travel to a new area.

There is a another special form of currency called Golden Eagles, which provide the means of income for Tenderfoot Games. These Golden Eagles are purchased with real dollars, and allow you to purchase better gear that can only be bought with Golden Eagles. Much of this gear, however, is only marginally better than the scrip-bought stuff, so non-paying customers still have a chance to compete, but users who bought Golden Eagles could have a noticeable advantage. In addition, Golden Eagles can be spent to purchase other in-game benefits such as premium ammunition, unlimited use of consumable items, challenging a Legendary character, or automatically leveling up your character.

Generally, $10.00 is enough to purchase 85 Golden Eagles, which can buy you a few different items, or benefits in various combinations. For example, at a cost of 6 Golden Eagles each, you can advance your character up 13 times.

Tenderfoot Games also offers a monthly subscription, which costs about $15 per month. It allows you to travel to a new area and continue to level up beyond the normal level limit of 40, up to a subscriber-only level limit of 60. In addition, subscriber's get unlimited ammunition and unlimited consumable items, and they receive an extra 15 Golden Eagles each month to do with as they please.

The WWO:Gunfighter Community
Organizing themselves on Tenderfoot's hosted forums, the community of fans for Wild West Online: Gunfighters have worked with Tenderfoot Games and each other to provide a more extensive gaming experience around the game. They have organized the forums into wild west gangs and townships, and organized gunfighter contests of various types around these models. They have their own fictional "towns" setup that they fight over and/or roleplay in. Roleplaying is conducted on the forums, while fighting is handled using the WWO:Gunfighter game.

Special forum areas designated as "towns" and "forts" are contested by gangs of gunfighters. These gangs fight others for control of the towns, which in turn generate income in the form of golden eagles and scrip for the gang members that control it. As long as no other gang seizes control fo the town, it continues to generate income for them. There's about a half dozen gangs at any one time, with gangs consisting of 5-25 members each. The towns are divided into tournament-levels such as "level 20 and under", "level 40 and under", etc, so that gunfighters of roughly equal level are competing against each other.

There's also a special "Role-playing Zone" where members can roleplay as citizens of these frontier towns, fighting to make a decent living for themselves in the wild west of the 1870s. In addition, the community sponsors many special events such as video contests, short story contests, etc. Many community members get involved in making fanciful western-themed signatures, avatars, and other display pieces that support the game's "wild west" feel.

The community also sponsors its own toolbar which can be installed in most browsers. This facilitates communication between the members, allowing them to share news and communicate when other toolbar-users are looking for a game. Using the toolbar, you can answer a challenge without leaving the website you happen to be on. It also has a variety of other features, including a radio that plays country music.

The community has also used the forums as a bridge into the Wild West Online: Gunfighter game to provide a couple of enhancements for the forum users, including their Western Exchange and Player Bounty System. Using the "Western Exchange" forum users can convert purchased or won golden eagles into scrip, which is helpful for non-subscribers who want to replenish their consumable items. The "Player Bounty System" allows gunfighters to earn an income by seeking out particularly difficult-to-kill gunfighters and shooting them out, or to resolve a grudge by placing a bounty on another player. Some players like to place conditions on these bounties that call for amazing feats of prowess and mastery just to see if other players can do it, and claim the reward.

Tenderfoot Games
Founded in February, 2006, Tenderfoot Games, LLC, combines the talents of an experienced cadre of developers. Key team members began their game development careers during the dawn of the massively multi-player game industry in the early 1990s and have worked for some of the leading online game developers and publishers. Tenderfoot Games' focus is on developing browser-based, 3D, multi-player games that combine engaging game play, rich experiences, accessibility, and innovative business and distribution models.

Trademarks
Wild West Online® is a registered trademark of Tenderfoot Games, LLC (Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm Off.). "Gunfighter™" is a trademark of Tenderfoot Games, LLC.