Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is a great little PlayStation Network and Steam title that gives you quite a bit of game for the low asking price. As an online shooter it is slowly gaining momentum with players and may just prove to be a refreshing new player in the casual shooter market alongside games like Battlefield Heroes. You can read our review of the game here.

We recently had the opportunity to ask Robert Bäckström, the producer on the title, a few questions. This is how it all went down:

El33tonline: How many people were involved in the making of Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West?

Robert Bäckström: The team encompassed circa 35 people working full time on the project when we were in full production. We have also used external resources for music and additional art.

El33tonline: What made you decide to set Lead and Gold in the Wild West?

RB: We came to the conclusion that the Wild West was a really cool and underused setting for games (underused up until now at least lol).

The Western myth lends itself very well for multiplayer shooter games, with its focus on small scale gun fights between rival gangs.

El33tonline: Do you feel that other games set in the Wild West like Red Dead Redemption will negatively impact on Lead and Gold, or will it trigger a renewed interest in the time period, boosting sales overall?

RB: Lead and Gold is pure multiplayer mayhem with a unique take on cooperative team mechanics that that you frankly won’t see anywhere else. From what I know, LnG is faster and more intense, more of a classic shooter, more easy to get in to and just pick up and play. LnG and Red Dead seems like two very different games apart from the setting.

Without having played Red Dead yet I can say that we have taken a limited aspect of the Western shooter genre and tried to make it as good as possible. We are a small independent developer and would never dream of competing with Rockstar when it comes to single player campaign games. I believe that players will be able to enjoy both titles and the different alternatives they offer, I know I will for sure!

El33tonline: Besides some inspiration from Team Fortress and maybe a bit of Battlefield Heroes, what other games or movies inspired you during the development process?

RB: We found inspiration for the setting in films like Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti-Western movies and comic books such as Blueberry as well as newer brands such as Dead Wood.

For game inspiration, we have been looking at great multiplayer games such as Left4Dead, Gears of War and Battlefield 1943. But we have also tried to look past the obvious sources and scanned the PC MMORPG market as well.

El33tonline: Who at FatShark can pull off the best John Wayne or Clint Eastwood impersonation? How can you prove it(maybe a YouTube clip?)?

RB: Haha, well I´ll have to get back to you on that one. We are going to have a staff party soon, I’m sure it will result in both good and bad and ugly impersonations.

El33tonline: What feature made you guys stop and say “wow, that’s pretty cool!”?

RB: Hmm, well the game as a whole really works wonders when all the different features come together, but if I have to name one it would have to be the Synergies where you are able to boost your team mates by staying close to them. This means that working as a team actually gives you direct bonuses in the game.

El33tonline: If you could go back and change anything about Lead and Gold, add or remove a feature, what would it be?

RB: We would have loved to add some more content to the initial release, but since we did not want to risk the quality of the content we did release, we decided to keep the game tight and well polished. New content is easier to add at a later stage via DLCs while the core mechanics of the game is something that you have to live with and I am happy that we focused on the latter.

El33tonline: Are you planning on releasing any map packs or new game modes?

RB: Yes, both.

El33tonline: How has digital distribution worked out for you? Do you think it has made Lead and Gold more lucrative?

RB: It has so far worked very well and it has suited the size and scope of the game perfectly.

El33tonline: What made you decide on a third person perspective?

RB: We felt that there were so many excellent FPS games out there already (Left4Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Modern Warfare to name a few) while TPS are a little more scarce. The Diesel engine is well suited to work with the third person perspective (besides that we have some nice animation talent on the team and it would be a shame not to let them shine in a ways only possible when you see your own character).

El33tonline: Why no love for the Xbox 360?

RB: Well, the game is running on Xbox in our studio, but there are other factors outside of our control that is playing their part here. The decision on when and how is XBLAs.

El33tonline: You must have a funny story that happened during the game’s development, please share it!

RB: There was quite a hilarious episode when a senior member of our team decided to go all in and play Cowboy for an afternoon, with Stetson hat and a bottle of Jim Bean and all. He didn´t know that we had visitors from our publisher at that time (one of their first visits to the studio I should add) I am happy that they decided to stick with us nevertheless.

El33tonline: When you were not working on Lead and Gold, what were you playing?

RB: Most of us on the team are avid multiplayer gamers. Left4Dead and Team Fortress are common sights after hours. Except for Peter who refuses to play anything else but WoW (and has been doing so for the last 5 years).

El33tonline: With the demise of Grin, probably Sweden’s best known game developer, do you feel that the game development scene in Sweden has changed much?

RB: I believe that many of us in the games industry in Sweden (which is still quite a small scene where most of us know each other) felt like the grim reality had entered a world which previously where all about the next big project being signed. Layoffs and cuts were something new to many of us.

The demise of GRIN was a shame for several reasons, I knew a lot the guys on the team and they had a nice attitude towards games and how they should be done. The development scene in Sweden definitely lost out on that one.

El33tonline: What can you tell us about BitSquid and the Stone Giant demo? Is it only a Tech Demo or a glimpse into a future game you could be working on?

RB: BitSquid is a sister company to Fatshark that work with RnD exclusively. We are working very close together on all of our projects. The BitSquid engine is definitely something that we will see more of in the future. I let it be untold whether the StoneGiant demo will be released as a game or not.

El33tonline: At Capcom’s Captivate 2010 event it was revealed you guys are working on Bionic Commando 2, available via Xbox Live and PSN. How about giving El33tonline an exclusive screenshot or a bit of information about it? :)

RB: I would love to be able to tell you something about it! But unfortunately, at this point in time all I can say is that is one of the most exciting projects I have been working on so far. It comes with lots of obligations towards the brand and the community which we are humbly aware of and which forces us to focus as team and achieve even better than in the past.

Everyone here at El33t-towers would like to thank Robert for taking a break from his busy schedule to answer some of our questions. We look forward to more from this talented studio in the near future!

For more info on Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West head over to our review of the game here. Alternatively take a peek at FatShark’s website.