Thrillskilla interviewed another developer on his website. This time it’s Don Wurster, Co-Director/Developer for Gastronaut Studios about the XBLA game Small Arms. The game was first seen at E3 ‘06 and was received positively by the press. The interview doesn’t really go in-depth and Wurster doesn’t have answers to all his questions but you’ll get a pretty good idea of what this game is about.

Small Arms is a hybrid fighting/platforming/shooting game according to Wurster. Quite an interesting concept, but some people said the game looks like a Super Mario Smash Bros clone. Wurster doesn’t agree with that and says it focuses more on ranged combat making the game less claustrophobic and requires more strategy. And although the game’s characters are drawn in cartoon style, the environments and weapons give a more gritty feel than most Nintendo titles.

Quote from the official website:

Small Arms™ is the frantic multiplayer brawling game with the action and precision of an arcade shooter. Up to 4 players can join in the battles across many dynamic and richly detailed levels. Choose from a cast of awesome fighters like cyborg tabby cats, assassin truffle pigs and mutant chimney sweeps. Jump from platform to platform shooting each other to pieces with 360° aim. The side-scrolling action is easy for anyone to pickup, and hard to put down.

Wurster is also using the phrase ‘is shipping with’ or something equal quite often which means they’re planning on releasing all kinds of stuff you can download from the marketplace for a couple of MS points. All kinds of stuff like the basic wallpaper and theme, but also new weapons, characters or anything else. My guess is this will only happen if the game turns out to be popular.

8 - How many MS points will ‘Small Arms’ cost?
This is yet to be determined. It will be in line with the other titles on arcade.

9 - When will ‘Small Arms’ be released?
The release date is also yet to be determined. A rough estimate would be end of summer.

10 - What type of Multiplayer modes will ‘Small Arms’ have?
Multiplayer is a major focus in ‘Small Arms’. It supports up to 4 players on xbox LIVE with a very similar experience to playing against friends in the same room. We are planning for a number of different ‘rule sets’ for multiplayer matches, including timed matches, and lives matches.

The official site should be updated when they further progress with the game.