Gunslinger

Gunslinger 1.0 is a freeware shoot-out game by David McWherter, released in 1995, that puts the player in a digital saloon stand-off where the goal is to drop the bad guys without harming the bystanders. Its visuals were captured with a Connectix QuickCam, lending it a rough but distinctive live-action look on classic Macs.

How it plays

Targets pop into view in quick succession; armed figures must be shot, while unarmed civilians have to be left alone. Each round rewards reflexes and target discrimination rather than spray-and-pray shooting.

QuickCam visuals

Rather than drawing sprites, McWherter photographed real people with a QuickCam to populate the scene. The result is grainy, slightly choppy animation that sets Gunslinger apart from polished commercial titles of the era.

Distribution and platform

The game is freeware, runs on 68k Macs under System 7.0 through 7.6 and on Mac OS 9, and is reported to work cleanly under SheepShaver for modern emulation.

Place in the catalogue

Gunslinger is a small but memorable example of mid-1990s Mac shareware experimenting with consumer-grade video capture, several years before webcams became commonplace.