The Smokin' Guns game started its life under the name of Western Quake³. It was originally developed by a team known as Iron Claw Interactive. They released WQ3 beta 2.0 in 2003, after which development all but ceased. In May 2005, development of Western Quake³ was taken over of by a bunch of cowboys calling themselves The Smokin' Guns with the blessings of the former team. With the release of the stand alone version in 2008, the game was renamed to Smokin' Guns, and the team to Smokin' Guns Productions. Throughout this manual, anytime you see the word "we" it should be noted that "we" refers to one or the other (or both) teams. Smokin' Guns is intended to be a semi-realistic simulation of the "Old West's" great atmosphere & was developed on Id Software's Quake III Arena Engine.