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| [ goodies | dev diary | chapter seven ] |
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| #7 |
Happy New Year! |
We finally closed the lid on 2002, which had been a terrific behind-the-scenes year for Worms, ending
the year feeling very optimistic and genuinely excited about Worms 3D and another, yet to be revealed
title (more of that later in the year).
Looking back on the year, it seemed like a whirlwind, from the initial design, concept & prototypes
through to the signing process where we had a number of top publishers vying for the title in it's
very rough, form - there would have probably been a more hectic scramble had we shown them how it
would end up!
The year ended in typical Team17 fashion, with a ding-dong party up the road at our local pub, with
many of the dev team taking turns to assault everyone's ear-lobes on the Karaoke. From Bjorn's very
first, truly woeful 'Tainted Love' to Spadge's own rendition of AC/DC's 'Whole Lotta Rosie' -
fortunately, none of it was recorded ;) The songs went on until very late - with Towell's and Diamonds'
'Gold!' duet probably stealing the show. After Perudo (our favourite dice game) and a few particularly
spirited rounds of '7/8/9' (our favourite drinking game), most of us couldn't remember any of it the
next day anyway until the hangover haze diminished.
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| back to work |
The usual wind-up back to speed started on January 6th as the team resumed work, returning from their
two week break refreshed and ready for some very hard work throughout the year - with Milestones on our
game coming thick and fast right up until September and hopefully not beyond!
A 'Milestone' is a date whereby certain contents of the game have to be complete for all manner of
reasons (press builds, show builds, Focus-Testing and so on) - not to mention affording our publisher
some sense of comfort and ensuring we get paid!
Despite snow falling in two periods of January, the Team17 area pretty much avoided the worst of it,
even though the area is renowned for heavy snowfall. Funnily enough, most of the disruption was caused
when our PS2 lead programmer's family got Scarlet Fever and we had to have him work from home to save
infecting the rest of the company! More disruption has been caused by two of our producers being off
for paternity leave (the Worms condoms were obviously out of date). Everyone returned fighting fit -
including the plague-stricken programmer and we then thought it safe to remove the red-cross off the
door ;)
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| sorting the extras |
We'd been having conversations about additional sequences in Worms 3D for some time and
during January this came to an agreement, which will see quite a few small sequences being used
in-between missions and before/after matches, which should all add to the well rounded presentation we
plan. These videos will feature in-game style graphics rather than high poly FMV since we wanted
everything to be consistent. We're currently still working out these sequences and getting them
storyboarded, after discussing them with a variety of video/animation production houses. We would have
done them in-house but felt we didn't have enough time or enough people available to give them the
attention they deserve - although we've supplied plenty of material (Worm animations, sounds and
textures etc) that will be used.
Also born in January was a new Worms Song although it's now going through several iterations before it
ends up in the recording studio. A story led 'epic' tale of Worm struggle, akin to the 1995
original.
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| in-game progress |
So enough of outside interests, what's been going on in game? Well, quite a lot as it happens!
We've seen the first batch of animals go in (Sheep, Super-Sheep, Pigeon and Mad Cow), we've seen 'Worm
Tracking' go in (Worms watch and react to you as you move about), Worm reactions (Worms cower if you
stand over them with something like a baseball bat) and we've seen a new cloud system go in, which
looks great.
The team is still playing around with Water although that's been a case of one step forwards, two steps
back during the month as water-rising initially presented some really hairy problems. Add the
conclusion of a really great particle system, the much vaunted random landscape editor, lots of mission
design and the game is really taking shape.
The menu system is also taking shape and we'll possibly do a few grabs of that for the next diary which
will also feature an overview on the landscape editor.
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| media progress |
This month also saw the first real press activity other than the announcement when we signed the game,
with 5 screenshots going out. The reaction to the shot we slowly revealed at Xmas (in the form of an
advent calendar) was superb and the reaction to the latest batch was even better!
We look forward to when we can release videos of the game in the coming months and even more
shots!
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| [ goodies | dev diary ] |
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| Development Diaries |
We plan diaries right up until the end of the project and they will
appear every week or two, so keep popping back for updates. The great
thing about the diary is that so much just isn't written yet!
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| overview |
The graphics and images shown in the diaries so far don't come anywhere
close to where we are currently in terms of visual style.
The first few chapters merely serve to bring us 'up to date' to how we got
where we are. It's envisaged that we will catch up with current progress
by Christmas and the diaries will then mirror recent developments rather
than things from the distant past.
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Pre-signing stage May 2002
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Xmas party
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Particle system
in development
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Not just Islands you know!
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