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| [ goodies | dev diary | chapter two ] |
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| #2 |
Leap of faith |
I think it's fair to say that Worms World Party (and Armageddon before it) had left the core Worms
team very tired and collectively they needed a rest and perhaps break from the series.
An awful lot of time, energy and effort had gone into creating what had become a cult gaming series
the World over, but the team needed a break, not only to recharge the batteries but to reclaim the
energy for the series - it had been a whirlwind five years and we were shot!
I think it's important to take a glance at all the various platforms and versions of Worms that had
been produced during 1995-2000... you may even feel we needed the break then! If in doubt, check our
[ Team17 Softography! ]
I guess people wonder how on earth you can tire of working on games at all, never mind on one that
burns so brightly, but I guess developers need a varied diet and chances to regain the enthusiasm
and drive - and we were approaching a point where it was taking a serious dive. We hadn't lost faith
as such, but the endless publishing trap that developers find themselves in when a game is successful
had clearly taken its toll on our zestful outlook and it made far better sense to drop all ideas of
Worms 3D until we felt fit and ready to really drive it.
Whilst diversions in the form of Worms Blast were being created and designed by some fresh new additions
to the team, the foundations for Worms 3D began to be laid quietly in the background, despite a couple of
'hiccups' including a first person perspective edition which was dropped after only a short spell when it
was clearly obvious that it wasn't going to be a great game (covered briefly in the last chapter).
The FPP game was an experiment in real-time 3D Worms but ended up being a little too bland, too much off
the beaten track, so to speak. It didn't have the essential Worms goodness and I think that, more than
anything showed we did need to take a break.
We founded an internal Worms discussion panel where we would discuss ideas and directions to take the
game in. We touched upon many things, including a whole steadfast consistent approach to the imagery of
the games, expanding the character base and identifying the core elements for other games.
In the end we found that the sheer market forces present in the games industry dictated these issues
much more than we imagined and despite kicking off cool things like Worms Blast, all pointers were
going towards the 'big one', Worms 3D.
As we mentioned in the last diary, it was imperative that we get it right and that meant some tremendous
technical challenges and acutely crafted design. We had to make a leap of faith and jump into the deep
end with eyes wide open!
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| Alaric's prototype |
During 2000, the first real early prototype was born and the process of creating what eventually became
Worms 3D began.
It was a very raw prototype written fairly quickly (6-10 weeks) by Alaric Binney (another one who's no
longer with us - he was 'Tin Foil Man' pictured) without any artist involvement. It proved a number of
things but namely that the basic game framework would work and this was vital to the morale of the design
team. The confidence it inspired was a turning point, certainly.
The prototype featured rudimentary deformation of the land but was still height map based. It featured
rising water, a handful of weapons and basic game mechanics.
It was enough to show that what we were planning was feasible, as our design department forged ahead
with the game design during 2000 and 2001 whilst other projects were being worked upon. Worms 3D at this
time was always a secondary title, not signed to any publisher but being quietly organised.
The code was never shown to any publishers (it wouldn't have impressed as it was a pure code-hack
prototype) but there was some comfort in our design department whereby people started to believe
that not only was it possible to recreate our faithful 2D game in 3D, but it was possible to make
it play great.
The following words are by John Dennis, Team17's design manager
"From a designer's point of view, it was obvious that there was a commercial requirement for the
'Worms' game to move into three dimensions, but before we could get excited about it, we wanted to know
if it would work: the most important thing for us was that it had to play like Worms or it wasn't worth
making: nobody wanted to break what was already a great game. To be sure, we had to know the answers to
key questions: would it be difficult to judge distance in 3D? How would tunnelling, caverns and
destructible landscape work? What about the camera... would we be able to see what was going on? Could
the ninja rope work in 3D?
Only the construction of a rough and ready prototype would really answer the questions, and allow us
to make a fair judgement of whether it'd be a green light or was just a plain bad idea. Working closely
with Alaric Binney, a prototype was developed.
Alaric quickly knocked us up a deformable landscape on which sat deformable buildings, mines and bridges
(the multicolour rainbows you can see on the screenshots). Adding in a simplified version of the game
rules, we could pretty much play each other as in a 2D Worms game. When shots landed on buildings, the
whole building deformed, and when landscape was damaged, it lowered, creating craters if it moved below
the water line. Simple physics allowed worms to be thrown into the air as a result of explosions, and the
addition of wind saw bazooka shots being blown off course.
The prototype did prove a couple of things: That it was easier than we thought to fire in 3D. That we
needed something to hide under: without overhangs, it didn't feel like Worms, and lacked the defensive
(darkside) element. That the land and buildings really needed to deform accurately: that meant when we
hit a corner of a building, we wanted that corner to be blown up, not for the whole building to deform.
That with a more accurately deforming landscape, a more intuitive and intelligent camera would be
required.
However, the overwhelming success of Alaric's prototype was in giving us the confidence to proceed. We
knew we had to work on the landscape and the camera, but we felt pretty confident that the idea could
be made to work with more attention to landscape deformation and camera."
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| community |
This tidal wave of optimism and belief spread like a virus, infecting all and sundry. Soon, Worms 3D
was on everyone's minds and lips and it was only a matter of time before design and concept work would
begin in earnest, with the project out of the shadows and a direct focus for all our attentions.
This belief was instrumental and vital to gathering the momentum to drive it forward - it kick-started
a new found energy and desire to build a great version of Worms 3D and whilst it's true that these first
steps were extremely tentative and cautious, the first step had truly been taken. Who knows, that without
these first steps, we wouldn't be where we are today with the game (although, at time going to press) you
know nothing of that just yet :)
We kept a watchful eye on what the community was up to, with a Half Life Mod and other 3D height mapped
variants appearing from time to time. Pictured are JAWC (Just another Worms Clone) from a Finnish Worms
fan, and Worms Half-Life from a bunch of French Worms enthusiasts.
We even paused to look at a competitors attempt at Worms 3D which used Pigs and no less charm. It was
height mapped and borrowed so much it was untrue. But what the hell, it wasn't Worms! We'd show 'em!
If anything, that game spurred us on even more, especially when we heard that a sequel had already
been commissioned (although this was canned in 2002).
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| Andy's prototype |
Following that, in true software engineer posturing in the early months of 2002, a new, far improved
prototype was produced by Andy Clitheroe who's currently leading the technology.
Using our internal libraries he quickly got a far more robust 3D landscape up and going, that featured
much more intelligent deformation. It was a real step in the right direction. It had flowing water
(fully dynamic, if a little 'expensive'), destruction and was much more impressive than the previous
prototype. It was then used as a basis and platform for building initial camera, movement and positioning
prototypes so that our design department could test the ideas it had in the growing sheets of documentation
(The Worms 3D design was at about 300 pages at this stage). The dynamic water was eventually dropped
(it's not in the new stuff either, for good reason!) for performance and games design issues.
But, for all that, the prototype was still height mapped and there were still great doubt if what we
had could cut it, even if it did look nice, but what the hell, the excitement was back and Worms 3D was
conceived for the first time.
We thought, we'll, its 3D and it has deformation, and no-one will miss multi-layers, tunnels and the
way that stuff played in 2D.
...but something really cool was just around the corner..
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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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Alaric Binney
Tin Foil Man
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John Dennis
'Agent Dennis'
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JAWC
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Worms Half-Life
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Andy Clitheroe
'peeling'
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Andy's prototype 2001
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