Worms: Open Warfare Development Talk

Quite soon DS owners will have the opportunity to purchase Worms: Open Warfare which ships March 14th. Craig Harris had the chance to talk to the developers behind the new Worms game, Team 17 and discuss the background and details behind the pending release.

IGN: When did development on Worms Open Warfare begin on the Nintendo DS?

Team 17: It began at the beginning of last year (2005) and started in earnest around March time. The idea to do the DS version had been around for a while but for one reason and the other, the start was delayed until then.

Was the game developed in-house at Team 17 or was it outsourced to another development studio?

Team 17: It was developed out of house at Gamesauce in Sheffield.

Has there been any changes to the core Worms gameplay in the move from the PC and console games to the Nintendo DS?

Team 17: Not really. The concept behind the handheld versions was to keep to the classic gameplay of the original title. This was something that people had been requesting since we finished the last of the 3D iterations of Worms – Worms 4: Mayhem. With a game such as Worms it’s tricky to decide what you can and can’t tinker with before affecting the delicate balance that makes it such a good game to play.

Any new elements that fans of the series should be looking out for?

Team 17: There’s the ability to play four player multiplayer with just the one cartridge which takes the game directly to where it’s best played – in multiplayer. This is ideal for the younger market where obviously not all your mates are going to have the same games as you. As far as new gameplay elements go, we’ve kept it classic Worms all the way down the line.

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Quite soon DS owners will have the opportunity to purchase Worms: Open Warfare which ships March 14th. Craig Harris had the chance to talk to the developers behind the new Worms game, Team 17 and discuss the background and details behind the pending release.

IGN: When did development on Worms Open Warfare begin on the Nintendo DS?

Team 17: It began at the beginning of last year (2005) and started in earnest around March time. The idea to do the DS version had been around for a while but for one reason and the other, the start was delayed until then.

Was the game developed in-house at Team 17 or was it outsourced to another development studio?

Team 17: It was developed out of house at Gamesauce in Sheffield.

Has there been any changes to the core Worms gameplay in the move from the PC and console games to the Nintendo DS?

Team 17: Not really. The concept behind the handheld versions was to keep to the classic gameplay of the original title. This was something that people had been requesting since we finished the last of the 3D iterations of Worms – Worms 4: Mayhem. With a game such as Worms it’s tricky to decide what you can and can’t tinker with before affecting the delicate balance that makes it such a good game to play.

Any new elements that fans of the series should be looking out for?

Team 17: There’s the ability to play four player multiplayer with just the one cartridge which takes the game directly to where it’s best played – in multiplayer. This is ideal for the younger market where obviously not all your mates are going to have the same games as you. As far as new gameplay elements go, we’ve kept it classic Worms all the way down the line.

What was the most difficult aspect of getting Worms Open Warfare running on the Nintendo DS platform?

Team 17: It was probably the wi-fi multiplayer aspects. Initially, the game was up and running fairly early over the wi-fi in a fairly stable state, but getting it to final master quality took an awfully long time.

Is there any element of the DS design that the team’s particularly proud of?

Team 17: I’d say the touch screen elements. The way the DS is laid out with the two screens meant that we could dispense with the necessary HUD items from the top screen and put them on the touch screen. Everything from the timers to weapon select and camera panning is done on the touch screen meaning that the main screen is free for you to see the game area. Weapon selection is particularly satisfying, there’s no need to bring up various menu’s to select your weapon – you simply touch the one you want. When designing how it would work, it was particularly good to be effectively using the touch screen. A few of the games that were around at the time were seemingly using it for using it’s sake, whereas it is genuinely useful in Worms.

Was there any thought to putting Worms: Open Warfare online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service?

Team 17: Yes we did think of taking it fully online. However, the time we had to develop the game and the time it would have taken to ensure that this worked correctly didn’t match. There were also a lot of unknowns in this area when we started developing the game, which also added to the decision to make it local area only.

Any future Nintendo DS titles from Team 17?

Team 17: Yes. There’s already one being talked about that’s due to start shortly, but that’s as much as I can say right now…