Today, we have Design Manager John Dennis from Team17 with us. Team17 has made themselves a big name and brand with the Worms-series. John Dennis have been deeply involved in the creation of Worms3D and Worms 4: Mayhem, among others.
First of all, thanks for doing the interview!
You’re welcome.
Tell us about the history of your studio!
The studio was started in the early 90’s by a group of guys who thought they could do betterthan the current crop of Amiga games. As things turned out, they were right, and with their first release, “Miami Chase” under their belt, they formed a company… 17 Bit Software (at the time the technology was 16 bit, so 17 bit was one bit better than the rest… that’s where the Team 17 name comes from. Sadly nothing to do with there being 17 of us, having £17 and certainly nothing to do with pop group East 17. Remember them?) After “Miami Chase” came a whole host of different games, in all kinds of genres. “Body Blows”, a beat-em’ up, “Alien Breed”, a top-down arcade game, and “”Superfrog”, a 2D platformer were all very successful on the Amiga.
In 1995 things changed with the release of “Worms”. The game was far more successful than even we could have imagined, and as success begets sequels, so we developed a series of games that have grown the game from it’s Amiga roots to the well-known (and I hope, much loved) brand that it is today. Along the way, the game’s appeared on most platforms, and has branched from 2D to 3D and back again.
In the last couple of years, we’ve taken on work other than “Worms”, which lead to a very successful collaboration with Sony developing “Lemmings” for PSP and PlayStation3. While working on “Worms” has been great fun, it’s been nice to stretch our legs a little and get to grips with a new set of gameplay challenges. We’re currently engaged in two next-generation projects, and things currently look very rosy for the studio.
The game(series) you are without a doubt most known for is Worms. From where did you get the inspiration to create the first Worms-game?
The game was brought to Team 17 as a demo by a talented young programmer called Andy Davidson. Team 17 liked what they saw, thought the idea had mileage and worked with Andy to develop the game. His concept was beautifully balanced, and the features that the game is most associated with (such as worms firing Bazookas or throwing Grenades) and many of the strangest things that appear in the “Worms” games (such as the Concrete Donkey) are all down to him.
More recently you developed Worms Mayhem. Which was the most difficult part of transfering the idea into 3D?
Where do you start? The camera? The 3D deformable landscape? The randomly generated play arenas? The gameplay? There were many obstacles to overcome in moving the game into three dimensions, and while it shares many of the same features as the 2D games, it turned out to be something quite different. While I love the 2D games, I have something of a soft spot for the 3D games. There were so many challenges on the way that I’m really proud of what we achieved. We’ve got some great artists, programmers and designers here, and I think they really excelled themselves in making those games. “Worms 4 Mayhem” in particular looks fantastic, and is a great deal of fun to play.
How long time did it take to create the game?
“Worms 3D” was developed in about 18 months as I remember (it’s a while ago now), while “Worms 4 Mayhem” took about a year: a little bit shorter than “Worms 3D” given we already had the technology and editing tools in place.
What is your targeted audience?
For “Worms 4 Mayhem”? Fans of the “Worms” games, gamers, anyone who enjoys a game where they get to blast their friends to smithereens! : )
Are there any other things you would like to mention about the game?
We had a lot of fun making it. I think that comes out in the game itself. Ah… I have very fond memories of “Worms 3D” and “Worms 4 Mayhem”. Happy days : )
Tell us about your current game/games in progress.
Well, we’ve released a few things since “Worms 4 Mayhem”. We did PSP and DS versions of the game last year called “Worms Open Warfare”, both of which have been very successful. We’ve also developed an Xbox Live Arcade version of the game which should be arriving some time in January. And of course, we also recently developed “Lemmings” for PSP and PlayStation 3. They were very nice games to work on.
Currently we’ve got two next-generation games in development. I can’t really tell you anything about the largest one, as it’s very early days, but it’s quite a well-known IP, and there’s a collection of Hollywood voice talent that’s already signed up to work on the game, so we’re all really excited about it. I think it’ll surprise some people that it’s us developing it.
Thanks for answering our questions. Anything you would like to tell upcoming indie developers?
It’s a jungle out there. Don’t spend your own money making a game you can’t place with a publisher. And best of luck… you’ll need it!
Big thanks to John Dennis for doing the interview!
October 13, 2007 at 4:25 am
Heizhie
Heizhie