Worms (series)

Worms Armageddon Cover Art

Worms is a series of turn-based computer games with the common theme of players each controlling a small platoon of worms across a two-dimensional (and, in more recent games, three-dimensional), deformable landscape. The series is typified by cartoon-style graphics and an eclectic and bizarre set of weapons. Worms is part of a wider genre of turn-based games in which each player controls characters who duel with projectile weapons; predecessors include Scorched Earth and Gorilla. The game, whose concept was devised by Andy Davidson^[1], is thought to have been inspired by Lemmings, with which it shares many similarities.

Games in the series

The Worms series consists of many games, which can be categorised into different generations according to the game engine on which they are based:

2D variants			3D variants
First generation	Second generation	Third generation	First generation
Worms (1994) Worms Reinforcements (1995) Worms & Reinforcements United (1996) Worms: The Director's Cut (1997)	Worms 2 (1997) Worms Armageddon (1999) Worms World Party (2000)	Worms Open Warfare	Worms 3D (2003) Worms Forts: Under Siege (2004) Worms 4: Mayhem (2005)

A number of Worms-themed spin-offs have also been released, including Worms Pinball (1999), and Worms Blast (2002). Worms Breakout and Worms Breakout 2, fangames based on the popular arcade game Breakout, have also been made available for download through the official Worms websites.

Freeware games based on the Worms concept were also made, including Liero, Wurmz! and Gusanos, which make use of real-time rather than turn-based gameplay.

Team17, the company who hold the Worms franchise, despite mainly concentrating on the new 3D variations of the game, are currently working on a new 2D variant for the Nintendo DS and the PSP, called Worms Open Warfare. Also, Worms World Party has recently been rereleased for many systems, including Game Boy Advance and the N-Gage.

Game description

The fully deformable landscape can be radically altered by the use of weapons, often requiring players to scrap their plans and adopt new strategies to cope with the changes.

Each player controls a team of several worms. During the course of the game, players take turns selecting one of their worms. They then use whatever tools and weapons are available to attack and kill the opponents' worms, thereby winning the game. Worms may move around the terrain in a variety of ways, normally by walking and jumping but also by using particular tools such as the "Bungee" and "Ninja Rope", to move to otherwise inaccessible areas. Each turn is time-limited to ensure that players do not hold up the game with excessive thinking or moving.

Over fifty weapons and tools may be available, but games are usually played with a less exhaustive arsenal, the settings for which are often saved into a "scheme" for easy selection in future games. Over time players have developed and refined a large number of very different and unusual schemes that do not always stick to the traditional gameplay of "last worm standing." These scheme types are more prevalent in 2-D versions of the game, due to considerable customization ability not available in the 3-D variants.

Other scheme settings allow reinforcement crates to be deployed, from which additional weapons can be obtained; In "Sudden Death" the game is rushed to a conclusion after a time limit expires. Some settings provide for the inclusion of terrain objects such as land mines and explosive barrels.

Most weapons, when used, cause explosions that deform the terrain, removing circular chunks. The landscape is an island floating on a body of water, or a restricted cave with water at the bottom (not available in 3-D versions due to camera restrictions). A worm dies when it enters the water (either by falling off the island, or through a hole in the bottom of it), or when its health is reduced to zero typically from contact with explosions.

File:WormsArmageddon1.PNG

The random map generator provides a limitless supply of colourful terrains of various themes. Open island maps, like this one, allow players to use airstrikes. Cavern maps have an indestructable roof which cannot be passed.

Weapons and tools

The Worms series is particularly notable for its exhaustive variety of weapons. With each new game that is released, new weapons are added, though many were removed in the switch to 3D for gameplay reasons. As a result, the second generation series has accumulated 60 weapons, and the third generation series about 40 weapons.

The weapons available in the game range from the simple grenade and homing missile to the exploding Sheep and the highly destructive Banana Bomb, both of which have appeared in every Worms game so far. More recently, the Worms series has seen weapons such as the iconic Holy Hand Grenade, the Priceless Ming Vase and the Inflatable Scouser.

File:Worms HolyHandGrenade.jpg

The Holy Hand Grenade, in Worms 3D

Some of the bizarre weapons in a particular game are based on topical subjects at the time of the game's release^[2]. The Mail Strike, for example, which consists of a flying postbox dropping explosive envelopes, is a reference to the postal strikes of the time, while the Mad Cow refers to Britain's BSE epidemic of the 1990s. The French Nuclear Test, introduced in Worms 2, was even updated to the Indian Nuclear Test in Worms Armageddon to keep with the times.

Other weapons are distinctly inside jokes. The MB Bomb, for example, which floats down from the sky and explodes on impact, is a cartoon caricature of Martyn Brown, Team17's studio director. Other such weapons include the Concrete Donkey, one of the most powerful weapons in the game, which is based on a garden ornament in Andy Davidson's home garden, and an airstrike known in the game as Mike's Carpet Bomb was actually inspired by a store near the Team17 headquarters called "Mike's Carpets"^[3].

Since Worms Armageddon, weapons that were intended to aid as utilities rather than damage-dealers were classified as tools. This classification mainly differs in the fact that they don't fall in ordinary weapon crates, and instead appear in toolboxes. However, many tools were left in the wrong classification, for the sake of keyboard-shortcut conveniences. Full classification was properly introduced in Worms 3D.

Audio

One of the defining features of the Worms series is its light-hearted audio. Although the first few Worms games used darker, more authentic battlefield sounds for its ambient music, all of the games included a large number of high-pitched catchphrases shouted by the Worms during the course of battle, including "I'll get you!" and "Bombs away!".

Worms 2 and its sequels gave players the ability to pick between a variety of speech sets for each platoon of worms. Many were based on regional accents, such as "The Raj" and "Angry Scots", while others, like "Drill Seargent", made use of steriotypes. Players could even record their own speech sets and use those instead.

The ambient and theme music for Worms 2, Worms Armageddon, Worms World Party and, in part, Worms 3D, was entirely provided by Bjørn Lynne.

History

First 2D generation (1994)

File:Worms1 screenshot.jpg

The first Worms game featured darker tones than later Worms games, with more realistic effects for weapons rather than cartoon-style effects, and the ambient sound of a battlefield.

The game was originally created by Andy Davidson as an entry for a Blitz BASIC programming competition run by the Amiga Format magazine, a cut-down version of the programming language having been covermounted previously. The game at this stage was called Total Wormage (possibly named after the game Total Carnage) and it did not win the competition. Davidson sent the game to several publishers with no success. He then took the game to the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS), where the computer game publishers Team17 had a stand. Team17 made an offer on-the-spot to develop and publish the game.

It subsequently evolved into a full commercial game, available initially only for the Commodore Amiga computer. As the game was extremely popular, it has been regularly released for other platforms including Windows and Mac based computers, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Nokia N-Gage, SNES, Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn, Microsoft PocketPC, and Xbox.

During the development of Worms 2, Andy Davidson wrote Worms - The Director's Cut, a special edition produced exclusively for the Amiga. This was, to his eyes, the pinnacle of the series. Featuring weapons not seen in any Worms game before or since, it looks like an enhanced version of the original game. Only 5000 copies were ever sold. It was also the last version released for the platform from which the game originated.

Second 2D generation (1997)

File:PC Worms2.png

Worms 2 and subsequent games featured cartoon-style explosions that released bubbles with a readable onomatopoeia overlaid on top.

The engine was completely redesigned using Microsoft's DirectX for the second generation Worms series, dropping the darker tones of the first generation and adopting a more cartoonish look along the way. Worms 2 is by far the most customisable of the Worms games with a very extensive set of detailed settings and toggles. Worms 2 also introduced internet play, though the interface was considered clumsy and primitive.

Worms Armageddon was initially intended to be released as an expansion pack for Worms 2, but was released as a stand-alone game when it exceeded all expectations. Worms Armageddon included 33 in-depth missions in an extensive and elaborate campaign, along with training missions, a "deathmatch" feature, some new graphics and sounds, and a few new weapons and utilities. Much of the customisability of Worms 2, however, was removed, as Team17 thought that the interface would become cluttered and overwhelming.

Worms Armageddon also included a much more organised and functional internet play service, known as "WormNET", which required registration and utlilised leagues and ranks. Problems with cheating led to the removal of the leagues, but their re-introduction is planned in a series of updates that have provided the game with more customisability.

Worms World Party, currently the latest in the 2-D series, was originally designed for Sega Dreamcast console to make use of DreamArena, but was also released for the PC with new missions, a mission editor, and some extra customisability. With no new weapons, graphics or sounds, however, some see Worms World Party as a cash cow for Team17.

Worms Open Warfare for Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, has been announced to be in production. The game will be specifically designed for the handheld systems, and is due for release in March 2006.

Schemes

The extensive customisability of the second generation series, along with good online play support, has led to enduring popularity. A variety of unusual "schemes" have been developed by the WormNET community that are often played instead of the official schemes created by Team17^[4]. Some schemes have "rules" agreed to by the players but not enforced by the game itself.

First 3D generation (2003)

File:Worms3Dscreenshot.jpg

Worms 3D included many highly detailed themed maps for its single-player mission campaign.

In 2003, Worms 3D was released. This was the first game in the series to bring the characters into a three-dimensional environment. It features an innovative poxel engine, described as a hybrid of polygons and voxels (the 3-D analogues of pixels). This allows for pseudo-realistic terrain deformation similar in style to the 2-D games, in which the terrain was represented by a bitmap.

File:Worms 4 Mayhem Screenshot.jpeg

Worms 4 Mayhem introduced larger maps with a height-map instead of poxels for the ground, in an effort to remove the excessive drowning of worms in Worms 3D

The second complete 3D game in the series was Worms Forts: Under Siege, for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. It was released in November 2004 and features the biggest variation on the gameplay that the series has yet to see. Rather than fighting only worms on a fully destructible land, players' worms are able to build forts. The objective of the game has moved from only killing the worms, as players can now win a game by destroying the opponent's fort. Due to the change in strategy, this game could be seen as a spin-off rather than a true Worms game, despite its many similarities.

Worms 4: Mayhem was released in 2005, being a revamp of the original Worms 3D engine, featuring smoother terrain deformation and improved graphics. The gameplay is much the same as it was in Worms 3D, but new gameplay modes and weapons have been introduced. One of the major new features is the ability to create customised costumes and weaponry for teams.

References and notes

^ Team17. Interview with Andy Davidson
^ Team17 forum. "What things were the weapons in Worms based on?"
^ Team17 forum. Post by Martyn Brown, Team17's studio director
^ Community site. Playing on WormNET - a Guide