Team17 has announced Worms WMD

[Lex]

Speaking of the landing and its feel, does the worm rotate between rope shots? That's another aspects of W:A roping which emphasizes the roping feel.

It does, depending on how much momentum you've built up.

For example, a light swing and you probably won't rotate. But a speedy swing will cause you to rotate between shots.

Is it just a boolean between "rotating" and "not rotating", or is it as nice as WA, fluidly changing depending on the worm's velocity?

[TheKomodo]

Will Worms WMD support custom maps in PNG format or any other?

Hey,

Ok so customization!

The plan is to launch Worms W.M.D with an 'Image Importer' like the one you're familiar with in Armageddon. This will enable you to import your creations for custom game shenanigans.

Further customisation:

- Worm Speechbank
- Worm Outfit
- Worm Gravestone
- Worm Dance
- Worm Fanfare
- Weapon Skins
- Worm Names

[skunk3]

watched the VOD from thursday, and a few things about WMD especially caught my eye.

• first, the landing frames seem almost nonexistant, which looks really unnatural.
  
  compare this clip of WMD with some W:A jumping (arrow held to move asap, indicating lagframes)
  
  W:A really emphasizes the impact from the jump, and WMD really should do the same. at the moment the landing feels like something out of a flash game (i went there! )
  
  it's easy to see the issue with x0.30 speed
  
  

.
.

• one positive thing that i believe worms revolution did for worms was the segmented status bar (per-worm). is there any reason for not including it in WMD, other than to just 'be more like W:A'?
  

.
.

• lastly, i understand that the interface is large due to it being designed for cross-compatibility, and players need to be able to easily read things from the couch. however, due to how obtrusive the team list is (4 teams is half the screen size!), a great compromise for PC (and console) players would be an option to use a scaled down GUI.
  
  
  (compare to W:A assets, still perfectly legible at 50%)

thanks for reading, hope you can pass along my suggestions! (i'll be back with more)

Great post, Goom. I totally agree with you on all of this, especially the segmented power bars. It makes so much more sense that way.


I just posted a rather lengthy topic on the Steam forums regarding what makes W:A great vs. the other games, as well as what weapons and utilities I'd like to see be included in WMD. Have a look! http://steamcommunity.com/app/327030/discussions/0/357286663670078063/

[Jonno_Team17]

Speaking of the landing and its feel, does the worm rotate between rope shots? That's another aspects of W:A roping which emphasizes the roping feel.

It does, depending on how much momentum you've built up.

For example, a light swing and you probably won't rotate. But a speedy swing will cause you to rotate between shots.

Is it just a boolean between "rotating" and "not rotating", or is it as nice as WA, fluidly changing depending on the worm's velocity?

It's fluid based on velocity

[WTF-8]

What was great about W:A?
-uncluttered and simple UI
-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements
-the best ninja rope ever
-near perfect gameplay mechanics
-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms

skunk3, are you being serious or just trolling the devs?

[Lex]

What was great about W:A?
-uncluttered and simple UI
-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements
-the best ninja rope ever
-near perfect gameplay mechanics
-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms

skunk3, are you being serious or just trolling the devs?

Those look like real points to me.

[Rabbzz]

So we have any idea how online will work? Will there be ranks and secure login? If so is there somewhere we can register to keep our old nicknames?

[goom]

What was great about W:A?
-uncluttered and simple UI
-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements
-the best ninja rope ever
-near perfect gameplay mechanics
-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms

skunk3, are you being serious or just trolling the devs?

what do you mean by that? i don't see anything there that doesn't emphasize what we'd all like in WMD.

-WormNET - how about WmdNet?
-custom gravestones - also possibly animated *.GIF format gravestones (within size/dim limit)
-donor cards - now that we can't blow up quitters' worms (they disappear), these would be a nice substitute
-blood - let's get this T rated
-"sheep in exploding crates" - was this feature missing in any titles since armageddon?
-6 players + 1 spectator per game - actually, i'd vouch for even more spectators. with the technology we have nowadays, not only should the capacity be higher, but also spectators should be able to come and go during a match. WmdNet could use a lobby system with a list of 'in progress' games. passwords would still be required for spectators, of course.
-uncluttered and simple UI - and compact UI designed for PC, as i mentioned earlier. in addition, i noticed that the team list (remaining teams' HP) currently disappears while the current worm is active. the player needs to have the option to keep this open midturn, if they so desire
-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements - W:A's chat interface is both non-obtrusive yet easy to access, and i personally would appreciate a carbon copy of the system (with a few extra things thrown in):

• the commands, as you mentioned, can all be found here
• /afk or /away to autoskip turns should be a top priority if not already implemented
• /ignore i will argue for as well, considering how toxic some players can get, harassing players can be simply blocked
• perhaps a persistent /block command could be implemented, which would preserve the ignored state of the listed usernames from that point onward
• /anon messages sent by ignored players will not be seen, preventing potential abuse
   
• /me is something so simple to implement that it's bound to get in.. right?
• two separate keyboard shortcuts to open and close chat (rather than the awkward 'one button toggle' system)
• the ability to 'sticky' lock the chat open, so you can read while you're playing
• resizeable chat window (ctrl+up/down arrow)
• timestamps, one of the few things that W:A is currently lacking, are far too useful to leave out (preferably in [HH:MM:SS] format)

-ability to lock the screen on your worm during your turn - essential for roping
-ability to press "T" mid-turn to indicate that you are thinking - would definitely miss this feature
-fluid animation - fix that landing, t17!
-lots of terrain styles to choose from, with a much better random map generator than any Worms title since, although no vertical map styles a la Reloaded (which I quite liked TBH... the vert maps, that is...) - important to allow the host to pick terrain type if they wish to, rather than always randomly assigning one
-cool, weird, ambient music - sure, could even implement random play selection of custom tracks via specified music directories
-the best ninja rope ever - what's just as important as the rope is the wall bounce. i'm really hoping they get this right - is batty rope a pipe dream?
-being able to set min/max bounce for grenade-type weapons - that reminds me, fuse and bounce needs to be a per-worm setting, each one should remember its own parameters throughout the game
-near perfect gameplay mechanics - yup
-loads of customization potential, but it took third-party editors to really shine - so long as the game isn't too locked down and the demand is there, the same thing will (and rightly should) happen to WMD
-official ranks of all sorts (in the beginning, anyway) - i'm fine with ranking so long as it isn't directly built into steam
-loads of great weapons and utilities, many of which STILL haven't been in any subsequent Worms title (I'll never understand why they don't just keep the old and add more new stuff since it is the community who ultimately makes the schemes and steers the gameplay in whatever direction is popular) - so long as i get my beloved bungee back, i'm happy
-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms (this isn't used all that much nowadays, but it's still a nice feature to have) - good for friendly balance
-stockpiling and anti-stockpiling modes (important for those who don't just play a single match) - also the ability to resume a bo5 at a later point and keep the same ammo
-team special weapon - definitely, also menu should display information about said weapon (ammo and turns to unlock). team weapons need to be toggleable just like in W:A.
-custom team flags per team (hasn't been in any game since WWP, which is an absurd shame) - also custom avatars should not be tied to steam account avatars, let us pick different ones for different teams
-flags in the WormNET lobby to show everyone where you're hailing from - allow people to set their own, since default may not always be correct or desired (due to privacy issues)
-being able to select your victory fanfare (once again, hasn't been in any game since WWP that I can recall) - against custom files for this one, due to inevitable abuse, but allow us to pick from a large list of presets
-low PC requirements to run flawlessly, especially today - spend the time and create some custom settings for lower-end PCs, please
-replay files (HUGELY important for external leagues, not to mention for posterity as well as exporting map files and re-reading old chats with friends) - this may make or break if many people buy the game, myself included. seriously

I'm not even going to include any of the other stuff that made the game even better through patches and updates. There's so many aspects of W:A that makes it feel more personal, like you are actually a part of a community. - excited for 4.0 3.8?

As you can see, there are a LOT of features and whatnot that have been totally non-existent post-WWP. I would love to see
-everything from W:A/WWP (including the Wormpot)
-select weapons from W2, such as the homing cluster bomb, homing air strike, cloned sheep, etc.
-select weapons and utilities from Reloaded, such as buffalo of lies, ferrets, gas pump, lightning strike (this should heal and resurrect only, NOT do damage!), marked for death, poison strike, sentry gun, termites, worship, bunker buster, super bunker buster, electromagnet, emergency teleport,
-select weapons and utilities from Revolution / Clan Wars, such as the whoopsie cushion, crate drop, equalizer, knockout, teleswap, teleshield, grave digger, worm charms, bovine blitz, boggy b, stick-up

Everything above should be in WMD. - if not all planned weapons can be implemented before release, free updates to include these later would be acceptable, please no paid DLC weapon packs

DON'T WORRY ABOUT "BALANCE" - WE WILL HANDLE THAT PROVIDED THAT THE GAME HAS A ROBUST EDITOR - that's why we have options for power levels and weapon count, the players will do the balancing via schemes and rules, team17 just has to make the framework

Moving forward, one change that I would personally like to see is a numerical percentage on screen when it comes to weapon speed / power, in terms of throwing a nade or launching a zook. Instead of eyeballing the meter and hoping you got it just right, adding a numerical 0-100% power level would allow players to more accurately make shots, thus fostering an increase in competitiveness. - not entirely for this in regular matches, but in a 'practice mode' (which absolutely needs to be included) this would be wonderful, alongside the ability to try the same shot over and over until you get it perfect. now that we're treading into the 'wishful thinking' territory, might as well request a 'manual wind' option for perfecting shots

a few points of my own:

• the animation for crates/utilites falling is simply far too drawn out, about 3 times longer than it needs to be, and immediately gets stale
  WMD - ~8 seconds W:A - ~2 seconds
  (click each thumbnail for larger image)
• the worms still feel a little too heavy, at least when it comes to explosion knockback and sliding
• i believe as many files as possible should be kept plaintext, including but not limited to:
• *.scheme files that are easily editable and comprehensible (future third party editor compatibility?)
• *.team files allow player to quickly make, view, and export lists of teams outside of the game (in addition to the standard team editor ingame)
• BlockedPlayers.ini file, listed usernames are blocked from chatting altogether (maybe embedded in settings file?)
• chat log files (from both lobby and during matches)
• settings file, for quick setup or to easily troubleshooting problems (not stored in registry!)
• allow for separate windowed mode; menu and lobby can be windowed even if the game itself is set to be fullscreen, and visa versa if the player so chooses
• it goes without saying, but custom resolutions, fullscreen/borderless windowed mode, vsync, and separate music and SFX sliders all need to be configurable
• some hotkeys
• 'next worm/previous worm' hotkey to browse through your team's roster of worms, great on giant maps. behaves like worm select, camera wise. possible hotkeys: ctrl+[ (prev) or ] (next) worm
• mousewheel up/down to zoom in or out, mouse3 (middle click) to reset zoom to standard level

visual issues:

• currently, the contrast of the worms information display is far too low. i think adding the player's color around the edges (top center) would not only make it look better, but it would increase clarity.
• let them toggle between transparent and opaque with alt+del (as in W:A), as each can work better for different situations. in image, i left the 'dark' version ever so slightly transparent, but even completely opaque would work fine.
• slightly unrelated, but the background levels of detail/particles needs to be toggleable (off -> low -> med -> high), with 'off' being entirely black
• it also needs to be settable with del key (team > name > hp > none) (bottom left of image)

• in addition to the contrast, the size (just like the menu), of the worms' display information is far too large for PCs. panel 3 has the name and HP flush akin to that of W:A, which looks better in my opinion (armageddon worm to scale). both the transparent and 'standard' version of names work fine at this size, even with the low quality source materials.

whew!

posts made while typing this:

So we have any idea how online will work? Will there be ranks and secure login? If so is there somewhere we can register to keep our old nicknames?

probably will be integrated steam accounts/names with WMD, as much as i'm hoping that they won't. that's the way reloaded worked, right?

[Sensei]

Cool post goomito. And yeah, wtf is with 8sec crate drop? Imagine playing kaos. After 8 turns you'll already lost 1 minute just by watching them mofo's parachuting around. Haha.

[XanKriegor]

Since most monitors are widescreen, it would be good to be able to place chat window on   either sides too, coz upper-located chat window reduces valuable horizontal space, so if chat is pinned, you will see less space while roping up and down. Also partial transparency option for chat will be nice.

[Jonno_Team17]

Great to see all the posts and feedback.

Just a reminder though, this isn't Worms Armageddon remastered. Worms W.M.D is seen by us as the spiritual successor to Worms Armageddon.

Keep that in mind when saying things are "wrong" because they aren't identical to Worms Armageddon, a different game.


We released a brand new Multiplayer Trailer today, you can see it here:

It'd be great to know what you think.

[skunk3]

I understand that WMD is not going to be W:A remastered, but as I illustrated in my Steam post, there's many things from W:A that should be featured in WMD because they WORK and MAKE SENSE for the community. There's no need to reinvent the wheel with each new Worms game. Keep the stuff that is good and useful, and build off of that.

I will go back over my main points again:

-WormNET (some sort of global lobby system with chat is an absolute must, otherwise the community simply won't endure. The newer Worms titles are basically dead already...)

-custom gravestones (why would this NOT be an option in 2016 when we could have them back in the nineties? Anything to make the game more personal = good)

-donor cards (a simple, optional element that has been missing since WWP... no reason to not include it)

-blood (once again, optional and no reason to not include it)

-"sheep in exploding crates" (once again, optional and no reason to not include it)

-6 players + 1 spectator per game (I agree with Goom that we should allow for spectating on a larger scale... although I am pleased that WMD will feature 6 worms with a max of 8 worms per team)

-uncluttered and simple UI (This is simple... don't make it look like a damned console game. Reloaded is the best example I can think of when it comes to shitty UI)

-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements (This is simple, common sense stuff here. It is annoying and ridiculous to have to press ESC to access the chat menu, like in Reloaded, and in Rev/CW you press the "~" key, which also makes no sense since that key should have the same functionality as another f-key... why change it around when page up and page down works perfectly?)

-ability to lock the screen on your worm during your turn (this should be a simple feature to implement, and there's no reason to not include it)

-ability to press "T" mid-turn to indicate that you are thinking (if bots can do it, why can't we?! the problem with the newer games is that they are designed as multi-platform games.. so in essence they are console games regardless of whether you are playing on PC or not. That is rubbish. W:A is clearly the best Worms game, and one of the primary reasons why is because it was designed as a PC game first and foremost. Look at the console versions of W:A - they are awful.)

-fluid animation (it can't look like a cheap flash game of course)

-lots of terrain styles to choose from, with a much better random map generator than any Worms title since, although no vertical map styles a la Reloaded (which I quite liked TBH... the vert maps, that is...) (The lack of terrain themes in Revolution and Clan Wars is extremely disappointing... it gets really boring playing on the same terrain all of the time. 6 have been announced for WMD. That's pathetic IMHO... I know they're hand-drawn and look very nice, but come on... 6?! It should be double that, at least.)

-cool, weird, ambient music (I don't think that the music in the newer Worms games is bad at all, tbh)

-the best ninja rope ever (lots of people aren't going to want to play WMD if it doesn't have a good ninja rope. The rope in Reloaded is awful, and the rope in Rev/CW is a... rope. You can also fire it in basically any direction. Like I said, don't reinvent the f@#!ing wheel... you guys already have an amazing ninja rope from W:A, so USE IT.)

-being able to set min/max bounce for grenade-type weapons (we had this in 1999, why not 2016? it's not like these suggestions are absurd)

-near perfect gameplay mechanics (the 2.5D Worms games are glitchy as hell, and Reloaded has terrible mechanics compared to W:A... why go backwards? When you already have a great game, why mess it all up? As I said before, take what is great about previously-existing Worms games and then make it even better.)

-loads of customization potential, but it took third-party editors to really shine (everything should be editable in fine detail within the game. weapon power, crate drop probabilities per item, mines, barrels, other environmental placements like neutral sentry guns, magnets, GRAVITY, etc...)

-official ranks of all sorts (in the beginning, anyway) (I personally think that ranks built-in to the game is awesome as long as it is an ELO system and not just simple wins vs. losses... the ranks in the newer Worms games mean nothing at all because it's just simple wins vs. losses... as long as you or your clan play the most games, you are the "best," which is stupid)

-loads of great weapons and utilities, many of which STILL haven't been in any subsequent Worms title (I'll never understand why they don't just keep the old and add more new stuff since it is the community who ultimately makes the schemes and steers the gameplay in whatever direction is popular) (Team 17 has a great IP here, and why they would choose to NOT include content from past games is beyond me, tbh)

-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms (this isn't used all that much nowadays, but it's still a nice feature to have) (another one of those "if we had it in the nineties, why can't we have it now?" features)

-stockpiling and anti-stockpiling modes (important for those who don't just play a single match) (super important, because efficient and conservative players are rewarded)

-team special weapon (totally optional of course, but once again, why is a great feature missing from the new games? console-itis. That's why)

-custom team flags per team (hasn't been in any game since WWP, which is an absurd shame) (I think that WMD will feature this, but I don't want it to be tied to one's Steam account... I want it to be fully custom, per team)

-flags in the WormNET lobby to show everyone where you're hailing from (super helpful and informative, no reason to not include it aside from laziness)

-being able to select your victory fanfare (once again, hasn't been in any game since WWP that I can recall) (lack of victory fanfare is just one of many reasons why the newer Worms games feel impersonal and kinda boring)

-low PC requirements to run flawlessly, especially today (the 2.5D titles were horribly unoptimized and require a decent computer to run properly... I hope Team17 never again makes the mistake of trying to make a 2.5D title.)

-replay files (HUGELY important for external leagues, not to mention for posterity as well as exporting map files and re-reading old chats with friends) (no reason to not include this aside from laziness)

[StepS]

-blood (once again, optional and no reason to not include it)

I think this would increase the age requirement. I'm not completely sure though. But there have already been issues with that when releasing Worms Armageddon in Steam (the removed soundbanks, etc.)

Regarding replay files: as far as we know, instant replays will be in, just not replay files. If the game can already play instant replays, it should be easier to add replay file playback: the timeline is all the same data, just written into a file with additional information like the map, etc.

[WTF-8]

Reloaded is the best example I can think of when it comes to shitty UI

How about bloody red text on dark blue background in W:A's WormNET browser?
[attachment=2]
Or the Back button, which changes its size and position from screen to screen.
(That's mostly the problem of frontend; I don't have much against W:A's in-game interface, except that it lacks a few damn important features such as an indicator of current weapon)

BTW, what was so wrong with Reloaded's UI? Just asking. I played it a few years ago and might not be able to remember everything, but it never hurted my eyes as much as W:A's red text on blue background.

W:A is clearly the best Worms game, and one of the primary reasons why is because it was designed as a PC game first and foremost.

Well, that makes some sense, but I'd say that it's more like "other Worms games are even worse compared to today's W:A" than "W:A is better than other Worms games".

-fluid animation (it can't look like a cheap flash game of course)

Not entirely sure on that one. In practice, landing animation does nothing except taking away a half of a second of turn time after each jump, and, in my opinion, that makes it more annoying than useful.

-easy and quick text chatting with simple team chat, as well as personal (/me) statements and anonymous (/anon) statements (This is simple, common sense stuff here.

Adding /anon goes against any sense; it has zero use besides trolling n00bs. Why promote trolling?

-lots of terrain styles to choose from

Yup, with a half of them being utter crap practically non-usable due to 2nd soil texture looking almost same as "blown edge" texture, making it diffcult to understand where is empty space and where is land.
[attachment=1]
I'd also like to mention how -Hell theme has a lot of black pixels on its objects (like scythe), which are invisible with background turned off.

quality > quantity

-near perfect gameplay mechanics (the 2.5D Worms games are glitchy as hell, and Reloaded has terrible mechanics compared to W:A...

"if Reloaded has many glitches, call it a glitchy game with terrible mechanics. If Armageddon has a crap ton of glitches, call it an awesome game with an almost endless learning curve."
k
To be honest, I can't remember seeing much glitches in Reloaded, and never wanted to scream "IT'S A f@#!ING BUG" to my monitor, unlike in W:A. But again, I never got to play Reloaded online or talk with people more experienced in it, probably I could miss/not notice those glitches.

-being able to handicap HP per team + or - while still maintaining the same number of worms [...] (another one of those "if we had it in the nineties, why can't we have it now?" features)

I have never seen it used for anything besides trolling those "hey guys its my first time online" n00bs. Why keep it if it's hardly ever used for good reasons?

-team special weapon

I generally like this but only if it's going to have at least a bit of balance. What's the last time you have seen granny or moles used as team weapons? (Excluding n00bs who have no idea what do a half of weapons do)

__________

And yeah, wtf is with 8sec crate drop? Imagine playing kaos. After 8 turns you'll already lost 1 minute just by watching them mofo's parachuting around.

Ever played Worms 3D/Mayhem on fan-made big maps? A single crate could fall for longer than a minute. (Though I wouldn't say that such maps were much playable, but anyway...)
And Team17 just stepped on the same rakes for once again.

[TheKomodo]

@Jonno

Keep that in mind when saying things are "wrong" because they aren't identical to Worms Armageddon, a different game.

It's nothing to do with being identical or not, it's about using features that make the game more playable and efficient, stuff like making worm names stand out, worms not looking stupid when they are jumping, having nice keyboard shortcuts for certain features, makes the game much much better for everyone.

This thread has pretty much handed Team17 everything you need to know to make the game a major success, either take the advice properly or ignore it as Team17 have done in the past, it's your choice, at the end of the day if WMD sucks we'll stick to WA so it's not that big a deal for us.

Gain players / Lose players - It's up to Team17.