"INCOMING!" Interview with Team17 Lead Designer ~ Crash To Desktop

Welcome to Crash To Desktop, we have a something special for you today with an interview with Team17's very own Lead Designer Grant Towell. Team17 is well known for developing some of the best known Amiga games such as Alien Breed, Superfrog and more recently their hugely popular Worms series.

After the break you'll be treated to a delectable selection of questions that we've posed to one of the most popular UK based developers, and some tantalising tips on breaking into games development.

Thanks for agreeing to the interview Grant, why don't you tell us a bit about being a lead designer?

Hi guys and thanks for having me! The job of the lead designer covers many aspects across the development board; such as being responsible for liaising with the upper management (including the directors) to get across the scope and vision of the game you’re creating and what is required to get to this goal…and to budget!

Once up and running you’ll be responsible for maintaining the game design and keeping it up to date as well as making sure all the design schedule demands placed on yourself and your design team are completed on time and of an exceptionally high quality. You’ve got to do all this as well as keeping a massive smile on your face at all times. At *ALL* times!

You started at Team17 as a Game Tester, what was it like, and how did you come to be Lead Designer?

Wow – good question. I started out back in 1997 I think it was…I remember a few of the games we had in test around that time, now bear with me because my memory might be a bit hazy so I might be out a year or so in my ‘remembering’. Arcade Pool II was forever in and out of test for various reasons, but it got finished and turned out a highly playable budget title.

What else did we have in? Worms 2! Of course! Worms 2 was around that time I think…that was great to work on – especially seeing the game being played across the LAN for the first time; I remember that being a real ‘WOW’ moment. Nightlong! Nightlong was a point and click adventure game developed by Italian development powerhouse Trecision – that was a pretty good game, it wasn’t bad at all. It was a cyberpunk setting as the backdrop - I remember the lead character ‘Joshua Reeve’; he had a bald head and wore shades. He wore shades at all times during the full game – most of it at night…Apart from the ending when it was broad daylight as he drove off directly into the sun (in his hover car of course) at which point he took his shades off.

Being lead designer is a role that I worked my way into after establishing myself right from starting out in QA, then I became Lead Tester (Worms Armageddon on PlayStation got through the Sony submission first time of asking – that was unheard of!), I was then interviewed internally and earned myself the role as a plucky junior designer. Of course this was many moons ago and from there I steadily worked up through the ranks right through to the current position I hold now. I’ve loved every minute of it and I’ve worked with some amazing people along the way who I see now more as friends than colleagues; but that’s not to say we all just ‘get along’. Ohhhh no. 

What would you say is your proudest achievement as a developer?

For me personally, the proudest achievement was seeing how well that Worms 2: Armageddon performed on XBLA and also the high metacritic rating it achieved for being a ‘Worms game’. That was great – and everybody loved it…me included. I can still be found now and then online having myself a cheeky game.

Is there any advice you can give on entering the games industry to our readers?

Well, the biggest hurdle anyone faces when trying to get into the games industry is that fact that developers tend to go for experience, which of course I understand is impossible for a big chunk of people. So with that in mind what else can you do? Well the way that I spoke of how I ‘got in’ is certainly a viable option – the QA route; which has been found to be a great way of getting your foot in the door so to speak.

If you do get knocked back when applying for positions, don’t be too disheartened; ask for feedback, act on it and come back stronger for next time! Obviously a massively keen interest in games will always help but try to look beyond what you’re playing and dig deeper into what makes the game so good – a deeper understanding of your subject matter will help you along your path.

Also a strong and to-the-point CV will help catch the eye of would be employers from the off – try not to bulk it up with information about how you like to count the moon sometimes and are also into breathing and talking.

Why did Team17 choose to make a game about Worms blowing the bejeezus out of each other, and why did you settle on Worms rather than another animal?

Good question! I for one cannot answer that – you would have to track down the Godfather of Worms ‘Andy Davidson’ and pose him that question…

In the development of the Worms series what challenge was particularly hard to overcome?

I remember the biggest headache we’ve encountered along the way has probably been the transition of Worms to 3D…There were so many decisions to be made but we realised the game could work by way of a great prototype which went through many loops and iterations until we had nailed down the basics and thought “Yeah – this will work!” then we went for it and produced a high quality game published by Sega I think it was. Some people to this day prefer the 3D iterations to the 2D versions…Me? I stand in the 2D corner. 

Was there anything you wanted to include into the Worms games but couldn't?

There have been a few things along the way but I don’t think we’ve not put them in our games because we couldn’t – I think it’s been down to the fact that we haven’t because we’ve found out that it might have more repercussions than we had hoped; the main one being breaking the balance of the game which of course is extremely important in a turn-based game such as Worms. Usually these have been outlandish weapon ideas cooked up by the most psychotic of internal employees – however I am sworn to secrecy because who knows – they might just pop up in future iterations...

We've seen Worms Pinball, Golf, and Blast are there any other spinoffs you have considered?

I think there has been – I remember at least 12-13 years ago we spoke about Worms football; I think we got about as far as saying that the football itself would be a Grenade, but then again worms don’t have feet….but then they don’t have hands either…..!?! Mind you, we could do the same for baseball, cricket, basketball…HEY! Are you fishing for ideas?! (how about volleyball…or fishing even!?)

We saw you at Replay 2011 with your very own Super Sheep Plushie, where can we get one!? Also What other merchandise will be coming our way soon?

Who knows….maybe if you ask really nicely….?! The Super Sheep Plush toy, and a cool Worms Poster were the first merchandise items to be released late last year and the reaction to them has been really positive so far. With regards to other Worms™ licensed merchandise, only this week we have seen the release of a fantastic range of collectible plushes and keyrings from IGS (GameOn®), which can also be purchased now from their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/GameOnStuff?sk=app_135607783795

The product line-up also includes apparel, t-shirts, squeezies, mugs, figurines, collectibles, key rings, and more, it is an exciting time for the Worms™ brand.

Recently Worms and other Team17 favourites exploded onto Good Old Games (http://gog.com), what was the thinking behind that?

The recent developments in digital distribution, the resurgence in classic/retro gaming and the rise of distributors such as Good Old Games seemed a really good fit for Team17. Obviously we are most famous for Worms, but GOG.com allowed us to recently release classic titles such as Worms United of course, but also the original Alien Breed + Tower Assault, cult fan favourite Superfrog and also World Rally Fever, and the reaction to these titles being available has been great so far!

Worms Ultimate Mayhem on Xbox Live has just received some new DLC, will the title be receiving any more DLC in the future?

We have released x2 DLC packs for Worms Ultimate Mayhem XBLA so far, the “Single-player Pack” and the “Multi-player Pack” that have add even more content to what is already a massive XBLA game, and we have at least one more up our sleeves for release in the coming months…

What lies in the future for Team17? Are there any plans for a new IP?

We are very busy at the moment; we are preparing our plans for what is set to be a very busy year for Team17! We will be progressing with our merchandising program, and beyond that we have some really exciting plans that will take us into the social and browser space, as well as delivering fantastic new Worms™ content on the digital platforms….watch this space!

Finally we come to our final question, the most important and awaited question of the interview – What is your all time favourite Worms weapon?

Hehe….the weapons of Worms are indeed a key part of the game and the appeal. The most iconic weapons in the games would be the bazooka, the grenade, the baseball bat, the Holy Hand Grenade (our tribute of the brilliant silliness of Monty Python and the Holy Grail!). My favourite would probably be the infamous Concrete Donkey, a very destructive weapon in the game, as you can deploy a giant concrete donkey to fall out of the sky and smash its way through the landscape, crushing all worms beneath it. The origin of this is pretty cool, because Andy Davidson's (the creator of the original Worms) mother actually had a concrete donkey in their family garden, and it used to give him nightmares. So he chose to feature it in the game! (Though saying that I am partial to a lovely curling shot with the Bazooka taking advantage of a kind wind!)