PDA

View Full Version : Feature Requests: Individual Worm Stats & Background Soil Graphics


DrJambo
1 Jun 2007, 10:26
Here's a couple of feature requests for those diligently working on the WA updates:

Please bring back the individual worms stats that they had in Worms 2! I guess this may be too much or too difficult for an update done by unpaid people, but if it's not, it would be really cool to have more stats!

Also, removing the background soil graphics so that the soil blows up like the features, i.e. completely! I find the soil background graphics can make it really awkward to work out what's left of the real land sometimes.

Cheers

Metal Alex
1 Jun 2007, 13:55
Please bring back the individual worms stats that they had in Worms 2! I guess this may be too much or too difficult for an update done by unpaid people, but if it's not, it would be really cool to have more stats!

Nah... won't happen, considering that there were previous games, the stats would mess up, not to mention is a bit... pointless.

Also, removing the background soil graphics so that the soil blows up like the features, i.e. completely! I find the soil background graphics can make it really awkward to work out what's left of the real land sometimes.

This one, on the other hand, is a very good proposal. I mean, there are situations were this can help a lot.

yakuza
1 Jun 2007, 14:04
If by stats you mean HP/Weapons able to use etc... I think that was a feature long ago and I think its still there for 4.0

DrJambo
1 Jun 2007, 15:18
By individual worm stats I was meaning a table ranking the all the worms in order of their k:d ratio. At least I think that was how it was done in Worms 2? Pointless maybe, but I remember it was probably the main reason me and my mates played Worms 2 for so many years. There were worms to fear so to speak by their name alone! ;)

Now, what stats WA has, are just done on a team basis, so the individual worm has no character and is just part of the "borg collective."

yakuza
1 Jun 2007, 15:47
I suppose those are actually hidden, since the game is able to tell who was the most darksider and the most succesful worm...

franpa
1 Jun 2007, 15:59
such and such worm won the doctordolittle award...

that sounds like a individual worm award to me :P

DrJambo
1 Jun 2007, 16:02
such and such worm won the doctordolittle award...

that sounds like a individual worm award to me :P

Does the game keep track of these though? ;)

franpa
1 Jun 2007, 16:04
oh, you mean saving them.... i thought you meant just having them shown :P

Metal Alex
1 Jun 2007, 16:40
I suppose those are actually hidden, since the game is able to tell who was the most darksider and the most succesful worm...

Yeah, but only while the game lasts. The team stats don't save them.

Seita
1 Jun 2007, 22:00
Batch export replays and fetch awards.

bloopy
2 Jun 2007, 15:27
There was individiual worms stats in Worms 1 too, or at least in Worms United's separate rank/stats view utility. I always thought it was great fun to have them, though for some reason one of the worms from my sister's team managed to get the highest ranking and keep it! :mad:

Wormetti
2 Jun 2007, 17:28
You can turn off the background with the insert key.

Melon
2 Jun 2007, 17:35
You can turn off the background with the insert key.

That doesn't turn off the background soil, only the background sky and wind indicator objects and clouds and stuff.

The major problem with individual worm stats in Worms Armageddon might be things like "Most damage caused with one shot" type stats, where you only need to use armageddon to make it meaningless. This wasn't a problem in Worms 1 because there wasn't any superweapons.

I can't remember Worms 2 ever having any. I guess I never looked in the right place.

[UFP]Ghost
2 Jun 2007, 20:48
The major problem with individual worm stats in Worms Armageddon might be things like "Most damage caused with one shot" type stats, where you only need to use armageddon to make it meaningless. This wasn't a problem in Worms 1 because there wasn't any superweapons.


Well then have the stats but don't include Armageddon, nuclear test and the concrete donkey. The rest is fair play.

bonz
2 Jun 2007, 22:46
The nuke and the donkey were available in W2 too. The donkey even in WDC.

Plasma
2 Jun 2007, 22:52
There was individiual worms stats in Worms 1 too, or at least in Worms United's separate rank/stats view utility. I always thought it was great fun to have them, though for some reason one of the worms from my sister's team managed to get the highest ranking and keep it! :mad:
Oh yeah, those were funn!

DrJambo
3 Jun 2007, 16:37
Regarding background soil graphics, I don't even know why they're there in the first place?! :mad: It makes no sense to have them, since some of the bigger explosions, like dynamite, will actually remove the background soil graphics as well. All they do is cause ambiguities over what remains as real landscape and what doesn't as the landscape gets blown up. Does anyone know why W:A has background soil graphics? Does it have a purpose?

CyberShadow
3 Jun 2007, 17:03
To give the game a deeper feel. The landscape has a certain "thinkness" - smaller explosions will just make spherical holes, while bigger will reach the inner and outer edges of the landscape.

bonz
3 Jun 2007, 20:41
To give the game a deeper feel. The landscape has a certain "thinkness" - smaller explosions will just make spherical holes, while bigger will reach the inner and outer edges of the landscape.
The world is an ant farm.

kikumbob
3 Jun 2007, 23:09
All they do is cause ambiguities over what remains as real landscape and what doesn't as the landscape gets blown up. I have never manage to confuse soil background with actual soil. Am I just lucky?

By individual worm stats I was meaning a table ranking the all the worms in order of their k:d ratio. At least I think that was how it was done in Worms 2? Pointless maybe, but I remember it was probably the main reason me and my mates played Worms 2 for so many years. There were worms to fear so to speak by their name alone! I had tremendous fun with that too.

AndrewTaylor
3 Jun 2007, 23:19
I have never manage to confuse soil background with actual soil. Am I just lucky?

I think you're normal. In the decade since this feature was introduced this is the first time I've heard of anyone complaining about it.

DrJambo
4 Jun 2007, 12:30
It's not really about me confusing background soil with real soil, although I admit I do have to explain what the background soil is when I teach the game to someone... It's more about what's the point? It serves no function in the gameplay, so why have it? It just makes the map look messy as it gets blown up. The extra features disappear completely when blown up, as does the background soil when hit by bigger explosions. So again, what's the point?

Run
4 Jun 2007, 12:33
As CS said, it gives it more depth. When I play a map with no background terrain (like a mission map) it feels odd to see no background soil. I like it.

If you're having trouble distinguishing background soil from actual terrain then your monitor's colour balance or brightness probably needs adjusting.

Sometimes it's easy to confuse dark terrain pixels with the background soil (when a lot of blowing up has been done) and this can lead to accidents, but I think that risk adds to the game.

AndrewTaylor
4 Jun 2007, 12:56
It's not really about me confusing background soil with real soil, although I admit I do have to explain what the background soil is when I teach the game to someone... It's more about what's the point? It serves no function in the gameplay, so why have it? It just makes the map look messy as it gets blown up. The extra features disappear completely when blown up, as does the background soil when hit by bigger explosions. So again, what's the point?

Well yeah, but the animations on the crates serve no gameplay purpose. The custom soundbanks serve no gameplay purpose. The "home run" jingle serves no gameplay purpose. The different landscape themes serve no gameplay purpose.

You'd have a boring game if you cut everything out that served no gameplay purpose.

DrJambo
4 Jun 2007, 13:03
All those things you mentioned - animated crates, soundbanks, home run jingles, etc - add something to the experience. Background soil, well, doesn't, and if anything just adds to possible confusion. There was nothing of the sort in the earlier Worms instalments. If the game was 3-D then the inclusion of background soil graphics might be more understandable.

kikumbob
4 Jun 2007, 13:17
All those things you mentioned - animated crates, soundbanks, home run jingles, etc - add something to the experience. Background soil, well, doesn't, and if anything just adds to possible confusion. There was nothing of the sort in the earlier Worms instalments. If the game was 3-D then the inclusion of background soil graphics might be more understandable.Thats your opinion and I don't think its shared witht eh majority of wormers.
Maybe you arn't seeing background soil correctly. For example, I look at the sheep from the sheep launcher and I can't help seeing the helmet as its upturned nose and the little red bit as its mouth. Its very annoying. I look at background soil, though, and I can see what they were trying to do when they added it. It looks as if there is a crater there, with the soil rising up on all sides and all you are are looking at a cross-section of this crater. But maybe you can't see that, like my problem with the sheep launcher.

AndrewTaylor
4 Jun 2007, 13:58
All those things you mentioned - animated crates, soundbanks, home run jingles, etc - add something to the experience. Background soil, well, doesn't, and if anything just adds to possible confusion. There was nothing of the sort in the earlier Worms instalments. If the game was 3-D then the inclusion of background soil graphics might be more understandable.

Meh, I think the background soil adds a lot more to the experience than, say, the napalm canisters bulging in and out in that odd way they have. It's a really simple effect but it makes the game look a lot more... likely. Less like a game and more like something happening, albeit in a cartoon. I think that helps with immersion.

And it's really not confusing.

Melon
4 Jun 2007, 14:08
I do think I understand where DrJambo is coming from. On some terrain styles, the background can look similar to the terrain, particularly when the terrain is little pixels due to fire making little holes.

However, it very rarely causes a problem for me. I personally like the way you can still see how the land used to be shaped before you blew it up. Sure, I sometimes blow myself up when I try to fire a bazooka near a pixel I can't see, but that's something that doesn't actually annoy me.

Maybe it could be added as a scheme option to turn it off. Alternatively, you can limit yourself to playing on high-colour .png maps, where it doesn't show up.

Metal Alex
4 Jun 2007, 14:17
Maybe it could be added as a scheme option to turn it off. Alternatively, you can limit yourself to playing on high-colour .png maps, where it doesn't show up.

Or even easilier: let it be removed with the insert key, as another layer.

DrJambo
4 Jun 2007, 14:26
Or even easilier: let it be removed with the insert key, as another layer.

Exactly. That would be excellent.

Actually Melon, is there any way to play using high-colour .png maps (where it doesn't show up) through the game's default random map generator?

franpa
4 Jun 2007, 14:42
invert this map and play mole shoppa on it and see how long it takes before you hate the soil background.

Melon
4 Jun 2007, 14:48
Actually Melon, is there any way to play using high-colour .png maps (where it doesn't show up) through the game's default random map generator?

No,no there isn't. Unless of course you
Randomly generate a map.
Preview it, then save it as a png.
Load it up in some graphics software and add in more colours to the palette.
Convert and save the image.
Load it back up in worms.
A lot of effort though.