Q. Is Worms Armageddon going to be a Worms 2 based engine, or basically a new type of game?

R. WGN uses an enhanced Worms 2 engine. There was absolutely no point re-inventing the wheel or fixing something that certainly wasn't broken. There are no plans at the minute for a 3D Worms game, but we have explored the possibility for over two years now, but remain unconvinced about the playability and therefore haven't done it.

Q. If Worms Armageddon is the "FINAL BATTLE", then how would it be possible to make a Worms 3D??

R. I think we said "It's the end as we know it". However, there is no 3D version in development, and will not be until several difficult problems are overcome. We have looked at it for two years and remain unconvinced. I hope it demonstrates our belief in the game that we haven't looked to 'cash in' with a quick and nasty 3D version. But we really think that Worms in the form as it is now, has been stretched as far as it can be with Worms Armageddon.

Q. Will the machine specs for Worms Armageddon be the same as Worms2?

R. More or less, we always try to reach the optimum number of people, but you'll certainly need something decent in the graphics card department if you want good performance in high-res. We're also spooling a lot more data from CD, so faster CD would help! Hopefully, most people will be going towards a 32/64 Mb minimum P200 with 2/4 Mb+ of video ram.

Q. I am for one a great lover of the Ninja Rope. Will there be anything new concerning the border, if so what?

R. The border options have been expanded and now feature in the editor, which is much easier to use and has a lot of new features, including stuff like raising the water level. There's some new rope stuff too, limiting it in some form.

Q. Will there be a possibility to customize Worms at all?

R. The Worm graphics, no. Since there are now some 15-16,000 frames of animation for the Worms, in theory you would have to edit all of them, it's not like they are polygons and you can do simple Quake-like skins. They're individual sprites which have to be displayed at all manner of angles, which is how we get the smooth animation system in the game. One of the reasons we don't have different 'sets' of Worms is that (a) we'd need many more artists and much more time (b) it would need more memory - and we're already tight on that front!

Q. Will you be able to import your own background images. that would be to ultimate in custom level design. And will there be other weather effects, such as lightning, rain, or snow?

R. I presume you mean the mountains and stuff - probably not at first (maybe later if we get around to it) since it means a lot of palette trickery and the backgrounds don't work as straight-forward as the levels. We decided against random weather effects as they offer nothing to the game-play.

Q. What are these "world rankings in 3 different channels"?

R. When you connect to WORMNET, a number of different 'channels' or game-sectors are available. At the start, there will be BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED. When you join this group, all the games you start will be using the same game set-up (i.e. the beginner, intermediate or advanced) - so that the rankings make sense. Another 'freestyle' open channel allows net games with the host setting up the game, but no ranks are kept on this since it doesn't really make sense. In addition to ranking players on performance, we will also rank players behaviour via a hosting ranking, in terms of completed games. Anybody quitting while losing or whatever will be hurt via this ranking, people will soon not want to play people with low host rankings. We may also open up periodic channels for tournaments from time to time.

Q. The new soundbanks, what languages do they include?

R. I think there's just a few new localisations, we added mainly comedy banks, but to be included are Finnish and Russian! There are now There's some really great comedy banks, it's a pity we can't add some of the stuff that people have created themselves (licensing/copyright reasons).

Q. What is "player registration"?

R. When first connecting to WORMNET, you fill in your details, enter a password etc and the server also checks that you have the original CD (pirates please note). It does this check every time you connect. This means that to connect to WORMNET, you'll need a legitimate CD copy of Worms Armageddon.

Q. In "Allies" mode, will the 2 teams that ally have the same shared weapons they collect from crates and will there be one and only "combined" health bar for them?

R. Up to 5 teams may ally as one if you like (5 teams of 1 Worm v 1 team of 5 Worms) - the allied teams share a pooled weapon set and although each team has an individual health bar, they are joined together. They also share the result.But they Take Turns Fighting(i.e. Teams 1-5 are alliesm Team 1 goes, then Team 6, then Team 2, Then Team 6 etc.)

Q. Will handicapping be like it was in Worms, where you pick how much energy a team has for each Worm, or will it be a percentage of the amount defined in the options?

R. You can add or subtract 25 points to each Worms' energy, giving scope for beginners to play a bit more evenly against veterans.

Q. What exactly is 'Anti-Stockpiling'?

R. You get your weapons as normal on the first round and never get any more again (you have to use them wisely).

Q. Can we make our own gravestones and fanfare?

R. We are still toying with the gravestone thing, but think that they'll look bad. Fanfare no, since it's quite a bit of data to send over the net and we want to keep it quick and simple. Although having said that, we're looking at the ability to select your own team flag/icon for identification. Lots of fanfares will be available for selection by default, from national anthems to silly sounds.

Q. Will the images we load as a level use Worms Armageddon's 256 color palette?

R. They will be optimized by our own routines to 80 colours and automatically merged, the aim was to keep it very easy.

Q. Could we change the amount of objects a level has in Preview Terrain and under the main terrain screen, where you choose terrains? (Saves time.)

R. The landscape editor is completely overhauled and much better (wait and see).

Q. Will we be able to edit secret weapons?

R. Nope. We had a big problem with what some people were doing with the weapons last time, some of the games on the server just RUINED the gameplay since they were including most/every weapon at full strength. The game sucks like that.

Q. Will 'Scales of Justice' be automatic when picked up, or will a player have the choice to use it? (i.e. you don't have to when you are winning.)

R. It's a weapon/utility, you select it.

Q. Will explosions make bits of the dirt fly around, settle and disappear?

R. There's been quite a bit of work on the explosion stuff, wait and see!

Q. Are we going to have the ability to have open landscapes, with SIDES, not top, that you can't go past without dying, or look past? (Like in Worms, or cavern landscapes.)

R. Yes, you are.

Q. Will the landing area be an option, and will it be chosen in Preview Terrain?

R. The Landing Zone is a collectable/savable utility.