Interview mit Team 17 Englisch im Test
Martyn Brown: Possibly, but we have been working with the PS3 for about 5 years now and we’re pretty experienced. I think it’s true to say that with Worms, we’re not exactly at the ‘bleeding edge’ of performance/technology and it’s a game we’re pretty familiar with – so in summary, no great problems for us.
neXGam: Compared to the good old Amiga days - what has changed for you?
Martyn Brown: Many, many things have evolved since those days. Mostly it’s the professional level of the approach to projects, the size and scale, the amount of testing and localisation etc. Even smaller games require much bigger teams, or a great deal more precision. Back in the early 90’s there was an atmosphere of ‘just doing things’ whereas there’s so much planning now.
neXGam: As for the future, are planning to offer more digital service than before. Aren't you afraid to scare off hardcore gamers?
Martyn Brown: Not really, I don’t think our titles really appeal to hard-core gamers, who are actually becoming the minority as more and more people get into gaming, but new players tend to have a lot less time to invest than gamers of old, due to other entertainment options (Twitter, Facebook, apps and more). I think the make up of games players is rapidly changing right now.
neXGam: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Martyn Brown: We’re making moves right now to publish smaller studios digital works, so that’s an area I’d really like to see Team17 grow. As a very experienced developer with all the right connections and the internal structure to offer the full range of publishing services, we remain an interesting option for developers wishing to work with someone who can help them, rather than selecting one of the larger 3rd parties who perhaps don’t understand digital, indie games or are simply too bloated to make it cost-effective.
neXGam: We have already seen countless variations of Worms - Worms in 2D, Worms 3D....do you think that the Worms games can still spark enough fascination with players?
Martyn Brown: It’s a funny thing, but we’re asked this a lot by people who have been playing games for some time. The fact is that millions of new players come to the market each year so the game is always finding (and in many cases ‘re-finding’) a new audience. That said we will continue to work with the Worms universe to bring new ideas and themes for players still enjoying the game, which are very many.
neXGam: Imagine you could travel back in time to 1996. What would you do differently?
Martyn Brown: Given that we’re still here in 2010, I don’t think I’d change too much. I would take on board the experience we’ve had since then and perhaps not started some of the projects we had 1995-2000 because that was a difficult time of transition for the industry and for ourselves – hindsight is a wonderful thing.
neXGam: Nintendo has announced its first 3D handheld to release in 2011. How is it with you? Will we get to see a Worms on the 3DS? Maybe even in 3D?
Martyn Brown: There are no plans at the moment. It’s something we’ve discussed but we think that the platform will be principally a retail product (i.e. most game sales through stores) and that doesn’t suit our overall strategy.
neXGam: What do you play in your free time?
Martyn Brown: I play a wide range of games, mostly for a few hours just to take a look at what’s going on, but increasingly I have to choose which of the ‘big’ games I’ll play because I very rarely have 25-30hrs to invest in a game such as Mass Effect 2 (which I loved) or Fallout 3 (I also loved that). I like games I can just pick up and play – and put down too. We got a bit competitive over Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook recently and I’m looking forward to climbing the T17 leaderboard. I also love to play Rockband and am looking forward to the new keyboard device along with the 3rd game. I am fortunate enough to be involved with a few industry judging panels and get to check out a lot of tiles in reference to that – but it’s a hard time fitting all those gaming hours in with a family, work & travel.
neXGam: Who else from the old Worms-Team is still working with you?
Martyn Brown: The turnover of staff is quite low really, so many people are still around the place which means that there’s always a lot of attention put into the Worms series here.
neXGam: What will be your next project? Something totally new?
Martyn Brown: We’re working on a few things, some of it is totally new, some of it new twists and I guess you’ll have to wait and see.
neXGam: How important is feedback from your fans?
Martyn Brown: Feedback from fans has always been important and is mostly useful. Sometimes we get criticism, which is fine as long as it’s constructive. We’ve been very happy with feedback on our Facebook page and we have a guy who is full time community manager now, which was perhaps overdue.
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