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September 28, 2005

Worms: The Great Patootie

I was thinking about the fact that Asshole encourages abuse of your friends, and the fact that that's not something I generally enjoy. Then I realized that there was an exception - at Carleton sophomore year all my friends got into Worms Armageddon. In case you're not familiar with the game, it's a 2D game where you play as a team of worms fighting against other teams using weapons of ridiculous proportions. The saving grace of the game is that these actions are accomplished with almost no gore and with loads of bizarre humor. So. Since the sky's the limit here, I thought that I would mod Asshole as an online-Worms-chat conflagration.

Customization
The first screen you'd encounter is a character customization screen, similar to that currently used in Worms - you get to choose your name, your character's voice, your flag, your anthem, and your special weapon. Then you enter the game.

During the Round
The game is standard Asshole. While each round is going on the player sees two screens - the first is an over-the-shoulder view of her worm, her worm's cards, and the other players (View image) - the second is a chat window allowing for in-game discussion with the other players, either with the whole group or with other individual players. (View image) The player's chat window is decorated according to her current position in the game - following in the Worms style of humor, these positions are (from highest to lowest) the Great Patootie, the Sorta-High Mucky Muck, the Average Joe (repeat as many times as needed), the Wilting Wallflower, and the Lowest-of-the-Low. During the round the worms will taunt each other and comment on each other's moves (as in Worms), using the voice themes selected by the players.

Between Rounds
(Note: This section contains screenshots from Worms Armageddon - I have not edited them, they are simply for visual reference for those less familiar with the interface.)
Between each round the view on the main screen changes to a side view of the players, which is the normal view in Worms. (Example screen shot) Each status position is honored (or dishonored) by a particular placement on the map, so if any positions have changed then those players' worms move around appropriately. Then each player, in order of status, gets to attack the others. (Example action screen shot ) However, a player's attack is limited based on their status in terms of what weapons they are allowed to use. (Example weapons menu) Additionally, each player may attack any of the other players, but the players are still limited by 100 life points which are decremented by attacks from others. If, in the end, the Lowest-of-the-Low is still alive and able to kill any of the other worms, then those players switch statuses. Only the LOTL has this power, because only the most desperate element of society would stoop to such an action. Once all attacks and subsequent fallout have been completed, the final Great Patootie player sounds her national anthem, and the game shifts back into the next round of Asshole.

General Thoughts
While I have stolen a lot from Worms, I feel that that particular game is a great way to represent degrading violence in a fun and generally inoffensive manner. I believe that Asshole is best played in-person, so for an online version to work I think it would have to be augmented to incorporate activities and interaction that are not available in the real world. At least not between civilized friends. Also I think that new collaboration strategies are opened up by having a second way to jumble the power structure.

On a more general note, I find myself a little confused by this assignment, for it again seems like it might be a double assignment. We have been tasked with coming up with "A Digital Asshole Mod." Does this simply mean making a mod of Asshole that would work in a digital setting and still maintain the spirit of the game as played in person? Or does it mean making a significant modification to the game mechanics and then translating that into a digital setting? My mod definitely responds to the first - it is an online version of Asshole. You still play the card game. What has changed are the variety of actions you can employ against the other players at various times, and the manner by which you communicate (canned character comments and live chat with individuals or the whole group). But the main mechanics have not changed much at all. So I feel kind of lame about what I came up with - what I've descibed is more a hybrid of two pre-existing games than a mod. On the other hand I know that I would enjoy playing this - I described it to a friend who is familiar with both Asshole and Worms and he thought it was a really fun idea. I'm intrigued to see what everyone else comes up with, because games where you can perpetually be stuck at a disadvantage, particularly without the cushion of in-person socialization, seem like very risky business.

Posted by rosenblj at September 28, 2005 05:33 PM

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