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'Hogs Of War' Developer On Worms, Rik Mayall, And The Lost Sequel

Ewan Moore

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'Hogs Of War' Developer On Worms, Rik Mayall, And The Lost Sequel

Featured Image Credit: Infogrames

Hogs Of War is... an unusual game for many reasons. Released back in 2000 for PlayStation and PC, the cartoonish turn-based tactics game is probably best described as a cross between Worms and Dad's Army. It features some genuinely hilarious writing, brilliantly delivered by the late comic genius Rik Mayall.

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Unfortunately, it also came burdened with some seriously clunky gameplay and a lot of lines that you definitely wouldn't be able to get away with today - and rightly so. Still, we can admire Hogs of War for what it is: a strange snapshot of a completely different era, one that a lot of gamers will always look back on fondly.

I recently had a chat with Hogs Of War's Lead Programmer Andrew Fox over email, where he shed a little more light on one of the early 00's strangest games. What follows involves the origins of the project, the challenges of development, and what exactly happened to the sequel that was announced in 2008.

Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames
Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames
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Hi Andrew, you worked as Lead Programmer on Hogs Of War - how did you come to be involved in the project?

Hogs of War came along at a perfect time for me. Game development on Windows was in its infancy, and I was lucky enough to have had a solid grounding in it when the project was greenlighted. I guess I was in the right place at the right time.

And how did Hogs Of War itself even come to life? Who pitched it, and what were the main inspirations and points of reference?

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The founder of Gremlin Interactive Ian Stewart is often cited as having had the original idea for Hogs; "Worms, except in 3D and with pigs!". 3D was all shiny and new at the time, and the original Team17 2D Worms series had done very well (we played it a considerable amount within the team) so it made a lot of sense to head in this direction. As for the use of pigs, I'm afraid you'll have to ask Ian!

Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames
Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames

Hogs Of War came to the original PlayStation and hit PC a little later. How was it developing for these two platforms, and how did they compare in your experience?

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Multi-platform development is always an interesting experience, but it's actually surprising how smoothly things progressed, and how much we were able to share between PC and PS1. I wrote both the AI and the camera code for both platforms, with the same codebase being used on both, with only a few concessions made on the PS1 - it simply didn't have the power to allow the AI to think quite as deeply as on the PC.

The main differences centred around the 3D engines (I built the PC engine, whilst Jacob Habgood authored the PS1 version), the networking (the PS1 only had couch co-op), and the sound. All art and sound assets were shared between platforms, with a slight upping of poly count on the PC. Looking back I am amazed how painlessly everything meshed together.

As Lead Programmer, what challenges were unique to you during development?

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Ownership of the PC version meant pulling all aspects of the project into the complete package that went into the final boxed product. And of course this was in the day when there were no updates or patches following release, so everything had to be rock solid.

So some of my work was hands-on development work, the installer, the 3D engine, the AI, networking, sound and camera work, and some of it was pulling other teams and team members code together, ensuring everything built and worked correctly as a whole. I also coordinated closely with the PS1 lead, as well as the design and product teams to ensure everything was on schedule and that both platforms looked and played the same. There were definitely a lot of plates to juggle.

Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames
Hogs Of War / Credit: Infogrames

How was the reception to Hogs Of War at the time? It doesn't look like it reviewed brilliantly, but there's an entire generation of us who absolutely adore the game and look back on it fondly.

We saw several scores around the mid-eighties (I have held on to a few photocopies for nostalgia's sake), so we were pretty pleased at the time. It's always somewhat challenging reading the negative reviews, especially when the whole team has put so much hard work into the game, but that's just part of what we have to deal with.

We make the best game we can, a game we love to play ourselves, and hope that other people like it. But I've certainly been pleased with the reception of the game over the past few years, and as an iOS developer, I keep bumping into clients and colleagues who fell in love with the game as kids. I still have my 10 seconds of fame every now and again, which I feel very fortunate to be able to experience.

Rik Mayall. How on Earth did he come to be involved with the game? Did you get to meet him personally during development?

Now THAT is the million dollar question. Such things are generally driven forward in other parts of a company, but what an incredible honour it was to be able to work with him on such a project. I wasn't lucky enough to be a part of the recording process - it was a terribly busy period in the development process - but I was lucky enough to acquire a rather special outtakes CD. Now THAT is something to behold..

Hogs Of War Wasn't Exactly An Enlightened Game / Credit: Infogrames
Hogs Of War Wasn't Exactly An Enlightened Game / Credit: Infogrames

Remasters and remakes are obviously a big thing now - would you like to see Hogs Of War: Remastered?

Oh boy, if someone funded the project I'd love to see it on the Switch. What a beautiful match up that would be! But will the game have stood the test of time, or would it simply be a short-lived nostalgia trip for us lucky few? We may never know.

Is there anything in particular you'd change about the game if you could go back?

We were such a young team back then, if I looked back after all these years I'd probably look to change everything! But Hogs was the perfect snapshot of the times, a time capsule of games development in the late 90's / early 2000's. Changing anything would probably only serve to take away from its charm, even if it made it somehow "better" (assuming there is such an objective term in games). I guess that means I'd have to leave it as it was, warts and all!

So a Hogs Of War 2 was announced way back in 2008. As far as I can see you'd left Infogrames long before this, but I wondered if you had any insight into the sequel's development and why it might have fallen apart?

We actually looked at developing Hogs 2 not long after Hogs 1 was released. I moved over to heading up the Xbox version, and we had already begun receiving assets from the design team before the project was cancelled and the team was disbanded.

It was a difficult time for the company as a whole, and it wasn't much beyond that that the Sheffield office was closed. I wasn't actually aware of the 2008 project, but it would have been up against some real powerhouse releases around that time. I'm not sure where the Worms genre would have sat in those days either, though I'm pleased that people were, and still are, thinking it a game worth re-exploring.

Hogs Of War 2 (cancelled) / Credit: Infogrames
Hogs Of War 2 (cancelled) / Credit: Infogrames

You've kind of drifted away from video game development in recent years. Was it a conscious decision to "leave", or was that just the direction you felt your career naturally going in?

I'm an old-school gamer, cutting my teeth on the ZXSpectrum and Amiga back in the day. I grew up wanting to write games, and pretty much lived the dream where so many don't get a chance. I'm incredibly lucky to have fallen into such an awesome team, and into a company that I had loved from my childhood. It's actually pretty surreal looking back.

A part of me regrets moving away from the industry, but I had so much growing up to do before I could really do it justice, so other roads were taken. But not so far away that I didn't feel the urge to write a faithful Commodore 64 version of both Sentinel and Boulderdash on the iPad 1 not long after it was released. I've fallen in love with iOS development these last 10 years, but video games will always be in my blood, and I will always have half an eye on the industry, and likely always be only a click or two away from ordering that Switch Developers Kit from Nintendo.

Topics: PlayStation, PC

Ewan Moore
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