Difference between revisions of "Air Pump"

Latest revision as of 19:10, 15 October 2007

When this weapon is selected, your humble worm will pull out what looks like a seemingly harmless bicycle pump. And bicycle pump it is, except that there will be no bicycles in sight, for this weapon has a slightly more sinister potential.

Having strolled up to the enemy and activated this zero-range weapon, your worm will proceed to pump air for several seconds directly into your opponent. The enemy worm will appear inflated, rather like in the Suicide Bomber weapon, but receive no damage yet. When your worm has finished pumping, the stricken enemy will rise like a balloon swiftly into the sky, going where the wind takes him. As he reaches cloud level, or when he hits the ceiling, he will suddenly deflate and fall to the ground, taking fall damage and any other consequences of his landing.

As there is little control over this weapon, an alternative addition may include the ability to deflate the enemy worm at will with a second tap of the Space Bar.

This should be a fairly easy weapon to implement. A worm on a parachute has a slow, controlled descent, so simply reversing this for the enemy worm will ensure that he rises slowly into the air where available. Extra code should be needed to tell the worm to 'deflate' when he stops rising (i.e. hits the ceiling), reaches a certain height (cloud level), or when the player presses Space again, at which point the worm would be vulnerable once again to the wrath of gravity.

Animation should be simplicity; some of it would be already done if the Suicide Bomber animation were to be used.

The Air Pump has an obvious easy-kill ability. If the enemy is to be found near a large body of water, with wind going out to sea, then this weapon is sure to kill him without fail. Then again, many other weapons can achieve this result in the same situation.

Although drowning is the most useful application of this weapon, its most likely uses would be to drop the worm on a mine which would otherwise be hard to take advantage of, or move the enemy worm to the other side of the landscape where he can do little harm.

The Baseball Bat has a close relation to this weapon in how it works, as the Baseball Bat is also mainly used to drown worms where possible. But the Air Pump, although relying on the wind for it's usage, gives the player greater control over where the enemy lands, referring to the "deflate at will" option. This makes it a better candidate for more precise manoeuvres.

This weapon would seem to fit into Worms perfectly, as it the sort of tool you wouldn't expect to be used in a violent manner. The concept of 'inflating' worms also gives it a cartoonish flavour, which gives it even more reason to be included in the Worms series.