Team 17 is a video game company, which grew from 17Bit Software, an Amiga PD/Demo user-group in the late 80's/. Now based in Ossett, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. They are best known for developing the Worms series of games (initially developed by Andy Davidson), but they have made many other games, notably SuperFrog and the Alien Breed series. Most of their early releases were on the Amiga home computer system and featured trademark smooth scrolling, and detailed cartoonish pixel art. However, they now develop for Windows PCs and all major video game consoles. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Badge of Ossett town. ... West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England, corresponding roughly to the core of the West Riding of the traditional county of Yorkshire. ... Worms is a series of turn-based computer games with the common theme of players each controlling a small platoon of cartoon-style worms across a two-dimensional, deformable landscape. ... SuperFrog is a 2D Platform game developed for the Amiga and then converted for PC, developed by Team 17 Software in 1993. ... Alien Breed is a science fiction computer game played in the form of a top-down shooter. ... In computing, Amiga is a range of home/personal computers primarily using the Motorola 68000 processor family, whose development started in 1982, initially as a game machine. ... Pixel art is art created on the computer through the use of raster graphics software that allows images to be edited on the pixel level. ... Microsoft Windows is a range of operating environments for personal computers and servers. ... The Nintendo GameCube is an example of a video game console. ...

History

Originally a publishing company called 17-Bit Software, which grew out of the Microbyte retail chain in 1987, they specialised in cataloguing, producing and publishing games for the Public Domain sector of the Amiga Market. In computing, Amiga is a range of home/personal computers primarily using the Motorola 68000 processor family, whose development started in 1982, initially as a game machine. ...

In 1990 they stepped out on their own, developing and publishing Full Contact for the Amiga. Their intention to produce a quality game that was not just ports of games released for the Atari ST and the ZX Spectrum was fulfilled - the game was quality in both gameplay and appearance and was universally praised as one of the best Beat 'Em Ups for the system. The company went on to produce many further titles, almost all of which were regarded as classics by the majority of Videogame Journalists (despite a brief disagreement with Amiga Power). Well known Amiga titles like Alien Breed, Assassin, Project-X and Body Blows were released in the early nineties. Team 17 also published titles in the Uk for other developers such as AUDIOS and Eclipse UK. 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Atari 520 ST The Atari ST was a home/personal computer system released by Atari in 1985. ... The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a small home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research. ... Amiga Power (or AP for short) was a monthly magazine about Amiga computer games. ... Alien Breed is a science fiction computer game played in the form of a top-down shooter. ... Project X could refer to: a military project by Nazi Germanys Aviation Ministry to develop a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft. ...

In 1995, Team 17 entered into an agreement with Ocean Software whereby Ocean would co-publish Team 17's titles worldwide. The first title to be released under this agreement was Alien Breed 3D for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 systems. The second title was Worms, Team 17's biggest success to date, and Team 17's first multiple format release; The game was released in late 1995 and early 1996 for the Amiga, PC MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, PlayStation, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Atari Jaguar, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Saturn, with a version planned for release on the Virtual Boy, although this was cancelled following the poor release of the console in Japan. The title outsold Fifa and Tomb Raider and despite it's simplistic 2d art, became an all-formats #1 hit, winning many awards. Team 17 did not produce all of the ports themselves - in fact they themselves were only responsible for the development of the Amiga, PC and PlayStation, Mac, Jaguar and Saturn versions. All of the other 8/16 bit console ports were produced by East Point Software who, in the past, have produced PC ports of Amiga titles (although the ports are usually considered to be inferior, or broken, compared to the Amiga originals). 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The familiar Ocean logotype had an often prominent placement on the box art and is recognized by many people. ... Alien Breed is a science fiction computer game played in the form of a top-down shooter. ... The AmigaCD32 is the worlds first 32bit CD-ROM based game console. ... Worms is a series of turn-based computer games with the common theme of players each controlling a small platoon of cartoon-style worms across a two-dimensional, deformable landscape. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... The box for Mac OS X v10. ... The PlayStation (Japanese: プレイステーション) is a video game console of the 32-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid 1990s. ... The European SNES design is identical to the Super Famicom. ... The original Game Boys design set the standard for handheld gaming consoles. ... The Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a video game console introduced in 1993 as a powerful next generation platform. ... Sega MegaDrive 2 European version with joypad, game cart + box Sega Mega Drive (Japanese: メガドライブ Mega Doraibu) was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega. ... The Sega Saturn (Japanese: セガサターン, Sega Saturn), a video game console of the 32-bit era, was released on November 22, 1994, in Japan and May 1995 in the United States; 170,000 machines were sold the first day of the Japanese launch. ... The Nintendo Virtual Boy, released in 1995, was a video game console that used a twin eyeglass style projector to display the games in true 3-D (though monochromatic). ...

Since the release of Worms the franchise has gone on to be very successful, selling over 9 million units worldwide. This success contributed towards the company's decision to move away from the Amiga software market which, by 1997, had long been in a state of decline. Team 17 have since focused on the PC market, releasing titles such as Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy, Phoenix, and Addiction Pinball, although they have also released console exclusive titles such as X2. 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The last non-Worms title released by Team 17 was Stunt GP in 2001. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

In 2003 Team 17 released Worms 3D for the PC, PlayStation2, XBox and Game Cube, the first title in the franchise that brings the game into three dimensions. While critically acclaimed the game left some fans cold, with claims that it did not match the simplicity and playability of the 2D titles. Team 17 have listened to their fans and on 29th July 2005 Worms 4: Mayhem has been released for PC, PlayStation2 and XBox. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The two versions of the PS2 with an Eye Toy camera The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, after the PlayStation. ... The Xbox was Microsofts first game console, released on November 15, 2001. ... The Nintendo GameCube (Japanese: ゲームキューブ; originally code-named Dolphin during development; abbreviated as GCN) is Nintendos fourth home video game console, belonging to the 128-bit era; the same generation as Segas Dreamcast, Sonys PlayStation 2, and Microsofts Xbox. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... PC may stand for: Coastal Patrol, according to its US Navy hull classification symbol P Chidambaram, finance minister of India Parsec, written pc PC, a Mazda piston engine Penn Central - a railroad in the United States (AAR reporting mark PC) Percent or per cent, written Personal computer, IBM PC, or... The two versions of the PS2 with an Eye Toy camera The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sonys second video game console, after the PlayStation. ... The Xbox was Microsofts first game console, released on November 15, 2001. ...

Future developments

The company are in the process of developing several new titles for the Nintendo DS and PSP systems, including new Worms titles (returning to the 2D classic style). They are also developing a new version of the original Lemmings to the PSP for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Lemmings was originally developed by DMA Design. The Nintendo DS is a dual-screen portable handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. ... PSP is the IATA Airport Code for Palm Springs International Airport. ... Lemmings, a 1990 Amiga computer game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis, was one of the most popular computer games of its time. ... Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) is a developer of computer and video games, formerly based in Dundee, Scotland, and now located in the Leith area of Edinburgh. ...

In addtion, due to the difficulties getting original titles to market in the current age, Team17 have begun developing titles for other publishers based on non-Team17 IP in addition to their own ideas. These titles will begin to be released from 2005 onwards and will commence with Lemmings.

In 2005, Team17 were still an independent games studio (75 staff) - making them one of the longest surviving.

External links

• Official Team 17 website
• Dream17 - Semi-Official Team 17 fansite, offering legal downloads of many of their Amiga titles.