Shiny Entertainment founder David Perry is 'sure' of a new Earthworm Jim game

David Perry, founder of Earthworm Jim creator Shiny Entertainment, had quite a lot to say about the current state of their chewy length of worm flesh in a recent interview with Eurogamer. In it he described his hopes, and those of the original team, of making an Earthworm Jim sequel a reality, stating that they’re ‘just a bunch of guys who all have their own thing… but it’s something they all want to do... I’m sure it’s going to happen, I just can’t tell you exactly when’.

He also revealed a potential premise for the new game if it were to be developed:

‘The thing we had talked about in the past is Jim had been in retirement… So, he’s been sitting at home watching movies and eating popcorn. He’s grossly overweight now. The plan was to start with him literally getting off the sofa, and it’s a disaster because he just hasn’t done anything since. But he’s got to get back into action again.‘

Considering the character’s popularity at its highest was right up there with Sonic and Mario, I would love to see a new Earthworm Jim game released in the same style as the first two in the hope that it would revitalise the whole series and get that blasted DVD box-set of the fantastic cartoon released in the UK! Hit the jump to read the interview transcription in its entirety.

[Source: Destructoid]

Our problem is that the team is all doing well in whatever they’re doing right now,

It’s just a bunch of guys who all have their own thing. Everyone has their own company. So, to get them to stop what they’re doing and work on a game is very difficult, but it’s something they all want to do.

We have our own little discussion group on Facebook. We’ve been having this discussion: when will this happen? When could we do it? What would make sense?

We feel the Kickstarter thing would have been fun just to see how much money could be raised out of a Kickstarter, because we would have put a lot of effort into the video, for example.

It’s one of those things that, no one’s got the time right now. I’m sure it’s going to happen, I just can’t tell you exactly when.

The thing we had talked about in the past is Jim had been in retirement,

So, he’s been sitting at home watching movies and eating popcorn. He’s grossly overweight now. The plan was to start with him literally getting off the sofa, and it’s a disaster because he just hasn’t done anything since. But he’s got to get back into action again.

When asked about Earthworm Jim creator Doug TenNapel’s sketches for this new game, showing a “wimpier” Jim:

There’s an interesting tension between Doug and myself. When he started to draw the new Earthworm Jim, if I showed you the sketches of what he wanted the next Earthworm Jim to look like, I can guarantee you’d go, no! Don’t go that way! Because he’s going wimpy. My job I to fight him on that. No, don’t go wimpy. We don’t want wimpy.

When asked about the number of dimensions a new Jim would exist in:

2D by definition is just a camera moving with you. The answer is, I would do 2D, but if you wanted you could play with the camera a little. But I don’t like it when you’re doing very 3D, because then your jumps become very hard to predict and then your controller starts breaking. It wouldn’t be fun.