Transformers Universe (Jagex)

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This article is about . For other uses of "Transformers: Universe", see Transformers: Universe (disambiguation)|The name or term "Transformers: Universe" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Transformers: Universe (disambiguation).}}

Transformers Universe is a cancelled free to play browser based massively[sic] online tactical action game, or MOTA, developed by Jagex.<ref>[1]</ref> First unveiled at Botcon 2011,<ref>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/02/jagex-reveals-transformers-universe-gears-up-for-botcon/</ref> closed beta testing began a year later in 2012<ref>http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-15-robots-smash-it-in-first-transformers-universe-gameplay-video</ref>, with Jagex announcing they had indefinitely paused development of their MMORPG Stellar Dawn to focus on Transformers Universe.<ref>http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-02-jagex-suspends-sci-fi-stellar-dawn-mmo</ref> Closed beta then ended sometime in 2013. In 2014 Jagex announced the change to from MMO to MOTA<ref>http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-28-this-is-what-the-transformers-mota-looks-like</ref> and closed beta registrations began again. The game entered open beta testing on July 4, 2014.<ref>Open Beta - 4th July - Announcements - Transformers Universe Forum:: We are proud to announce Transformers Universe will be throwing open its doors to the world when we go in to Open BETA this Friday, July 4th from 6am EDT and 11am GMT.

The gameplay was somewhat similar to other multiplayer battle arena games such as [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Dota 2|{{#if:||Dota 2}}]] or [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}League of Legends|{{#if:||League of Legends}}]]; however, there were no lanes or creeps, and the game was played from a third person perspective. Players picked from a roster of warriors and went head to head in battles to capture points or to annihilate the other team. Although the game featured several Prime characters in minor roles, new introductions to the Prime mythos such as Prowl and Switchblade took center stage.

It was announced on December 16, 2014 that the game would begin a phased closure immediately, fully closing on January 31, 2015, without ever having left beta testing.<ref name="closure">The Future of Transformers Universe Announcement: Today Jagex and Hasbro can confirm that Transformers Universe will close. This decision comes at an important time for both companies as they both realign their plans and focuses for 2015.... We’re hugely disappointed, but the game will be closing over the coming weeks before its full closure at 10am GMT on 31st January 2015.... As mentioned, on 31st Jan 2015 @ 10am GMT we will be shutting down all servers and forums and will freeze all Transformers Universe related accounts. These accounts will then be live for another 60 days (approx.) for any final queries before deletion on 31st March 2015.</ref>

Synopsis

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According to creative director Alex DeRakoff, the main story involves Optimus Prime going missing, with the other Autobots trying to keep his location a secret from Megatron, who is travelling across the galaxy with his associates to track down Prime.<ref>"Under the Hood: Episode 2"</ref>

In the Autobot and Decepticon trailers as well as the new tutorials introduced, an additional segment of the plot was revealed: The Decepticons have intercepted and shot down the Autobot spaceship Arclight (which was on its way to Earth to refuel due to the Autobots having stocked up vast amounts of energon on Earth during the war on Cybertron), causing the surviving Autobots crash-land on Earth (mostly the United States) aboard escape pods. The debris from the Arclight rained across the North America continent, while the Decepticons' ship, the Leviathan invaded Central City and the Decepticons began attacking to the humans in order to draw out the Autobots and Optimus Prime. This incident prompted the president to order "a national state of emergency and the total evacuation of eleven major cities." Optimus Prime contacted General Freeman, who provided these Autobot refugees with a base of operations. In return, the Autobots vowed to protect human civilization from the Decepticon threat.

In a leaked video called "Episode 1 War Room"<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znAq4FqkKuI</ref>, Megatron greets his 'generals' (Tomb, Swindle, Switchblade, Flamewar and an unnamed Decepticon) onboard the Nemesis in space. Switchblade reveals to Megatron that he has helped Makeshift secure a position among the Autobots, however Prime's location remains unknown. When Switchblade expresses his opinion about Prime's intentions, Megatron quickly silences him by threatening him with his fusion cannon. Swindle, upon questioned about the production of Megatron's armada, informs Megatron that the they are behind schedule due to the expansion of operations but before he can continue, is fired upon by Megatron. Megatron orders his generals to fetch him when it's time for war, and quickly departs the room. In an updated version of the video, <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJaEB8BAgPM</ref> featuring voice acting from Frank Welker as Megatron and Steve Blum as Switchblade, the unnamed Decepticon and Tomb are replaced by two of the game's original characters, Mismatch and Contagion.

In another leaked video<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9lYaulMDa8</ref> called "Episode 2 Digging For Trouble", General Freeman warns the Autobots (Optimus Prime, Meltdown and Showdown) that their attempts to find technetium are attracting too much attention, furthermore he states there is nothing of value to the Autobots in the desert.

In a leaked screenshot of one of the short story videos, Swindle attempts to access a vault.<ref>http://i.tformers.com/g/generated/26086/tfu-mc-2__scaled_600.jpg</ref>

Gameplay

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Game modes

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There were six playable game modes:

  • Elimination pits Autobots against Decepticons. The first faction to reach 20 kills wins the match.
  • Meteor Storm (also known as King of the hill) has both sides try to capture Energon meteor landing sites. The first team that gains 1000 points wins.
  • Crisis is a player-vs-environment mode where teams fight hordes of Terrorcons and gather Energon before fighting a final boss.
  • Dispatch (also known as Incursion or Free Roam) is another player-vs-environment where players can partake small missions or mine for energon in the outer base area.
  • VR Training Simulator (also known as Battle Simulation or Training Program) is an unreleased mode which allows Autobots or Decepticons to train with comrades against holomatter enemies.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6hv5b7T5NU</ref> (This mode was to be included as one of the hangar entrances had been replaced with an entrance to this game mode however due to the game's early closure, it never made into the game itself.)
  • Recon (also known as Capture The Flag or Capture The Intel) is another unreleased game mode in which Autobots and Decepticons must capture their enemies' "flag" and carry it to their "base". (This mode was also to be included as the keybinding showed keys for dropping the flag and picking it up.)

An additional "Challenge" mode was added were players could prearrange an Elimination match. However no rewards are given (not even experience points) and skill score remains unaffected. The "backfilling" game mechanic is disabled in this mode, and player statistics are not recorded.

Classes

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There were a variety of classes to chose from. Although many of them could be grouped together (e.g. Mechanist and Medic, Demolisher and Suppressor).

Known classes

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  • Demolisher (previously known as Assassin in closed beta) - Demolishers employ offensive equipment to deal devastating amounts of damage, at the expense of their defenses or utilities.
  • Medic - Medics have traded their offensive capabilities in favor of defense and utility, allowing them to fulfill the role of primary healer, and keep themselves alive at the same time.
  • Soldier - Soldiers are all-rounders, possessing an even spread of offensive and defensive weapons and equipment.
  • Hybrid - Hybrids carry a balance of offensive and defensive systems, and a limited repairing capability. They are most effective when supporting allies.
  • Mechanist - Mechanists surrender their offense in favor of strong defenses, their function being to keep themselves alive as they draw enemy fire. A bonus is that they can also repair their allies
  • Interceptor (previously known as Demolisher in closed beta) - Interceptors are highly-destructive bots whose weapons and equipment are optimized for offense, making them effective at hit-and-run strategies.
  • Suppressor - Suppressors are attack-orientated bots whose S-Techs favor offensive abilities.
  • Controller - Controllers specialize in utilities. Their skill with buffs and debuffs is unmatched, using them for a wide variety of positive and negative effects.
  • Guardian - Guardians trade in their offense & utilities in order to absorb enemy damage away from their allies.

Unknown classes

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In the store there are a couple of classes shown in the filter search for warriors. It's unknown what each of the classes did as there were no descriptions in-game.

  • Hotfixer (also known as Sentinel)
  • Physician
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{{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
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!! style="background:#ffdddd;" | Autobots }}{{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

|style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

|}| !! style="background:#ededff" | Decepticons }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fbefde;" | Humans }}{{#if:* General Freeman

!! style="background:#ffeeb8;" | Others }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#d5e6d5;" | Misc }}{{#if:| !! style="background:#fedeb5;" | Misc }} |- {{#if:{|border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent" |- |style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"|

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|}| | style="background:#ededff;" valign="top" |

}}{{#if:|

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}}{{#if:* General Freeman

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Unused characters

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Pitstop

A number of characters were either only used in the closed beta or revealed but not made available in the game before it was shut down.

Autobots
Decepticons

Vague characters

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There are some characters that were believed to be in development, but little information about their existence is available.

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Notes

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  • Two known builds of Transformers Universe were developed. The "2012" version (which never left closed beta) and the "2014" version which went into Open Beta. The 2012 build used an upgraded version of RuneTek 6<ref>http://www.zybez.net/news/1841/what_we_know_about_transformers_universe/</ref> as their game engine while the 2014 build used Unity as its game engine. Further differences included the 2012 version having a 8v8 mode called "Capture the flag"<ref>http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14wue0_toasty_videogames</ref> as well as 8v8 Team Death Match.<ref>http://www.dailymotion.com/dm_521dd4cc5c991</ref> Furthermore characters such as Lockbox, Riot, Roadblock and more were never included in the 2014 build. Starter bots for the Autobots in 2012 were Catapult, Meltdown and Frontline (who is now known as Macro) while in the 2014 build starter bots for the Autobots were Overclock, Monsoon and Triage. Many other details about the 2012 build are lost due to the NDA never being dropped.
  • BotCon 2012 attendees were able to reserve their in-game name at the convention.
  • The game went through a couple of genre shifts. It was initially slated to be released as an MMORPG with multiple classes and conventional character creation, but the difficulty of customizing robots was cited as part of the reasoning in changing it to the quickly expanding MOBA genre. Right.<ref>

[2]</ref> It was then declared to be a massively online, tactical action game by Mark Gerhard, CEO/CTO of Jagex.

  • The November 2012 issue of Edge revealed both an early version of Firebreaker and Macro with the descriptors "Oppressor" and "Guardian".<ref>[3]</ref>
  • On April 25th, 2014, Founders Packs were revealed, along with founder exclusive bonuses and new characters.<ref>Founders Pack - Transformers Universe - Become a Founder</ref> Each increasingly expensive pack, from Bronze to "Cybernite", was to grant a three day head start to play the game and various in game bonuses, in addition to season passes of various lengths of time and exclusive warriors. The most expensive at $449.99, the Cybernite pack also offered a limited edition ten inch diorama figurine showcasing Showdown and Shellshock in combat. Yeesh.
  • Someone named Vectorium is quoted on Anomaly's page on the Transformers Universe website, referring to the green toxic youngster's capabilities in shock. Considering the pattern of the other Transformers Universe bios, all of whom quote pre-existing characters of the same faction, Vectorium is likely another Autobot. Meanwhile, Decepticon Diabla's page quotes a previously unknown Aligned continuity version of Snow Cat.
  • Between June 6-7th, 2014, five unreleased playable characters (Firebreaker, Contagion, Outsider, Cameo and Swagger) were leaked by some TFW2005/TFU forum users who toyed around with the generic link for model images of playable Autobots and Decepticons alike.
  • On July 4th, 2014, Transformers Universe reached the Open Beta stage and the NDA was lifted. Additionally, more Bots, such as Rollcage,<ref>[4]</ref><ref>[5]</ref> and others (without names) were leaked.<ref>[6]</ref><ref>[7]</ref>
  • A veritable cornucopia of information came out on September 5th. Officially announced on that date were a new challenger system and playable characters Outsider and Pandemic due that month along with updated maps. Flamewar and Chromia were revealed to be coming out in October with a new game mode, Recon.<ref>http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/video-games-17/jagex-transformers-universe-game-update-new-modes-and-characters-181101/</ref> In addition, a vast number of character models were found by a dataminer, including early versions of released characters, unrevealed new characters, models with pre-existing character names as placeholders and character models for cast members of Transformers: Prime. New characters included Bombast, Clear-Cut, Backlash, Flood, Stiletto, Pitstop, Pandemic, Breakneck, and Mayday. Prime cast members Knock Out, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Breakdown got models, and the in-engine appearance of Barricade was confirmed, turning into an SUV. <ref>http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/video-games-17/jagex-transformers-universe-new-characters-including-prime-knock-out-181099/</ref>
  • Recon was set to be released with the addition of Flamewar and Chromia on October 2014,<ref>https://www.transformersuniverse.com/en/news/2014/9/evolution-transformers-universe-050914</ref> however in a later developer update, the Transformers Univese team stated "We need to spend more time looking at the balance of the characters and the game mode, as well as continue to polish the relevant features.".<ref>https://www.transformersuniverse.com/en/news/2014/10/developer-update-whats-next-121014</ref> Chromia, Flamewar, Recon and defense (an unannounced gamemode) can still be found in the game files.
  • Defense (a gamemode) can be found in the game files which involves the use of a photon cannon.
  • On December 16th with the announcement that the game would close at the end of January 2015, still in beta,<ref name="closure"/> Jagex announced that all Founders Pack, relic bundles and starter packs would be refunded. No specific reason has been given as to the reason for the closure.
  • Various artists for Transformers Universe have uploaded concept arts as well as models of Transformers Universe characters on Artstation including artworks of Arcee, Onslaught, Perceptor, Adhoc, Bombast, Clearcut, Flamewar, Chromia, Warpath, Bumblebee, and many others.
  • Although the set date for the closure was Saturday 31st January at 10AM (GMT), the game servers and the website were still online even after this date and time. However on the 1st of February at 4:30PM (GMT) attempts to access the official website was redirected to the Transformers section on the official Hasbro website, but the forums from the TFU website could still be accessed showing the official site was still online, as well as the servers. The game servers went offline on the 28th of February along with the forums.
  • Makers and Innovators created several 'comic-like' episodes to promote the game. After Transformers Universe was shut down, they posted 2 of these episodes on their website, but they were shortly taken down. According to MI, they made 10 of these episodes in total<ref>http://tformers.com/transformers-unreleased-promotional-motion-comics-for/26086/news.html</ref>.
  • Intel (US chip manufacturer) listed Transformers Universe among the popular playable games that can run on Intel HD 4000<ref>http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-034979.htm</ref>
  • Transformers Universe's multiplayer was made possible by muchdifferent's unitypark suite. In fact muchdifferent had Transformers Universe listed on their gameshow case as being in closed beta well into 2015, after it had already both entered open beta and been closed down.<ref>Archived version of muchdifferent game technology page</ref>
  • Throughout Transformer Universe's lifetime several tournaments and competitions were held to promote the game. In early 2014 beta (during February and March) players who gained the most amount of kills or assists or healing points or most damage taken in one life, were awarded with any free playable warrior of their choice at the time. To celebrate Open Beta a skill score competition was held with double XP and $75,000 prizes.<ref>http://www.pcgamer.com/transformers-universe-free-to-play-moba-goes-into-open-beta-on-july-4/</ref>. At Manchester Comic Con a tournament was held where anyone could sign up a team and compete for the top prize of £5000. At EGX London another Tournament was held where yet again anyone could compete for prizes and founder pack giveaways.<ref>http://games.mxdwn.com/news/egx-london-2014-transformers-universe-showcases-pandemic-and-outsider-released-today/</ref>
  • Adhoc, an unreleased character, is the only Transformer with a known working flight-capable alternative mode in the game.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN1IQesvy6E</ref>.

See also

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References

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<references />
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