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It has been a long time we didnt get new toy reveals through the Robots in Disguise App. It seems it is making up for lost time sinc we finally have our first look at not just 1, or 2, but 3 combiners:
Ultra Bee, Menasor and (hold onto your buts) Galvatronus!
There are also new Combiners/Activators: Soundwave & Torpedo Laserbeak (which we have already seen in toy form) and Optimus Prime & High Test.
We also finally see Dragbreak (which looks pretty much as you would expect), as well as Lunar Force Primestrong and Shocknado, which both appear to be redecos.
Let us know what you think of the designs. Remember that the combiners have been found to be at the 30$-35$ price point so that may explain why they look like simplified transforming toys with no individual robot modes, more along the power rangers zord concept.
Hopefulyl we will get a better look at these this coming saturday at the 2017 New York Toy Fair.
There will undoubtedly be a full reveal of these two characters shortly, but thanks to fellow Seibertron.com staffer D-Maximus_Prime, we have an early look at two new additions to the Transformers: Earth Wars mobile game - Lockdown for the Decepticons, and Perceptor for the Autobots! Check out some images below, and stay tuned for more soon.
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!Two new bots reach out to Earth for help, but something fishy is happening!
Feeding Frenzy
The Autobots have attempted to recall Perceptor through the Space Bridge, but every time it has resulted in a Sharkticon appearing! Likewise, Lockdown is requesting preparations for the Decepticons to recall him, but there's a problem… the Space Bridge seems to be failing to successfully target Lockdown and keeps pullingSharkticons… from somewhere... Battle to flush all of the Sharkticons out of your Space Bridge and for a chance to winShark Attack Battle Boosts, Spark, 3 or 4-Star Shards, or a 2, 3, or 4-Star Gnaw!Start Date: 10/02/2017 11:00 UTCEnd Date: 13/02/2017 11:00 UTC How do I participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Join an Alliance!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect Prizes!Continue to earn Battle Points!
Prizes
Prestiges Allowed: 60
Bonus Experience: Earn up to Double XP in Event Battle Zones!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
You can receive one of these items below from the Gnaw Crystal.
2, 3 or 4-Star Gnaw
Shark Attack Mk3 (Battle Booster)
Spark
3 or 4-Star Shards
New Bots Preview - Animation
Last week, we peeked behind the scenes at the modelling process for two of our upcoming bots: Kup & Hun-gurrr. This time around we’re going to give you a sneak preview of their animations! We create two sets of transformations for every character in Transformers: Earth Wars. The first is the fast transformation sequence you see during battle. We keep this transformation as snappy as possible to ensure gameplay remains quick and responsive. We use a standard sound effect when this animation plays, and there are two transformation sounds: one for transforming to alt-form and one for transforming back to bot.
Kup Hero Transformation
Then there is what we call internally the ‘hero’ transformation. This is used in the team screen and is an involved, elaborate animation sequence that is slower and more complex. This is a unique animation for almost every bot in the game. Rather than playing a one-shot transformation sound effect, we map certain points of the animation to a vast array of clicks and clunks. This ensures that the transformation is synchronized perfectly with the audio.
Hun-Gurrr Hero Transformation
There’s an old phrase, ‘two heads are better than one’, but Hun-gurrr gave us a number of problems as a result of his extra head! Whereas Kup shares some of his battle animations with other characters, Hun-gurrr has his own unique set of animations! Just as we think we’ve created every animation we’ll ever need, a Terrorcon arrives to terrorize our art team! The variation between the characters is one of the things that makes Transformers so appealing (and challenging) to us as a development team!
Hun-Gurrr Animation Rig
Hun-Gurrr Animation Walk Cycle
Next week, we’ll take a look at the character’s abilities and battle behavior. In fact, Kup’sspecial ability has been chosen by the community itself by way of our VIP New Abilities Poll several weeks ago! We hope you’re as excited to see these characters in action as we are to show them off! We’d also be happy to answer questions about the character creation process. This week you may submit a question on the Transformers: Earth Wars BAND webpage under the post titled “Developer Q&A: New Bots Preview” for an exclusive response from Product Owner Chris! Responses from Chris will be posted on the Transformers: Earth Wars BAND webpage on February 13th.Rules:
Please post questions related to the development and design of new bots
Please do not ask account support related questions as those must go through our Support channel ([url=mailto:support@transformersearthwars.com]support@transformersearthwars.com[/url]).
Chris may not have the time to answer every question but he’ll respond to as many as possible
How to Post a Question:
Navigate HERE to the Transformers: Earth Wars BAND page post 'Developer Q&A: New Bots Preview'.
Scroll to the bottom of the post and tap 'Comment' to open a field in which to submit your comment, similar to the BAND chatroom.
Question Posting End Date: 12/02/2017 12:00PM UTCResponses posted: 13/02/2017
Twitch Stream
These guys have bark AND bite! Get your first look at this weekend's event by joining Deb and Adam LIVE Thursday, February 9th @ 5pm UTC.
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!Inspired by the prospect of Optimus Maximus and Bruticus, both factions enter the battlefield, feeling like they can't lose!
What Doesn't Kill You...
Inspired by the prospect of Optimus Maximus and what he represents, the Autobotsenter the battlefield once again to defend Earth from Decepticons’ devious plans. Meanwhile, the presence of Bruticus, is filling Decepticons with confidence they haven't felt since the battles of Cybertron!Battle to lead your faction to victory and gain Alloy, Energon, Spark, 3-Star Shards, 4-Star Shards and up to 3X Normal XP!Start Date: 03/02/2017 11:00 UTCEnd Date: 06/02/2017 11:00 UTC How do I participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect Prizes!Continue to earn Battle Points!
Prizes
Prestiges Allowed: 60
Bonus Experience: Earn up to TRIPLE XP in Event Battle Zones!
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
New Bots Preview
In an effort to increase VIP visibility into the processes of our development team, we would like to give you a sneak peak of two upcoming characters we're excited to be bringing to Transformers: Earth Wars. These characters are currently being created and designed by the art team, so this is the first time that they are being shown to players.
KUP
"Kup has been there, done that, got the T-shirt. There's almost nothing this veteran warhorse hasn't seen or experienced.Gruff and grizzled, Kup is forever waxing nostalgic about this battle or that narrow escape. Even if only half of his stories are true, it's still a packed life he's lived. One thing's for sure - he's a born survivor."
Kup is an iconic character, and there have been a number of Kup toys released over the years. However, the one form that resonated with us the most was the classic G1 design from the 1986 animated movie. Who can forget Kup’s war stories of petro rabbits and other galactic adventures? We used the movie reference as a basis for the moodboards we compiled to get a feel for the character.
We originally made Kup’s legs rounded to match his appearance in the movie, but unfortunately this made him look awkward in vehicle mode, so we switched to a classic design.
We pay close attention to the polygon count when modelling a character. If we exceed a particular number of polygons we may run into performance issues when the character is added to the game. Using lots of curves and rounded edges quickly increases the polygon count.
When texturing characters, we often exaggerate particular colours and features. Given the small scale at which bots are shown during battle, this helps keep them distinctive and readable. In this example, we’ve accentuated the yellow details on Kup’s head and legs.
HUN-GURRR
"Hun-Gurrr is a creature of appetites. One he fulfills by stuffing his twin mouths with monstrous amounts of energy, raw materials, and fallen Autobots. The other - his love of battle - he sates through wanton destruction and mayhem.As leader of the Terrorcons, he makes an adept military commander, though he tends to issue orders with a full mouth, making him difficult to understand." Though Hun-Gurrr is a lesser known Transformers character and there have been fewer toys based on him, he certainly has a distinct and impressive countenance.
With Hun-Gurrr's bot form, it was important to keep the colour distribution close to the original cartoon and toy design so that that he was easily recognizable. When it came to the Alt form, we felt that there were some areas in the design that we could push to heighten his ferocious appearance. The two heads were enlarged, giving us more room for lots of pointy teeth. The spikes down the neck and spine were accentuated to give sharper impact to his silhouette. To finish his look we gave him some claws reminiscent of a dragon.
Next week, we’ll take a more detailed look at how we go about animating these characters and creating their transformation sequences.
Abilities Poll Results
Thank you to everyone who participated in our New Abilities poll on BAND. The two winning abilities were Battle Orders for the global VIP poll and Orbital Bounce for the JP VIP poll. We’ll be implementing both abilities for some of our future bots and sharing our progress with you. Tune into this week’s Twitch Stream to get a sneak-peak at Orbital Bounce.
Twitch Stream
LIVE Thursday: Did you hear that?!This week get behind-the-scenes look...no, LISTEN at the SOUND in Transformers: Earth Wars. Deb, coder Neil, and probably Adam too, take you on an auditory tour of your favorite Bots, as well as a preview of new bot ability Orbital Bounce! Join us LIVE Thursday, February 2nd @ 5pm UTC.
Fellow Seibertronian Shauyaun has been keeping an eye on the beta of Kabam! games' upcoming mobile game Transformers: Forged to Fight, and has a sizeable update on the graphics and features that seem to suggest the games is closer to a wider release. Check them out below, as he takes us through the updates!
Shauyaun wrote: F2F has been updated and here are the changes plus some info about "battle center" "alliance HQ" & "away missions"
The overall look of the game has changed
The first thing that has changed is the app icon
Here's the old one
And the new one
The next thing is the title screen
Old
New
the base
Bots
Before
After
Battle center(the central structure)
Alliance HQ(the yellow structure on the right)
Away missions(the shuttle)
This is what it said before the update
With the Autobots and Decepticons both unable to rely on one Combiner, they must battle harder than ever to gain a valuable 4-StarMaximus Bot or Combaticon Crystal to construct their next Combiner.
Countdown to Combination
Now it's time to tackle the bigger problem of successfully combining. With the Aerialbots increasing fatigue, and Megatron pushing the Combaticons to their limit, the Autobots and Decepticons are focusing on the task at hand!
Fight to support your faction’s efforts and gain Energon, Alloy, Spark, 3-Star Shards, a 2-Star Crystal and a 4-Star Maximus Bot or Combaticon Crystal!
Start Date: 27/01/2017 11:00 UTC
End Date: 30/01/2017 11:00 UTC
How do I participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Join an Alliance!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!Collect Prizes!
Prizes
Prestiges Allowed: None
Bonus Experience: Earn Double XP in Event Battle Zones
Event Battle Zones Totaliser PrizesNew Combiners are Coming!Given the tremendous burden that each faction’s lone Combiner must shoulder, it's evident that relying on only one Combiner is not a long term solution to the enemy threat! Both factions initiate plans to form additional Combiners, each built with 5 bots to help share the massive responsibility. Collect the necessary bots and activate your Combiner in the Combiner lab to unleash colossal power upon your opponent!
---------------
Character Spotlight
Let’s take a look at Optimus Maximus and Bruticus in action!
---------------
Combiners FAQ
Q) Which bots do I need for the new Combiners?
A) You need to collect the 5 bots below to form the new Combiners.
Optimus Maximus
Bruticus
Q) Do I need different spark for these combiners?
A) Yes. You can upgrade your Combiner’s health and damage using Optimus Maximus or Bruticus Spark obtained from duplicates of Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Prowl and Mirage or Combaticons in the Space Bridge.
Q) Can I switch between different Combiners?
A) No, once a Combiner is activated in the Combiner Lab you will only be able to use that active Combiner in battle. Once the activation of the Combiner expires, you may activate another Combiner.
Q) What are the new Combiner abilities?
A) These powerful Combiners come equipped with three new powerful abilities to deliver devastating damage to your opponents.
Earth Shatter - Send a powerful shock wave dealing damage to targets in a line. Deals 600% damage to walls!
Righteous Rage and Frantic Rage - Grants increased movement speed, damage reduction and a close range splash-radius attack with increased damage.Shockfire Missiles- Fire 4 missiles that lock onto enemy defenses, disabling them and dealing damage. (4-Star Only) 5-Star Crystal Shards
Starting Thursday you can collect 5-Star Crystal Shards from duplicate 4-Star Bots!
You will be able to use these Crystal Shards to purchase the 5-Star Character Crystal which unlocks a new guaranteed 5-Star Bot!
Please know that we're aware of a visual bug where you cannot see the total number of 5-Star Crystal Shards you've obtained. Any 5-Star Crystal Shards you collect over the next few weeks will become available early next month once the 5-Star Character Crystal is released. Twitch Stream
COMBINER ART! Find out how we brought the brand new Combiners to life!
Meet our super-talented artists and get a rare behind-the-scenes of Optimus Maximus and Bruticus from concept to 3D. Join Deb, Adam and the art team LIVE Thursday, January 26th @ 5pm UTC.
Thanks to both Seibertronian Shauyaun and Twitter user Snakas, we now have images of the next 2 combiners making their way into Earth Wars: Optimus Maximus and Bruticus! The 2 new combiners are both 5 bot combiners instead of 6, so they should be slightly easier to collect. Bruticus follows his Combiner Wars toy design faithfully minus his thighs being turned 90 degrees like several fan modes. Optimus Maximus is weird: he follows his 'Ultra Prime' color scheme with his 'Optimus Maximus' limb design, but instead of the combined mode chest we are used to, he instead uses his Masterpiece MP-10 chest design with the little yellow spoiler/ax that came with Rodimus, who is not part of the set, making his design very.... interesting. Check out the new images below, which include the upcoming new cover screen, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong!As the sole Autobot combiner, Superion has shouldered a heavy burden, while as the sole Decepticon Combiner, Devastator has let his power go straight to his head!
Breaking Point
For the Autobots, it's clear that relying on one Combiner is not a long term solution to the Decepticon threat.They endeavor to form another Combiner to share theAerialbots' burden!
The Decepticons consider Devastator too dangerous to rely on. Megatron has initiated a plan to form a new Combiner who is more subservient, and knows their place in the Decepticon pecking order! Battle to see your faction’s goal come to fruition and earn Alloy, Energon, Spark, 3-Star Shards and 4-Star Shards.Start Date: 20/01/2017 11:00 UTCEnd Date: 23/01/2017 11:00 UTC How do I participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Prizes
Prestiges Allowed: None
Bonus Experience: Earn Double XP in Event Battle Zones
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
Player Spotlight
In-game name: DreadstalkerFaction: DecepticonPlayer Level: 74Decepticons unlocked: 117Alliance name: Mayhem Atk Squad Dreadstalker is one of our top Decepticon players, supporting one of our top alliances Mayhem Atk Squad with an impressive 7,016 medals. He also has the esteemed title of first player to reach 100,000 Combiner Bot Power!Over the past 206 days of gameplay, Dreadstalker has maxed out all of his 1-Star and 2-Star bots. His stellar roster includes 13 bots level 51 and higher, 22 4-Star bots levels 48/49 and 35 3-Star bots levels 47-50. Having won just under 23,500 battles, it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about strategy. Scourge is by far his favorite bot, utilizing him on all of his leveling teams. His choice method of leveling is taking Scourge and 2-3 other bots into zone 11. He will strategically implement Scourge’s Fire Mission as many times as possible, hopefully clearing a path around any outposts. Congrats Dreadstalker!
Twitch Stream
Live Thursday: it’s BIG! Brand new Combiners are inbound! Deb and Adam give you your first look LIVE Thursday, January 19th @ 5pm UTC.
Hello Seibertronians! As you might recall, an announcement was made a few months ago detailing the release of a brand-new, Transformers themed, OverWatch-style MMO First Person Shooter. Since then, the game has entered it's 3rd closed Beta, and has apparently undergone some improvements, or so reports the site MMOCulture. These include improved graphics and a better user interface, which both provide an obvious difference to the game since the first videos of the game surfaced. Of course, no plans have been revealed for release of this game outside of China, but, if it does well enough in it's home market, a wider-spread release is probable. Especially when considering the massive popularity of games like Overwatch and the inevitable popularity of Transformers 5 this summer in theaters.
You can see these changes in the gameplay videos below, which showcase four of the game modes available, Capture the Flag, Capture the Points, Escort the Payload (unfortunately not seeming to be thePayload), and Team Deathmatch !
Hound's out exploring and stumbles upon a race track, though it seems that something’s afoot as one of the cars bears a Decepticon badge… Drag Strip!
Race Day Mayhem
Challenged by Hound, Drag Strip forces him and his fellow Autobots into a deadly race, threatening to endanger nearby humans if they don’t partake. Race for glory and exploit your opponents distraction to earn Alloy, Energon, Spark, 3-Star Shards and Mayhem Crystals!Start Date: 13/01/2017 11:00 UTCEnd Date: 16/01/2017 11:00 UTC How do I participate?
Reach HQ Level 4!
Join an Alliance!
Tap the Event button!
Select an Event Battle Zone to fight in!
Win your battle and gather Battle Points!
Collect prizes!
Continue to earn Battle Points
Prizes
Prestiges Allowed: 60
Bonus Experience: Earn Double XP in Event Battle Zones
Event Battle Zones
Totaliser Prizes
Mayhem Crystal Contents:
4-Star Hound or Drag Strip
3-Star Hound or Drag Strip
2-Star Hound or Drag Strip
2,000 Spark
100,000 Energon
100 3-Star Shards
100 4-Star Shards
* This crystal won't contain smaller amounts of rewards. If you land on that reward type, you will get only that quantity.
New Characters
Prepare to meet the first new bots of the new year! Hound and Drag Strip are making their way to the Space Bridge this weekend.
Hound (Gunner)
Intrepid, fearless, unwavering, Hound is all these things and more - perfect qualities for an advance scout. But the truth is Hound just loves to explore. If it's new, uncharted or off-the-beaten-track, Hound's your 'bot.Using his topographical skills and 3D simulation circuitry, he'll have plotted every twist and turn of the terrain in nano-seconds, and his jeep mode is the perfect all-terrain, off-road form.
Release the Hounds! - Release 5 holo bombs that deal damage to each target. Deals double damage to resource buildings!
Drag Strip (Gunner)For Drag Strip, winning is everything, and a more competitive soul you will never meet. Every tiny online moment is driven by his desire to come out on top, whether it's racing, fighting or just trading insults, and the only thing he craves more than victory is to know he humbled or humiliated his rival in the process.His fellow Stunticons can't abide him, especially as he's not above playing his underhand tricks on them. Holo Assault! - Release 5 holo bombs that deal damage to each target. Deals double damage to resource buildings! New Bot Abilities
Our game designer Adam has been hard at work creating new abilities for upcoming bots in the game. Vote in our poll on BAND (Click Here to Join), selecting your top 3 favourite abilities that you’d like to see added to the game. We'll show off an exclusive preview of the #1 ability from the poll during a future Twitch Stream!
Got your own idea for an ability? Submit your ideas in the comments section for the chance to have it considered for a future bot in the game!
The poll will close on Monday 16th January @ 10am UTC.
New Updates
We’re constantly working to improve the game, and during our next update we’ll be making some changes to ensure fair and balanced gameplay for all players. This includes raising some of your bot abilities which are too weak and rebalancing some which are overpowered. Let’s take a quick look at some of the changes that are coming to the game: 10-January-2017 - Release 1.35
Fixed the Free Crystal timer display issue.
Fixed a series of bugs related to resuming campaign battles.
Battle History: the share button was not shown in some cases.
Combiners: The battle clock no longer counts down when the combiner is forming.
Scouting: You can no longer tap and find the location of hidden stasis mines during a war.
Headquarters upgrade 11, 12 & 13 achievements are now shown correctly in Google Play.
12-January-2017 - Release 1.35.1
Fixed the bug with Nano-frost misfiring and not having any effect.
Blaster & Soundwave - Health and damage increased by 5%
Defense Hack (Bombshell) - Hacked defenses deal 50% more damage. Target still attacks at 2x attack speed but now with 75% damage (up from 50%).
Whirlwind (Seaspray/Octopunch) ability cost decreased by 1 from 6 to 5.
Increased ability cast range by 2 for - EMP Bomb (Bumblebee/Skrapnel), Glass Gas Rockets (Kickback/Cliffjumper), Artillery Support (Rust Dust/Scavenger)
To make things fair & competitive, we want to give both pairs of Rocket Barrage gunners equal stats. This encompasses the following changes:
Long Haul is given the stats of Alpha Bravo (means more damage, less health).
Prowl & Brawl - stats equalized at a point close to Prowl. This means a bump in damage at cost of health for Brawl and a bump in health at a tiny fraction of damage for Prowl (4-Star level 60 bot power changed from 1147 to 1141).
Walls Level 15 - Health decreased from 17k to 16k.
Design Commentary: We think that the max level walls are a bit stronger than they should be considering the data and player sentiment around them. This is a small step-change and isn’t likely to affect the game by visible margin, but we are thinking about further balancing changes as well as new abilities/boosts that may help players fight with “time trap” base designs. Ideally there should be no ‘optimal’ base layout (which means more choice for players to decide on their flavour of defensive strategy).
Twitch Stream
Hope everyone had a fantastic New Year! We're back with New Bots! Catch us LIVE Thursday, January 12th @ 5pm UTC to see Hound and Dragstrip in action!
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.