Transformers: Earth Wars Event: What Doesn't Kill You... and Kup and Hun-Gurrr Preview

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We originally made Kup’s legs rounded to match his appearance in the movie, but unfortunately this made him look awkward in vehicle mode, so we switched to a classic design.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.

Follow us on Twitch

Roll Out!

Credit(s): Earth Wars