Transformers: Open World - Initial Reveal news

STATUS: The mod is currently in PRE-ALPHA

PRE-ALPHA GAMEPLAY DEMONSTRATION:

What the finished mod will offer:

• Several playable Autobots (Decepticons may get added later)
• A deep transformation system
• A huge atmospheric open world (about 5 times bigger than the playable area in the current build)
• Advanced third person mechanics and combat
• A character progression system (ranks, stats and perks)
• Intelligent enemy AI
• Relatively large enemy variety
• Bosses
• NPCs and dialogs
• Quests
• Advanced visual fidelity (Huge amouts of custom models and animations)
• Limited PvP

While this may seem like alot (it is), alot more of it is actually already done than the current Pre-Alpha build may lead you to believe.

Description

General

Since before the release of "Psionic Warfare: Total Destruction" I have been working on creating an RPG experience in Starcraft 2 unlike anything the Arcade has seen before. Transformers: Open World is a big step on that path.

While the game is currently truly just in Pre-Alpha, what I want to achieve with "Transformers: Open World" is a visually stunning, atmospheric multiplayer RPG experience with mechanically advanced gameplay, a huge open world aswell as a pretty large amout of content. Getting the atmosphere of the Transformers movies right is important to me.

The mod will have you choose from one of several playable Autobots (Decepticons may get added later) and allow you to traverse a huge open world - both in robot mode and in vehicle mode. The game is called "Transformers", so of course getting the transformations right is one of the key aspects of it.

While in vehicle mode, you can also perform a variety of actions, like shooting, boosting, aswell as an arcady "gear boost" system that allows you to go even faster and adds alittlebit of skill to the driving. Its important that the vehicle mode too feels like its a complete thing.

Combat

You will be fighting a large variety of different Decepticons, each with a fully programmed enemy combat AI, aswell as indepth third person combat mechanics making for a deep and responsive action-oriented third person combat system that really hasnt been done before in SC2.

You can make use of basic melee attacks, ranged shooting, dodging, power attacks aswell as make clever use of transforming.

The enemies can dodge your attacks, shoot and interupt your own, do special attacks and you really have to pay attention to what you are up against.

Of course you will also be fighting the most iconic Decepticons as bosses.

The combat system is 50% character stats and 50% player skill. It is based around dodging, stunning, countering enemy attacks and awareness of your enemy. Technically, you are capable of taking on even the strongest bosses at level 1 - if you´re good enough.

NPCs and Quests

The world will offer quests for you to complete, aswell as a large amout of NPCs that you can talk to. A straightforward character progression system, consisting of ranking up, increasing your stats and gaining perks will allow you to upgrade your Transformer both in robot and vehicle mode. All of this will make for a pretty lengthy RPG experience.

While there wont be a storyline per se, there will be plenty of little stories in the world itself. You will talk to interesting NPCs, read about interesting things and overall get to know the world you live in.

The World

But it will be more than just combat. While the current build of the game offers relatively little in terms of gameplay, basically just beating the crap out of enemies (as seen in the video above), my aim with the finished project however is a much less combat heavy experience. While combat will be a large part of it, a huge goal with this mod for me is nailing the atmosphere of living in a huge open world as a Transformer - a world that is at your mercy. Traversing a large open world, finding interesting locations and just chilling out should be one of the major appeals of this mod.

I want players to slow down and take in the atmosphere. And there will be plenty of mechanics and little details to ensure this.

Play the Pre-Alpha

UPDATE: For now, the Pre-Alpha version is currently unavailable on the Arcade. Please be patient for future updates!

Simply search for "Transformers" on the Arcade. The mod is called "TRANSFORMERS Open World PRE-ALPHA".

WARNING: You need to have shaders atleast on MEDIUM to properly play this! Otherwise, extreme graphical bugs like the streets not appearing will happen!

The current Pre-Alpha version features Optimus Prime as a playable character, Transformations, a large city placeholder world, a programmed enemy combat AI, several types of Decepticons to fight and all the main third person mechanics for combat and movement are in place. You can also increase the stats of your character by gaining energon from killed Decepticons.

While the mod currently doesnt look all that bad, it currently still lacks the level of direction and polish both in terms of visual and sound that my mods are known for and which defined "Psionic Warfare: Total Destruction". But dont worry, all that stuff will come later on. Once again I will try to push what is visually possible with Starcraft 2. The final game will look much much better than what it currently does.

You are welcome to offer feedback in this thread, but keep in mind at every step that this is the truest form of a Pre-Alpha. There is still alot to come.