TRANSFORMERS
UPDATE

Date: 12th October, 2011

It's time for an update on Stern's newest game, Transformers, ahead of the launch parties planned across the US on Friday 21st October and the European launch this week.

Game designer George Gomez spoke about Transformers at the recent Pacific Pinball Exposition seminars, where he showed some of his early sketches and his version of the rule card. 

George at PPE 2011
George at PPE 2011

You can read more about George's talk, and listen to it for yourself, in our exclusive Pacific Pinball Exposition report.

George's early ideas for Transformers
George's early ideas for Transformers

George's initial instruction card for Transformers
George's initial instruction card for Transformers

Now Stern Pinball have put some Transformers images on their website which show how these ended up in the game.

The instruction card
The instruction card

The All Spark Cube
The All Spark Cube

The All Spark saucer shot
The All Spark Cube saucer shot

The Bumblebee captive Camaro
The Bumblebee captive Camaro

In his PPE seminar, George spoke about how all the plastics in the game contain artwork and cutouts to create lighting effects.  You can see what he means in these pictures above and below which show the return of multi-level slingshots and artwork on all the plastic ramps sections.

The Megatron shot
The Megatron shot

The Optimus Prime feature
The Optimus Prime feature

The Optimus Prime shot
The Optimus Prime shot

The feature grid
The feature grid

One of the most visible new initiatives introduced by Stern is the inclusion of QR codes (square barcodes) throughout the Transformers game.  George said these would appear in future games and when scanned with a phone or other connected device, would give the player ways to add extra features into the gameplay.

Transformers QR codes
Transformers QR codes

George said some codes are printed on the game's decals, while others appear on the dot matrix display at certain milestones.

In another new (and possibly related) initiative, Stern have set up a micro-site exclusively for Transformers.  They previously had all the audio clips from the game on there, but have since removed them.  However, we managed to grab these MP3 samples before they disappeared:

There are also images of the sketches George showed at PPE along with others, such as these which suggest the All Spark Cube was originally going to be on the right side of the playfield and turned by a geared spinner in the shooter lane.

George's original sketches for Transformers
George's original sketches for Transformers

George's original sketches for Transformers
George's original sketches for Transformers

This sketch suggests a mini-playfield design like the LT-5 engine on Corvette.

A sketch of a mini-playfield
A sketch of a mini-playfield

The sketches are not linked to directly, but a little delving will easily find them.

The micro-site might also be where the QR codes lead you, once you scan them in.

The Stern Transformers micro-site
The Stern Transformers micro-site

Stern have also published the flyer for Transformers which contains few details but refers to the way players need to choose whether to play as an Autobot or a Decepticon when they start the game.

The Transformers flyer front
The Transformers flyer front

The Transformers flyer back
The Transformers flyer back

Finally in this update, a video of the game in action has been posted on YouTube.  It shows the progression towards Bumblebee double scoring and and the way multiple balls are shot out of the Megatron feature during multiball.  The display, lighting and sound effects look good, and the fast gameplay should certainly keep players on their toes.

We'll be back with much more about Stern's Transformers, including a report from the Pinball Expo launch party soon here at Pinball News.

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