GAME STORYLINE
These sections have been designed to give players plenty of background to enjoy the game.
If you are totally unfamiliar with the Transformers, you might want to jump down to the
detailed history below before going further. The Preface explains some technology and the
major events that shaped the present day. The Crisis explains the jump-on point for the
game. The Game Synopsis describes the planned flow of the game.
NOTE: THE PREFACE, CRISIS, AND GAME SYNOPSIS HAVE BEEN TAKEN DOWN TEMPORARILY, AS THEY ARE
BEING REVISED.
Also because I've found that the more I plan out the progression of the game, the less I
want to describe the plot here. I'd rather let the game carry the player along, and not
give away too much on the site. The story will not be intricate, but will be a logical
progression of events that take place due to the premise (which I'm going over carefully
to control exactly what the player knows at the start of the game).
However, I can tell you that plans have been designed for levels to use familar
conventions from the cartoon, movie, and comics. Levels will include those that take place
on Earth, the Decepticon Underwater Base, and of course, on Cybertron. -Jay
HISTORY OF THE TRANSFORMERS
What follows is my (Jay's) interpretation of the history of the Transformers. Their
background is always a little different depending on whether you pull it from the TV show,
the comics, or the toys, and mine is no exception. For the most part, it follows the
television series. This gets pretty involved, so grab a snack and take a seat...
Our tale begins long ago on a world that was constructed by intelligent life, rather than
created by nature. Having no organic life, the planet known as Cybertron was inhabited by
a race of robotic creatures. The true origin of these beings and their world was unknown
even to them, as it had been lost over the passage of time. The metallic beings of this
world lived in peace for many years, developing great technology and space travel. They
had even developed the ability to "transform" their bodies into modes more
suitable for transportation, allowing individuals great freedom of mobility. Offworld
races nicknamed them "Transformers" for their amazing abilities. It was truly a
golden age. But peace is often transitory, and not all were satisfied with their
existence. Soon a number of members of the Cybertronian race felt the desire to expand
their dominance outward, to "guide" other, inferior, races, and to bring
Cybertron into its destiny of greatness. Many of the remaining members of society were
adamantly against this attempt to control foreign worlds, while others simply did not
care. Cybertron's history reached a turning point when a robot named Megatron began to
rally and organize those that believed in Cybertron's "greater destiny". His
aggressive methods led them to seize control of other species offworld. Those opposed to
this on Cybertron came together and implored Megatron to cease these actions and return
conquered worlds to their peoples, but he would not hear of it.
Soon war began.
Megatron's forces, while powerful, were outnumbered by those opposed to his regime. To
combat this, he began to alter his soldiers' vehicular modes for war, as either outright
attack craft, or more carefully disguised as innocuous vehicles and machinery to deceive
his opponents. These "Decepticons," as their foes began to refer to them,
quickly gained a strategic upper-hand for Megatron. As in any war, successful tactics are
copied, and those struggling to free worlds oppressed by the Decepticons also altered
themselves to conceal hidden weaponry. Most remained ground-based vehicles, however, and
soon began to refer to themselves as "Autobots."
As the war continued, it became apparent that Megatron would have to sacrifice his
stranglehold on outer-worlds, or he would not have the forces to remain on Cybertron. He
grudgingly did so, as one trait almost all Transformers share is a strong love of their
homeworld. This action provided a dubious victory for the Autobots. While they loosened
Megatron's control offworld, Cybertron became engulfed by war, and suffered tremendous
damage. Many of the neutral members of society fled the planet, their whereabouts still
unknown today. Those that stayed grew to fear the presence of even the Autbots, as
conflict followed them closely. The Autobots lost much support, as those hoping to
preserve Cybertron's safety wanted an end to the war by any means necessary. But Megatron
allowed no peace to those not serving the Decepticon cause, Autobot or otherwise. The
forces of good were dwindling, and being elected Autobot Commander was a death sentence to
anyone chosen, as Megatron hunted down and deposed each in turn. That is, until an Autobot
emerged from the ranks of soldiers who had long sought to preserve freedom for the galaxy.
He was both powerful and intelligent, a born leader. His name was Optimus Prime.
"Prime," as those close to him knew him, revitalized the Autobots with his
courage and dedication. Megatron's efforts to topple him were in vain, and the two became
the bitterest of enemies. In time, the balance of power evened and the two sides reached a
stalemate. Both began efforts to create offworld bases for the manufacture of arms, the
storage of supplies, and the production of energy. In an attempt to set up a huge offworld
base, the Autobots built a vessel that would become a city/ refinery once it reached its
destination. Prime assembled some of his most trusted soldiers for the mission and
commanded the vessel himself. But enemy eyes watched on, and the Decepticons launched a
smaller, stealthy ship to track the Autobots. Megatron, obsessed with defeating his
archenemy, Optimus Prime, personally attended to the pursuit. Autobot sensors detected the
enemy ship while in dimensional warp, and dropped out to evade their pursuer. Having been
discovered, the Decepticons also dropped out of warp and attacked, locking the ships
together magnetically so they could board the Autobot vessel. A chaotic fight ensued, when
suddenly Ark buffeted and lost control as it was pulled into the atmosphere of an unknown
world. The Decepticon vessel was violently thrown off of the Ark as it plummeted through
the atmosphere towards the planet's surface. Before crashing, the Ark engaged the
emergency "stasis field," a collision protection device causing all passengers
to be electromagnetically frozen in place to protect them during impact. The ship embedded
itself into the base of a large volcano, causing the volcano to erupt in a fiery storm of
ash and lava, burying the Ark. Extensive damage caused a malfunction in the stasis field,
which did not disengage afterwards, keeping all onboard in a comatose state of
preservation.
Over 300 years passed.
The ancient volcano harboring the Ark again became mildly active, causing tremors in the
local area which broke enough rock to expose the rear portion of the Ark to a cavern that
led to daylight. More importantly, this seismic activity was enough to jolt the Ark's
damaged systems online, and the stasis field was dropped. However, the ship's inhabitants
were badly damaged and virtually without energy. The Ark set out to repair them, and
launched a scout satellite to survey this new world's native lifeforms and technology so
that the Autobots on board could be altered to blend into the new setting. Unfortunately,
in it's debilitated state, the Ark's master computer, Teletran-1, was incapable of
distinguishing between Autobot and Decepticon. As the satellite recorded images and
details of this world's strange mechanical beings, Teletran-1 steadily rebuilt all on
board, giving each a transform suitable for the new environment. When the repairs were
completed, Teletran-1 re-activated the Autobots and Decepticons. Returning into the world
of light and sound, all suffered initial confusion and were overcome by the sensory shock
of being thrust back into physical reality. Autobot and Decepticon eyed each other in
turn, as memories tensely resurfaced. Both instinctively reached for nearby weapons and
attempted to fire, but all weapons had either been discharged by the Ark for power, or
salvaged for spare parts. Primitive physical combat was the only means left to the
warriors...but for the newly reborn robots, even walking was a monumental task. Megatron
knew that now was not the time to renew the conflict: though the Decepticons were
typically physically stronger than their Autobot counterparts, they were smaller in
number. They retreated, seeking escape through the aft of the ship. Soon they were gone
with little incident, as the Autobots were too weak to offer sufficient resistance to stop
them.
The Autobots examined their ranks and surveyed the damage to their vessel as their bodies
slowly returned to proper working condition. Casualties were heavy among those who were in
the front quarter of the Ark as it hit. Despite heavy armor and shielding, the ship's
systems were barely functional, and it would never fly again. As the Autobots set out on
repairs, some began to study this new planet they stumbled upon. While their transforms
hid them well, they soon realized that the sentient lifeforms of this world were not
mechanical as Teletran-1 had surmised, but were instead of a fragile organic nature. This
greatly dismayed Optimus Prime, who knew full well the danger the Decepticons posed to
this unsuspecting world. He expected no hesitation before Megatron would begin to plunder
its resources to make his return to Cybertron. Once the Decepticon army knew of this
world's location, they would surely attempt to conquer it and enslave it's people. At the
time, however, neither Prime nor Megatron knew where this world was or what it was even
called, though the native beings referred to it as Earth...