Transformers Universe: Not just robot Runescape © Jagex

Optimus Prime. Megatron. Jetfire. Starscream. All heavyweight Transformers, all firm fan favourites – but you won't be playing as these big guys in Jagex’s upcoming free-to-play Transformers MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) that’s due this summer. Nope, in Transformers Universe, you’ll be in the hotseat of a brand-new, custom-made bot designed specifically for the game.

The Transformers need no introduction. The franchise has been around for 30 years, mainly as a cartoon vehicle created to convince you (or your reluctant parents) to pick up tie-in action figures from toymaker Hasbro, but its legacy and lore lived on, reignited by the arrival of Michael Bay’s blockbuster summer popcorn flicks. The franchise has already spanned various media: from comic books, movies – both live-action and animated – a CGI spin-off series and various video games, but never have the Transformers been turned into a production on the scale of an MMORPG, especially on a platform that has been given plenty of creative freedom. By comparison, Titanfall’s 16 player limit seems meagre.

After spending more than a decade on hit browser RPG Runescape, Jagex is now taking on Hasbro’s prized franchise and adding its own flavour. The toymaker has given Jagex its blessing to create its own cast of Transformers characters to inhabit its world, and you’re right in the hotseat of these bots, leading them into a war.

“We've had the privilege to create a bunch of brand new Transformers characters, which is one of the most exciting things for me,” Alex de Rakoff, who’s previously worked as an award winning music director and now serves as creative director for Transformers Universe, tells Red Bull.

If you’re one to stick with Optimus, Jazz or Bumblebee, fear not though, you’ll still see those familiar faces around. “There's obviously still going to be the elite Transformers around, the ones we know and love,” de Rakoff continues, “but the opportunity to create a school of new characters you can play, needless to say, it's been a real exciting process to go through.”

Transformers Universe © Jagex

Alex Horton, chief creative officer, tells us, “[these new characters] exist alongside as part of the hierarchy of the Autobot and Decepticon war machine, and the more familiar guys – your Optimus Prime and Megatron – they're the seniors to who you've seen so far and it hints a little bit about your progression as a character and as a player in TF:U, and how you can interact with those guys we've been talking about.”

With Hasbro’s blessing, Jagex has had free rein to create its own cast of Autobots and Decepticons, each with their own unique flavours and personalities – and many vehicles previously unseen in the Transformers universe. From the dune buggy Duststorm, which handles like a rally car in the desert, to the SUV-style Meltdown and even a huge monster truck, there are Transformers that have never been seen before and fresh vehicles you won’t find in the latest Bay flick.

Gerard Miley, art director of the game, says, “We can pick from all of the different universes and continuities from the past 30 years, such as from G1 [Generation 1], which you can see in the style and in the DNA of the bots, they have comic book designs in there too, plus also influences from [latest series, Transformers] Prime, so we've been able to pick and choose – but it’s still as a whole, Transformers Universe in its own right.”

Vice president of the game, David Nicholson, continues: “The actual task of introducing new characters starts with research. Hundreds of Transformers already exist across movies, TV shows and books, so we want to make sure we’re not overlapping with something that’s already in place.”

“And that also ties into the animation,” says assistant lead animator David Hynes, “we've been trying to make these characters look distinct, in the way that they move and in the way they sound, so each robot is not generic and cookie cutter – a lot of thought went into them and they have an impact on the game as a whole.”

That’s true for many of the new Transformers that Jagex has crafted, such as the massive axe wielding Autobot, Front Line, who also packs in a massive minigun inside his truck alternate mode and marches onto the battlefield to a valiant theme, or the evil Conduit, who’s armed with ranged sniper-style weapons to pick off foes from afar and transforms into a humvee-style truck complete with spinning rims in true, gaudy over-the-top Decepticon style.

Just like with many MMORPGs in the past, such as World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic, you’re divided into one of two factions. Pick the side of the heroic Autobots or the evil Decepticons and you’re immediately thrust into the middle of an epochal war well known to fans of the series.

But forget about running around the countryside on quests looking for one item after another or hunting for spectacles on eBay, this is un-Bayified Transformers after all, and if combat’s what you want, combat is what you’ll get. The game itself is no longer just your run-of-the-mill MMORPG. Jagex is adamant that it’s not a MOBA like League of Legends, Dota 2 or Smite . Instead, it’s something the developer is calling a Massively Online Tactical Action (MOTA) game that features both competitive and cooperative elements, with mechanics dabbled from many top multiplayer games you see making the rounds right now – meaning if you've played either League of Legends or World of Warcraft, you should be able to dive right in.

With crunching combat being one of the main elements of the game, player versus player (PvP) makes up the core of the gameplay, but there's also a player-versus-environment (PvE) mode too, which sees you either teaming up with friends or playing solo against AI-controlled enemies. While it also serves as the training mode for the game, Jagex has said that there's enough gameplay to last you a good while and it could keep you hooked long enough to skip out on taking on real life combatants.

From what we’ve seen so far of the game during the hands-off event, each of your chosen bots has various skills and weapons, such as Meltdown’s Repulsor Probe, which keeps enemies at bay letting you heal your allies, or Duststorm’s Shockwave Rounds, which can knock down enemies, letting you wreck havoc on the battlefield – and just like with other MMO games, you’re able to pick and choose which Autobot or Decepticon you want to play as at will.

Taking a page from the MOBA playbook, Transformers Universe’s cast of characters are all heroes or champions in the vein of League of Legends or Dota 2, each with their own unique skills, looks, loadouts and alternate vehicle modes, “Each of the unique bots have their own backstory, their own personalities and their own characteristics,” Nicholson says.

Playing into those MOBA-style archetypes helped form the foundation for these new characters – you think of a big, huge hulking monster truck and you’d think of the massive tank-type character that you’d find in any RPG game. “We have to think about the gameplay style to suit the characters,” Miley tells us. “They're influenced by the type of vehicle, the archetypes and then we went from there. In the gamespace, you can tell what kind of character is approaching you, just based on their silhouettes.”

Transformers Universe © Jagex

It’s not been all smooth sailing for the team though. The game’s been in development for over three years now. Jagex lost some time switching engines last year, from the studio’s own in-house engine, to the widely used Unity platform, which means you’ll be able to play the game right in your browser on your Mac or PC.

Horton, who’s had a wealth of experience in the past, working as lead animator on Grand Theft Auto III and overseeing titles such as Manhunt, Red Dead Revolver and the Grand Theft Auto series, tells us “I joined about a year or so into it, starting my role as creative officer, and we started looking at the game, asking ‘are we doing the right thing with this?’ I could see where we had come from, and the principles – we're doing an MMORPG, Runescape-style with Transformers – but I don't think it was going where anyone wanted it to be.”

Hence the switch. Of course, with Jagex’s history, the comparisons to its longest running game, Runescape, were bound to come. Would it just be Runescape with robots, or would it be able to stand by itself? “Well, I think that's what my reaction was when I first came on,” Horton says with a smirk, “But yeah, we didn't want to do that. And I think that's where it started – but I still think it's a sound proposition.”

Transformers Universe © Jagex

Combat is the main draw for Transformers Universe, but like with any other MMORPG, there’s bound to be more than just fighting – maybe you want to explore the universe? Horton tells us, “I don't see them as being mutually exclusive – essentially, the game’s about that war. It's about those encounters and that's going to take on a number of different formats. The other way that we definitely want to take the universe is where we move, you know, do we go off-Earth, do we go into space, do we travel in time?”

The game’s shaping up to be an interesting take on the MMO scene, with even hints for more types of bots than just the land-based vehicles we’ve seen so far, such as aerial bots, with Hynes saying, “those Transformers are very much a part of the lore, and we're creating a whole Universe – so it's not completely ruled out – but not right now,” which should keep gameplay fresh, and before you ask, no, no mention of Dinobots was made.

With plenty of competition on the scene vying for your attention, it’s going to take a mighty robotic swing to keep you coming back for more, but one thing’s for sure from what we’ve seen so far: Jagex is making sure this game is built to last.