Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the latest Transformers game being published by Activision, and it’s in development for PC and consoles. However, while Rise of the Dark Spark is a third-person shooter on the aforementioned platforms, there’s also a version being developed by WayForward Technologies for the Nintendo 3DS, and this version is a strategy RPG.

Given how little information is available about this version of the game, Siliconera got in touch with WayForward to find out what we could about Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark on the 3DS. Adam Tierney (Director) and Shannon Hatakeda (Producer at Way Forward) stepped up to address our questions, one of the things we asked was how the game plays.

“The melee combat is a turn-based combat experience, where one of your units can go toe-to-toe with an opponent,” WayForward said to us. “There will be three rounds to do as much damage as possible before the round ends. If you’re successful and deplete your opponent’s health, they will be removed from the map.”

“Each Transformer can have up to a total of seven attacks to choose from each turn, but each attack has a meter that must be charged up before using it. With every round that goes by, that meter will fill up by one. Choosing the right time to use the move is essential, especially with those that require high charging level; otherwise you could end up using a move that would have been more effective later. If you successfully block an enemy attack, you can also gain two extra charging points.”

Rise of the Dark Spark’s campaign has you alternating between the Autobots and Decepticons, and WayForward say each Transformer has its own moveset and Super Move based on their personality.

“For example Optimus Prime’s Vanguard is able to pull the enemy’s attention to himself in order to give other units time to heal or move to a safer location,” they shared. “For every mission you are given a set amount of Energon which each unit can take to activate their Super Move, so you have to be strategically careful on how often and which Super Move you use.”

WayForward say they looked at “most of the major games” in the strategy RPG genre on the market, especially on the Nintendo 3DS, while developing Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark. At the same time, because of the license, they wanted it to be a game could be enjoyed by people that don’t normally play strategy RPGs as well.

“We wanted to make sure that this would be a game that any Transformers fans could enjoy, even those not well-versed in games of this genre, which is why it was important to amp things up in the combat sequences,” we were told.

I asked if WayForward had modeled every Transformer in 3D for the game’s combat sequences, to which they replied, “That’s right! In addition to the 2D sprite that appears on the map, when you enter in to the battle mode you get to see both Transformers in full 3D.”

(Of course, if you look at the very first screenshot in this article, you’ll notice that it looks like there’s no texturing on the two Transformers. I followed up with our PR contact for the game, who informed me: “All of the Transformers have textures applied in the game. Due to the darker palette of the characters in the screen, the textures don’t show very well when we capture images.”)

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark for Nintendo 3DS will be available on June 24th in North America, alongside the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Wii U versions.