Developer Interview: TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition

We have again joined forces with the Spanish games developer Tessera Studios, who previously worked on Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova, to bring the new TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition game to fans around the world.

TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition is a game focused mainly on two types of gameplay: combat and exploration. In order to make exploration interesting by rewarding curiosity [in] the players, we needed to make the levels bigger and full of secrets to uncover.

[The game] is set across three large biomes, which players will progressively unlock access to throughout the story, emulating, yes, a more "open zone" experience. That being said, each biome can be explored freely and is full of secrets and missions for players to discover. Developing an open-world game that is fully accessible to young children presents its own challenges, as a truly huge open-world game could be rather daunting. We know that this kind of gameplay may be new to younger fans of the game, so we've added some helpful maps and made it easy to find the main paths. Our aim is to provide a fun introduction to open-world style experiences for young gamers without things being too overwhelming for them, and we like to think we've found that balance.2

We've worked closely alongside HASBRO to ensure the game maintains the integrity of the TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK series — from materials and plot points to character approach and personality.

Players will get to explore the world of TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition as the iconic franchise hero Bumblebee as they fight off the mysterious Dr. Mandroid. Our decision [to make] Bumblebee the main character was an important one. We felt that he would be recognisable to both younger and older fans of the franchise and work well as a link to connect multiple generations of TRANSFORMERS fans.

Being fans of the television show, the series is a huge part of the game (recognising old friends and foes), but not necessary to enjoy the game. We quickly explain at the beginning of the game the story of the first season of the show, so every player is on the same page.

To create an accessible gaming experience for TRANSFORMERS fans across multiple generations, TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition features three different difficulty options to select from. As a part of these different difficulty levels, players can toggle an enemy warning system, which provides a directed visual warning of an incoming enemy attack or projectile. Using this visual warning, rather than traditional subtitles, allows younger players to anticipate these attacks coming from off-screen in a more easily processed way and avoid the frustration of being hit unexpectedly.

To further support younger TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition players, we incorporated a semi-assisted driving system, which enables [them] to accelerate, brake, and drift through the game through single stick movements. Additionally, the game has automatic camera control enabled to automatically position behind Bumblebee while driving and in combat.

TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK - Expedition is very different from our previous game, TRANSFORMERS: BATTLEGROUNDS, with the open-world approach and the ties to the Paramount+ animated series. Working alongside the IP of the show has been exciting, bringing plots and characters that younger audiences would be more familiar with to a gameplay format rather than creating missions and challenges based on the world of the IP. Additionally, there have not been many TRANSFORMERS games released recently, which provides an exciting opportunity to showcase technical and gameplay advancements achieved in Unreal Engine 5.

I would say creating these three distinct open levels. There have been challenges both at the moment of designing and planning how big these will be and all the content they will have. Also, when dressing and polishing these levels, it was a time-consuming task.

We've worked closely alongside HASBRO to create a game that is exciting to players who have nostalgic connections to the TRANSFORMERS franchise, as well as younger fans of the Paramount+ series. Characters from the TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK series make appearances, including the Malto family, alongside beloved characters like Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Skullcruncher, Nova Storm, and Skywarp.