Dark of the Moon (Robo)



"'Dark of the Moon is back after 10 years with a massive upgrade!'"

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a third-person shooter developed by RoboTRONFan, based on the movie of the same name. It follows the standard Lewa formula, with an unlockable cast of characters and a team deathmatch. Created in 2011, the game is now in its fourth iteration, released on the 12th of February, 2022. It now supports PC, mobile and console (including Xbox!).

Gameplay
Transformers Dark of the Moon is a third-person shooter, played on a series of rotating maps hosting team deathmatch. Each character is granted three loadout slots, which may consist of ranged weapons, melee weapons and an ability. Alternate forms lack weapons, but each player now has a double jump and sprint at their disposal. Rosters are symmetrical, with abilities and flight capabilities even on both teams. Unlockables such as EX Skins and hidden guest characters further supplement this roster, totalling 56 in all.

Projectiles are notoriously strong, with many match-ups decided by movement skill to dodge and anticipate the opponent's positions, aided by the universal zoom mechanic. However, this does not invalidate hitscan characters, who often find themselves at high tiers. Melee is similar to Sword Fight on the Heights, where a single click is a slash, though a double click is a lunge. Every character has both of these available, though the range depends on the character and their animations. A radar function was added to make engagements easier, though has now been removed.

There’s also a fully functioning music player that automatically rotates through some wicked tunes!

Development History
''“I guess that was like the path of least resistance. Basically, I’m very lazy and I also wanted to see how well this formula could still work"

- RoboTRONFan, on his decision to revive the game.''

Development on the revival dates back to 2020, as a small side project. The primary focus was on animations, scripts and a variety of other systems, many of which would go unused in the final release. Notable examples however include getting Hatchet’s posture correct, correcting flight projectiles (and flight overall) and a small number of visual corrections. During this time, the original DOTM game was reopened.

2021 saw a large shift in attention to the revival, firstly the utilisation of modern Roblox lighting to update the game’s look, with a dynamic lighting system introduced throughout Cybertron, Chicago and Egypt during June. This came with a revision of prior save GUIs, along with the decision to first deliver a remaster of DOTM and get it to a proper, playable state before any further technical pushes. This coincides with the July re-release of classic DOTM and the creation of amoung and map, which would serve as a testing ground for the two versions of the game.

July held many developments for the game, with each new portrait pose being created with Moon Animator, some fancy lighting and a greenscreen. This was then passed through Clip Studio Paint for polishing. The majority of the materials on each model were also changed, due to Robo’s well-voiced belief in moving away from smooth plastic. On the aesthetic side, the model for MV1 Megatron was made, along with the new transformium animation for Stinger. Gameplay additions focused on remaking the sword gameplay from Sword Fight on the Heights, a new gun iteration based on Lewa1267’s Warbots and the introduction of a grapple.

August was somewhat slower, as Robo chose to focus on other work at the time. It featured the correction of the classic Transform tool and weapon polishing but most importantly the introduction of a destructible environment and Egypt’s new animations. September would close off the year of major development, with the creation of Devastator, who was also rigged and added to the Egypt map. New movement options were also implemented at this time, with a working sprint and double jump. Shortly after in the new year, the game would launch after polishing and bug tests.

Release
Throughout 2020 and 2021, small development teasers were shown in TheBlaze1907’s Discord server, such as Devastator and Dino. On July 12, 2021, the place map was created, acting as the test zone for DOTM 1.2. It quickly gained attention with a random spike of visits, despite being intended for internal playtests only. The game was launched on February 12, 2022, replacing the original DOTM place. It received a small amount of promotion in various Discord servers coupled with a large announcement in the TransFans group. For the most part, it spread through word of mouth.

The revival’s first update arrived as a day one patch, fixing a game-breaking bug that caused bullets not to despawn. The first substantial update however came at 1.11, adding Warpath, Seaspray and Reverb to the Autobots, whilst adding Long Haul, Sideways and Brawl to the Decepticons. It provided much-needed nerfs to Roadbuster, with the implementation of damage fall off furthering this. Gravity and jump speed also received significant nerfs to make both traversal and landing shots easier. Cybertron was altered in size and layout, with a new route added to the Autobot spawn and an overall upscale.

An April Fools patch brought the player demand for a playable Devastator to light, however further updates have focused on quality of life changes and refreshing the metagame.

Trivia
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