Transformers Art of Fall of Cybertron Preview

TF_ART_FALLCYBERTRON_INT_Ch01-05_Layout 1 10/9/12 10:51 AM Page 1
WRITTEN BY
MARK BELLOMO
DESIGN/PRODUCTION BY
CHRIS MOWRY AND MATT SCHIEL
EDITED BY
JUSTIN EISINGER
Special thanks to Hasbro’s Aaron Archer, Jerry Jivoin, Michael Verret, Ed Lane, Joe Furfaro,
Jos Huxley, Andy Schmidt, Heather Hopkins, Derryl DePriest, Joe Del Regno, Val Roca, and
Michael Kelly, as well as High Moon Studios’ Matt Tieger, Peter Della Penna, Greg Agius,
Chuck Yager and the Dev Team for their invaluable assistance.
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ISBN: 9781623021535 DIGITAL

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THE ART OF TRANSFORMERS FALL OF CYBERTRON. SEPTEMBER 2012. FIRST PRINTING. HASBRO and its logo, TRANSFORMERS, and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2012 Hasbro. All Rights
Reserved. Game © 2012 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. © 2012 High Moon Studios. All rights reserved. © 2012 Idea and Design Works, LLC. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea
and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of
artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea.
IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.
FEATURING THE ARTWORK OF
JIM DALY
Lead Concept Artist
AARON LIMONICK
Senior Concept Artist
NORWOOD COLE
Concept Artist
EDUARD MARINOV
Lead Storyboard Artist/Senior Concept Artist
HENRY LAM
Concept Artist
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS BY
JOSÉ EMROCA FLORES

BILLY KING
F O R E W O R D
FOREWORD
My earliest Transformers memory involves me standing in the basement of my parents’ Wisconsin home, holding the
original, die-cast metal Generation One Optimus Prime. It was in that moment, as I stood there clutching the toy, that
I realized my younger brother and I had an amazing new universe to explore. And it was in that same basement that
many of our epic toy battles and adventures played out over the years that followed.
The Transformers of my childhood were unique and had an exciting story. They were forced to flee their home planet
of Cybertron and blend in here on Earth. Like Superman, Transformers had to hide their true identities, only instead
of being human, their alter egos were cars and jets. As children, we found this concept utterly amazing. We religiously
watched every episode of the animated series and eagerly awaited the film. At that age, Transformers: The Movie
was as awe-inspiring to us as Star Wars. The Transformers lore sits atop a mental shrine of inspirational science
fiction and fantasy from my childhood, amongst classics such as Tron, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Alien, Road Warrior,
The Dark Crystal, and Battlestar Galactica. Escaping into the Transformers universe inspired us and fostered our
creativity, and I credit that experience with the fact that my brother and I both “grew up” to become artists and
career video game developers.
Imagine, then, how thrilled we were in the concept department when we heard that Hasbro and Activision were giving
High Moon Studios creative license to reimagine these characters we loved so much, and to visually redefine their
home planet of Cybertron. Suddenly I was a kid in the basement again!
Our first character design for Transformers: War for Cybertron was Bumblebee, the iconic hero recognizable to even
the most casual Transformers fan. The design was a success, and in the eyes of Hasbro we had hit the mark. After
that first design, any nervous pressure we had felt over retooling our childhood robot heroes was replaced with
excitement and confidence. Before working on Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron,
we had often found ourselves in nostalgic conversations about what it would be like to have been concept artists on
films like Tron or for an animated series like Transformers. Perhaps we were always ready for this opportunity.
The concept team was afforded a great deal of artistic freedom while designing the environments on Cybertron since
they had been largely undefined in the Generation One series. If there is any pride at all in our accomplishments as
concept artists on these games, it is that we, as longtime fans of this franchise, were able to leave our mark on the
home world of the Autobots and Decepticons. The collaboration of this group of artists, each with a different style
and unique sensibilities, helped create one cohesive vision. We were fortunate enough to accomplish this quite early
on in the design process, and we worked diligently to maintain this unified aesthetic on both War for Cybertron and
Fall of Cybertron. Speaking strictly from the perspective of one who paints and sketches here at High Moon Studios,
I am humbled and inspired every day by the artists I work alongside. I hope you have as much fun delving into this
collection of art from Fall of Cybertron as we did playing with our toys again.
Jim Daly, lead concept artist

I N T R O D U C T I O N S
INTRODUCTIONS
We started this project with the goal of building on the success of War for I am pretty sure I have the best job in the world. I get up every day, work
Cybertron by taking player criticism of the previous game to heart. We with extraordinarily talented people, and play with Transformers all day long.
wanted to give the fans exactly what they wanted for this sequel, and the Cybertron is this legendary place that Transformers fans, like me, have had
art-specific feedback we received was mostly centered around adding even decades to imagine. What would an all-metal, Cybertronian world be like?
more of their favorite iconic characters from the original series, having a What was the Civil War really like? What would Optimus Prime do? We ask
greater variety of enemy characters to fight, and a wider range of each other these questions with childish glee, like other offices ask each
environments to play in. other about… actually I have no idea what other offices are like (and I hope
I never find out).
The game takes place on a planet ravaged by years of constant warfare as
the Autobots prepare to leave their home world. Our goal was to design an Cybertron has been our playground for several years now, first with War
even grittier and more realistic version of war-torn Cybertron, and to try for Cybertron and now with Fall of Cybertron. In the beginning, the daunting
to capture the feeling of loss the Autobots experienced as they witnessed mission statement before us was to tell the story of their world and
the ultimate destruction of their once beautiful home. redesign the “classic G1” look. At first, we were so humbled by the
responsibility that we took cautious steps, but as we engrossed ourselves
Throughout preproduction we immersed ourselves in the world of the G1 in their world we became more and more at ease—I believe we got to a place
Transformers and their home planet Cybertron. We wanted to preserve the where we just innately knew the “right” answers; we were (and have been
nostalgic essence of the original toys, comics, and animated shows while for years now) in the “groove” and that is an amazing creative place to be.
updating it with our own unique style.
We have been fortunate enough to delve deeply into the lore and even create
A big part of the challenge of designing Cybertron was that it is an all-metal some lasting stories of our own. But if I had to choose one component that
world; we really had to push ourselves to find ways of making each new was the most fun for me, it was definitely the character designs. Combing
environment feel fresh and varied while staying true to the fiction and through the source material to find the signature visual designs—and then
original source art. There wasn’t a ton of old reference material for the giving them our own spin—was a wellspring of endless joy.
planet itself so we had a lot of latitude to explore interesting new locations
never shown in previous games or movies. In addition to the Autobot and Blast Off immediately springs to mind; the original toy was a brownish space
Decepticon capital cities of Iacon and Kaon seen in the previous game, the shuttle; yep, you read that correctly. We all looked at each other and
concept department generated hundreds of images of the Sea of Rust, the scratched our heads. How in the world could we make him cool? We pushed,
Insecticon burrows around Shockwave’s research facility, and the blasted- pulled, discussed, and experimented until we decided to go crazy with the
ash-covered wasteland that is all that remains of vast areas of Cybertron’s engine parts. We took the traditional shape of the space shuttle engines and
surface after the cataclysmic events of War for Cybertron. exposed the inner workings, which made the vehicle look fantastic, and then
we translated those shapes into his rad-looking shoulders. His design is
Cybertron is an alien planet inhabited by giant beings; there are no familiar evocative of the original, while still adding a High Moon spin, and in the end
human touchstones to help orient the player. In designing an ordinary game he became one of my favorite character designs.
you can get away with using a lot of photo reference for locations and
props, but this project required concept for almost every location and As a child, I remember the collision of robots and dinosaurs as a sci-fi peanut
object in the game. The sense of scale was also a tricky thing to convey. butter and chocolate moment—perfection! Grimlock was something we were
On Earth Transformers looks huge, but on Cybertron everything is scaled passionate about from day one on this project. His personality, lore, and
appropriately for them. We wanted the player to still feel big and powerful, dinosaur form were incredibly compelling reasons to include him in the game.
which required a lot of work tuning the character animations and sound FX When we were designing him I remember hurrying through my morning
to help reinforce the feeling of being a giant metal warrior. routine, just to get to work and check-in. I remember shirking other
responsibilities so that I could see how the concept was going or get my
The characters are obviously the stars of the game, and we were thumbs on the controller. It was a great time to look back on and is doubly
determined to add as many new Transformers for this project as we could rewarding when I meet fans who are so excited to see him and play him in
fit on the disc. Each new character design started with a personality bio the game.
and a ton of research to determine which elements of the original G1 design
needed to be preserved and which could be pushed and updated with our Fall of Cybertron is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication by
own style. A single image of the robot and vehicle modes of a new an entire team of passionate game developers. We are immensely proud of
character was generated and submitted to Hasbro for approval, and once this game. For millions of us, Transformers is a big part of our lives and to
this design was approved the concept team had to create detailed technical us it was a weighty responsibility. Our goal was to reinvigorate the “old
drawings of the character and vehicle from all angles so the game model school” nostalgia of Transformers. We wanted to create something
could be built in 3D. This was a time consuming process that usually took authentic, entertaining, and original. Frankly, I think we nailed it!
several weeks.
As you turn the pages of this book, I hope you feel the love that we have
It’s been a great pleasure working with the talented art crew here at High poured into this world, I hope you can get a sense of the respect we have
Moon Studios. I have a deep respect for the amount of hard work and for the material, and I hope your enjoyment of Transformers—whether that
dedication they have contributed to this project, and I’m immensely proud began in the ‘80s or begins today, with this book—is never ending.
of the experience we have created.
-Matt Tieger, game director
-Ivan Power, lead artist
“Many millions of years ago, on the planet Cybertron, life existed. But not life as we know it
today. Intelligent robots that could think and feel inhabited the cities. They were called
Autobots and Decepticons. But, the brutal Decepticons were driven by a single goal: total
domination. They set out to destroy the peace-loving Autobots, and a war between the forces
of good and evil raged across Cybertron, devastating all in its path, draining the planet’s once
rich sources of energy. The Autobots, on the verge of extinction, battle valiantly to survive.”
The above quote is the opening narration taken from the very first original animated mini-
series, Transformers: More than Meets the Eye (1985); oddly enough, those words and the
sentiment behind them exactly parallel the tone that High Moon wished to set in Fall of
Cybertron. We must remind ourselves—over and over—that this title is not War for
Cybertron II for a reason, THIS is Fall of Cybertron: the developers consider the game more
of a natural successor than a true sequel. The two games breathe differently—there is a
hidden depth to Fall of Cybertron that Transformers aficionados, casual fans, and adults who
grew up with Generation One characters will hopefully appreciate.
CHAPTER ONE
EXODUS
T H E A R K
THE ARK
Optimus Prime and his ranks of heroic stars in search of alternative fuels in the
Autobots have been decimated to the brink hope of restoring their ruined home world to
of extinction, having lost the Cybertronian its former grandeur. To achieve this massive
civil war to Megatron’s staunch battalion of undertaking, they have begun to build the
menacing Decepticons—as chronicled in High Ark, one of the finest Cybertronian
Moon’s first dynamic effort, War for spacecrafts ever assembled. These noble
Cybertron (2010). As a result of their defeat, warriors have poured all their faction’s
Optimus’ hardy band of techno-organic remaining yet incredibly scarce Energon into
pilgrims busy themselves by pursuing a the ship’s construction, employing their
means to emigrate from their home planet— considerable skill to engineer this formidable
escaping the ravaged, dying surface of transport vessel. Whether utilizing this craft
Cybertron before the infamous prolonged to search the cosmos for natural resources
period of global stasis begins, the epoch with which to heal their home planet, to
known as the “Great Shutdown” to escape the escalating Autobot-Decepticon
Generation One Transformers fans. conflict, or to nobly intervene in skirmishes
begun by their adversarial planet-hopping
With scarce quantities remaining of the fuel Decepticon rivals, the Ark stands as a
source known as Energon that powers each testament to Autobot ingenuity and ideology:
and every Cybertronian—as well as the a shining beacon that represents Cybertron’s
planet that they inhabit (Cybertron itself)— last great hope.
the Autobots are forced to head for the
INSIDE THE ARK

Designated a “Vanguard-class Deep Space The craft’s endless corridors and titanic rooms— were inspired by the craft’s portrayal in Generation
Interceptor” by revered comic scribe Simon Furman where humans would appear about the size of a One Transformers canon. Whether featured in the
in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (DK Books, house pet—are scaled to accommodate the ship’s pages of Marvel Comics’ 80-issue maxi-series, The
2004), it is worth mentioning that the Generation One massive, techno-organic Autobot crew and, Transformers (1984-1991), or rendered in
(hereafter referred to as “G1”; ca. 1984-1990) potentially, many other members and supporters of Marvel/Sunbow Productions’ highly successful 98-
version of the Ark originally possessed the means to their cause. episode animated program, The Transformers
hold a mere 300 Cybertronians. However, High Moon (1984-1987), High Moon’s superlative design of the
Studios’ interpretation of this hallowed ship suggests It should be noted that High Moon’s conceptual Ark as featured in Fall of Cybertron differs very
it is exponentially larger than any previous rendition. designs of the Ark and its polished, finished product little from its original G1 aesthetics.
THE BRIDGE
Jim Daly, lead concept artist for Fall of Cybertron, wanted to take the original nerve
center of the Ark from the G1 animation and translate it into a much more impressive-
looking bridge than was ever thought possible in 1984. “The G1 bridge is almost orange
[in color], without a lot of reflection,” states Daly, “With the whole world of Cybertron
being made of metal, the bridge of the Ark should also be reflective—and polished on
all surfaces.” Furthermore, High Moon wished the lustrous bridge of the Ark to
contrast with the now-decimated planet Cybertron, and the contrast is quite apparent.
To wit: as the Autobots abandon their war-torn home world, they step onto a gleaming
ship that stands in perfect contrast to the rubble-strewn planet they’re escaping.
Matt Tieger, game director, noted an important facet of the sophisticated construction
of the bridge that helps to illuminate Fall of Cybertron’s gameplay: “For me,” he
offered, “many of the lines [drafted] on the bridge are pointing toward the window
glass… everything is focused toward one point of perspective.” The designers ensured
that the lines and vanishing points used to construct this room essentially train a
gamer’s eyes toward that one point of focus: the ominous, multicolored Space Bridge
portal that lurks thrillingly outside the window.
t e l e t r A a n o n e
TELETRAAN ONE
In the G1 canon, Teletraan One is the Ark’s onboard supercomputer, which possesses accessories. These stations are portrayed in the concept sketches (located at the top
“unmatched logical reasoning and analytic capabilities” according to IDW’s trade of the opposite page) in three different stages: “Inert,” “Start Up,” and “Operating.”
paperback reprints of Dreamwave Productions’ More Than Meets the Eye Gamers can feel free to interact as many times as they wish with these terminals,
sourcebooks. Teletraan One was the mainframe whose scanning technology was spending Energon (the in-game currency) to access blueprints and upgrade their
responsible for reformatting the Transformers’ Cybertronian alternate modes into accoutrements. This level of interactivity was of paramount importance to High Moon,
Earth forms: upon their resuscitation on our planet, Autobots and Decepticons initially and gamers who are connected online have the liberty to post starred community
became automobiles, cassettes & recorders, weapons systems, and F-15 jet planes. ratings (from one to five stars) for the weapons they acquire—allowing other Transfans
to learn through the Teletraan One store which of these armaments are most popular
In Fall of Cybertron, Teletraan One provides gamers with “Teletraan One Stations”—a or most effective for successful gameplay.
series of interactive terminals where a player can buy and upgrade their weapons and
TUTORIAL DRONE
The Tutorial Drone is one of the first entities gamers will encounter in Fall of
Cybertron. Ratchet, the Autobot medic, uses the pilotless craft as his personal
assistant for multiple tasks: to recalibrate a robot’s visuals (e.g. when a gamer is
utilizing Bumblebee), to bring a player character additional ammunition, to distract
charging enemies, and most importantly—as a purveyor of “flashbang” stun grenades—
those non-lethal explosives that will temporarily disorient Decepticon enemies. It is
noteworthy to mention that the Tutorial Drone’s design was inspired by the
appearance of the scanning module that issued forth from Teletraan One in the original
G1 cartoon animation (“Explore, explore!”; “Repair, repair!”); the Tutorial Drone’s brief
appearance in the first chapter of Fall of Cybertron should elicit a wink and a nod
from diehard Transfans.
Although the drone appears tiny when compared to the stature of Cybertronians, we
should be mindful that everything designed for Fall of Cybertron is immense—even
the Tutorial Drone. From the Ark’s enormous inner blast doors, to its gargantuan outer
cannons, to the huge destructible covers adorning the driving area, even its colossal
elevator lifts—every single aspect of the game is designed to be utterly massive in
comparison to our mere “human scale.”
t h e n e m e s i s
THE NEMESIS
In Chapter One—essentially the “tutorial level”—Bumblebee stands on the bridge of Comparing the Nemesis to the Ark is an excellent example of how High Moon Studios
the Ark as the vessel rockets away from Cybertron: the ship is their faction’s last utilizes contrasting aesthetics in Fall of Cybertron. The design of the Nemesis
great hope to escape the ruined planet. As the Ark surges in the direction of the exemplifies the essence of the Decepticons: its ominous, dangerous appearance
interstellar gateway known as the Space Bridge, a sinister craft appears in the emanates a sense of foreboding and evil. Its deep purple color hints at the iconic hue
command center’s window: the Decepticon flagship, the Nemesis, hovers menacingly of the G1 Decepticon insignia. Most importantly, the Nemesis possesses sharp points
above. The Decepticons utilize this deadly ship as a “siege engine,” for it was designed and razor edges: from a design perspective, the spaceship does not appear “safe”—
to break fortifications in siege warfare—a form of constant, low intensity conflict there are no softly-beveled edges—it gives the impression that a gamer could
characterized by one party (the Autobots) who hold a strong, static defensive position physically cut themselves on the edges of the craft.
(the Ark) while the other party (the Decepticons) tries to break through the defenses
by means of assault.

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TF_ART_FALLCYBERTRON_INT_Ch01-05_Layout 1 10/9/12 10:51 AM Page 1

TF_ART_FALLCYBERTRON_INT_Ch01-05_Layout 1 10/9/12 11:41 AM Page 2

ISBN: 9781623021535 DIGITAL

FEATURING THE ARTWORK OF

JOSÉ EMROCA FLORES

Jim Daly, lead concept artist

INSIDE THE ARK

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