Transformice Guide

Lately I've been playing a lot of Transformice... it has a silly name, and it's a silly game, but it's tons of fun and perfect for people who can only squeeze in a few minutes a day. Just imagine 20+ mice, 1 shaman who can create planks (and more) affected by physics, and a mad scramble to be first to return the cheese.

Basically you get to play a mouse, who wants to collect some cheese and return to your hole. Except... usually the cheese is placed in an unreachable area, and you need help from the shaman who has building powers. Now this can go either way, the (good) shamans can help you and keep everyone alive, while the (bad aka troll) shamans will abuse their power to kill you. Sometimes this creates hilarious circumstances.

It's a web browser Flash game, and you can play it here: http://www.transformice.com/en
Each round only takes a maximum of 2 minutes and the game keeps players coming back by implementing a store that sells hats and such (at the price of cheeeese *-*) aside from sheer fun factor. The 2 people who created this game are constantly adding updates and new servers! The latest update introduced several new maps, and now the game has a whopping 81 levels to play.

Continue reading...


CONTROLS
Chat
/friend [name] - Add someone to your friend's list.
/room [name] - Join a different room.
/ban [name] - Uses up 2 cheese to ban someone. Bans only go through by popular vote (of a room).
/c [name] - Whisper someone.

Mice
WASD or arrow keys for movement, including jump.

SCOREBOARD
To the right of the chat is a list of all the users in the room as well as a "score", this is only determined by how many rounds you've survived in your current session (it has no long term bearings). Once you reach the very top, you'll become the next shaman!

First mouse - 16 points
Second mouse - 14 points
Third mouse - 12 points
Everyone else - 10 points
Death - minus 1 point
No cheese - 0 points

For people who want to skip their shaman turn (like me haha) you can easily reset your score by switching rooms.

SHAMAN

• All the available materials to build are in the bottom right corner, the UI will look different from a normal mouse.
• You must click/drag the buildable somewhere near your mouse in order to build it.
• To build you have to hold down left click.
• The only shaman controls that are available regardless of position are Spirit (white spark looking thing) and Arrow (which usually, but not always, leads mice to a certain area).
• Shamans cannot move while casting/building - so be careful if you're standing on a ramp or anything where you will slide.
• Shamans cannot enter mouse holes until every mice on the map has entered, or if everyone else is dead.

Shaman Duels




Sometimes you'll notice there are not one, but two shamans. The 2 shaman colors are light blue and light pink, you want to get the mice to go to your color hole and not the other shaman's, as you'll only get cheese for yours.

Some maps are tailored for shaman dueling and other maps are tailored for 2 shamans working together (no colored holes).

Common tactics include blocking the opposing shaman's hole (large box + red anchor little board), spiriting or cannonballing them off a ledge, and well, just building a path to your hole faster than the other shaman.

Shaman buildables
Not all buildables will appear on every map, some maps are limited, and other maps don't even have anything (upside down maps). Most items are self explanatory! If you'd like to see the complete list, go to the wiki.

Anchoring boards
A lot of new shamans don't really know how to build things, and thus gets boo'd from the whole room. You can practice by yourself (or with other friends) by creating your own room. To do this just type /room [name] and you'll be all by yourself... unless you used the name of someone else's room.


Z and X - This rotates the planks.
C - This is a yellow anchor and probably one of the most used. It attaches itself to another item, and cannot stand freely on its own.
V - This is a teal anchor, it is unmovable and must be attached to another item. I've never really seen this used properly, so I'm not sure when is the best time.
B - The other most used anchor, this creates a red anchor that can stand freely on its own. However, if left alone and affected by any weight, it will start moving around (forced rotate).
N - This is a blue anchor with a circular arrow around it - this is the self-rotating anchor and must be attached to something else.
Spacebar - this turns the item invisible. The item will still affect / be affected by other items, but not by mice. Useful in many scenarios.



Pressing the anchor button repeatedly changes the place where it anchors, default is center and then it goes to the left and right.

TACTICS
Board and Build Tactics (click on images for larger pictures)


Elevator - Attached a rotating (blue) anchored large board to another large board will create a strange contraption people often call the "elevator".


Anvil God - Attach several anvils together, preferably with self-rotate (blue) so it will start moving by itself. Either used for trolling or at the end of a round when a shaman is bored.




Reinforced bridge - Common tactic to create a longer bridge that is more sturdy. Starts off as easy bridge but attaches invisible red anchored reinforcement.


See-saw stabilizer - Simple way to keep those see-saw maps in check. Make sure you attach/create it when the see-saw is flat or else it will be stuck.


Invisible rotator - Rotates weight-triggered maps while allowing mice to pass through.


Invisible weight - Any weight (large box, anchor) set to invisible, attached or not.

When creating bridges or anything easily warped by weight - make sure you angle things correctly and account for the amount of mice clambering up - they are impatient and they want that cheese!!


Specific Map Tactics
I see people messing up on this every time, the "fan" rooms. Here's the very very simple and very easy solution:



Walljumping
I'm not a very good wall jumper - you do not need to know how to wall jump in order to play this game... however it can give you an edge on some maps.

Watch a video on wall jumping here.

General mouse tactics

• Be patient. Unless you are vying for firsts or have an hungering need to be a shaman - just wait around. A lot of mice that run forward first end up dying (unless you are pro!). Some shamans will kill off mice who are too eager, some maps have mouse hit boxes so pushing too hard might actually push mice off ledges.
• Understand how jump / the game's physics work. You don't need to jump as soon as you leave a platform, every mouse gets to jump once midair - anywhere in the air. You can time your jumps to travel further this way (for example, running of a ledge and jumping while you're falling). Game physics such as how their trampolines react will come with time played.

• Find your room. If someone is bothering you or you just don't like the playstyle of a certain room - swap to another one until you find one you like. A lot of rooms have regulars who often hang out in that room.

• Play a lot. Part of being good at this game is just playing a lot and learning from experience. The more you play the more often you'll repeat maps (and learn how they work) and the more exposure to different tactics. Observe and adapt. :D

For mice that like being in first - make sure you have a good connection, knowledge of all the maps, ability to wall jump, and of course... lots of luck!

Titles/Hats/Etc
Titles are given out depending on 3 things: how many cheese you've gathered in your transformice career, how many firsts you've gotten, and how many mice you've saved as a shaman. To see a complete list, go here.


Hats are stackable and sold in the store for cheese. Once you purchase something you can un/equip it whenever you want. To access the shop click on Menu -> Shop. Make sure you do this when you have time or you might miss out on cheese (or even die).



Hope that was helpful! I generally don't play shaman but I love observing others. I usually play on en2 in rooms 5 and 6 (usually 6) as Duet. Sometimes I will host private rooms - you'll have to watch my twitter for that if you want to join in. :)