Scathis in Penny Arcade!

Check out my contribution to today's Penny Arcade!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/1/24/

Very interesting! The original Penny Arcade write up on MNC was the reason I decided to buy the game.

Nice to see the reasoning to the balance changes, especially the tank changes, did not realise they were a direct result of the superior pc controls.

Looks like sniper rate of fire may be turned down a bit.

If it does, I would at least like to have more ammo in my clip.

Real sweet Scathis. What you said makes a lot of sense to me.

If they make it bolt-action, there probably wouldn't be a clip size. Just a quick reload between each shot

Of course, that would have some.. interesting consequences regarding endorsements.

Interesting read. I can get on board with the reasoning behind all of the changes except the jump jets. The nerf isn't too bad post-update 6 (especially for tank with his charge) but I still don't agree with the logic. The top tier heavy class players claw on the 360 and don't suffer the time lost between pressing A and aiming the right thumb stick. In addition, the Razer Onza controller should be out before too much longer and will alleviate the need to claw at all (unless you just like it, you masochists out there). Finally, the non-heavy class players on the pc have an equal gain in movement and precision so why reduce the heavies' mobility? Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Personally, I'm not a fan of bolt-action sniper rifles. Never have been and it is the reason the MNC Sniper's isn't bolt-action.

I'm not saying they don't have their place in games... just saying I don't like them.

*wakes back up*

Oh wait, for real? Glad to see even the extremes get tossed around behind closed doors. Great write-up, glad you guys are getting some good exposure on PA.

I design for the average-case first. They are by far the largest majority of players.

The best-case players will be great whether they can do it or not.

True, and there is no pleasing everyone. That is the only certainty .

I like the technical terms for autoaim

"view adhesion"
"aim attraction"

I think a nice and simple way to refer to it is aim assist. Auto-aim just sounds like you're cheating :lol:.

Awesome read. Always great to read anything you guys are putting out there...well except for all the early tech talk in the blogs.

Aim Assist is the term for all those individual things working together in unison.

Thanks for that write up John, always interested in reading (technical) rationale behind decisions being an aspiring gamedev myself.

It's always good to have transparency on a multiplayer focused game. A refreshingly candid read, thank you.

Very nice article. Indeed, M+KB are superior, but I just love my controller too much to let it go.

Also... called it.

Dec 20th, Anyone else think that Sniper needs a huge nerf? Thread.

You sure did!

Except that the change was already made internally.

Oh well, I'll take my victory, however small, and judging by the size of your font, it is a very small victory :lol:

Speaking of Penny Arcade and MNC, are both versions (XBOX & PC) going to be on display at PAX East?