I understand there’s a large publisher obsession with the subject, but when it comes down to it. It harms the balance of the PC version of the game greatly. I remember seeing the interview the developer game at Gamespot where he said that all game testing was using a gamepad. For the PC version of the game, no one will use gamepads online, it just wont happen. The big problem is that because of the differences between it, it’s going to ruin the balance of the game for the PC version. Well that might be an overstatement, but it’s likely to water down the gameplay, as the hitboxes in the game will have to be adjusted to slower less precise controls, which would make it unsatisfying to play on a keyboard and mouse, which is what nearly all PC users will be using, it would be like designing a game for a keyboard/mouse and PC monitor set up for a playstation 3 or Xbox 360 game. While that total set up is possible (half way for the 360), it would result in a poorly playing version of the game. So as a fan of ET and RTCW I hope you guys don’t ruin the PC version of the game by balancing it the same as the console ones.
Platform parity
Have you ever tried Gears of War on the pc? Designed for a gamepad but plays great with mouse and keyboard.
Judging by the weird menu, I’d say the game was pretty much ported with keyboard and mouse in mind.
I have no reason to think that keyboard and mouse will get any less consideration from Splash Damage.
It’s hopefully not something to be losing sleep over, we aim to please all! We’re not unaware of those issues, so you’ll just have to see what you think of the PC version come next Spring.
:stroggbanana:
Yeah, I don’t see the point, Gears of War has initially been designed to be a console game and only later a pc game and it still plays great. Brink does it even better and goes for a simultaneously.
It’s easy to make a game play great on a keyboard and mouse, yet it’s hard to do let it feel great on a gamepad. That means there’s a higher bar for the console version. A console game would suffer from a pc > console port, but a console > pc (which isn’t the case right now, it’s a simultaneous release) would hardly notice any difference.
Hey guys. Never fear, Tokamak has it right. In fact, solid mouse & KB controls were the first thing we nailed, and I’m confident you’ll be happy with them. We spend all our time playtesting with controllers because that’s very hard to get right (a lot of games struggle with this), so we’re giving it extra attention.
Also, the PC version will have nice, precise hit detection. No ‘fudging it’ there 
yay
bad console controls kills console games!
not played many pc games where they managed to mess up the mouse aim, you can always tweak it, sept arma 2 and its horrible acceleration ;O
I don’t think it’s getting the mouse control right that is an issue. It’s whether the game mechanics (hitboxes, AI, level design etc) are biased to a controller and if so whether that bias is corrected (if possible and necessary) for a PC release. The initial reaction to the SMART function seemed to exactly mirror this type of concern.
We ask why PC gaming is in a perceived decline. Surely a big part is that there is less and less to distinguish it from console games? If the experience of playing the game is the same on all systems, even when one is capable of providing a better experience (controls, graphics, networking etc) then it’s no wonder people buy a $200 console, there is no incentive to do anything else.
Well, of course, it’s going to be a LOOOONG time before consoles can compete with PC in terms of user generated content and modifications and extended community, so there’s always that. I can say for us, we’re not compromising what the PC version should be for console. Heck, as I mentioned in the ausgamers preview (http://www.ausgamers.com/news/read/2755333), we’re even including a fair bit of verticality in our maps, which is generally a no-no on consoles because of the controller limitations.
Overall, one of our top goals for Brink is finding ways to expose a whole new group of players (consolers) to the Enemy Territory type gameplay that Splash has already been doing for years on PC. It’d be a shame to undo that unique gameplay in the process, so we’re always very wary of that. In fact, one of my main mantras in the office is whenever anyone comes and asks me a particular question about how feature X or Y should work, first thing I say is, “well, lets talk about how Wolf and ETQW did it”
So will Brink have a W:ET style of combat/accuracy or more of a QW style accuracy? Both are completely different. Quake Wars has lots of different ranges of combat engagement where deciding your posture/gunsights are very important while in W:ET you could basically shoot at anyone while doing anything. Both systems fitted their context and both were great, how will Brink feel like?
I must say that the spread on these shotguns looks awfully wide:
I hope for tight like a tiger, too many massive spread games atm and they all feel so soft.
True. Sometimes I still long for the days of Raven Shield. Precise guns, two hits and you were out for the rest of the match. Now that was some tense gameplay.
That shot is a bit misleading. What looks like individual pellets in that picture coming from the shotgun is actually just a particle effect to make the gun feel more flashy when it fires. The actual projectiles stay much tighter than that. At close range, pretty much the majority of your buckshot is going into your target’s chest, as it should be
As for the feel of the game, the main way I’d compare it to previous ET’s is “more deliberate”. On the whole, default movement speeds have been brought down, and the overall size of the levels and the average engagement distances are very “up close and personal”. Also, it should hopefully feel very “punchy”. You’ll definitely know when you hit your enemy, and not because of some honk sound effect. I think one of the things that our E3 demo did best is really nail the visceral feel of the weapons and the combat.
I like how Shiv put it: “tight like a tiger” is a good way to sum up what we’re going for.
That said, we’re not a Rainbow Six/Counter Strike super lethal game here (though I love that kind of play myself… still have very fond memories of SWAT 3 back in the day). Finding the right balance is something we’re working on right now in our internal play tests.
Now that does sound good. I recon R6 lethality (blink and you’re dead) wouldn’t work with the parkour element either. You would be death by the time you finished your vault.
That leaves me with the idea that Gears of War is what could come the closest to the intimacy in combat.
The few times I’ve played Gears it’s felt as intimate as p*ssing into a waterfall.