Hawken devs 'exploring' melee weapons, decals and spectator system

A straw poll of PC Gamer writers suggests that the one thing better than being a giant robot is being a giant robot with a giant knife .

. Our combined psychic powers have clearly bent reality to our will, as it seems that mech-based multiplayer game Hawken may just be getting melee weapons in the near future.

We've been chatting with Chris Lalli, Adhesive Games' co-founder and lead animator, and he confirmed that the team was tentatively experimenting with the addition of close-quarters mech-mashing "in a controlled way that fits into the Hawken universe".

"We wouldn't want to see every mech running around punching or swinging swords at each other," he says, "or have a long-range sniper class staying in close to melee. I'd like to see specialized mech classes or balanced weapons that incorporate melee, but at the cost of ranged attacks or something along those lines."

He also talks about further improvements and additions to the game: counter-measures are to be iterated upon, without ever making them pay-to-win; the server browser is to be re-implemented in an improved form and matchmaking continually tweaked; and a spectator system is to be rolled out along with tournament support and balancing changes.

Lalli also describes plans to introduce decals and clan insignias, but holds back from promising full-customisation: "Player-created custom designs are a little harder to implement. At the moment I think it would require too much oversight on our end, to avoid offensive material."

We'll be bringing you the full interview tomorrow.