EDIT: Sadly, funding unsuccessful. $111,111 out of $425,000 by 1897 backers.

Seriously, it has started. If you like old-school tactical shooters, this will be your new game. It is Multiplayer-only at launch, the Single-Player and Co-op will be free to all pledgers post-launch. $15 and you support these guys and you can signal a change in the FPS industry, they've been working on this for years already without much funding. C'mon, $15 and up. ;-)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/670743543/ground-branch




http://groundbranch.com/

Reward chart: http://www.blackfootstudios.com/images/RewardMatrix.jpg

http://www.fpsgeneral.com/news/ground-branch/20746-exclusive-ground-branch-interview-with-blackfoot/

http://www.offdutygamers.com/2012/06/off-duty-gamers-interview-with-ground-branchs-john-sonedecker/

http://www.shacknews.com/article/74571/in-ground-branch-infantry-authenticity-is-key/

Dang, that sounds like fun...

Perhaps I should.

What? No moar replies? I can't believe you GOGers are passing this game...

Here, watch these videos: :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9e7Er-4LDA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVStChs5Uuc

I'm surprised no one's talking about this. It's got an ex-Red Storm developer (whose name can be verified through Mobygames) who's worked on Ghost Recon (confirmed), Rogue Spear (confirmed) and Rainbow Six (also confirmed, albeit a smaller role), with a pre-alpha presented to the public that looks nicely shaped up to be a real hardcore tactical shooter - all of which should appeal to tactical fans. According to the devs (via PM, but still awaiting further clarification), it's going to be DRM-free too. It's disappointing this isn't getting as many backers as it should.

For myself, I do not talk about this kickstarter, as it absolutely does not fit the games I enjoy. And I do think this is the main reason why it does not get a lot of backers.

It is probably because the hardcore "Tactical Shooters" are very niche market. I think that most players actually want the arcade shooters, when it becomes to realistic it becomes to much a struggle and therefore either bore players or frustrates them. It requires a lot of time and effort to get into, and since there are already some games out there (albeit not new nor many) who caters to this niche and have a user-base, it will be difficult for a new contender to get in, especially at this point when they are looking for backers and not buyers.

To be honest, there are just to much interesting kickstarters these days. It's becoming impossible to support every single one. Same goes for all the indie bundles.

I think it looks amazing. I'm still thinking about pledging.

The problem is it is multiplayer only, and I don't really play multiplayer games due to a crappy internet connection, irregular/inconsistent free time and don't know anyone into the same types of games as me.

If it was singleplayer on launch then I would back it in a heartbeat.

Hello,

I am the Producer on Ground Branch. First of all, we have a community of gamers that play these types of games; most of us old enough to have "limited game time" -- I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibilities for you to "Squad Up" with some like-minded gamers.

We completely understand what you guys want, and why you want it. We want the same things. We are as "indie" as it gets; this game is basically a hobby for us, at this point (we are making $0, and all have day jobs and bills to worry about). However, we need money to make this happen in the first place. Not everyone wants to work on something for free. The money is going to help us bring on more team members so we can crank this sucker out. Once we get the funding we need, the game will grow.

In our design, we have planned an extremely robust cooperative campaign mode (which this old-school tac community incorrectly labels as "Single Player"). This will basically get you an "updated Ghost Recon", with a full and feature-complete AI solution (Kynapse, by Autodesk).

More or less, after we launch the MP product (which is focused on pitting two human teams against each other, in objective-heavy maps, with randomization elements -- look up the UT Mod "Infiltration" and the game mode "EAS" to get a better idea of where we're headed), we plan to use the money from the retail sales to launch the cooperative portion of the game.

Also, did I mention that content updates for the initial game are free to owners of the game? $15 now, gets you all of that additional content when the time comes. Forgive me for being bold, but I feel like that's a no-brainer if this is your sort of game. The only sort of paid content we have agreed to produce are bigger "Expansion Packs" -- just like the olden days of PC gaming. There will be no micro transactions or DLC compatibility breaking.

And to address the concerns over DRM: we are not using any sort of intrusive DRM mechanisms, at all -- no SecuROM, nothing of that nature. The only "DRM" we will use will either be a CD-Key check on install (probably through GameSpy, if we settle on that solution), and worst-case-scenario, an online-authenticator (Steam). We are planning to have full mod support, allowing the community to shape the game into whatever they desire. UE3 is great at supporting mods, but the recently launched Steam Workshop also piqued our interests (auto-updating mods is pretty slick in games like Skyrim). Again, that sort of choice will come at a later time, but I promise you: we are not going to use some evil DRM software that only allows you to install X_Number of times, or whatever. Never, ever, never, forever.

I hope that clears some of it up, and perhaps changes your mind a bit?

Help us out. Spread the word. We don't have a lot of time.

Cheers.

I'll pledge soon

I NO VERY INTERESTD!

Hey welcome to the forums. Thanks for clarifying where you guys stand with the game's direction. Regarding DRM, will you guys be able to finalize a solution before the KS ends, or will the decision only be made after it ends? Personally I like it best if it's just an offline cdkey.

Regardless, the gameplay sounds lovely. I wish you guys the best of luck.

-edit- Out of curiosity, will the game feature destructible environments? And if so, to what extent? For example, will you be able to break down doors with charges? etc.

Pledge as soon as I get paid ;D

Thanks.

That kind of decision is something that comes much later. The best I can promise at this point is that we're not going to be using SecuROM or any other sort of obtrusive service. We're currently evaluating GameSpy's CD-Key check on install service, and Steam's online authentication check. That's are far as we're going to go with it.

The game will only feature destructible stuff as part of scripted mission sequences. For example, one team of players may be tasked with defending an ammunition depot, while the assaulting team is tasked with destroying it. Big events like that would be scripted, as the engine is already calculating projectile physics and replicating an insane amount of data over netcode. Also, the engine is not designed for that kind of stuff in mind. It would be cool to have, in some areas, but it's just not a major feature of the engine.

We do plan to allow door-breaching, window-breaking and various "small scale" destructive actions.

I was never a fan of this type of shooter. Give me a kickstarter for a new Quake-like or Doom-like and you can take all my money.