Upcoming tactical shooter from Blackfoot Studios: Ground Branch

[Laid3acK 74]

Hello all,

Ground Branch out : http://www.blackfootstudios.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7582

Good game.:)

edit, not see the vitamin post, sorry.

[Takoda 10]

[Tonci87 163]

So after all this time all they have to show is a tech preview? I´ll start to be exited once I see some AI.

[sic-disaster 311]

Don't be a negative Nancy Tonci! :p Can't we all just be happy that this is still being developed after all this time and after all these setbacks they have had? How easy would it have been for them to give up, and yet they didn't because they are dedicated to making this game happen. I for one will throw lots of moneys at this as soon as I can use Paypal to purchase from their store, because despite how much I like ArmA, I long for a game like the old Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon without the limitations of their old engines, and for which ArmA is not a proper replacement. Have a look at some video's, or download the FREE tech preview and see if that can't convince you of the awesome potential this game has :)

[Tonci87 163]

Don't be a negative Nancy Tonci! :p Can't we all just be happy that this is still being developed after all this time and after all these setbacks they have had? How easy would it have been for them to give up, and yet they didn't because they are dedicated to making this game happen. I for one will throw lots of moneys at this as soon as I can use Paypal to purchase from their store, because despite how much I like ArmA, I long for a game like the old Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon without the limitations of their old engines, and for which ArmA is not a proper replacement. Have a look at some video's, or download the FREE tech preview and see if that can't convince you of the awesome potential this game has :)

I know it has potential but yeah I´m sceptical. Somehow I don´t believe that they can program a decent AI (the hardest thing in game development) if they took this long to have a tech demo.

[froggyluv 2130]

Agree with Tonci87 (cant help but pronounce your name as Tonic87 lol), the proof is in the puddin and in these kind of games it's most def the quality and fun of fighting against a robust AI. Nothing makes a grown man feel sillier than a laborious pre response getup contemplating which handle grip to use for 40 minutes only to encounter idiots who just stand around oblivious or aimbots. Tried the tech and it is pretty nice and Im a huge sucker for PiP scopes but not really sure what makes this game stand apart from anything else yet. Merely stripping away the glitzy fat of a BF or CoD does not make a good tac shooter inherently great.

Swat 4 was one of the best if not best Tac shooters of all time. No the enemy AI was not perfect but they were fun to gauge as your job was trying to arrest the subject rather than just "Blast em!" every time you see movement. There was always that tension of a stunned subject starting to regain his senses, realising he's flanked and deciding whether to go for his weapon all the while fantastic banter of "Get down!!" of teamates and "F#$ck you!!" for the bogey -excellent stuff. The gritty urban setting, great friendly AI radio chatter as well as dispatch just sealed the deal. BI could learn from this type of immersive banter rather than the tried and untrue "Go! Ill cover!!!" -really?

Anyways, this has potential but they need to decide on a believable and engrossing setting with all the right 'element'. ;)

[13islucky 10]

I have to admit that the amount of drool coming from those videos worries me slightly. It does have a lot of potential, that much is very true, but I honestly have to see more before I'm sold.

[sic-disaster 311]

I know it has potential but yeah I´m sceptical. Somehow I don´t believe that they can program a decent AI (the hardest thing in game development) if they took this long to have a tech demo.

AI is going to be difficult for sure. But if their Kickstarter had succeeded they would have gotten here a lot sooner. The fact is that there are just 2 guys working on this, and part time instead of full time because they are family men who need to provide for their family. Now there isn't going to be another Kickstarter as far as I know. This is their new solution, the new hope of getting this game off the ground properly. If they can get the funds they need to expand their team even a bit and start work on this again full time, progress will be made a lot sooner. It is simply very unfortunate that that piece of shit Takedown stole their thunder even though they have been working at this for far longer than they have, and the Takedown guy had not even decided on an engine yet! People seem more inclinded to pay for an IDEA rather than something tangible because, in it's alpha state, "It doesn't look so good." So now they put a tech demo in people's hands so they can convince themselves of the potential that Ground Branch has to offer.

The question people need to ask themselves is, do I want another oldschool tactical shooter like the original R6 and Ghost Recon, and is that worth supporting? If the answer is yes, than this game is it. They have the pedigree, they have the conviction, the drive, to make it happen. They could have quit a long time ago, and many people would have. But this is a project born of passion, and that fire is still burning. And indeed, the fire and the passion can be seen in the tech demo. In time, it will get there. AI might not be there soon, because as far as I know the current plan is still to give people a good multiplayer game first, and use the funds of that to create a good co-op and single player experience. But they need the funds to get there first. Last I heard they were looking into a good third-party software that I can't recall the name of to help out with the AI instead of using brainless MP bots, but it is expensive.

All I know is that a publisher is not going to fund them, and therefor we must, if we ever want to see a game like this again.

In addition I'd like to add another video that I just found, which gives a closer look at the team room.

The team room is where you go before a match starts. It is where you review missions, choose gear in the locker room, and they have a lot of other planned features in there which you can check out.

One of the coolest things I've seen in there is the mission room, which has 8 tv screens on the wall, one for each player, which I think will be the main way to spectate other players through helmet cams! Now that is really, really cool.

[zoog 18]

Somehow I don´t believe that they can program a decent AI (the hardest thing in game development) if they took this long to have a tech demo.

That's one reason why they need money coming in, to actually hire the specialists they require :) Also, don't forget they basically had to start from scratch when they moved to UE4. But people are allowed to be skeptical, you can always wait a bit and see how it develops in the upcoming months for the Steam Early Access program. Maybe you'll get more faith by that time. I do hope people will be confident that these guys can pull it off and they have the vision for a real next-gen tactical shooter, with a lot of novel ideas and details, and not that main stream crap. For a few bucks it's a small risk with potentially a really big reward.

Edited May 3, 2015 by zoog

[jeza 5415]

Little bit of killhouse speed run with the AK on operator edition

[negah 26]

They should increase the reload animation time.

In the video it took pretty much 1 second to reload.

[zoog 18]

New Tech preview build released, with a bunch of fixes/new features

* Small stability fixes

* Reworked the weapon attachment system

* Is now much cleaner

* Allows multiple attachments (Due to this addition, we've disabled multiple FOV's until further notice)

* Allows user to fine tune placement on rail

* Detects overlap between attachments (overlapped attachment turns red)

* Actual attachment mesh used during process for better visualization

* Removed need to selected point for muzzle attachments

* Improved removal process by creating dedicated removal point for each item.

* More work done in area of restricting certain attachment types not being allowed to attach to others

* Reworked sight alignment system to be more robust and much easier to use (good for modders!)

* Reworked magnified optic magnification system

* added LinearFOV array to BaseOpticalSight BP.

* values should be in linear FOV at 1000m.

* will automatically calculate angular FOV's using these values using formula 0.0573 x linear FOV.

*Verified formula using information provided by optic manufacturers.

* Eye position reverts to non-engaged position during freelook if you look off center +/- 5°

* Fixed RedDot_CompM2 sight to be facing proper direction

* Lots animation tweaks and updates for locomotion, stances, grip and reloading (Still focusing on only M4 weapon for reloads)

* New recoil system in now in place. Still needs fine tuning, but basics are there

* M4 bolt now works properly during firing

* Added in caliber specific brass casings for ejection from weapon

* Fixed up some values so ejected brass no longer spins on ground and now lasts 40-60 seconds before fading

* Fixed various typos in UI

* Cleaned up pacth UV's on character

* Added in collison volumes to block off non-playable areas in ShootingRange map

* Added in missing mag release button to M4

* Upped the magnified optic RTT size to 512x512 from 256x256 to get clearer picture

* Changed color of 20rnd mag to black to fit weapon color scheme better and made sure it fit Mk12SPR properly

* Adjusted arm patch mesh size to be correct to NATO standards

* Reworked landscape layers/shaders to fix crash bug with terrain collision on some maps

* fixed suicide command firing after respawn

* fixed sight zeroing on Mk4 10x

* added support for invert mouse

* added support for Double Click Time.

* added smooth mouse setter/getter to fix log spam & ensure its set.

* fixed bolt hold open being set if round is fired without magazine in.

* charge animation will now play if bolt is forward & chamber is empty.

* improved sprinting.

* added bWeaponPositionPreventsSprinting variable.

* set if player switches to on target weapon position while sprinting.

* resets if player switches to off target weapon position or stops sprinting.

* added GBCharacter::CanSprint() - returns false if reloading or if bWeaponPositionPreventsSprinting is true.

* added direction check to GBCharacterMovement - must be +/- 22.5° within forward. Fixes moon walking

* replaced Sight_FlipUpBUIS with Sight_FlipUp_Back & Sight_FlipUp_Front

[Deathstruck 375]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, but couldn't really find an answer for it. Is the game solely focused on western-centric operators/equipment etc. or is there some variety planned like eastern GRU Spetsnaz units etc.?

Edited May 10, 2015 by Salvatore_Lee

[zoog 18]

The game is based on Ground Branch, which is a subsection of the Special Activities Division of the CIA. So I assume you probably won't play as an eastern GRU Spetsnaz etc. any time soon. No idea if there are any plans for the future, or maybe as OPFOR etc.

[Janez 507]

Wont there be PvP and therefore some kind of OpFor?

[Tonci87 163]

You know, this is offtopic, but I really miss interesting enemies with some personality in games. All you get today is either

A: Towelheads

B: Generic bad guys in camouflage with obscure agenda

C: Nazis

D: Russians/Soviets

E: Monsters/Zombies

Really uncreative.

Could one developer bring H.A.R.M. back? :p

Let´s see who remembers that

[JdB 151]

You know, this is offtopic, but I really miss interesting enemies with some personality in games. All you get today is either

Could one developer bring H.A.R.M. back? :p

Let´s see who remembers that

Obviously No One Lives Forever :p

If you're after creative enemies then you shouldn't play a game that is supposed to be realistic. Unless they go for the "realistic" sci-fi enemies like ArmA3 :bounce3:

[Deathstruck 375]

The game is based on Ground Branch, which is a subsection of the Special Activities Division of the CIA. So I assume you probably won't play as an eastern GRU Spetsnaz etc. any time soon. No idea if there are any plans for the future, or maybe as OPFOR etc.

Wont there be PvP and therefore some kind of OpFor?

That's what I thought as well. I'd love to have the same gun/equipment porn variety for OpFor or the possible Russians/eastern centric units (something that is usually present only in obscure russian/ukrainian tactical RPG strategies). ;)

But I am guessing that PvP will probably be just two different Ground Branch units againts each other. :(

You know, this is offtopic, but I really miss interesting enemies with some personality in games. All you get today is either

A: Towelheads

B: Generic bad guys in camouflage with obscure agenda

C: Nazis

D: Russians/Soviets

E: Monsters/Zombies

Really uncreative.

Could one developer bring H.A.R.M. back? :p

Let´s see who remembers that

I do. Cate Archer still remains the first gaming crush of mine till this day. :dance1:

You also forgot to add the usually specific eastern asian country (China, North Korea) or corrupt PMC, if we take in account the new shooters. :p

Edited May 10, 2015 by Salvatore_Lee

[Janez 507]

I do. Cate Archer still remains the first gaming crush of mine till this day. :dance1:

Welcome to the club buddy :D

[Tonci87 163]

Obviously No One Lives Forever :p

If you're after creative enemies then you shouldn't play a game that is supposed to be realistic. Unless they go for the "realistic" sci-fi enemies like ArmA3 :bounce3:

That´s why I said it was offtopic, of course a realistic game can´t be staring H.A.R.M., but even Arma 3s Opfor guys (CSAT) are really boring. There is no purpose to them, no clear agenda, etc.... The AAF is better, but still...

The ChdKZ in Arma 2 were much better bad guys.

[krycek 349]

All I can say about NOLF is that there must be a hole in my pocket!:o

Such a great game with awesome gameplay.As for enemies I liked Replica forces from FEAR 1 even though we're in sci-fi territory,they were different from pure sci-fi enemies like bots,aliens etc,but also from established regulars like towelheads and the bad ruskies.

I think what was unsettling about them was that they acted like a professional army and also human-like,military chatter,swearing etc until someone pops their telepathic commander.

[zoog 18]

A roadmap has been posted online, giving an idea what they want to implement for the Early Access Steam build. You can view it here: https://trello.com/b/Th9370Gy/ground-branch-roadmap

It's still being tweaked and changed where needed, it's not a list of everything, but the global goals and features they want to have for the EA build should be in there.

[zoog 18]

Good news! They've got an AI guy on board to help develop the AI framework for Ground Branch and the Unreal Engine.

As everyone knows, good AI is essential in a tactical shooter that includes Single Player and Coop modes. We have taken a big leap forward in achieving that goal for Ground Branch with the addition of Phil Carlisle (zoombapup on the forums). BlackFoot Studios will be collaborating on developing both a friendly and enemy AI solution for Ground Branch and Unreal Engine 4 in general. Phil brings a vast work history and knowledge and we look forward to working with him to bring the world of Ground Branch alive!

Phil Carlisle has been making games for more than 20 years. Initially as programmer on the multi-million selling Worms series of games for Team17. Then as an indie developer using a variety of engine technologies. During his time as an indie, he has written chapters in books such as the AI Wisdom series, the Game AI Pro series and has written and published academic work in a number of books and conference papers. He also served as CTO for a startup AI company focussed on emotional AI characters and user-centric AI programming tools called StoryBricks. More recently Phil has been contributing to the AI knowledge base for Epic's newly released Unreal Engine and has been finishing up his PhD work on Digital Actors. Phil's personal goal is to empower game designers to create believable characters by creating easily usable tools that drive more dynamic characters in much the same manner as a director drives an actor's performance.

Phil plans on charting his progress with forum posts and videos, so please check him out in the BFS forums!

And here's an new and fresh interview with John Sonedecker from GR.net: http://www.ghostrecon.net/html/interview-john-sonedecker.html

[chrisb 196]

Good news! They've got an AI guy on board to help develop the AI framework for Ground Branch and the Unreal Engine.

And here's an new and fresh interview with John Sonedecker from GR.net: http://www.ghostrecon.net/html/interview-john-sonedecker.html

Good news. ;)

[froggyluv 2130]

Looked into their new AI guy and he ran a now defunct AI middleware group called Storybricks for Ai expression:

Now this will make for new, exciting and might I say progressive Spec Ops AI.