Kickstarter Project from the makers of Ghost Recon/Rogue Spear/Rainbow Six

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Arclight

It does say specifically it is an "online multiplayer shooter". Might be their failing actually; a lot of people just aren't interested in MP-only games.


And to the earlier question of why they didn't sign on with a publisher: it's because no one is interested in funding it. Rainbow Six went from 1st-person tactical squad-based shooter to 3rd person cover-based shooter, complete with regenerating health. It's what the majority wants, it is what sells the most.

Sadly, that situation is reflected in the funding status... I'd fund it if I had a creditcard but they'd still fall far short of their target.

It's a bit odd though: Arma is doing well enough to warrant constant support and sequels. There's definitely a market for something like Ground Branch.

You hit the nail on the head this has been in the back of my mind as well there are games like Arma II that some what fill the void left behind from the "good old days" and the fact that they want to bring back the good days of tactical shooters" is some what wishful thinking those games where the main stream of PC gaming when PC was not really main stream.

Things have changed a lot since those days back in the late 90's early 2000's now gaming is a very bug business for better or worse and the market for a very specific game just is not there for a reasonable price.You need to make money which means that you are forced pretty much with any game even for PC to make it attract a large audience if you are going to make any money on it.

I think honestly people see Ground Branch and they think "This seems like great concept but I already have X game that with mods is pretty darn well satisfying my itch." The other issue is simply that times are tight right now and many people just are much less willing to splurge on things let alone something that is not even a sure thing yet.And honestly though not near the potential caliber of Ground Branch the market is saturated with similar (vaguely)games and even if they do get the money they will still need many people buy the game when it comes out most of the possible market let me be brutally honest will find Ground Branch simply too hard these folks playing COD BF3 (which some you would have to attract) just wont be drawn in and if they did they will toss the game in a week because the play style is so different or they'd force a more action style.We that played in the olden days we played that way becuase that was the way you played this mind set is not there anymore.I recall even back then Many guys in the barracks that had PC owned RB6 and GR but for some even back them before the trend of fast past passed fps they just found the game play too hard.The market for a true tactical shooter just is not there in large enough numbers given the cost that such a game costs to make now if it where some niche war game like TOAW or the like or the Combat mission series those are very niche but they also do not cost that much to make either.

Bottom line it is just bad timing I am not trying to be negative merely realistic.What happens also if they do get the money then they make the game then they are going to see the dollar signs and make changes here and there to make more attractive to a larger crowd.On the Ground Branch webpage it even implies that they might make a console version at some point.

I will watch the numbers at kickstarter see what happens if gets the to right place by my next pay check which is a few days before the deadline I will give a Triple A title MSRP to them.I just hope that no Bronies end up giving 2,500+ and then has a some stupid bronie deal put on an in game billboard Yuo know my younger sister had My Little Pony toys and i used to melt them in the microwave.

[Arclight]

I like the show well enough but you wouldn't see me sticking it in a game. Or buying anything related to it for that matter.


I think the timing might be part of it, yeah. Currently Arma is going strong and Red Orchestra 2 is fairly recent. Also, there's another project that's very similar: TAKEDOWN

I think there's another one floating around, though I might be thinking of Takedown.

If Ground Branch would have popped up on Kickstarter before Takedown, the situation may well have been reversed. As it stands now, the tactical FPS crowd keeping track of Kickstarter likely already send their money to this other project.


There's another thing though: the disparity between the goals of those 2. GB is asking more than twice as much. Difference is Takedown has financial backing lined up, using the Kickstarter funding as proof that the product is viable. Meanwhile GB seems to want to do everything themselfs.

If GB got funded, I'd still have more confidence in Takedown actually making it to market.

[Stealhead]

Doing some reading on the Ground Breaker website and going through the vids they have made I think they are over doing it.I saw in one video about the sound effects that they plan to make something like 20 different magazine dropping to the ground on different surfaces.Really?that is a bit too much yes just one or two sounds for the same thing is boring but 20 or more that is putting too much detail into something that is not going to really get noticed all that much in the heat of in game battle you are not going to really be listening for mag drops.

There is such a thing as too much detail if you put too much into a project it is either going to cost too much money to be reasonable or the project will fail because no one wants to compromise.the reality with anything mass market is that it must have some compromise in it somewhere.

I honestly knew nothing about Takedown until you mentioned it Arclight doing some research I have to agree with your opinion. Interesting to note that it seems the folks that worked for Redstrom on the classic tactical shooters are not all seeing eye to eye project wise.

I like what they did with Takedown serious investors will have raised eyebrows when they see that fans of the genre gave $200,000 of their own money.

I think for a true tactical shooter indy is the way to go no doubt about it.The big companies are making money hand over foot with their crap and they have no reason to change their ways if the hard core boycott a given game no message is even received by the big time publisher.Part of this trend I blame on multiplayer the reason it is addictive people get caught up in powning other players and the unlocks all that stuff and a crappy game can hide in plain sight on top of that the pure consumerism of the main stream titles people will by those games and like them because they are pretty much programmed to enjoy it and if they want to play with everyone else they have no other option.People are busy trying have good stats or unlock something they do not sit down and say "that is the same M4 model that they used in 2007 they just added a new sight to unlock."

[Arclight]

Last day of Kickstarter, some 12 hours to go. Sitting at 1/4 of their goal.

[Stealhead]

I think it fizzled because a purely tactical type shooter is just not what is popular right now it is simply not the the type game people really want to play right now.Another thing that honestly I found interesting is that until several backers pointed it out Blackfoot was not showing love to other projects on kickstarter kind of a vibe thing you know.I think maybe some regular kickstarter supporters may not have backed for that reason.

Also with this type game which has not been around many people truly do not know what a tactical shooter is they never played those old games and have no collective memory so they read Rainbow Six and such and they see the old games they might actually think....boring.The kickstarter did likely attract some of the old time players but that is not really a large audience not large enough to get 425,000.

Now take the Wasteland 2 kickstarter which did very well now that did it right they likely got lots of backing from people that actually played the original Wasteland people that played the original Fallouts and people that played and liked the newer Fallout games and then tried the original Fallouts and liked them.So they read about Wasteland 2 and they want a bite.

Blackfoot Studios is just going to have to try and market the game harder simple as that.I think maybe some of these Blackfoot Studios guys maybe are a bit self righteous they need to be less so and convince people that have never played a shooter tactical that "this is the game you want to play" because the old we made this game or that game 10 or more years ago that just simply is not relevant to many people.If you are asking for money you need to make the game relevant to virgins so to speak.Grass roots baby.