Ground Branch.. It Lives!

[Jeza]

Good call agreed I shall post about it in the private section as a suggestion.

[Jonathan_1987_]

Good accurate review from a pretty good source on tactical sims...

 

https://youtu.be/_SXutXFcxbs

It's okay to be butt hurt Tw, Everyone here knows that you're a troll. That video you posted is old and the game still isn't even in Alpha stage yet. Dyslexi obviously didn't do his home work. Judge the game after the full release and then have your say. Nothing he said in the video is hardly valid given the early stage that GB is at. Everyone here know's that you're a troll and not worth my breath on saying of how stupid you sound just because of a specific isolated incident. 

Edited December 9, 2015 by Jonathan_1987_

[Jeza]

Honestly crash is not a troll, he just does not believe GB will come to fruition and does not see eye to eye with the devs and the direction they've taken, while I am of pretty much the opposite opinion to crash on GB its fair enough after eight years or so that he does not believe in the project. Either way it'll come out or it won't looking likely it will succeed now hopefully so we'll see, some people just don't like stuff you/I like take old friend of mine on bis forums Xeno who created domination, he hates arma3 and takes out of it and me for playing it yet still we can still chat and get along about all other things milsim, similar to crash who's a big OGR fan. Swings and roundabouts  

[Zeealex]

something...

It's okay to be butt hurt Tw, Everyone here knows that you're a troll.  

your statement is, first and foremost, utterly wrong, Crash is not a troll, he has an opinion, and he is allowed to share that opinion, whether we disagree with him or not. 

secondly, the only person here who seems to be getting their panties in a twist is you, because someone has stated their opinion to the contrary of yours you think that's okay to yell "TROLL!" and wave your arms around the place to someone who has been here for nine years, and who has grown to be quite a good, positive presence on this forum, if a little critical, but his critical voice is a rational, well researched one. 
you've been here since april, and you've made all of 5 posts, all of which are gushing over ground branch, and it seemed as though you were trying to hijack one thread with your twittering on about it. 

so in that case, you are the more likely candidate for the "forum troll" awards, than crash, so sit down, shut up and contribute something more than mindless gushing and namecalling. 


on the ACTUAL TOPIC, did anything get done about those head textures jeza?

Edited December 9, 2015 by Zeealex

[Jeza]

Yeah they are getting roughed/worn also getting tactical beards

[Zeealex]

whoop!  can't wait. 

 

just quickly, sorry, being a nit picky little cow again, I've noticed some of their head model's necks need to be tapered at the back, at the moment they're very straight and it looks kind of strange. 

Edited December 9, 2015 by Zeealex

[JohnTC02]

Jonathan, while you are entitled to your opinion name calling is not the way to get your point across so please make your posts polite and respectful.  

[Jonathan_1987_]

something...

It's okay to be butt hurt Tw, Everyone here knows that you're a troll.  

your statement is, first and foremost, utterly wrong, Crash is not a troll, he has an opinion, and he is allowed to share that opinion, whether we disagree with him or not. 

secondly, the only person here who seems to be getting their panties in a twist is you, because someone has stated their opinion to the contrary of yours you think that's okay to yell "TROLL!" and wave your arms around the place to someone who has been here for nine years, and who has grown to be quite a good, positive presence on this forum, if a little critical, but his critical voice is a rational, well researched one. 
you've been here since april, and you've made all of 5 posts, all of which are gushing over ground branch, and it seemed as though you were trying to hijack one thread with your twittering on about it. 

so in that case, you are the more likely candidate for the "forum troll" awards, than crash, so sit down, shut up and contribute something more than mindless gushing and namecalling. 

It's not just here he has done this. He rants about the smallest things, not just ground Branch. yes I do have an opinion and so does he but it's the way he said it. He could have been polite and let it be but no he goes on a huge rant about a comment that was made about him. He could have shrugged it off and said "See ya" but he didn't. So yeah there is my opinion and if you don't like it. too bad! Like you said, people are allowed to voice there opinion, on that note I haven't posted much here at Gr.net due to the fact that Ghost Recon has gone down hill and don't want anything to do with it any more. What is the problem with calling someone a troll? The way he was ranting sure sounded like one. I didn't start the argument, he did with the way he reacted. Oh and who has their panties in a twist now cuz I said something about your friend?  "so sit down, shut up and contribute something more than mindless gushing and namecalling. " I find it funny how you are being so hypocritical. Maybe he isn't a troll but he sure sounded like one.

 

Edited December 10, 2015 by Jonathan_1987_

[Zeealex]

I'll be PM'ing you to further discuss this, I don't want to Hijack a thread with discussions about another member

[Cpl Ledanek]

http://www.blackfootstudios.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8317#entry152280

[quote name='Jsonedecker' timestamp='1452234957' post='152280']
Hey everyone, welcome to a new year! Lots going on with us here, especially with Ground Branch. We'll get to that but first I would like to draw your attention to something we have partnered on with FragOut Studios named Sniper Tactical.

As some of you may know we partnered with FragOut Studios to help with the Weapons and Animation work for Ground Branch. Through that relationship we decided to lend them a hand in bringing some smaller less hard-core titles to market. The first of those titles is Sniper Tactical, a lemmings type puzzle game with sniper shooting mechanics mixed in. The gameplay revolves around bringing hostages to safe-zones which in turn is done by shooting enemies in correct order. Your job is to clear the path for your allies on the ground by taking out targets, bearing your own safety in mind. As enemies display various behavior types, it is up to you to learn how they will react and find a solution to each level. Hostages will move after you fire a shot so delivering accurate hits on the bad guys is not optional. Act quickly or slowly - depending on the situation.

Sniper Tactical is available as a Steam Early Access title on January 8th, 2016. While the experience isn't the same as Ground Branch, the price is right for an enjoyable experience that is easy to pick up and play, but still takes skill and patience to master. Give it a try and let the developers know what you think.

 
 

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/374170/
http://www.indiedb.com/games/sniper-tactical
http://fragoutstudio.com/

 

Now for some Ground Branch news...... Things have been moving along quite well recently. We have closed out sales of the Operator Edition and are getting some great testing, feedback and collaboration from those who decided to make the purchase. Multiplayer connectivity is finally getting to the point where matches can be played and even in its very rough state people are enjoying the experience. Tremendous work has gone into the UI and the work needed to make our unique customization systems work as needed in both a single player and multiplayer environment.

Gameplay is still very rough and there are lots of bugs and graphics glitches, but here are a couple videos of some Operator Edition owners giving the latest build a go.  Please remember you are watching a VERY early development build with LOTS of known issues and unfinished stuff.

 

 

This one is mainly played on a small developer test map that is used for various systems development/testing so the graphics are pretty basic. Its not a pretty map, but the video actually does a good job of showing off some of the fun gunplay you can have in small spaces. The players in the video seemed to have fun at least! Towards the end they end up in the Nature map for some outdoor fun as well.

 

 

And last but certainly not least we have had some nice work going on AI recently. Zoombapup made a news post in the forums this week that I think warrants a news post. http://www.blackfootstudios.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8310

The latest video shows the current progress on the Ground Branch AI, specifically the basics for movement, cover and engagement. Lots to do still, but its good to finally get things to a point where they are actually working in the Ground Branch main branch. Hopefully we will be able to get a first pass of our Terrorist Hunt style mode out to the Operator Edition users soon.

 

 

So we hope that everyone has a great 2016 and we hope to see you all finally playing Ground Branch soon!

Read this story on GroundBranch.com

 

Edited January 8, 2016 by Cpl Ledanek

[Rocky]

Thanks for the update, I might give the sniper game a look when the release it on EA.

[Lightspeed]

Just tried the Pre Release version of the game - v disappointed with where it's at after such a long time.

Feels like years to go to get it to a full game imho and it feels like a decade since JSonedecker started this wip.

It kinda feels like a clunky Arma 3 which leaves me wondering what the point of difference is with this game. It's a milsim not done as well as Arma 3 and with 1% of the assets and development. In fact, it's unfair to compare this to Arma 3 - A3 is so much more than GB in every way.

I know I will get in trouble for saying this but just being honest.

Just looking back at the BFS forums - they started the forums in 2007 - I'd been following the Devs at least a year before that. Back then there was a niche for this game - a decade later? Whatever they had planned has been done pretty much, and done well. I just don't see a market for this game - maybe I'll be wrong but I highly doubt it at this stage.

Edited April 1, 2017 by Lightspeed

[Zeealex]

Dude, there's like 5 of us on the dev team with an engine that hates us. 

I disagree with you on your last point, I think there is a place for it, if there wasn't I wouldn't be putting my time into it. 

As for your other concerns, i understand where you are coming from in a way, but like i said, there's such a small number of us that things chug along a lot more slowly, but we're getting there, and improvements can and will be seen over the next few releases, you can hold me to that. Hopefully with some improvements being done other improvements and additions will be seen much quicker. 

 

As much as I can understand your concern, its very easy to complain about little progress from the seat of the gamer without actually offering any form of solution, you could help me write up a document for John and the AI programmer on how to improve the atmosphere.

 

Your A3 comment had me laughing, its is not only a massive game developed by a massive dev team with a massive amount of money, it is also not even close to what ground branch wants to achieve. A3 is a huge open world sandbox milsim

Ground branch is a smaller game being developed by a small dev with a small amount of money, and is, in the most basic sense of it, a closed tactical shooter, so yes, arma will offer 'much more' because it is of a genre that typically does offer more than the typical shooter, it offers more than GR:W but GR:W was still very successful.

 

If think upon a more polished release people will start seeing that GB is its own game, its not trying to be anything, and it offers what it does and offers it well. 

How about helping sometime, we could use an extra hand on deck, no matter what you could offer. 

And I genuinely could use a hand with that document, you as someone who has played GR, R6 and arma probably more than I have you are probably more receptive to the atmosphere and how well it was done and what elements made that what it is. 

You see someone struggling in the street but they're giving it their all, what do you do, complain they're not working hard enough, or give them a hand?

 

None of this was meant as an attack or a shout back or anything, i'm just trying to offer an alternate point of view.

[AlexKimov]

Remind me:

There is a new game called Sumoman http://store.steampowered.com/app/552970/ made by 2 (two) russian devs. This guys spent four years to make this happen. You know what? The same story: a few negative commentaries about gameplay and so on (in russian).

I am agree with both of you. (Actually i don't play games at all, i am on the other side. Hey! Haters. One day i am coming for ya like Silent Bob and Jay.)

[Lightspeed]

So Zeealex, you know how I feel about Devs, this is not a criticism of the work done so far. 

I hope that it will all end well and that the game does sell well but for me at the moment it is that feeling of "So this is it? And? What is so amazing or different from all of the other first person shooters?"

When I refer to A3 for example its less about the quantity but more about weapon customisation, tactical stances, plus everything else. Many games have gunsmiths, look at Escape from Tarkov, as an example of small team development. There's a lot there.

So when GB is presented to a world of demanding and selective gamers, what is it selling which is a game chsnger? That's the part I don't see/feel at the moment.

And I am not the solution. A manual I can help with, but what is the manual for exactly? I don't thinka manual would make me feel better about the game.

Anyway, this is just my view. Others may love it already.

 

[Zeealex]

heeeey no harm no foul, sorry if i came across as offended, I had just woken up

Ground branch has a fairly decent weapon customization system I feel, multiple accessory types, player dictated placements etc etc, I have been goading John about adding paint etc, but that's his call, it's of course not going to go into the nitty gritty, because it isn't necessary.  

Escape from Tarkov is also reflecting trends and habits that I don't like within the games industry, with several 'editions' available before the game has even reached beta, with their most expensive edition not really offering much for the money other than ingame perks. I don't trust a AAA dev with nearly £100 of my money before I've seen a playable product in front of me, why should I trust an indie dev with no real background other than this game?
Also, while EFT has a small team its larger than GB's no doubt, and better funded, plus I honestly have no idea how long this game has been in development, it could've been on backburner for a long time. 
I'll admit the game has a unique idea behind it, but it also seems heavily inspired by DayZ and other survival games, I could be wrong. 

Quote

So when GB is presented to a world of demanding and selective gamers, what is it selling which is a game chsnger? That's the part I don't see/feel at the moment.

that's because it's not finished, its primary selling point is being the spiritual successor of the old red storm games John worked on, it's been demanded so often by communities such as this one, the end goal is for it to be a 'thinker's shooter' but not on the scale of arma and not survival based like Tarkov.  

 

Quote

And I am not the solution. A manual I can help with, but what is the manual for exactly? I don't thinka manual would make me feel better about the game.

you mean the document I was talking about? it was a talking point internally a while ago that the identity of the game and atmosphere could be improved and solidified, I thought it would be a good idea to research that and write up how it could be improved based on the games GB is inspired by. Of course it wont make you feel better about the game, because this isn't about you, it's about improving the game.
 

 

[Lightspeed]

I should have made it clearer. Forget me and think about all the millions of gamers out there. Do they read a manual to work out if they will like a game? 

Nope. It's never happened, not once. 

They play the game or look at the demos and vids and decide. Men (majority of gamers and critical to selling this game) do not read manuals. Period.

Unless players see missions, lots of maps, gr8 gameplay, etc etc etc then this game will not sell. A manual sounds like desperation to me. People don't get it so let's tell them why they should get it. Saying a game is a spiritual successor in itself means nothing. You need to see it.

So without wanting to you or anyonecelse off, I was merely giving my feedback that after 10 years of hearing and wstching GB and trying it again for myself, it's leaving me very underwhelmed. That, and how ######ty UE4 is for making maps and missions = disappointed.

[Zeealex]

Why are you talking about manuals? no one's talking about manuals here, that's such a weird thing to bring up :') 

you can be disappointed all you like, but you of all people should know how time consuming it is to work on this stuff, even making missions for arma, a well established game with its own advanced AI behaviour, assets, etc etc, can take weeks to perfect, we are having to build that virtually from scratch, factoring in the fact that the engine is a wild beast that still needs taming, none of us are working on it full time except maybe me, every single one of us has a full time occupation that takes up most of our lives, some of us have kids etc, it's not a lot of dev time to dedicate.

you want to see pretty things? that's partially my responsibility and I'm goading John to let me model just about everything right now. so any specifics you have to offer, offer them to me in PM. otherwise, generalised disappointment really doesn't help, not having a stab at you or anything, verbalise away, but critique is only good if it's highlighting or solving a specific issue along the way. you don't think the character models are good? say so, frankly they are looking rough around the edges but we're working to improve that at some point. 
AI not working as you'd expect? say so, what are they doing that you want changing?

We can't solve problems we can't see well enough, we need spare pairs of eyes, that's the whole point of early access releases, it's a glorified testing stage, it's all well and good saying something's ######, but what makes it ######? where specifically is the problem? Highlight these problems we can do something about it. 

Again, throw us a bone here, your car breaks down, are you just gonna stand there staring at it or are you going to get the issue pinpointed and solved?

Not accusing you of saying its ###### btw, it was just an example

Stick with it, you can punch me in the face if there aren't significant improvements soon. fact of the matter is I probably would've worked myself almost to death by then anyway so i'd appreciate the nap  

Edited April 2, 2017 by Zeealex

[Lightspeed]

I knew I'd get into trouble

I still love your passion though and I don't question the skills you have nor those of the Dev team.

[NightCrawler]

Lighty it's a good thing you've not been playing DayZ with me for the last 3 years and watched them get almost no where. 2 steps forward 4 steps back, making games is not the business I would choose.

John Q Public is as mean as they come and no matter what the devs do, someone is getting themselves all riled up. To prove it just look around this site, and Rocky don't even make games. 

[Zeealex]

5 hours ago, Lightspeed said:

I knew I'd get into trouble

I still love your passion though and I don't question the skills you have nor those of the Dev team.

Trouble? Nope, this is just a discussion, no feelings hurt, i'm just trying to reassure you that these things take time and we're working hard to make the necessary improvements

 

The dayZ situation is weird, AFAIK the original dev just took the money and ran, leaving BIS to pick up the pieces, they've been prioritizing A3 as that's their flagship, and the new engine is proving to be a battle. 

 

As I said, it takes time, patience is required. In terms of ground branch, think about it, we actually have a fairly decent base game out, it just needs some (rather large) improvements

[pz3]

IMHO... if ground branch did this one thing. I think it would be a slam dunk.

Sell it, without steam, only activation, no root kits.

 

I cant stand Steam to be honest. Much hate for it. Also dont make it a 40gb game. 

Some devs have lost their minds with these huge file sizes. 

[AlexKimov]

Steam is not just a simple publising platform for the games. The biggest one. Devs can't ignore it because we (devs) want it especially without any big publisher on your back.

There is nothing equal to Steam. It's sad but true. )

[Zeealex]

I have to agree with the lovely Mr Kimov here, steam is a juggenaught in the industry these days. 

[pz3]

I dont know all the binding agreements with steam.... but. 

 

Not saying it shouldnt be used at all but hopefully not the only option.  would be nice.