THE GAME
Ground Branch is an online multiplayer shooter (LAN play included), cut from the same cloth as the original Ghost Recon. It is being developed by former Red Storm Entertainment and Valve Software employees, in conjunction with United States Special Operations Veterans, determined to offer a unique and immersive experience to disenfranchised gamers that have been marketed to under the promise of “authenticity”, only to find themselves stuck with so many similar arena shooters.
In Ground Branch, players will take on the role of CIA Paramilitary Operators of the Special Activities Division. The Special Activities Division carries out deniable covert operations on foreign soil and often goes into a situation before anyone else, before Army Special Forces, before the SEALs.
Players will learn to respect the lethality and versatility of firearms as death can come quick and health does not regenerate. You are then encouraged to join a team, in order to test your strategies and abilities against other groups or clans. Map design is non-linear, featuring randomized objectives and spawns, so that no two rounds feel identical.
As an Operator, your actions and animations – such as reloading or weapon switching – will be just as smooth and deliberate as it is in real-life. To succeed in battle, you will be required to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the available weapon platforms, and to be able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Weapons behave as they should and are not artificially balanced. Once players have perfected their loadouts, they can save and name their customized settings for later use. Ground Branch is about player choices and realistic consequences. Your skill and ingenuity will be what allows you to succeed.
WHAT MAKES GROUND BRANCH DIFFERENT
REVIVING A GENRE: We are not creating an arcade game; nor are we competing with titles that model "War", like Armed Assault. The closest two working examples of what we are trying to accomplish are the Unreal Tournament modification, Infiltration (INF), and the early Ghost Recon titles (think of our game as sort of the marriage of those two, if that explains it in a sentence). We are creating a tactical shooter that focuses on the realistic aspects of player combat and movement. Those mechanics mean more to us than pure scale (ArmA).
IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO ALL CONTENT (NO KILLSTREAKS, UNLOCKS OR LEVELING): You will have access to all of the weapons and gear, right off the bat. No DLC / Content restrictions, ever. The reward for playing our game, is a genuine sense of accomplishment.
DEVELOPERS THAT ACTUALLY CARE: Every penny will go towards finishing the title; we are not using this money to setup offices. The game is designed with consideration in regards to just about everything we've seen (and dislike) in other games, and we always take the time the listen to the concerns of our community.
FUNCTIONAL REALISTIC DETAILS: Weapons and ballistics (including feet per second, bullet drop and simulated wind) are accurately represented. Certain rounds are capable of penetrating various materials, and fragmentation grenades actually produce physical shrapnel, rather than relying upon a generic "kill radius" circular deadzone that most titles use. These dynamic elements add a level of strategy to the game, not found in other titles.
GEAR AND WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION: This is not merely cosmetic -- your choices have a direct effect in game. Some examples include: Varying Levels of Body Armor (provides protection, but has more weight and bulk); Weapon Suppressors (provide reduced shot noise but make weapons more unwieldy in close quarters, and reduce the speed and penetrative capabilities of the projectile). These different effects are all based on real-life properties without any artificial balancing. Players also get to completely customize the look and function of their characters, right down to the number (and type) of pouches and the amount of ammunition they want to carry. The only "limitation" is that teams will be assigned a camo pattern by the server admin, on a per-map basis.
TACTICAL REALISM (A DEPENDABLE SET OF RULES): We have a group of actual combat operators assisting us with nailing the design. No bunny-hopping tactics, dolphin-diving headshots or dual-wielding arcade gameplay. There is no "Hip Fire", and you can cancel a reload cycle at any time to switch to your secondary weapon. Movement is restricted by real-world limitations and things like gear weight and fatigue are taken into consideration.
METHODICAL GAMEPLAY: Players must work and train together, learn to identify friendlies from tangos, communicate over VoIP, and adapt to unexpected scenarios (grenade physics are a blessing and a curse), and learn to respect their opponents. Training maps and exercises will be provided to address many of the scenarios players will face in the combat maps.
NO ARTIFICIAL BALANCING: Weapons and gear are implemented, indiscriminately, and their respected real-world pros and cons will be modeled (see our NORG section). For example: while a M249 LMG provides an "unfair" advantage to a M4 in terms of amount of ammunition and pure firepower, it is extremely heavy and unwieldy, making it unfavorable to use in CQB, and inaccurate while standing and moving. We have a saying "Bring the right tool for the job": we are focused on the effects of the weapons platforms on the player (Is their view restricted? Is it difficult to carry?).
NO SERVER-SIDE "CLASS" RESTRICTIONS": Players won't be fighting over the "Sniper Slot", and teamkilling / griefing someone over a weapon. Clans are encouraged to create their own squads, with the correct roles for the right situation. We are not imposing limits in respects to gear.
NON-LINEAR GAME DESIGN: No scripted "monster closets" or on-rails shooting. Maps have open designs and include plenty of explorable terrain, as well as structures/buildings with multiple entry points and routes. We are even working on game types that will randomly block or allow access to certain routes, so that no two back-to-back rounds are identical. The matches will be as dynamic as your strategies allow.
REALISTIC HEALTH SYSTEM: No regenerating health here. Our system allows a player to bandage a non-life-threatening wound. However, you will not be able to regain health at any time in a match -- only stop it from getting worse. Respawns will depend on the game mode and server settings.
WOUNDING SYSTEM: Not everyone comes out clean. Depending on what kind of projectile hits you, the speed of it, your body armor coverage, or the location of impact in your body (vitals, non-vital areas), your player will be effected. Wounds modify in-game abilities by various degrees. Adverse effects like stumbling if shot while running, staggering and limping when wounded, directly effect your combat effectiveness in game.
MORE THAN DEATHMATCH: Not everyone cares for basic deathmatch, and needs a bit of strategy to have fun. Good News: Our main gametype is a variation of "Assault", where one team defends and protects a series of objectives, while the other attacks and attempts to gain ground. This gametype is included to provide a challenge to players, by forcing them to come up with dynamic strategies against a dynamic opponent.
SERVER TOOLS: Players will be able to host servers however and wherever they want. Admins will have control over camo patterns, gear availability, allowed weaponry, and basically every other setting we can think of or support. We miss this amount of player customization, and we support it. Period.
MOD SUPPORT: As far as we're concerned: modding is the lifeblood of PC gaming. Full modding support will be available very soon after launch. We are committed to supporting the mod community to the best of our abilities, for the lifetime of the product, and look forward to the content our community will create. We will not only support it in the sense that the engine is capable of it, but we will go out of our way to provide various asset libraries, and we will showcase quality mods on our website.
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE GAME: We are a FULL licensee of EPIC Games Unreal Engine 3 and utilize the the most up-to-date builds. We have also licensed Speedtree from IDV,Inc. and a licensed AI solution is planned.
