FPS General

Ground Branch is one of the most exciting games in development right now, but the future of the game came into jeopardy last week.

BlackFoot Studios decided to go the crowd-funding route and set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund Ground Branch. The goal was set at $425,000 and multiple donation tiers were set up but, alas, it wasn't meant to be. Ground Branch managed to secure $111,000 in donations but that just wasn't enough to meet the goal and the Kickstarter has officially come to a close, with an unsuccessful attempt at funding. On Kickstarter, the project only gets money if the goal is met and, in this case, it wasn't.

John Sonedecker, BlackFoot Studios Founder, is vowing to fight on, however. We spoke to John about Ground Branch in an exclusive interviewlast month. Over on the official Ground Branch blog, John has posted an update on the status of the game...

Ground Branch, the upcoming tactical shooter from BlackFoot Studios, is currently in the process of being crowd-funded through Kickstarter. The studio posted an update to the funding page announcing that every copy of Ground Branch pre-ordered through during the crowd-funding stage of development will receive a full singleplayer campaign and co-op component.

Previously, Ground Branch was announced as a multiplayer tactical shooter and that singleplayer and co-op may come at an unspecified date in the future. BlackFoot guaranteed the singleplayer and co-op component but has noted that those aspects of the game will not initially ship with the Ground Branch. If you've already funded the game through the Kickstarter, your copy (or copies) of the game will be given the singleplayer and co-op components for no additional charge or fee.

Earlier this week, we did a spotlight on a brand new tactical first-person shooter that is in development by BlackFoot Studios.

The team, founded by John Sondecker - one of the developers responsible for the original Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six games - are hard at work on bringing tactical shooter back to their roots. Just the thought alone that a true industry veteran like Sonedecker is at the helm of Ground Branch is enough to get people excited, but after really taking a close look at the game, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

There are a plethora of reasons that Ground Branch should be getting you excited, but don't take our word for it. We had the chance to catch up with John Sonedecker, BlackFoot Studios Founder and Creative Director, to discuss the game and how his history working on such iconic titles as Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six have come to influence his development style in Ground Branch.

You can read our full interview below:

So, first off, how about some quick introductions. Who are you and how did you get your start in the gaming industry?

My name is John Sonedecker and I am the Founder and Creative Director of BlackFoot Studios. My career started back in 1997 when I decided I did not want to continue in the field of Architecture and was drawn to the interesting world of computer games. I was lucky enough to come in around the time Red Storm Entertainment was getting started and was instantly drawn to the possibility of working on a Tom Clancy style game with a new studio, so I decided to make the jump to games. I haven’t looked back since.

Ground Branch is a pretty exciting tactical first-person shooter that aims to take the genre back to its roots, and the guys working on the game - Blackfoot Studios - have launched a Kickstarter to help them move the project along.

Before you plunk down your money to help Blackfoot get their game going, however, you'll want to check out the video above in which Blackfoot Studios gives some commentary on a walkthrough of what they have put together so far. The game is far from being complete, but it's good to hear some more information straight from the developer.

Before we jump into the game itself, one thing that automatically gets us excited is the fact that John Sonedecker, founder of Blackfoot Studios, previously worked at Ubisoft Red Storm, before the Ubisoft acquisition. For those new to the shooter scene, Red Storm was founded by Tom Clancy and essentially invented tactical shooters in their game Rainbow Six...