Yes, I also have the exact same oppinion.

Once the deadline is set, it is set. No changing, only canceling. There are 5 days left. If they do not reach the funds no one is charged and they get nothing. If they hit $425,000 or more, everyone who pledged is charged and the money goes to BFS.

The $425,000 is what they need to make the game playable. With less than that, they will likely not be able to finish the game due to lack of funds.

If they want to they can relaunch another Kickstarter at a later date, though if it fails once I doubt it will attract others and might even loose some backers. But who knows?



I agree, but competitive PvP is cheaper. Ever wonder why we see more PvP mods (Insurgency, Resistance and Liberation, ect.?) than SP mods? Because it is easier to do. Therefore it costs less money. Maybe they should have raised it to $700,000 minimum and promised co-op/SP.

Though everyone who pledges will get SP/co-op for free, though at a later date.

PvP doesn't require AI. Making 3D models, levels, textures, and weapon stat changes are a lot easier than programming AI. So few modders go there.



The Jedi Master

Well, it's true that with PvP gaming you don't have to program an AI which is a feature that you have to program in single player but don't forget that with every multiplayer gaming mode you need to have network and synchronization programing (which you don't need in single player) a kind of programing that it's far from easy (just like AI is). If PvP is easier to program than single player it wouldn't be that easier and I wouldn't bet my money that a PvP game is in fact easier to program than a Single player game. But I do agree that Co-Op game mode is the hardest to program since it must combine both the AI programing that we need in single player with network and synchronization programing that we need for every MP game.

It's noticible that currently many games (if not most) seem to follow the MP PvP "route" but the problem is if you have most of competing games going the PvP route you will have a much bigger competition while currently and since it's "kinda rare" to see single player games (at least with a decent AI) this means that competition in this gaming area (single player) is much more scarse and therefore probably more profitable in the end.
Again I will repeat myself: Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 (from the first version up to Raven Shield) were classics due and basicaly only due to their very immersive single player campaigns/careers and definitly not so much for their MP game modes (sole exception perhaps for the Co-op mode in Ghost Recon which allowed you to play the campaign missions in MP Co-Op) and being Ground Branch a sucessor (even if it's only "spiritual") of Ghost Recon and Rainbow 6 I find odd that a single player campaign/career wasn't and still isn't the top priority for Ground Branch devs, even with all the "PvP modes are easier" to program arguments - For me this is like for example imagining that Ferrari sudently decides to make SUVs and Sedans instead of their traditional sports cars, yes SUVs and Sedans are easier and cheaper to make (and more profitable in the end) but a Ferrari sports car covers a unique niche market which hardly has a competition and Ferrari making SUVs and Sedans would completly lose it's purpose and probably it wouldn't work in the end because the competition in this market is already "too overcrowded" and "fierce" - a similar thing happens IMO with simulation/realistic gaming.

IMO, if I were to release Ground Branch and if I couldn't release all the desired features in the initial version, I would do the following:
1- First released the single player mode (campaign/career) together if possible with PvP mode.
2- Later I would release the Co-Op mode thru an addon/upgrade/whatever...
While I do desire that Co-op would be released in the initial version this strategy which was used in Hidden and Dangerous 2 seemed to have worked quite well...

PvP is easier and cheaper to do. With an SP, you need to make advanced AI, detailed mission briefings, sophisticated missions, more voice acting, some scripting and similar.

There is a reason why most budget games and mods go for PvP online rather than SP/co-op.

One thing I can garantee to you -> Multiplayer with its Internet/network and synchronization codes is definitly not easy to program and I again I wouldn't bet that Multiplayer PvP is actually easier or much easier than Single Player to code.

I don't agree that most budget games go for PvP online rather than SP (only) due to MP PvP being easier to program or cheaper. IMO the reason for this is due to the current impresssion/"line of thought" (which I'm not sure it's true) that Multiplayer games attract more players than Single player ones (and modeling 1 of these 2 modes is cheater than modeling both modes).
Actually many mainstream games such as CoD or the lastest Battlefield games seem not only to model multiplayer PvP but also Single Player - this shows IMO the importance of Single Player and probably that it isn't much more expensive/harder to program than PvP multiplayer.

But, like I said in my last post I do agree that the hardest game mode to code is "by far" the Multiplayer Co-Op.

That is certainly true for a game where you are building the engine from scratch. But since we are using UE3, the netowrking is already coded. So the "effort to accomplish" scale then tips hard towards the AI/Co-Op side of things.

Difficulty isn't the only issue though. There is simple resources required to make a story driven co-op mode. Or just the needed models, animations and map content needed to do a non story driven, singular mission based co-op experience. That all adds up very quickly.

Oh come on people... really!

THIS meets it's goal but we don't!

http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission..._medium=twitter

I've heard about Clang in other places lately. You'd think you might have heard about it here, being a sim.
Doesn't sound like a joke, but finally a more adult approach to motion controllers. Plus, apparently they've been building up to it publishing stories and putting the word out. Sounds like a good campaign to me. There are probably a lot of hobbies that would lend themselves to wanting such a release.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang

Seems to be a fairly prolific author, which means fanbase. Might not be a Tom Clancy, but that approach has worked before for breaking into game development:
http://www.amazon.com/Neal-Stephenson/e/B000APS8L8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1341895050&sr=8-2-ent

Clang is actually pretty interesting. There are tons of FPS out there, not many sword fighting games, and none which actually let "you" swing one. So I guess they had that going for it too.