Blog:
Project Debut
18/06/2025
Hello, everyone.
Considering this is my first blog post on this website, I figured I might use that opportunity to introduce my debut game (thus the placeholder name), what it is, what I want to do with it, and how it will differ from what is already available. So, without further ado, let's begin.
So, first things first, what is Project Debut? Well, my idea with this project is to make a fun, immersive, and replayable tactical shooter with an emphasis on performance and optimization. This is basically word-for-word from my projects page, as I couldn't really figure out any better way to word it all in a neat, little, consecutive list. So, yeah, it may sound a bit redundant, but it is what it is... Okay, enough of the side tangent; back to the subject at hand.
Now, before I go more in-depth with each point, I want to make it clear that "immersive" does not necessarily mean "realistic." I will be taking some creative liberties during development. Okay, with that out of the way, let's talk about how I intend on making my game fun, since that is one of the core things most players care about. And my answer to that is that my game will be divided into a set number of missions, each vastly different than the last, all happening on different maps that may or may not affect gameplay. Basically, a whole lot of diversity between missions, allowing for every one of them to feel fresh and unique. Now, to be clear, these differences won't be reinventing the wheel or anything; they will also have their similarities, but I want to make them different enough to not make them feel repetitious and allow for more replayability.
When it comes to most modern game releases, performance and optimization are usually just an afterthought; I want to change that. Since I am almost entirely a solo developer, trying to make photorealistic visuals is out of the question (a bit hyperbolically over-the-top comparison, I know). This is why I decided to apply a different style to my game, that being the poly style. A common trend you will see with photorealistic games is that when they're released, they look amazing, but just a few years down the line and they start showing cracks. That is an issue developers who are working with specialized styles don't have to worry about. Specialized styles looked good 10 years ago, they look good now, and they will look good in 10 years' time. And, on top of that, I also opted to use simple textures and animations wherever I could to not only expedite visual development and allow me to focus more on the gameplay but also to further improve performance as much as I possibly can. And yes, I get that this style isn't for everyone; I understand and respect that, so if that's something that turns you off, you can confidently stop reading the article here.
Before I go and compare my game to other already available titles, I want to quickly mention the story and setting. When I was thinking about the location of where the story may take place, I first considered maybe somewhere around Russia, but then I thought about how overused that location and those characters are in media, especially as antagonists, so I thought a bit more and settled on Croatia as the main location. Firstly, it's my own maternal country, but also because it's somewhat poorly represented in media, especially video games. Then I thought about the story and created Mladen Popović, the main antagonist of the story, co-founder, and active leader of a terrorist group operating around Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, and their surroundings. Since I absolutely despise plot armor, I made the decision to make the player play as an insignificant private military contractor; in short, nobody special, just another pawn on the board. This allows the player to die without breaking canonical continuity, logic, or reality. Now, since I don't want to completely spoil the entire story, I will leave it at that for now, but I do plan on exploring morally gray subjects where everything isn't just black and white, good versus bad, and such. And, as a disclaimer, all characters, locations, and events featured in my game are entirely fictional, and any references or resemblances to real-world people, places, or events are entirely coincidental unless stated otherwise.
Finally, let's compare my game to already established titles and see how my game will differ from what is already available. Just keep in mind that all games I do mention here and possibly criticize, I have put a substantial amount of time into, which I wouldn't have done if I didn't enjoy them for one reason or another, and all critiques I do make are made for the sake of comparison, not in bad faith.
I have over 170 hours in Ground Branch; thus, I have plenty of experience with everything the game has to offer, and frankly speaking, it has a whole myriad of issues. Firstly, it's the fact Ground Branch operates on the idea of "quantity over quality." This leads to the game having a lot of content but little substance. This can be seen all over the game, but to demonstrate my point, let's look at how many weapons the game has to offer. In Ground Branch, you, the player, can choose from over 40 firearms ranging from SMGs to shotguns to assault rifles and more; however, if you ever tried playing with a few weapons from each category, you start to notice how painfully the same the experience is no matter what you choose. If you play with one SMG, you played with them all; if you play with one AK, you played with them all; if you play with one assault rifle, you played with them all. And that is the exact issue I want to avoid with my game. I plan on having fewer weapons to choose from, but I want each weapon to feel unique. "Quality over quantity," if you will. I only used weapons as an example here, but the same logic applies for everything else, like bugs; Ground Branch is notorious for how buggy it is. Whether that be doors that either can't be opened or immediately close by themselves upon opening, whether it be weapons that can't be reloaded, ladders that no-clip the player through the map, atrocious AI, or whatever else. I have experienced them all myself firsthand and found most of them stem from the developers' "quantity over quality" approach. BlackFoot Studios is so preoccupied with adding new content that most major bugs are left unattended for years. My idea to fix this is frequently releasing small patches that only add one or two new things, allowing for easier testing and troubleshooting. And only once the current issues have been resolved will I proceed on adding new content. Again, "quality over quantity." And this is not to say Ground Branch is a bad game, per se; as noted at the beginning of this paragraph, I have over 170 hours in Ground Branch, which is a lot, and I wouldn't have invested nearly as much time if I didn't find the game to be at least a little bit fun... When it works, that is.
And with that, I believe we can bring this article to a close. A thing to note is that I started development on my game only a few months ago, meaning it's all still in very early development and many things are subject to change over time; however, this is like the core idea of what I want to eventually achieve, I guess. I am always open for suggestions and constructive criticism, so if you have any of that, feel free to reach out here.
Until next time, cheers! :3
