HARDCORE Tactical Shooter Kickstarter by Ghost Recon designer

Video on the website, absolutely must be watched

Christian Allen has founded Serellean LLC, to set out to make a true tactical shooter that everyone's clamoring for in the last decade, since the dumbing down of Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six with their more cinematic flavor.

He wants to prove real tactical shooters aren't dead. It's time for the fans of tactical shooters to now "pay up or shut up" (not his quote).

He was Design Director, Design Lead, and Creative Director for several Ubisoft Red Storm games (Ghost Recon Island Thunder, Ghost Recon Jungle Storm, Ghost Recon 2, Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword, GRAW, and GRAW 2). Also Design Lead of Halo Reach.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT
For years, fans of tactical shooters have been crying out for someone to make a quality, hardcore, tactical shooter. But in contrast to these requests, game publishers eschew realism and tactics in exchange for ease of use and “cinematic” flavor. This campaign aims to see if my theory that real tactical shooters aren’t dead, and that enough people want one to justify the cost of development.
I’ve been in the video game industry working on best in class shooters for ten years now – designing and leading teams creating Tom Clancy games and Halo Reach. Now I’ve struck out and formed a new company for indie game development, Serellan LLC.
Why fund?
So Tim Schaffer beat me to the punch, but when turning an industry on its head, there’s plenty of room for multiple projects. And of course we aren’t talking about an adventure game here; we are talking a hardcore tactical shooter. And I’m pretty sure these fans are bigger, stronger, and have guns- and hopefully more money.
We have assembled a small team, all with years of video game industry experience and a specialty in shooters. We are focusing our initial development on a hardcore CQB tactical shooter.
This game will get back to the core of what is loved about the tac-shooter, featuring realistic weapon modeling, outfitting and commanding your squad, objective-based, non-linear missions set in real-world locations around the world, single player, co-op, and multiplayer.
Obviously, in this day and age, games cost more than a few hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. Engineers don’t work for Cheetos and free beer (although it helps). But it is enough to prove to our investors that the viability of the market, and set up the infrastructure for one of the really cool parts of the project: Crowdsourced development
What’s different about this project
Not only are you getting the game you have dreamed about over the past 10 years but our approach to development will be different. We aren’t just showing you inside the world of development, you will be participating.
We’ve created a set of tiered community levels for involvement – Silver, Gold, and Platinum – based on your level of support.
At the silver level, people will be able to have more influence on the game, such as voting for certain weapons, features, equipment, mission locations, etc.
At the gold level, supporters will have the opportunity to submit content, including weapon models, levels, and missions to go into the game. If the content meets the standards, it will be included in the final game and the submitter will be given full credit.
At the platinum level, supporters will have the opportunity to participate in creative meetings, visit the studio, and much more.
About Serellan LLC
Serellan LLC is an indie game development team based in Seattle, Washington, founded in 2011 by Christian Allen.
Christian Allen is an experienced AAA game designer and creative director. Prior to founding Serellan LLC, Christian served as Lead Designer, Creative Director, and Design Director of several AAA game projects for Ubisoft, Red Storm Entertainment, Microsoft, Bungie, and Warner Bros. Games. Christian’s titles include the award-winning Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Halo: Reach. Titles he has contributed to have shipped over 15 million units, and earned over 20 “Game of the Year” awards in various categories.
Christian has contributed to several gaming publications, including the Game Development Essentials series. Christian has been on the faculty of the Game Developers Conference most years since 2005, and regularly speaks at colleges and universities on game development topics. He is also a consultant for Guidepoint Global (formerly Standard & Poor’s Society of Industry Leaders), one of the largest technology consulting services in the world.

I would kill for another game like rainbow six raven shield

Oh yeah, this should have been emphasised.

Objective-based, NON LINEAR missions.

I hope they find a balance between ARMA II and TF2. If they're setting out to make just another ARMA, it's going to be a tough time.

Haha pledge $10,000 or more and they'll give you a gun. Fantastic.

Not really my style of game, but... the maddest of props for avoiding my number one Kickstarter Pet Peeve; Every Tier Gets The Game.

This is applicable to any digital good. If you're making bottles of hot sauce and the lowest tier is a $1, fine I get that. But if it's a game or a movie or an anything that you have unlimited stock of, the least you can do is structure the donations to give every donator a copy. First tier should be anticipated retail price. First tier, gets the game.

This bullshit where "Hey! Fund our iOS game and if you donate $20, you'll get a copy too!" enrages me. I can give you $5 and get a wallpaper. Why shouldn't I just wait until it the game comes out and pay $2 like 90% of your customers?

So, Bravo.

One of my favorite games of all time is SWAT 4, the randomness and amount of freedom like picture-in-picture display of Blue/Red Team viewpoints blew my friggin' mind! Paint gun loadouts for everyone!

If this is anything close to that, I'll be fanboy squealing.

Put down my $15. Hope it all works out.

I put down $15 as well, purely on the basis it's being built for the pc as oppossed to a third person wall cover action game under the guise of "tactical".

Looking at the money they are making, I doubt they will reach the goal sadly.

Hmm... if only I had $10,000 lying around...

Unless something major changes, this seems destined to fail.

Haha its amazing that they hive you a gun if you pledge 10k! Thought I can deffinatly see this failing.

I hope he gets to make it.

I have no interest in this kind of game but I wish them the best of luck in raising the funds.

game sounds great, hope this works out

that 10,000 reward is enticing

I funded it. I don't know if I want it, but I funded it.

Really interested in this, but not really convinced about this dude/Kickstart project.

@Skald said:

I funded it. I don't know if I want it, but I funded it.

That kid scared the shit outta me. If I don't support this, I fear it's gonna appear out of nowhere at night and shoot me with those mickey mouse ears ...

edit: okay, I'm safe now, I pledged $15 ^^

I don't see why they wouldn't be able to make another Rainbow 6 with updated graphics but nothing too fancy. I mean would backers be ok with that? Design over graphics?

@Humanity said:

I don't see why they wouldn't be able to make another Rainbow 6 with updated graphics but nothing too fancy. I mean would backers be ok with that? Design over graphics?

You say the exact thing me and my best friend always think.

That seems like its a kick starter on two side. One money, Second, fans make parts of the game or throw ideas.

This is a very interesting take, not just Tim shaffers "Throw money at us and we will make an adventure game...what? you wanted more of a brief?" BAM! 2 million dollars! Not a jibe at Shaffer or anything, its is true fans have faith and Shaffer earned it.

I like his plan. I miss Rainbow six 1 and 2, Over the top screen to plan out the Anti terrorist groups entry and execution. Like its your job.

Than the current "YOUR UNDER FIRE!!! SHOOT THAT GUY! GO WERE THE SHUTTERS LEAD YOU! AND DEFUSE THE NUKE!" "oh wait! the dude your working with is a bad guy. watch this cut scene as he kicks your ass...and we fast forward 6 months."

I pledged 30$.

I'll just copy-paste my post from the last thread that was made for this.

Eh, I'm not really looking for realism in my shooters. CS is about as much realism as I'll take. That and this guy didn't really have anything to do with Raven Shield, which would be the only thing I'd want out of this. So I'll pass. I'll pick it up when it's officially released if it's good, but I don't trust the dude with my $15. That and I also don't trust fans to make good suggestions. Sure you could argue CPMA was fan-made--but it was made by people who understood the game. We also have games coming out for the worse from fan input like what Hidden Path turned CS:S into.

Oh, FUCK yes!

@AssInAss said:

a true tactical shooter that everyone's clamoring for in the last decade

What? Who the hell has been clamoring for this?! Can't think of a single person...

@Enigma777 said:

@AssInAss said:

a true tactical shooter that everyone's clamoring for in the last decade

What? Who the hell has been clamoring for this?! Can't think of a single person...

Anyone who plays Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six games. And that's millions of people.

Damn these kickstarters sound awesome. But I'm kinda hesitant to chip in until I see how one of them turns out. I don't wanna pay $15 and have the thing never actually get off the ground.

@Enigma777 said:

@AssInAss said:

a true tactical shooter that everyone's clamoring for in the last decade

What? Who the hell has been clamoring for this?! Can't think of a single person...

Anyone who plays Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six games. And that's millions of people.

@ZeForgotten said:

@AssInAss said:

@Enigma777 said:

@AssInAss said:

a true tactical shooter that everyone's clamoring for in the last decade

What? Who the hell has been clamoring for this?! Can't think of a single person...

Anyone who plays Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six games. And that's millions of people.

You mean those of us who plays Ghost Recon or any of the good Rainbow Six games (so not the Vegas games) right? I mean if it's anything like Rainbow Six Vegas or it's sequel then "fucking hell, another one of those"

Yup, any fans of the older games.

When his previous work listed GRAW, I wonder if it was referring to the PC versions, which were totally different from the 360/PS3 versions.

I actually enjoyed those games. Running through a few missions with a friend was insanely tense. RIP GRIN.

High hopes for this as well as the work in progress BlackFoot Studios game Ground Branch. Sorry for making another post about this @AssInAss

@Ubersmake said:

When his previous work listed GRAW, I wonder if it was referring to the PC versions, which were totally different from the 360/PS3 versions.

I actually enjoyed those games. Running through a few missions with a friend was insanely tense. RIP GRIN.

The pc versions of GRAW (aside from checkpoints) was pretty much how to do a pc and console multiplatform game.

I'm pretty on board and it sucks that a publisher would say "Console gamers literally are too dumb to play this kind of game". That just strikes me as an incredibly shitty thing to say.

Article here

EDIT: Thanks to Rohok and Grimhild, and no thanks to Twitter...

God Damn it, I might have to pledge only because of that little girl at the end.

i like the classic ghost recon/rainbow six approach of everyone dies in 1-2 shots. including yourself. the first ghost recon people would pick u off from who knows where and that was it you were toast.

Rainbow Six 3 on the PC was amazing. after that everything went down hill.

A contemporary old-school tactical shooter sounds really amazing. Future Soldier can eat my dick, I'll be donating 15-20 dalla when I get paid.

Loving this new kickstarter trend.

@liako21 said:

i like the classic ghost recon/rainbow six approach of everyone dies in 1-2 shots. including yourself. the first ghost recon people would pick u off from who knows where and that was it you were toast.

Rainbow Six 3 on the PC was amazing. after that everything went down hill.

And guess when this guy came in to work on the Tom Clancy games, this is why I'm hesitant to give him even $15.

@UnrealDP said:

I was on board up until the part where he said "Console gamers literally are too dumb to play this kind of game". That just strikes me as an incredibly shitty thing to say and it almost makes me regret throwing money at this. Er, emphasis on the almost...

Article here

You didn't read the article correctly. He didn't say that, a publisher said it. Please reread and rest assured, you did not give your money to a negative nancy.

@UnrealDP: If you actually read the article, he's paraphrasing what a publisher said. Not what his opinion is.

... Allen said. "I won't say which publisher, but, yes, literally, 'console gamers are not as smart as PC gamers.' The logic is that, well PC gamers can install drivers and video cards. Console gamers are just 15-year-olds who sit in front of their couch and press a button."

@Rohok: @Grimhild: Oh, weird. Serves me right for reading a tweet and then skimming an article. Dammit Twitter.

@Grimhild said:

... Allen said. "I won't say which publisher, but, yes, literally, 'console gamers are not as smart as PC gamers.' The logic is that, well PC gamers can install drivers and video cards. Console gamers are just 15-year-olds who sit in front of their couch and press a button."

This publisher is just being factually correct from what I can see.

Do people still want to play this kind of game? The way he is describing it sounds boring as hell. One shot and i'm dead, no thank you, sir!

Oh man I hope this makes it, I love all the Tom Clancy series' and have been disappointed the way they've been moving this generation. Spread the word people! get on every forum you can, people can't donate if they don't know it exists.

Also a better pitch video would really help I think, the one they have now seems really amateurish.

Loving this new kickstarter trend.

@Gizmo said:

Do people still want to play this kind of game? The way he is describing it sounds boring as hell. One shot and i'm dead, no thank you, sir!

Yes. In Rainbow 6 is it more about planning than twitch. It kind of does what Total War does when it has turn based gameplay and real time action.

This is a million times more interesting than just sticking yourself to a wall and popping your head up to shoot terrorists imo. This requires thinking. So it doesn't exist. Anything that involves thinking, is usually an enemy of gaming these days. Most AAA games are intellectually bankrupt. This is due to console focus.

Really hope this goes through. R6 games were awesome till after Raven Shield...just played RS the other week even.

Well, I love ARMA 2 and I love Ghost Recon Island Thunder so I shall pledge but I don't really think it'll be finished or get off the ground. But ARMA 3 anyway, yay!

Since Total Biscuts video and the mention of Kotaku the money had leaved quite abit today.

I haven't seen gamespot, IGN, gametrailers or any of the other "go to" sites mention it.

I donated, but am dissapointed by the lack of people that have :(

@UnrealDP said:

@Rohok: @Grimhild: Oh, weird. Serves me right for reading a tweet and then skimming an article. Dammit Twitter.

Happens bro. No worries, just wanted to make sure you didn't feel as bad for contributing.

At first I was surprised why this project's going slower than the others especially with the much smaller budget, but I realised it. Compared to RPGs or adventure games, this is a tactical shooter that's a lot more challenging, complicated, and usually these have been unwelcoming to new players (ARMA).

Their goal is much smaller, but their market is smaller too.

Console shooting fans of this gen are into CoD or other fast-paced military shooters, they're not used to tactical shooters. So, the major audience for this project is really just PC players.