Faction

***Faction*** is a first-person shooter video game created by Ryan Nurse and Animatron Studios, and currently in the planning phases. Conceived by Nurse and Aaron Middleton in 2007, it is one of Nurse's oldest projects, but has been put on a backburner for years and is not currently in active development.

The game follows James Anderson, a man from an unnamed American city that is invaded by a violent militia called the Faction. After his girlfriend Louise is taken prisoner by the Faction, James joins up with a band of survivors to rescue her and defeat the militia, while Louise finds herself caught up in an escape attempt by the Faction's prisoners.

## Gameplay

The game uses standard first-person shooter mechanics. In each level, the player must complete a given objective or series of objectives, while killing the various Faction soldiers who attempt to stop them; if the player fails, or is killed, they must restart from the last checkpoint they reached. Some levels may contain optional "side-quests", such as helping a mother find their lost child. Levels contain limited destructible elements; for example, the player can shoot through windows, and blow up cars to kill any enemies using them as cover.

During most levels, the player will be supported by a group of intelligent fighters who will react to situations accordingly, ducking behind cover to reload, covering for their team-mates, and so on. In the case of "escort" missions such as the aforementioned child-finding side-quest, the escort will be vigorously protected by these fighters, allowing the player to concentrate on fighting enemies. The game's story mode will support co-op for up to 4 players, either locally or online.

During a single-player campaign, control will sometimes switch between characters; for example, one boss is fought as Shelley, using her assault rifle's grenade launcher attachment. The game's perspective will also change between levels; for example, one level may follow James' group, while the next level follows Louise.

Possible gameplay features include the ability to play certain missions in any order, allowing the player to choose which district to clear the Faction out of next, with the storyline and difficulty adjusting to match. Another possible feature is the ability to hot-wire and drive the various abandoned cars littering the city.

## Characters

* James Anderson: The protagonist. He sets out to fight the Faction, and when his girlfriend is captured by them, his mission becomes personal.
* Tyler Kent: The de facto leader of a resistance group that James joins up with.
* Firebrace: An ex-military veteran and member of the resistance group. The most experienced member in terms of fighting.
* Shelley Williams: A resistance group member who is reckless, and seems to revel in the chaos and destruction she creates.
* Dr. Andrei Hristov: A surgeon rescued from the city's hospital who acts as the group's medic and rear gunner.
* Louise Noble: James' girlfriend, who is captured by the Faction and held prisoner at their HQ. She gets caught up in an escape attempt and ends up joining the fighting.
* General Hennessey: A military general whose squadron has been sent by the US Army to take back the city from the Faction. He allows Tyler and James' group to carry on their guerrilla fighting, with his squad's assistance.

## Trivia

* *Faction* is one of two games to have been conceived with outside help, the other being *Space Hunter*, which Nurse conceived with his younger sister Kira.
	+ It is also one of two projects Nurse and Middleton have collaborated on, the other being *Mystery: Ultimate Darkness*.