Adventure Game Third person - Fixed camera vs Camera follow

posted in The Seven Tides
Published July 08, 2014
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Our world is finally taking shape, growing in detail and diversity!

However, we are now starting to face a challenging option, and we would love some input from the community.

As third person perspective fans in adventure games, that aspect is pretty much decided, however do we have the camera follow the character, and give total freedom for the player to wander around the world or use fixed camera angles guiding the player through the paths we want them to take:

Some identified aspects on both parts:

Fixed angle:

- We can provide better detail on each scene, thinking more from a 2.5D perspective
- It is easier to code scenes to be relevant to the puzzles, as the plane is fixed, it's easier for example to find items. and paths to follow.
- It is challenging to avoid the typical frustrations with bad camera angles.

Follow character

- We feel this options allows to player to be more immersed in the game world
- It's easier to make all scenes consistent as the flow between each location is seamless.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Cheers,
2 likes 3 comments

Comments

Navyman

Depending on the time and amount of work you want to put into the game the Follow Camera option seems to allow you to share your work sooner. Plus if you find you have extra time you can always come back and add the option to unlock the camera.

July 08, 2014 04:30 AM
kyuubi

Hey Navyman,

You mean the fixed camera?

It is true that I would be able to share work sooner, although to "unlock" it I would have to have a complete integrated scene, instead of just slices.

Thanks very much for your input mate!

We will be posting more updates soon =)

July 08, 2014 05:08 AM
Navyman

I meant after you had the game out. Once it has been released there is a huge amount of pressure lifted and you can go back and make updates at your own pace minus any bugs found by your players.

July 08, 2014 05:29 PM
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