User Interfaces - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 219

behind and slightly above her as she runs around in the world so the player can see
some way beyond the avatar into the distance.
The standard third-person perspective depends on an assumption that threats to
the avatar will come from in front of her. Some games now include fighting in the
style of martial-arts movies, in which enemies can surround the avatar; consider
recent games in the Prince of Persia series. To permit the player to see both the ava-
tar and the enemies, the camera must crane up and tilt down to show the fight
from a raised perspective.
Designing the camera behavior for the third-person perspective poses a number of
challenges, discussed in the next few sections.
CAMERA BEHAVIOR WHEN THE AVATAR TURNS
So long as the avatar moves forward, away from the camera, the camera dollies to
follow; you should find this behavior easy to implement. When the avatar turns,
however, you have several options:
■ The camera keeps itself continuously oriented behind the avatar, as in the chase
view in flight simulators (see Chapter 17, “Vehicle Simulations”). The camera
always points in the direction in which the avatar looks, allowing the player to
always see where the avatar is going, which is useful in high-speed or high-threat
environments. Unfortunately, the player never sees the avatar's side or front, only
her back, which takes some of the fun out of watching the avatar. Also, a human
avatar can change directions rapidly (unlike a vehicle), and the camera must sweep
around quickly in order to remain behind her, which can give the player motion
sickness.
■ The camera reorients itself behind the avatar somewhat more slowly, beginning
a few seconds after the avatar makes her turn. This option enables the player to see
the avatar's side for a few seconds until the camera reorients itself. Fewer players
will find the images dizzying. Super Mario 64, one of the first, and best, 3D console
games adopted this approach.
■ The camera reorients itself behind the avatar only after she stops moving.
Although this is the least-intrusive way to reorient the camera, it does mean that if
the player instructs the moving avatar to turn and run back the way she came, she
runs directly toward the camera, which does not reorient itself; instead it simply
dollies away from her to keep her in view. The player cannot see any obstacles or
enemies in the avatar's way because they appear to be behind the camera (until the
instant before she runs into them). Toy Stor y 2 : Buzz Light year to the Resc ue uses this
option; the effect, while somewhat peculiar, works well in the game's largely non-
threatening environment.
If you plan for the camera to automatically reorient itself, you can give the player
control over how quickly the reorientation occurs by switching between active cam-
era mode and passive camera mode . In active mode, the camera either remains