Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
cinematographer to create a rich visual experience for the player. Seeing game
events this way feels a bit like watching a movie because the designer intentionally
composed the view for each location.
This approach brings with it two disadvantages. First, composing a view for each
location in the game world requires you and your programmers to do a lot more
work than is needed to implement other camera models. Second, a camera that
moves of its own accord can be disorienting in high-speed action situations. When
the player tries to control events at speed, he needs a predictable viewpoint from
which to do so. The context-sensitive perspective suits slower-moving games quite
well, and frenetic ones less well. Some games, such as those in the survival horror
series
Silent Hill
, use a context-sensitive perspective when the avatar explores but
switch to a third-person or other more fixed perspective when she gets into fights.
DESIGN RULE
Limit Camera Movement During Frenetic Action
In the early
Resident Evil
games the camera sometimes jumped to a different point of view
without warning, right when the player was in the middle of a fight. This disoriented the
player and upset his understanding of the relationship between the controls and the
screen, often causing him to lose the fight. Don't move the camera in unexpected ways
during high-speed action. Use a fixed, or at least a predictable, perspective.
Other 2D Display Options
This section lists a few approaches to 2D displays that are now seldom used in large
commercial games on PCs and consoles but still widely found in web-based games
and on smaller devices. Modern games that intentionally opt for a retro feel, such
as
Alien Hominid
and
Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
, also use 2D approaches.
■
Single-screen.
The display shows the entire world on one screen, normally from
a top-down perspective with cheated objects. The camera never moves.
Robotron:
2084
provides a classic example. (See the left side of Figure 13.1.)
■
Side-scrolling.
The world of a side-scroller—familiar from an entire generation
of games—consists of a long 2D strip in which the avatar moves forward and back-
ward, with a limited ability to move up and down. The player sees the game world
from the side as the camera tracks the avatar.
■
Top -scrolling.
In this variant of the top-down perspective, the landscape scrolls
beneath the avatar (often a flying vehicle), sometimes at a fixed rate that the player
cannot change. This forces the player to continually face new challenges as they
appear at the top of the screen.
■
Painted backgrounds.
Many graphical adventure games display the game world
in a series of 2D painted backgrounds rather like a stage set. The avatar and other
