Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIRST-PERSON PERSPECTIVE
One of the most famous graphic adventure games of all,
Myst
, used a first-person
perspective. You may be familiar with the look of contemporary first-person games,
but unlike these,
Myst
did not render a three-dimensional game world in real time
even though it used a first-person perspective. The
Myst
world consisted of a large
number of prerendered still frames that appeared one at a time as the avatar walked
around. Prerendering made finely detailed and highly atmospheric images possible.
On the other hand,
Myst
couldn't depict continuously moving objects or changes
in the sunlight as time passed, and the number of angles from which the player
could look at things was limited. The world was rich but static.
A real-time 3D first-person perspective gives the player the best sense of being in
the world but doesn't let the player see his avatar unless he happens upon some
functioning reflective surface in the game world. This perspective also tends to
encourage a more action-oriented approach to playing the game, running around
without paying much attention to the surroundings. Because much of the enter-
tainment of an adventure game comes from seeing the avatar explore the world
and interact with other characters, the first-person perspective doesn't offer as
many opportunities for visual drama as other perspectives do.
THIRD-PERSON PERSPECTIVE
The third-person perspective keeps the player's avatar constantly in view, as in
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
, an action-adventure hybrid. This perspective
is common for action-adventures in which the player might need to react quickly
(see
Figure 19.3
).
FIGURE 19.3
Indiana Jones and the
Emperor's Tomb
. This
is the typical action-
adventure perspective.
If the camera in the third-person perspective always remains behind the avatar's
back, however, the view can become rather dull and doesn't let the player appreci-
ate the environment. And unlike pure action games in which the avatar's actions
