The importance of camera movement and interacting with immediate environment in video games.
Take for example doom a FPS. When I first played it I was able to explore a 3D environment in 2D. Blew my mind. It created a layer of immersion that I had not seen before.
Fast forward to titanfall and TF2. The parkour system allows for the exploration of the same 3-dimensional environment in more ways permitting another layer of immersion that was not experienced before. After playing a game like titanfall then playing a game like doom I clearly felt like something was missing. I had the desire to run and jump from wall to wall and then perform a glory kill on an enemy. Over and over in my head I wanted to do this, but the closest I came was jumping of a ledge to stomp on an enemies head. It got to a point where every time I thought of this and wanted to do it and couldn’t it would take me out of the game meaning I lost that feeling of immersion and the story and gameplay had less impact. (And the reverse is true when playing TF2. The glory kills in doom carry the game and make it great. TF has a similar cinematic effect with the executions, but there aren’t enough of the glory animations in my opinion. Its a fine line to get right the right amount of cinematic animations, but incorporated correctly can make the game play more interesting and believable. (I like the example of a Ju jit su hip throw where after throwing your opponent you would be facing the opposite way, think 180). This is nice, because you are interacting with your immediate environment in a believable way.
Additionally it is so difficult to unlock the executions which help carry and make the gameplay great. Why? It’s like holding yourself back. Another drawback I notice is the censorship. When you look at weapon camo for example in TF there is a big black censor box saying I have to achieve xxx and it blocks the artwork on screen. Bottom line is it takes away from the game and there is no need. A small subtitle saying kill xxx and you can have this awesomeness while still displaying the artwork works better.
Anthem. Anthem is a new game by EA. After watching game play I can tell you that the parkour system and camera motion is missing. Also while flying I notice that the horizon remains fixed. I think this is a mistake. I think if the player rolls right while in flight the horizon should follow and should appear on the right side of the screen and the ground on the left. The player should have to recalculate where enemies are and where projectiles are flying in order to avoid them/attack them. Moving the camera in more dynamic ways again helps create layers of immersion. I mention this because walking on walls hanging from walls and ceilings ect would perhaps feel more immersive if when the protagonist was upside down and the screen reflected it (I have not had a chance to play a recent spiderman game and don’t know if this type of camera action is seen in that type of game, but imagine it is). This brings me to my next issue with camera work in fps. FPS and corners or boiled back 1st person and closely interacting objects/barriers the immediate environment.
FPS and corners. I believe that when in a corner I feel like I am taken out of the experience because being in a corner/behind a barrier in a two dimensional environment it becomes obvious of the limitations of movement and interaction. I am used to not being able to touch a tree or car that is 40 feet away, but not being able to feel a table or wall that is right in front of me is foreign. I believe that the best solution for this is while walking into a corner as a fps the camera should back up and become a 3rd person shooter. This way the player is able to determine where in the confined space they are it would also allow for blind fire and there is a better overall feeling of cover. Mass effect andromeda has an excellent example of this while hiding behind barriers and shooting around barriers. Also the first person narrative is minimally impacted while the continuity can remain seamless.
I think that there is some camera wizardry that really is needed to take games to another layer of immersion and keep it there. When I first saw the 48 minutes of gameplay of CP2077 I was amazed by what I saw, but I also noticed for example when V was shooting through the window to distract the boss guy shooting through the wall the same limitations that are present, from my perspective, in many games today. I would like to see us work together to solve these problems making the next generation of games even more fun.
Take care, let me know what you think
