Comments on: Lights, Action, Camera

By: D.Rowland

D.Rowland — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:43:23 +0000

Well, I am of the same opinion as pete, here. The camera was like an itch in the middle of your back that you can’t quite reach from any angle.

Instead of fixing the camera position, though, I wanted them to give me more control over it, or rather, create more preset camera options – specifically, a *good* over-the-shoulder-follow with my character model semi transparant; and/or a first person view. (I don’t care how crappy the textures look close up.)

By: Only a Game

Only a Game — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 22:53:40 +0000

Game Cameras – Too Important to Ignore

Peterb seems a fairly reliable source of insight, as his recent Lights, Action, Camera post shows. This one paragraph summarises my feelings about game cameras rather nicely:The camera in a 3D game needs to operate without the players’ supervision. The

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 13:59:40 +0000

While I agree that the 3 different camera modes in NWN are unnecessary, the actual movemement of the camera couldn’t be easier. By holding in the mouse wheel you can change the angle without even thinking about it, and who would complain about using the mouse wheel for zooming?!

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:05:42 +0000

Camera work has been the biggest backslide in quality since the first 3D games.

Remember Mario 64? Give every frickin’ 3D game Mario 64′s camera system. Problem solved.

By: CorvusE

CorvusE — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:33:07 +0000

I like the NWN camera even better post KotOR, as I can pull it back and find better, as Dhruin suggests, combat positioning.

By: Dhruin

Dhruin — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 06:51:56 +0000

Actually, the KotOR camera *does* annoy me – why can’t I look up past 20 degrees or so? Why can’t I get a view where I can click easily on the enemy on the other side of those mines instead selecting the damn mine every time?

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 05:41:51 +0000

Admittedly, I usually play a game called Nethack, so I’m used to having a fixed camera viewpoint Graphics aren’t really my thing, so as long as I can see the action, I’m happy, I find the camera from a distance view suits all things NWN.

Other than NWN, Nethack, and various Amiga/C64 games I play on emulators, I don’t game much. Pools of Radiance (the new version) I played a lot (and I think its interface and gameplay deserves an attack)… so I’ve never played KOTOR or Jade Empire…

I do question your choice of wording there “how many of you who claim to like the camera” – you think we are lying?

By: peterb

peterb — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 05:22:23 +0000

Quick straw poll:

How many of you who claim to like the NWN camera have actually played the game _since playing KOTOR and Jade Empire_?

I ask because the camera didn’t bother me that much when I first played the game. It was only after seeing how much better it could be done in those latter games that I realized how intrusive it was.

By: peterb

peterb — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 05:19:13 +0000

I wanted to like Ultima Underworld. I really did. But it ran so slowly on whatever it was that I owned at the time it was too unwieldy to actually play.

Plus, even though I am a confirmed Ultima addict, I still like the D&D mise-en-scene better. What can I say, I’m old and lame.

By: Dhruin

Dhruin — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 03:33:58 +0000

I still think cRPGs aren’t your thing. Never had any real problem with the camera – and it certainly isn’t the biggest misfeature for me.