9 replies to this topic

[Chaos Warp]

So, let's talk about 3d Sonic's camera. In games like Colors, Unleashed and Gens, the camera always seems to be in a good place. I think you can credit this to having more linear level design, so they can always position the camera right. But what if the paths became less defined and there was more open space? What would the camera do then? With the speed Sonic moves, I don't think a Mario 64-esque camera system would work. I'm honestly don't know what would be a good option.

So maybe you know! Thoughts? Discuss!

[Phos]

Alan Wake has this camera that has an AI to it so it can adapt to the situation. Seems to me as though Sonic could benefit from something like that.

[Chaos Warp]

Alan Wake has this camera that has an AI to it so it can adapt to the situation. Seems to me as though Sonic could benefit from something like that.

What type of game is Alan Wake though? If it's not that fast paced, I'm not sure it would work (forgive me I'm not familiar with Alan Wake).

[Phos]

What type of game is Alan Wake though? If it's not that fast paced, I'm not sure it would work (forgive me I'm not familiar with Alan Wake).

Alan Wake was a survival horror third person shooter, and the camera system was set up to try and get enemies in the shot with the character. For Sonic, somthing similar would be a camera that goes out of its way to get spikes and such in shots and also look down over cliffs that the player might want to jump down.

I'd also like to mention that I think the current games are placing the camera way too low most of the time, leaving a limited sense of depth and making it harder to move around. Unleashed would usually pull the camera up when you had to jump between things, but that didn't seem to make it into generations.

[PerfectChaos]

If the boost stays, then I don't think the camera needs much changing. Maybe have a few areas where it's programmed to be less fixed (i.e. it's always right behind you in heavy-platforming bits) but that's it.

The current one shows what you need to see, it turns around if you turn around for a few seconds, it looks down when you're falling, (this could be improved and added to any fall, even small ones) it's decent.

[Diogenes]

I really don't know much about 3D cameras, but I imagine it's not too terribly difficult to make one that's somewhat predictive. Take whatever system you're using to determine the angle of the ground Sonic's standing on, extend its range (forward, mostly), and use that to determine what to do with the camera. It'd most likely need more tweaking than that to work well, but I think that'd be a solid start.

[Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik]

If nothing else, they could have a button that makes the camera go directly behind the character, like they do in the Zelda games. Not sure how well that'd work though.

[Gen]

I would love to see another open world game. Mainly because not having it for quite sometime, it would be nice to have free roaming Zones again.
As for the camera, I'm not an expert on camera movement, but I would like camera to stay focused on Sonic, and not go all over the place in games like 06. Adventure did this too, but not all the time.

[meowthecat]

I'd also like to mention that I think the current games are placing the camera way too low most of the time, leaving a limited sense of depth and making it harder to move around. Unleashed would usually pull the camera up when you had to jump between things, but that didn't seem to make it into generations.

Agreed.

In addition, I (like some others xD) would like a button that moves the camera around voluntarily. The way I'd implement it, however, would be with limited functionality-- if he's going super fast it'd be completely impractical to suddenly (and possibly accidentally) switch the camera and then have him ram into something you can't see. But at a full stop or certain speeds, the camera could be turned any which way the player wants.

It'd also be cool to have a first-person camera option such as in Skies of Arcadia. But that could only be done while standing still, probably.

[Speedy]

I guess for most levels it would work best if the camera was sitting somewhat behind the character's back most of the time, so it's basically looking where the character faces if the player doesn't move it in another position. A camera for a game like Sonic has to be somewhat automatic, fully manual cameras are just too slow for a fast-paced game like Sonic games are and should be. Of course, to allow us to explore stages more freely, it has to be possible turning the camera where you want (a little like Knuckles/Rouge stages in SA2 allowed you).