[Giligan]

Hi all, a question that has bugged my mind for a while is, well, the atmosphere and mood of a game. Naturally, this mood can be induced an altered by hundreds of different factors, but in shooter games, (the object of this question and, hopefully, any replies), this mood mostly comes from the obvious factor of camera type.

Traditionally, most shooter games are 1st person. The first shooter games were of this type, and the tradition continues. But is the type outdated? Sure, it's the most realistic, and many great, immensly popular shooters that have come and are still to come use this system. Does it get across the right mood, though, or is it cramped, confined, and aged? Can the surroundings be completely taken in when there is little there save a rifle, which takes up a good deal of room, and limits the ability to look around? Shooters like Half-life, Doom, F.E.A.R., etcetera, seem to have taken the first-person perspective and put it to an extremely successful end.


And then, on the flip side, there's third-person perspective. This camera form is most common to RPGs and action/adventure titles, where more of an emphasis is placed upon surroundings rather than the enemy soldier right in front of you. Also, It places more familiarity on the person who you control. However, the 3rd-person way has little of the gravity or sobriety in the mood, as a 1st-person shooter does. So can a deep, thoughtful, scary atmosphere be achieved in this format? Popular 3rd-person titles include (not limited to horror-themed title) Gears of War, the Splinter Cell franchise, Hitman, Laura Croft, etcetera.

In the most recent manifestation of the "PS3 vs. Xbox 360" power struggle, the "it" games of the Christmas '06 season went head to head. These were the shooters Gears of War, and Resistance: Fall of Man. Both are horror-themed, hence the focal point of this question. One of 1st person, and the other 3rd. How will shooter games in the future convey their story, and in what format?




My question is asked.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I voted for If done right, either can be made to work in any sitatuation. There are no definites.

You would have to ask many questions first. What kind of horror shooter are you making? What is the core concept? What is the central focus of the story? Does the narrative ask for a run-&-gun type gameplay (Clive Barker's Undying, F.E.A.R.), or squad based tactics (Gears of War, the upcoming Clive Barker's Jericho), or does it ask for a slower paced and suspenseful approach (Silent Hill, Blair Witch: Volume 1 Rustin Parr)? Are you aiming for a firsthand intimate experience of the story and gameworld, or is it to be a cinematic affair with psychological camera angles like an Alfred Hitchcock movie? How do you want the player to experience it all?

[stepurhan]

I went with first-person, mainly because of the camera issues I've always had with third person games of this type. Psychological camera angles are all very well but they all too often tend to make it difficult to control the character as the angle you are viewing them at changes. You could give the player control of the camera to get around this but then you have the issue of needing to react quickly (to a sudden threat) but being hampered by having to switch between the character and camera controls

[Bobske]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I went with first-person, mainly because of the camera issues I've always had with third person games of this type. Psychological camera angles are all very well but they all too often tend to make it difficult to control the character as the angle you are viewing them at changes. You could give the player control of the camera to get around this but then you have the issue of needing to react quickly (to a sudden threat) but being hampered by having to switch between the character and camera controls

I totally agree!

If you want to see it done right, play Clive Barker's Undying!

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

I went with first-person, mainly because of the camera issues I've always had with third person games of this type. Psychological camera angles are all very well but they all too often tend to make it difficult to control the character as the angle you are viewing them at changes. You could give the player control of the camera to get around this but then you have the issue of needing to react quickly (to a sudden threat) but being hampered by having to switch between the character and camera controls

True, I've had a lot of trouble myself in games, where I need to quickly evade something or turn and shoot, and the camera system makes the entire venture too laborous. I inevitably end up dead. I probably had the most trouble with this in Tomb Raider: Legend.

However, we once again fall to the "if done right...." argument. Certain games, like Gears of War, made it easy to select a target and begin delivering fire almost instantly. Naturally, in games where the AI isn't great and the enemy charges you, one usually loses a good deal of health, or dies altogether in such an instance.
In the end, I usually try to imagine a game as being the other type of camera view than it is, and decide if it would be better or worse.

[JemyM]

There are few sucessful horrorgames that keep themselves scary throughout the whole game. One issue tend to be that you eventually have enough weapons to kill anything with ease. This was definitely an issue in Undying, even if the mansion in the beginning was very creepy.

I think the most scary horror FPS I have ever played was Condemned. The reason is that you are vulnerable throughout the entire game since you are mostly forced to rely on melee weapons.

But for me, it's first-person when it comes to horror. I have yet to get scared in a 3rd person game. They can be creepy, but when I see my own character I tend to distance myself from him. When I am the character, I have to look through their eyes and turn around whenever I hear something behind me. This makes me paranoid as I must look in all directions.