Everything I learned about cameras (Animated GIF heavy!) (Patreon)

When I do a video about a big new topic, like balance, systemic design, or cameras, I inevitably end up learning a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make it into the video. When I researched AI, I learned about finite state machines, behaviour trees, blackboards, and more - but didn’t use any of it in the video.

The reason I leave that stuff out is because I feel like my explanation is going to hit a rather pointless middle ground. It’s a bit too techy and complex for the average gamer, but will be utterly 101 type stuff for anyone who’s actually in this line of work. 

But, still, a few people might find this stuff interesting! So I’ve decided to drop a bunch of random knowledge about cameras on this here Patreon! 

The three basic types of camera

Cameras can basically be put into three groups.

First person

In a first-person game, you literally just control the camera. The camera and the character are essentially the same thing. You move it with the mouse or the right analogue stick, and then running forward makes you move in whatever direction you’re looking. Running left or right makes you strafe, and back makes you backpedal.

Third person

In a third person game, the camera orbits around the main character like a moon orbits a planet. Unlike an FPS, the camera doesn’t (usually) dictate the direction of the character - you can look left and move right if you really want to. In most of these games, you have full control over the camera, using the mouse or right analogue stick.

Fixed perspective

When we say this, we usually think of classic Resident Evil, where the camera is literally 100% fixed. It’s completely static and won’t move, tilt, roll, or pan until you go to the next screen. But this can describe any camera where it’s not orbiting the character, or literally inside their face.

So think of on-rails cameras like Super Mario 3D World and Crash Bandicoot. Really pulled back ones like God of War 3. As well as top-down (Furi) and side-on (Street Fighter) cameras. Most of the time, the player has zero control - but some games let you fiddle with the camera a bit, like in Ico.

The challenges of a third person camera

It feels like every major game these days is basically using the exact same camera: a third-person camera that orbits around the hero. You see it in Assassin’s Creed, Zelda, Mario, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Spider-Man, Horizon, and so on and so on. The only difference, it seems, is how close the camera is to the character’s back. 

But this camera has loads of really big challenges associated with it, so let’s look at some different ways developers have handled these difficult tasks.

Should the camera move on its own?

Okay, here’s the first big one. Most veteran gamers have simply gotten used to simultaneously controlling the character and the camera in third person games. But we can’t ignore the fact that this is a pretty difficult thing to learn, and so it can make many games really challenging for those who aren’t used to games. 

Plus, it also means you can’t easily hit the face buttons - which is why games like Dark Souls put attack on the shoulder buttons. 

Some games, like Breath of the Wild and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, don’t automatically orbit the camera at all*.

Others, like Mario Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Witcher 3, try to keep the camera behind the hero’s back at all times and so the camera will slowly turn when Mario, Arthur or Geralt change direction.

These games read the player’s intent as “I want to walk that way, so I need to look that way”, and try to accommodate - but without wildly flinging the camera left and right. It generally works well, but can be a bit slow on the uptake and have you running blind for a bit while the camera catches up.

It can be annoying for the camera to automatically move when you didn’t ask it to, though. That’s why Shadow of the Tomb Raider makes it into a menu option. Turn on “center camera horizontally” and it will snap to Lara’s back. It’s a good solution for those who struggle with constant camera control - but turn the option off and there’s no frustration for those who can happily manage the camera themselves.

*In both games, the camera will automatically lock to the hero’s back when you’re on a horse. On foot, though, and you’ve got to manage the camera yourself.

Knowing when to stay still

Horizontal movement isn’t the only thing a camera needs to think about - vertical movement is important too. And this is a case where, actually, the camera maybe shouldn’t move.

I’ve noticed that lots of indie platformers just tether the camera to the player character in Unreal or Unity and call it a day. Some big games do this too, like Sonic Forces. But this isn’t such a great idea because it makes the camera lurch up every time you jump: which obscures the ground you’re about to land on, and is also a bit nauseating.

Mario Odyssey has the right idea: keep the camera still while Mario jumps, until he lands on higher terrain. At that point, bring the camera up. Nintendo’s been doing this since the 2D games, but I think it’s even more important in 3D. 

Camera Zoom

I talked about this in the actual video. How a third person camera can actually move closer to, or further away from the hero. Aiming a gun means the camera should get closer, while running fast means the camera should hang back to give you more visibility.

There’s a cool camera trick in Breath of the Wild, where the camera zooms in closer to Link when he enters a building. This lets you see the insides with more detail, it means the camera is less likely to clip and collide with walls, and it gives a different feeling to interiors and exteriors. More games should copy this.

Squishing Between a Wall

Something that’s going to happen in any 3D game, is the camera getting squished between a wall and your character. There’s simply not enough space for the camera and so it gets in super close, to the point where it practically goes first person. This is where a lot of games have problems.

The weirdo dancing game Bound actually has the wall disintegrate, so you don’t get this squished feeling. This fits with the trippy low-poly art style, but might be a bit weird in other games. And in something like Splinter Cell, you could cheat and see who was waiting for you on the other side of a wall. 

Though, For Honor gets away with it. This camera squishing could be a death knell during a close-quarters fight - so the game just makes the walls disappear when the camera clips through them. Works pretty well! 

Obstructing objects

What you really don’t want is for the camera to squish on every little object, like poles and stuff. So that requires a different approach.

These objects should ideally be tagged as things that are fine to exist between the camera and the character. You just gotta figure out how to deal with the fact that your hero is briefly made invisible. 

In Mario Odyssey, Mario shows up as a semi-transparent shadow on the other side.

In Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, it’s the other way around: objects like columns, trees, and ladders become semi-transparent if they’re stuck between Kassandra and the camera.

The Reset Look Button

It’s weird how more games don’t have this. In Bloodborne, if you hit R3 (the lock-on) button when there’s no enemies around, the camera snaps to the hunter’s back. All of the open world Mario games have a dedicated button for this.

Moments of fixed perspective

Sometimes, it’s best to avoid using a camera that directly follows the hero. For example, in this shot, trying to get a camera inside this staircase would be a nightmare, so the camera blends into a fixed perspective that shows the whole staircase from the side. Mario also does this when wall jumping between buildings.

You can also use this for things like taking cover in Batman Arkham Asylum, or showing the player an awesome vista in Uncharted.

To Strafe or Not To Strafe?

So in games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, the character can move in any direction, regardless of where the camera is pointing. That means you can walk directly towards the camera, if you want.

In God of War, however, Kratos will only walk forward, to where the camera is pointing. Otherwise, he strafes: he walks sideways like a crab if you move the analogue stick left or right, and backs up if you pull the stick back. Like an FPS.

This is actually really rare. Even games like Resident Evil 6 don’t do this. Strafing really puts a lot of strain on the camera control: you can’t really go anywhere except directly forward unless you start wiggling the stick. Bit of a weird one, that.

Anyway, that’s all I have at this exact moment. Maybe this will turn into something one day. For now, thanks for checking out this post and I hope you found it a bit interesting! If you have any camera design stuff you want to share, please feel free to put it in the comments below.