What the Nut? Edition 1: Camera Angles (Article) by Zeypher

October 21st, 2009, by Zeypher (Carl B.)- iNintendo presents Edition One of "What the Nut?", an article series dedicated to all the odd, and sometimes ridiculous, design choices developers make in video games.

The first edition is all about the wacky world of camera angles.

Camera angles are one of the often underappreciated good things in a video game. A good camera angle lets you fully view your character and environment. Back in the days of 2D gaming, an overhead view was often user along with a sidescrolling view, the latter of which is still used today in some 2D platforming games. When the 3D era hit, most developers had trouble programming in that third dimensional space. There were many great games once they got the hang of it, but even some of the greats had horrid camera angles.

I'm looking at you, Super Mario 64.

Don't get me wrong, Super Mario 64 is a great game; one of my favorite platformers. However, one can't turn a blind eye on the game's poor camera.

Players have the option of two different styles: one directly behind Mario and a free move camera. The behind Mario view is much like Z-targetting in Ocarina of Time, except that nothing is actually being locked onto. It isn't as perfect as Ocarina's, mainly due to the fact that it was an early build of things to come; Ocarina of Time's engine is a heavily modified version of Super Mario 64's. In this particular view, the camera would either be directly behind Mario at all times, or directly in front of Mario. As a result of this, the camera would often get stuck behind walls or in weird areas where you can't see Mario during platforming sessions.

Okay, so which way on the control stick will make me go down the ramp?

The free move camera is actually a little bit better, but it isn't perfect. The camera can be moved left and right at any time, even when Mario is running and jumping. This cuts back on times where the camera will get stuck or view of Mario is lost, but the downside is that the camera can't be moved up to get more of an overhead view of Mario.

Additional comments, by Kazarian:
"You know what I hate about some PC games? They use A and D to turn and not strafe, which changes the camera. Every PC game should use A and D to strafe and leave the camera angles to the mouse! Some games do that, but it's inverted on default. Who is going to move the mouse right to go left? I invert the controls with joysticks, but with a mouse it should be left alone, because it's only natural since you move the cursor the correct way."

Luckily the majority of games today have workable camera angles, but just imagine if every game had choppy or poor angles? Be thankful for the underappreciated camera angle technology.

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