
A primer on designing better cameras for games [video] - Red_Tarsius
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/293929/Video_A_primer_on_designing_better_cameras_for_games.php
======
doomlaser
The camera engineer for the PS3 game Journey gave a great talk on 3D third
person camera systems a couple GDCs back that covers a lot of useful ground:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7307qRmlMI&t=2432s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7307qRmlMI&t=2432s)

~~~
rorosaurus
I was about to recommend this exact video myself! It was a fascinating talk. I
highly recommend it! (Watch at 1.25x speed)

------
laurent123456
See also Virtual Camera System [0]. One of the camera system that first
impressed me was the one in Super Mario 64. It's so nicely designed that you'd
often forgot it's doing anything - for example it would follow Mario while
rotating around him so as to point in the direction of the current path. I was
a big fan of the camera angles in Resident Evil 2 as well, they've created
interesting sequences of shots that would built up tension without actually
showing any direct threat.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_camera_system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_camera_system)

~~~
woodrowbarlow
the SM64 camera was absolutely groundbreaking in its day, but it really
doesn't stack up against modern games. remember that part in wet-dry world
where you have to walk across a narrow plank, and the only reason it's hard is
because you're fighting the camera to walk in a straight line? that's a bit
telling (and both Zelda games for the 64 had the same problem).

the GDC presentation by Journey's camera designer [1] makes a few very good
points on this topic. modern 3D Mario games use hybrid camera systems that
operate as fixed cameras most of the time, and it's a big improvement.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7307qRmlMI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7307qRmlMI)

