POV: DESIGNER. DIFFICULTY 2. LEVEL 1 – 1
in Scroll Back Itay Keren goes on a journey through the history of 2D game cameras to help him understand and ultimately solve camera design problems he had developing his own game, Mushroom 11.
Marcus Says: As Itay notes in the introduction, it is surprising that the common and long standing topic of 2d camera design has so little literature. I thought I had a good grasp of 2D camera design. But reading through Itay’s post, I experienced numerous Oprah “aha” moments. The camera types outlined in the glossary are simple, yet their application varies greatly from game to game especially when combined with with other camera techniques. And Itay backs everything up with examples, which include animated diagrams. The lines he overlaid on each gif to show tracking, position, panning, ect. is a simple and effective way to see the nuances of the camera design. It’s a great trick for his gifs and a handy tool for critics; all we have to do is hold our thumb up to a screen of game footage to get a sense of how the camera is designed. The whole post is slick. I’m convinced that animated loops might be the best way to show camera movement techniques, not just in games but movies and shows as well.
