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Comment on Why did in game cameras take so long to get good?🤔

There were also fixed camera games with some horrible designs. Resident Evil was one that I remember. There’s tradeoffs for developers. Fixed camera means you can make it look better having to only worry about one perspective and you could bake-in a lot more fidelity. A movable camera in a tight space is complex to design around and even modern games have issues in tight spaces. Back then, nearly every game was in tight spaces.

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Thorry@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
The fixed camera was a staple in 3D horror games. I think it started with Alone in the Dark (1992)? But there might even be something earlier that started it.

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RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Fixed Cameras (that is, cameras with a pre-determined location according to the player location, meaning the camera can move like in Silent Hill, not just a Static Camera like in Resident Evil) are basically a requirement for Survival Horror. This is why I say nearly all modern “survival horror” games are actually just Action Shooter games. Modern Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alone on the Dark, etc. All Action Shooters now.

One of Survival Horror’s biggest elements is that the peak optimal way to play is intentionally avoiding combat (except mandatory bosses). Most true Survival Horror games have combat that feels bad. It either has low visibility, or the player animations are slow, etc. Tools that the developers use to try to discourage the player from engaging in combat while at the same time thematically fitting in to the genre. Compare this with modern action horror games: the combat feels good. The aim is easy, the animations are fast. The player will want to engage in combat more because that is part of the design for mainstream audiences.

Fixed cameras also build anticipation in the player and create a more memorable playthrough experience. Everyone that played Silent Hill 1 remembers this scene forever:

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Both Dino Crisis 1 and Silent Hill on the PS1 used this style of camera to great effect.

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- SGforce@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Curious on your opinion on Amnesia The Dark Descent. Especially if you played it near it’s release. I think a good first person survival horror can exist without any combat at all. I suppose there’s that Alien game with similar gameplay that was a little more mainstream as well.
  
  I think a fixed camera can make it feel cinematic, but a player controlled camera wins for immersion.
  
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  - RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I have not played Amnesia, but I have played and enjoyed Alien Isolation. I would not call Alien Isolation a Survival Horror game, though. I would call it an Action Horror game. Especially the second half of the game, which is more reminiscent of the Aiens action film. While the first few hours has gameplay similar to Survival Horror, it lacks other elements that classify a game as Survival Horror IMO.
    
    Survival Horror as a genre (IMO, obviously) is basically Puzzle game gameplay first with optional combat that the efficient player is intended to avoid (with more than just a singular enemy or “Stalker” enemy). It contains themes and elements of horror as its most prominent story and/or art features. Its design exploits the player’s inability to see or know something that the player character sees or knows (usually via fixed camera angles that obscure enemy positions from the player, even if the design of the level would.indicate that the player character can see an enemy), causing the player to have a higher level of anxiety when they enter a new area.
    
    The combat will feel bad to the player, so that they will be discouraged from trying to combat enemies. Sometimes this is because of story reasons, like Silent Hill protagonists being untrained in the use of weaponry. Other times, the aim, hit chance, and enemy health are obscured to give the player a greater sense of risk like in Resident Evil (the original, as RE2 and later games switched to Action Horror). Sometimes combat is extremely simplified to the point that basically the only thing the player can do is run away and hide, like in Haunting Ground or Clock Tower.
    
    This is where we get to weird cases like Koudelka. Koudelka has many elements of a Survival Horror game, but because of its combat system (a randomly-initiated strategic turn-based JRPG-like combat system, think Tactics Ogre or Fire Emblem combat), and its lack of puzzles in the hours I played, I do not classify it as Survival Horror. I classify it as a Horror JRPG.
    
    While I agree player controlled cameras are more immersive, Survival Horror as a genre is not about immersion. As a game designer for a Survival Horror game, you aren’t trying to immerse the player, you are trying to keep them on the edge or their seat. A great way to do this is to remove information or control from the player. Removing camera control, obscuring health, etc. are all tools that you as a designer can use to increase the player’s anxiety. For example, Haunting Grounds has the “Panic” mechanic, where if the player allows the player character to become too fearful, the game relinquishes control of the character away from the player for a limited time, and the player character will take random actions that you as a player cannot control for that time. A survival Horror game designer should want to build anxiety in their game wusing their tools to do so at various paces throughout the game while not exhausting the player, and through various types of events (such as jump scares, although jump scares should really only be used once and any more than one time is indicative of a bad or lazy designer IMO) you relieve the player’s anxiety so that they do not become exhausted. This is why Safe Rooms in Resident Evil 1 and Dino Crisis have their calming music, they exist as a point for the player to relax and let go of their anxiety so that you as a designer can build it back up through more gameplay.
    
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    SGforce@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    That sounds exactly like Amnesia. There are no HUD elements, health is buried in your inventory. Sanity is displayed by obscured vision and hallucinations. The only real options you have to beat a creature that spots you is to hide and hope it didn’t see which way you went. It’s quite slow paced and reading/listening to the notes provides the narrative along with puzzle hints. There are no weapons, but by being clever you can avoid a monster or block a door long enough to escape. It is rather “western” styled though, but more along the lines of HP Lovecraft than a Hollywood zombie movie or Deadspace for example. There are some jumpscares but they are absolutely terrifying only because of what lurks around the corner, a creature you hope to never get a good look at. I do recommend it.
    
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