This makes the first “Thinking” post on this blog, which means I’m likely setting the format for other Thinking-posts to go in. This first one will be about “1st person and immersion”, which is how you can make the game feel like something bigger in 1st view.
First thing first, the 1st-person view can be used in almost anything with a bit of thought, not just FPSes. There’s lots of stuff you can do in first person that hasn’t been tried, or that can be done better.
Let’s start with story-telling methods. I’ll divide these into cut-scenes (such as Metroid Prime or Halo uses) or player-redirection (like Half Life uses). There are uses for both of these, and they’re be better then the other in different situations. For example, if you want a long dialogue between the player’s character and another character, or want to show an impressive view of a scenery, the cut-scene might be to prefer. Sure, it pulls the player out of his role and separates it from it’s character, but unless you intend to make the player be the character, nothing is really lost. If used scarcely, the cut-scene can actually make the player feel like something very special is happening, and enjoy the break. That feeling is lost if cut-scenes are used to often for minor things, though. If you on the other hand want the player to feel he’s discovered something, having a short discussion or a change of phase in a boss-battle, you might want to redirect the player’s attention to where it’s needed. For example, if the boss is doing something unusual, that’s often enough to alert the player something has happened, you don’t need a cut-scene to tell that. Or a short, even if important, dialogue have the players attention in itself. It’s not really that interesting, unless your character talks a lot.
When it comes to interacting with objects, some games goes back to third person (Chronicles of Riddick), where you could have the same sequence in first-person, only that it makes the player unable to interact until the sequence is over. Take climbing a ladder or box – you don’t expect to be able to shoot at the same time, and not to fly up the ladder Half Life-style. Just keep the same animation you had and keep the view places inside the character’s head. Chronicles of Riddick is, apart from this thing, a very good example of how to use a character’s model to add to immersion. They already had the character, and just put the camara inside his head viewing towards his eyes. If we take the driving from Half Life 2, using the same method would have added to the game’s immersion. Not just because you would see your hands, but actually your whole body, with shadow, and perhaps being unable to turn 360 degrees while driving.
The character you play tend to be a blank paper, who has nothing to say and doesn’t feel a thing. And at the times it does speak, it feels very awkward. I believe this is because the character has no model, so it doesn’t do any body-gestures, which makes all speech a voice coming from nowhere which is just confusing. And when the character is supposed to feel, nothing seems to happen. Again, gestures – both very visible and discrete ones – from the player’s character can solve this, but also tears flooding up in the lower parts of the screen when the character should cry. If the character is wearing glasses, or a visor, Metroid Prime’s is, again, a good inspiration. Rain splashes on the visor, water falling down it when emerging from water, steam steams on it awhile after going through steam or going from a cold to a hot area and many other things I can’t remember happens to it, which adds yet another layer to feeling like being the character.
And, of course, mirrors. Unless there’s really good animation which makes a small step look like a small step and a run look like a run, avoid them. They’re great at spoiling the feeling of a natural character, as a small step to the right makes the character run off a whole step to the right and then stop. And it might give you a strange feeling to see your character for the first time. But if the animations are smooth enough and the player have a good idea of how it’s character look, perhaps a mirror would just add to the feeling of being the character?