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Video Game Design Foundations
The gameplay is how the game is presented to the player. The perspective
of a video game is the view that the player has during gameplay. There are
three different modes of perspective: first person, second person, and third
person. The
perspective
describes how the gameplay is displayed on the screen
and the position of the player within the game.
First-Person Perspective
First-person perspective
is a view of gameplay where the player sees the
game through the eyes of the character, as shown in Figure 4-1. First person
is often used for driving and shooting games. For a game to be in first person,
the player would not be able to see the character being controlled, but can see
everything the character sees. This is the closest a player comes to “being the
character.”
Imagine a racecar game where the view of the gameplay is that of looking
through the windshield. You can see all of the turns and cars in front of you,
maybe even some in the rear view mirror. You can also see the dash displays
and even “your” hands on the steering wheel. It looks just like you are sitting
in the driver’s seat. This view is from the first-person perspective of the driver.
It is as if your character has a head-mounted camera and you only see exactly
what your character sees.
A substantial amount of programming is required to create first-person games.
The reason for this is that the player view remains nearly centered in the screen.
Perspective
Figure 4-1.
This game, called
Cowboy Billy Boom,
shows action in first-
person perspective.
Notice how the view
is seen as if the
camera were on the
head of the player.
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Target
Lives Weapon
Remaining
ammunition