Probably one of the most important part of any visual medium is the position of the camera. The movement, control, speed and placement of the camera can make the difference between a good movie and a great movie, and it’s one of the reasons that highly talented directors are always in great demand (and why we tend to associate them with good movies). In most digital games, however, we tend to give control of the camera to the person who is probably least adept at using it: the player. However, this is understandable. Not being able to move the camera in times of high intensity combat is a pain, and many a winning game has been tossed to the scrap heap simply because of bad camera control.

However, when given limited control of the camera in some games, the effect can be quite extraordinary, and if the camera doesn’t get in the way of game play, there should be no reason why a designer controlled camera couldn’t be employed throughout the entire game (Willing Suspension of Freedom strikes again). Today’s first challenge is to think about games where the dramatic camera is key to the game’s look and feel.

There is a second challenge though. In my thesis, I talk about Interactive Discourse, the ability to change a game based off where you are looking. The second challenge is to think of a game where controlling the camera IS the entire game. Assume that the game can detect when you can see various object, you’re angle to them, and relative position. This way, you can use people being able to actually see an item as a conditional.