Tropes 22nd March

[fardell24]

Camera Centering

In a nutshell, this is the mechanic of allowing the player to center the camera in any 3D video game without a fixed camera. The main purpose is to keep the player oriented on the action, and thus avoiding Camera Screw.

It's often done by pressing a single button, but not always. Sometimes it's a combination of buttons (but this is reserved for games where every other single button command is being used for other things, so there is no choice), or one of the effects of other camera related mechanics (such as doing one effect, and then centering immediately after you release the button). Some rare games even do this automatically.


Camera Perspective Switch

This is a gaming trope where the player's perspective will change between views, such as switching from first person perspective to third person. In some games, the player has the option of switching between these views at their whim; some third person games actually have a designated button for switching to first person, usually to get a better look at something, since third person view doesn't always give a good view of details or faraway things.

Other games handle this dynamically, without player input, depending what action the player is taking. For example, a game that's normally first person might temporarily switch into third person view as the player climbs into a vehicle. Alternatively, a game that's usually in third person perspective might switch into first person mode as your character uses binoculars or a scoped weapon.


Cel Shading

Cel Shading is a style of computer rendering that imitates the look of hand-drawn artwork and animation. In layman's terms, it replaces the shading gradient of conventional rendering with flat colors and shadows (as seen at right). The style was codified with the Sega Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio.

While the style is not exclusive to Video Games, it is often used there since this is the only way to produce a hand-drawn look via computer polygons. In other media, Cel Shading can be useful to render specific items in a hand-drawn production, if a given scene would be too difficult to animate by hand, such as a rotating object or an Epic Tracking Shot traveling down the length of a massive vehicle. There are also animated series produced exclusively via cel shading, usually for similar reasons. When mixing cel shading with traditional animation, it's important to calibrate the renderer to avoid visually clashing with the rest of the production (i.e. being too detailed or smoothly animated).