the first thing i think should be solved is camera issue though. my idea of ideal camera placement in third person action games is nailed above the back of the character i am playing. but it does have a few problems. first, it minimizes player's estimation for jump distance. second, it sometimes got blocked by the objects between camera and the character; or in the case of cornering, camera could stocked at a weird angle, which then interfered with the gameplay. although second problem was solved in Rune as far as i am concerned. there're still many developers did not use that option. so i say, use something like Rune, please... for the first problems, i'd think that make sure the physics in the game feel right; and make hanging in the air, like gliding an option. in addition to this two, i'd really like to request a weird option, which is design as many camera options as possible. i loved king's quest mask of eternity for a free form camera control although many cried against it. but i loved it. mostly, i'd like to express the wish for good numbers of camera options in the game. for, it's the soul of third person aciton game in my opinion.
Oni was an amazing game. i always loved the quote from avault's Oni review,
"Even a partial list of her moves sounds like a TV commercial for Ginsu knives: “She hits, kicks, runs, rolls, jumps, slides and flips with the greatest of ease! The amazing Konoko!”(Review by: David Laprad) "
and yes, Oni can do all these with never before seen grace, and none can compared to her even today. the problem for Oni was not that she's lacking the movements. the problem for Oni was that there's no meaning for Oni's most of her movements. what i am saying is that you could play through most of the level without using many of the amazingly fluid platformer animations. And in today's standards, lacking wallrun, wall jump, and hanging onto the edge of walls were a big let down also. whatever function game designers were creating for the character, he better assign meanings to it. or otherwise, it got wasted! the jump animation in the game was a bit weird to me too. there seemed to be a gliding senstaion when Oni jumped, which was out of place in terms of physics in the game. at least to me personally, since there're some people who don't feel a thing. Oni did not use a camera like Rune, it used similar but totally different. Rune's camera was not obtrusive because, when cornered, the character can be seen through. Bungie said, no, we don't want that. so they went and designed an environment that when Oni was cornering, players can see through the wall and see Oni... lol
prince of persia SoT series was a prime example of platformer games. the smoothness of doing all the gymastic stuff with the prince was amazing. and since it's a platformer first, combat second, there's almost no waste in prince's gymastic talents. however, there's not much room for competitive multiplayer either. the camera for PC was not very consistent. it seemed to me that some of the platformer manuever, like jump over a long break, was predetermined. players cannot control how far, how strong they are going to jump. the level design was quite linear. however, the best thing in terms of any platforming games was the Dahoka chase. although it does suffer some camera inconsistency, it confirms myself that competitive platforming will be an absolute blast. but camera issue will definetly need to be addressed. and how much player's control over some aspect of platformer game mechanics need to be addressed too.
now let's talk about psychonauts. i loved psychonauts. the camera in the game was quite wonderful until the last level, which was terrible for that type of camera... it has an glide mechanics, which add insurance to the success of a jump. however, there's still not much skill involved. at least that's what i remembered. the feeling of physics was great. which helps in many places. it's a bit different from prince of persia. Prince of Persia's level design was very tight, and linear. but Psychonuats' level design was open and not as linear.
all the games mentioned above, their designers created their platform engine according to their needs, except for Oni, they just created for fun mostly, i felt... now, i haven't tried assassin's creed or mirror's edge. personally, i am interested in mirror's edge right now. because i am wondering what kind competitive platforming do they have? i always felt that with camera placed above my character's back would be impossible to do anything like PoP. However, now i see that i should brainstorm for the new stuff rather than just thinking about PoP. my idea of competitive platforming was from 2D platforming. i remembered that for some jumps, you really need skill to perform in rockman and metroid series. for example, some people could wall jump to the places i could not and the time run trials...etc.
to sum up from what i really said above and questions for further thinking:
- i would like a game character do all the stuff like Oni with new tricks as well.
- i would like a game designed around those tricks Oni had plus new tricks too.
- the camera is mighty important, i would love to have as many options for it as possible.
- how much should be controlled by the designers in terms of platofrm manueverablity?
- should competitive platforming be designed in an open environment or all following a linear path?
- what modes should be in the competitive platforming? what's the reward? and what should be considered skills in such competition?
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