Camera Code

Feb 06, 2020

Camera Code

Camera code is really hard. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Writing camera code that is technically correct is easy. Writing camera code that feels right is really hard. You will spend the entire duration of your project tweaking your camera code to make it feel right. You will never be happy with it.

Zak Phoenix McKracken

Feb 07, 2020

... and the question looping in my mind is: "Why Ron Gilbert needs to maniacmansionally code a camera? For which purpose? Only by breaking the boundaries of the imagination I will find my answer.

Marcos

Feb 08, 2020

It may be for the remake of Monkey Island 4 :-D

But I agree on the camera stuff, I've been working on this one lately and am still not happy with it: http://gltf.waveengine.net/

Someone

Feb 09, 2020

@Zak: The question in my head is: "Why do we need a camera at all?" I exclude a normal (photo) camera, which is indeed useful. But why do we need live pictures and these (crappy) notebook cameras? I can phone my colleagues. And I don't want to see them (and my friends) at home in pajamas with bad hair and distorted faces. I don't know anyone who has ever used the camera. So I can't imagine why Ron is working with such thing.

Maxleod

Feb 09, 2020

@Someone:No idea. maybe he's trying to do the same thing Mechner did forPrince of Persia? Working on a new project? Though he said he was working on a rogue-like, so maybe not.

Someone

Feb 09, 2020

@Maxleod: A rogue-like where you need a camera? Hm...

Lucas

Feb 10, 2020

Amen!

Zak Phoenix McKracken

Feb 11, 2020

@someone: exactly, it's unusual for a game developer like him to access a computer camera for a game.
My fantasies produced the following answers:
- the player's face is captured, pixellated, then placed over the enemy's face
- the player's iris characteristics are secretly captured, for obscure purposes
- Ron is developing an AI game, and the camera is working like HAL9001

blombo

Feb 12, 2020

I may be wrong, but I don't think Ron is talking about the phyisical device; he's probably talking about camera in games, i.e. the "window" through which you see what happens in the game.

Someone

Feb 12, 2020

@blombo: That is the question! (But I thought that too... ;-))

Big Red Button

5d ago

Yes, writing the code for the cameras in TWP might have been elaborate, too. So, who really knows.

DieSkaarj

2d ago

I have a project in UE4 that tries to emulate a retrofitted rooms approach with blueprints and Paper2d that's been nothing but a headache (but a rewarding headache.) I also have a homegrown engine that uses tilemaps that scrolls and flips on command that uses a cool approximation of Euler integration.