So I’m starting to work on whiteboxing the first level of the game, getting a feel for how the controls should, well, feel, and one of my suspicions was proven correct; I’m going to need to implement a fancier camera system than what I have now.
Luckily I found a great article talking about all sorts of different camera systems and tricks taht dozens of 2D games over the years have used;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNSQIyNpVGHeak6isbP6AHdHD50gs8MNXF1GCf08efg/pub?embedded=true
Every one of those exmples is something I’ve seen but have been unable to put into words to describe what is going on, and it’s great to find a resource that I can point at and figure out how to best describe a mechanic or system to myself and others.
Definitely makes me think on how to improve myself on communicating my ideas and concepts both to myself and to others. Video game design vocabulary isn’t quite as ubiquitous as, say, film or narrative language. People generally understand what “panning” and “zooming” are, and things like “foley” can be simplified to “audio creation”. Video games, comparatively, can be difficult to describe and get across certain mechanics and systems to other people without knowing if there’s already a term for it or how knowledgable the person you’re talking with is with game design terminology.
