Camera Rotation

Grim Dawn Development Updates
1

With the opening of the new forums, I thought I’d kick things off by announcing that we’ve added camera rotation to Grim Dawn!

We’re still designing the levels in such a way that camera rotation should not be necessary. So, those players who aren’t interested in it, will never have to bother with it. For those that do fancy a little rotation of the camera now and then, we’ve found that it definitely does help emphasize the 3-dimensionality of the game and alleviates the awkwardness that you sometimes experience when forced to run down toward the bottom of the screen where view distances are shortest.

The camera rotates seamlessly when you hold the center mouse button down and then move the mouse left or right. This makes it easy to quickly turn the camera a bit while running. It is also possible to rotate the camera using the keyboard and it defaults to < and >.

One of the big benefits of the rotation is that it is now much easier and more enjoyable to play with the camera zoomed in closer to the action.

And now for a flashback to May 2006… de-da-leet-de-da-leet-de-da-leet… (flashback noise)

Targzissian posted the following to titanquest.net in May of 2006:

“So, apparently camera rotation will not be enabled at release. Then I guess I’ll have to monitor the website and wait for the patch that enables it before I buy the game. I’m kind of surprised that a game that is so advanced in many ways (detailed graphics, wide screen and high resolution support, physics, grass that sways after you walk through it, loot drops that actually make sense, etc.) will release with camera controls more primitive than the original Dungeon Siege.”

Not wanting Grim Dawn to be more primitive than the original Dungeon Siege, we knew camera rotation was a must. Your wait is over Targzissian, you can buy Grim Dawn and finally experience the thrilling ARPG gameplay you’ve been missing out on since before the release of Titan Quest in early 2006. Well… the wait isn’t quite over… we still need to make the game… but hey, at least the end is sort of almost in sight!

But wait, that’s not all!

Here is a post from Roland also from May of 2006:

“I think we all will enjoy the game no matter what…that being said I’d really like to see the game live up to it’s FULL potential. Satisify as many people as it can and sell well for IL and ensure that we’ll have hopefully several more installments to look forward to over the years.”

You knew even before we released that ILE was DOOOOOMED!!! If Targzissian’s pleas were not enough, who could ignore the tragic lessons of history.

“So it depends on the game. To me, personally TQ “feels” like it should be there, and to see video of the game played that way and then to be told “sorry you can’t play that way” is like salt on a wound so to speak.”

Roland, I’m sorry that we salted your wounds. I’d like to say that it was just business and nothing personal against you… but that would be lying. Anyway, lets put those dark days behind us and rejoice. With camera rotation in Grim Dawn, how can we possibly fail?!

2

I am glad you are implementing it in a way that people who don’t want to mess with it won’t have too. In games like this I always feel hampered by a rotating camera and end up messing with it instead of smashing monsters skulls.

3

Though I’m no fan of hassling with the camera (as a lot of games have a crappy auto-camera), I definetely like the way how you guys want to implement it; not necessary, but possible.

Perhaps in zoomed-in mode even enable an auto camera that floats behind the players back? Not my concern actually, I’ll probably just use the fixed camera and limit the rotating camera to taking screenshots :slight_smile:

4

Its pretty cool having it in there, although when I’m testing stuff in the game I totally forget that we have it. To me the main value of it is that it gives us more freedom in designing the game world. In TQ we were forced to generally design the levels so that the player was always moving what would be “north, east, west” on the map since going “south” resulted in the awkward situation of running toward the camera. When running down I always felt like combat, especially for ranged characters, didn’t work quite as well.

Here I think we are more able to design a world that geographically makes more sense and not have to worry as much about situations were the player may have to run south. If there was an extended period of traveling south, you can just swing the camera around once and then forget about it again until you start traveling in a different direction. Its not necessary, but in my opinion it makes the gameplay feel a little better.

5

I totally agree. I also prefer the option to not use the camera rotating. But it is useful to explore the environment in search of hidden treasures!

:smiley:

6

I can’t wait till Roland reads this. Muahaha ; p

7

Very good implementation. I’m sure even the people (myself included) who prefer a stationary camera view during gameplay will still find uses for rotating the camera. Just brilliant! :smiley:

8

I’m a fixed camera view man so I doubt I’ll be moving it around.

Unlessssss I can pause the game and rotate the camera to take awesome screen shots.:smiley:

9

I’m sure you can in SP, but in MP you’ll just have to move that camera real quick!

10

In TQ I always wondered why the character wasn’t simply placed a little above the center of the screen to alleviate the problem with the toolbar at the bottom. Sounds like the easiest way to fix this, as I’m on of those who can’t be bothered with camera tinkering all the time.

p.s.: Story synopsis for Grim Dawn sounds really good. Gritty is how I like it.

11

Yes I always wondered that myself but for whatever reason it just never happened. You’ll be pleased to know the character is more center-screen in Grim Dawn and its definitely a bit better.

Glad you like the story. We’ll be releasing some more detail on it in the next few weeks.

12

Great news!

Nice GD webpage! Com’ on!

13

I completely agree with this, as it is one of the main reasons I didn’t play Hunting all that often. Glad to “see” that it has been fixed for Grim Dawn.

14

The greatest benefit of the rotation is that it allows people to play effectively with the camera zoomed in further. Now the camera swoops down rather low so that you can see a good distance in front of you.

Of course, you can also still zoom out and play from a more top-down perspective.

15

I prefer fixed camera in arpg but rotating function is welcome to those who like it…

16

im against a rotation camera. it remembers me to some …“most wanted but absolutly failed” games…
there are ppl playing with those rotating camera in ARPG games but even as ranger im still not for this. as an option for the players who like it would be the best way if u guys decide to include this function.

17

We’ll try not to make an absolutely failed game.

This is a totally optional feature that you’ll never know is there if you don’t want to use it. I’m not sure what people are finding to complain about here? : (

18

I find it funny how in TQ I wished there was camera rotation (I know there’s a mod) and in Sacred 2 I wished the camera was at a more fixed angle.

It seems like it’s hard to give the player control over the camera and still make it easy for them to find the “sweet spot”, without needing to mess with the camera every 5 seconds.

GD is going to have zoom and rotation, but at fixed angles (that are hopefully done well)… right? That sounds like a good balance.

19

I find it more difficult to remember that I can rotate the camera than to find the sweet-spot. Even after I’ve moved it during a play session I tend to then get sucked into the game and once again forget it exists.

In TQ I obviously never needed to rotate the camera but there are times when I would have liked to. Most notably, as I mentioned, when running down. There were even some times in TQ that objects got in the way of my view despite it being designed for a fixed camera. In Grim Dawn, even though you can rotate the camera, our better positioning of the camera makes it even less likely that you’ll want to. The character is more centered on the screen now, which makes running down less awkward.

This is a totally optional feature. We’ve added it because many players requested it and we were able to do it in a way that would have no effect on the players who didn’t want it. I’d say that I think people will have a tough time complaining about this feature but I know all too well that people can complain about anything. Really though, if you don’t want to rotate the camera, it should have absolutely no impact on the game for you.

20

Camera is a nice addition. I remember playing Dungeon Siege II and thinking… man this rotating camera stuff is cool. I hope it works as well; that is, if I’ll even find it necessary.

Still, in TQ I had never needed the camera rotation; not sure what all that hullabaloo was.