A view within a game represents how the player sees the game content and interacts with the game world. Choosing the right game view early on in the design process is important as it will help guide decisions as you develop characters, levels and features.
Think of the game view as a window into your game. What do you want your players to see and focus on? Let’s use our racing game example where we are driving 4x4 trucks (from our post on How to Start Designing a Game).
First Person View
We could take the approach of having a First Person view. A first person view is one where we are simulating what the character sees. In this case we would see the front console of the vehicle, along with a steering wheel and then the track that we are driving on in front of us.
This type of view requires a 3D world perspective. Elements are bigger as they get closer to us. This view allows us to move around the 3D space, but also requires us to implement physics engines and other components to make the world believable as we interact with it.
First Person views are often very graphically intense. Many games struggle balancing graphic details with equipment abilities. If you provide too much graphic detail, you will cause a lot of strain on the physical hardware running the game. If you don’t provide enough graphical detail, the 3D world looks unrealistic and players don’t enjoy the game.
Second Person View
A second person view game is on in which you are watching the character play out the storyline in the game. This could be in a 3D world still, but you are not viewing the game content through the eyes of the character.
The best example of this type of view is in sporting events. The camera views show the action being played out in front of them. The same applies in games - the action is being demonstrated in front of us.
Second person game views are best for group type games such as sports games and so forth. A lot of fighting style games will also use this perspective to showcase multiple combatants on the same screen.
Third Person View
Third person view is when the camera is found behind the main character, showing the main character in view. The camera moves along with the characters movements to always show what is in front of the character.
In a 3D world, as the character moves forward, so does the camera view. The character however will always stay more or less the same size. This is not an exact rule though as depending on the 3D terrain of the game, there may be some differences in movements to maintain the geography of the terrain.
2nd Person vs 3rd Person
At this point you may be thinking to yourself that 2nd person and 3rd person sound very familiar. They are very closely related, but there is a key difference.
In a 2nd person view, its move of a companion or alternate character putting the camera view on the character. The character and view may not be looking in the same direction.
By contrast, in a 3rd person view, the companion is always behind the character and looking in the same direction as the character. As the character moves around, the companion follows and the view changes to always be looking in the same direction. There may be some delay as the companion catches up and changes view, but when idle, the companion will be looking behind the character and in the same direction as the character.
Top Down View
Our last view mode to describe is what is known as a top down view. This is when we are looking down as the scene as if from high up in the sky. We can see all of the characters below us, and they all move around in left, right, up and down directions.
Top down views are often used for group battling or arena style games as it presents a less graphically intense version of the gameplay.
It is also used when group play mechanics want to show the same view. Meaning - if you have 4 different players, but only want to show 1 screen. A top down view will allow all 4 players to see the arena and characters without having to have 4 different screens.
