Emabulator
12-01-2008, 07:28 AM
Gamasutra tracked down DICE's Aleksander Grondal and asked him some questions about their upcoming free-to-play shooter, Battlefield Heroes.This may not be connected, but it's interesting that MMOs often have a third-person perspective, and here the series moved from first- to third-person.
AG: Ah, good point. The main thing about the third person: It's about seeing your character. I don't think many people are interested in investing in their physical, visual appearance of the characters when they never can see them.
Seeing your character, and seeing that the new item that you have is actually on your character, adds a feeling of attachment to him, from a visual standpoint.
The other thing is, we tried to make this more accessible, and I think that seeing your character in the world next to a barrel makes him more connected to the world.
For new players, it might be more accessible, seeing your character -- if I run up to something, and suddenly it stops in first person, it's, "Oh! I need to look down; there's something there!" But when you're in third person, you actually see a bit more of the world, and your character's relation to the world.
Initially there were some concerns, with Heroes, that third-person was wrong for a Battlefield game, but I think that once you actually try to play around with it, it feels pretty much the same. Once you actually get the hang of it, it won't actually be such an issue anymore.Follow this link (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21167) to read the entire interview.
AG: Ah, good point. The main thing about the third person: It's about seeing your character. I don't think many people are interested in investing in their physical, visual appearance of the characters when they never can see them.
Seeing your character, and seeing that the new item that you have is actually on your character, adds a feeling of attachment to him, from a visual standpoint.
The other thing is, we tried to make this more accessible, and I think that seeing your character in the world next to a barrel makes him more connected to the world.
For new players, it might be more accessible, seeing your character -- if I run up to something, and suddenly it stops in first person, it's, "Oh! I need to look down; there's something there!" But when you're in third person, you actually see a bit more of the world, and your character's relation to the world.
Initially there were some concerns, with Heroes, that third-person was wrong for a Battlefield game, but I think that once you actually try to play around with it, it feels pretty much the same. Once you actually get the hang of it, it won't actually be such an issue anymore.Follow this link (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21167) to read the entire interview.