   1st person or 3rd person? Choices, choices...
  Something's really bugging me about a game I'm writing - in a nutshell, a survival horror ala Left4dead. Should this be in 1st or 3rd person? There's no co-op feature, multiplayer is an option I'd like to explore at a later date, and essentially it will be a user vs. the masses shooter. What I'd really like to know is what are the pros and cons to the game design for both view points. Personal tastes leads me to a 1st person perspective but I worry that I'm letting that cloud my judgement and the choice of either will effect the writing.Thanks   
  Are you designing for first or third?Third person perspectives are good when you are doing more interaction with the environment than you normally do in a FPS type game, like wall hugging, sneaking, getting cover, platforming, etc...The two aren't just camera angle differences, they are completely different designs. A third person game design will play very poorly from the FPS view, and vice-versa.   ;  Daark, the simple mention of interaction and the writing down of the problem has solved this conundrum for me. I will be wanting some interaction with the landscape, 3rd person would be best.   ;  I to would say third person view. But to me it all depends from my point of view of how you see your story unfold for the gaming community.   ;  Of course, since it does essentially boil down to a different camera placement, you could playtest either way and see what works best without having to make too many adjustments. I'd think third person is best, but figure it out for yourself.   ;  First person is also easier for gunplay, aiming etc. Thats why zooming in on 3ps games will give you a 1ps sight/scope.   ;  Well, this game will be a shooter in essence, but there will be moments of pure action. I have a level in which the player/character needs to run for their life through dense jungle with many obstacles, levels where stealth is the best option for success and levels where shooting the hell out of anything that moves is the only option. Which leaves me sat on the 1st/3rd person fence looking down on either side and seeing reasons for both. For the shooting like mad levels 1st person would naturally be favourable, but with these other elements 3rd person seems the best choice. Aside from the actual gameplay, I think it's all about the look - 1st person jungle running just isn't going to look as good as 3rd person. Of course, taking Fallout 3 as an example, it's possible to giver the user both options.Must stop thinking 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand less and start thinking Fallout more...   ;  I think, the problem there is that when you combine both views, there's is going to be a decline in the quality of both. In animation and usefulness.If you go with a more Mirror's Edge style of first person animation, you can actually provide that level of environmental interaction as well as give the immersion that a first person perspective provides.Just a thought.   ;  From the perspective of how the narrative relates to the player; 1st person puts the player more into the character's shoes, while 3rd person gives more weight to the character you create.  Seeing something happen to someone is a very different effect than seeing that thing happen through the person's eyes; both have very different but great dramatic effects.   ;  3rd person is for looking at the immediate area, 1st person is for looking with precision at something other than the character. Some games make a compromise where it's essentially 1st person, but set behind the character (instead of in their eye) to get some of the benefits of 3rd person (i.e. over-the-shoulder).I wish I could give a more helpful response, but I need more details. Specifically, you say it's survival horror, but then say it's a shooter like Left4Dead -- confusing for me, because I tend to think of survival horror games as having strong adventure elements, limited resources, and combat that you want to avoid when possible. It's a minor thing, I guess, but I might as well ask for it to be clarified.However, given your description, an over-the-shoulder camera is probably what I'd lean towards. Although I don't like it being literally over the shoulder, I prefer the old "transparent character with aim cursor" method.   