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Prince of Persia (2008) Camera Analysis 01

4/9/2016

This camera system is relatively well-documented and gives a glimpse of Ubisoft's attempt to make a sustainable camera system for use on multiple projects. No further sources I found have indicated whether this system was actually used again after Prince of Persia (2008), or if that was an ideal vision that did not come to pass.

As a result, my analysis is based on my experience of the game as viewed through a lens that is heavily influenced by Jonathan Bard's talk "Directing the Prince Of Persia." I attempt to provide information to fill in the holes left by this presentation, but some details may be inaccurate.

Camera Mechanics

The first six of 17 camera mechanics are described in the talk. I will list them, but refer you to the link above for more details. The ones that follow were observed during my playthrough of the game and are accompanied by screenshots from the 2016 WR Speedrun by samabam14.

1. Fixed camera
2. Spline Camera
3. Free-Roaming Camera
4. Animated Free-Roaming Camera
5. Movement Compensation Camera
6. Dueling/Boss Camera

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Hitman: Absolution Camera Analysis 03

13/2/2016

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This is a catalogue of all the cameras I could find in this game, excluding those mentioned in previous posts. Credit to https://www.youtube.com/user/HassanAlHajry for capturing most of these shots, and obviously to Io-Interactive for developing the game and engine.

Signature Stealth Cameras

All of these cameras have a completely hidden mode in close up third person, and transition to a pseudo first person perspective camera when the player chooses to look out of their hiding space. There are a few more variations on the stealth camera that derive from other cameras:

Derived from dumpster camera:

Crate
Ice chest
Fancy wooden chest
Giant birthday cake
Variations on the dumpster type body container

Derived from closet camera:

Variations on the closet type body container

Clothing based, derived from main gameplay camera:

Scarecrow
Samurai armor

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Hitman: Absolution Camera Analysis 02

3/2/2016

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Hitman: Absolution actually has a very simple camera, that they maintain through cinematic gameplay sequences without many changes from when Agent 47 is running or sneaking normally. The main camera is not much more advanced than the default UE4 Third Person Project Camera. There are differences in height or boom from crouching to standing, aiming mode with toggle crossover, and a maximum upward pitch that is maintained when colliding with the wall or floor. These cameras work the same in or out of cover, unlike other games (GoW) that have cover specific cameras. There are other cameras for unique situations like shimmying across ledges and hiding in a closet, but those will be discussed in a later post.

Crouch to Crouched Aiming and Standing to Standing Aiming (no mouse movement)

These are what the player sees when transitioning between the various crouch and aiming modes. The camera height does not change between Standing and Standing Aiming, but it increases when transitioning from Crouched to Crouched Aiming. The lift is quite abrupt, made palatable only because it is triggered by direct player action.This feature allows the same camera to be used for cover shooting mechanics, where the player must slightly expose their avatar to takes shots (also revealing their location in the process).

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