As mentioned in a previous post, I plunked out another multiplayer 7DFPS project. Here it is!

What’s this? The game is called Photog. I recorded a short video walkthrough of its main mechanic, where one player plays as a cameraman for a third-person shooter.

Basically, the cameraman needs to follow his/her teammates and provide them with good shooting angles.

Edit: here’s a video of Photog’s first playtest.

How many players are needed? It’s designed for 4+ players. Each team consists of 1 cameraman and 1+ shooters.

What’s the combat like? You’re armed with throwing axes. There are ammo pickups and health pickups.

You can’t attack while holding the camera.

How do I aim while in third-person? There’ll be a giant crosshair dot in the world (blue or red, depending on your team). Move the mouse to aim.

What are the controls? WASD moves you. Left-click throws an axe, or drops the camera if you’re the cameraman.

F1 switches teams. TAB shows the scoreboard.

I want to play. Here ya go:

Download Photog v1.0 (5 MB)

Source code (9 MB)

Wait, are there any bugs or issues? Yes.

Et al

The first commercial game I worked on was a third-person game, and one of the design goals was that the camera should simulate someone holding a camera. So, there was a some camera shake, some idle swaying, and jostling when your squad was running full-bore down a street. It was a great effect, and its third-person camera system in general was very well done.

Some of us designers thought it would be a hilarious gag if the camera was represented by a camera crew, and you’d catch glimpses of them under very rare circumstances. Some guy with a boom mic, a camera operator, a focus puller hanging out on the side. This was one of those ideas you prefaced with “wouldn’t it be amazing if…”, knowing full well that it’s completely unfeasible for a multitude of practical and production reasons.

So, Photog is me finally getting around to making this camera-crew game. Everyone has a ton of “wouldn’t it be amazing if…” ideas, and a game jam is the perfect place to play with them.