Any chance of a locked "UO Style" camera angle?

Hey guys, just backed the game and really happy with what I've seen, so I just want to say, great work! Thanks for what you are doing!

I was curious though, if there was one thing about Ultima Online I think may people loved was the sense of community and comradere due to the game's chat interface. The blurbs over the head was brilliant, although an abuseable mechanic (people screaming blocks of text, as we all say - something easily solvable, though) made relationships much tighter and cohesive - because it didn't just allow, but encouraged large dialog scenes within the game. It was a setting and we were able to be actors in the shot.. and we all got to play our roles as we wanted, and everyone, in that shot, got to see everyone's interactions - what was going on behind and directly in front of you, making for fun just emergent moments in the game... The point is - a conversation wasn't a struggle. Everyone was identifiable easily, because anyone near you -was just on your screen the whole time.

I feel like this old camera angle really helped develop UO's spirit of community.. and I would just love to have a camera angle option that we could snap 'on' at a button press and pull the camera away to UO distances and makes sure debris in the game like walls and trees don't rattle it back in - just keep it locked at the fixed difference and 'phase out' the stuff in the way like UO did.

I realize this may be a big undertaking, programming wise, but I really feel like those moments where a few of us are just gathered around chatting was the biggest part of UO... and a third person angle doesn't make you feel like youre playing a character in a community when half the people are behind you...

Just something I wanted to toss out there.. I sat around and chatted tonight for like an hour with some folks in game, had a blast and did some silly stuff.. and when I pulled the camera back and focused it like UO, it was so great seeing everyone's text bubbles on screen as the convo went back and forth, like in UO. Would be great to have this be an official feature. I realize the angle could be bad for Pvsp/Pvm, but that's the thing - in uo, most of the game is socializing/building relationships or harvesting resources.. this camera angle could make those 'humdrum' moments feel more like UO, when you and some buddies were just hanging out at the bank and sparring.

Thanks if you read this far, I know I rambled, just really think this could hit the game home for lots of folks, myself included.

 

doubt they'd add a diablo style 3rd person perspective angle as it's a 3d game, you'd end up walking places with roofs and trees and looking at roof tops and tree tops, wouldn't work

 

Would be nice to lock it behind your head for PVP.

 

I like this idea. Even from the standpoint of just trying to get around. I've had instances where I get lost and cant find my way around when I go into certain areas because you don't have that "overwatch" camera angle where you can see all around you. It would be a nice feature if you could toggle the camera back and forth both during and out of battle. It would also be nice if there was a UOAM style map to look at.

 

Welcome baltaronstream

 

Welcome to the community.

Like yourself I find the camera angles very frustrating, I would love to be able to zoom out further and lock the camera. Also I find that if you zoom into first person view, it feels like you are not viewing from the character eyes but from its belly button.....the camera feels too low down.

 

Welcome baltaronsteam87.

I agree with you 100%. I would love to lock in the UO camera angle, and then only zoom in when wanted.

 

Welcome baltaronsteam87!

 

In for camera lock......maybe even position it yourself and lock it, then have a few presets you can save.

 

We for sure we need more options on the camera. For sure, a toggle function to auto-lock a follow cam.

 

In order to make the camera angle work, all the level/world design has to be based around what is visible from that angle, and you need to be able to see through walls/ceilings when necessary.

In many modern 3D games, I will often move the camera overhead and zoom out a bit for a more tactical overhead view, but a locked camera angle all the time isn't exactly ideal.

 

i am with you 100%, that is a challenge and why i mentioned the programming hurdles this would be.. but i am not talking about something dynamic, I mean a FIXED angle, its a choice to go to this angle or not - and it is built with these parameters in mind; to give a proper circle of transparency, etc. I am not talking about a 'free flow' camera to zoom in and out, just 1 like UO had... a fixed angle that 'ignores' what it should to make itself functional

 

circle of transparency...the magic words