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Designing for the First-Person Perspective
Hello everyone, today’s blog will be about designing blasters for the first-person perspective. The blasters are important as they are the primary item that is held by the player. They function by shooting bouncing projectiles that eliminate other contestants in the Super Nova tournament.
Super Nova Stadium will be played in the first-person perspective, in which we play the game through the eyes of the character. What they see, we also see; usually it is a prop or the character’s hands. When placing elements on the screen there are some design rules that I must follow.
Above: Screenshot of Super Nova Stadium Gameplay
In a 2015 GDC session (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFLu8cityA), Bungie’s David Helsby gives a speech about animating in the first-person perspective. In the session, he mentions dividing the screen into three sections: The peripheral (blue), safe (green), and combat (red) zones. When placing visual elements, I try to make it so any animation that plays stays inside the safe zone. I do this to not block the peripheral and combat zones. The peripheral zone is for the player’s peripheral view in case any enemies are coming from the side. The combat zone is the focus zone where the players are aiming and shooting. This is also where the enemies are, so it is important to keep it clear. For these reasons, I do all my animations in the safe zone.
The next step is considering the layering in a FPP game. The game scene is the brightest, the character is the second brightest, and the user interface is the darkest. The main task of a prop is to inform the player what they are holding, but it is more important for players to know their resources. The character layer fills up about a quarter of the screen. Because of that, I put more details into the prop assets as compared to others. Usually, the prop is placed on the bottom right of the screen with a field of view of 35 to 50 degrees.
Blasters from left to right, and top to bottom: Battery, Shotgun, SMG, Pistol, Marksmen Blaster, Automatic Blaster, Beam Blaster. Artwork by Tommy Xiong
3D model of Blasters. Artwork by Tommy Xiong
Blaster Textures. Artwork done by Phil Kukura.
The blasters themselves, are abstracted from plant life. This idea was inspired by plants behaving similar to the theme of solarpunk, in the way that they gather solar energy. The automatic blaster for example, is of a maple leaf that is folded on top of the base of the weapon that elongates into the stock and grip. The blasters work by using the stored solar powered in the form of batteries that are placed into the chamber of the blaster. When a battery runs out, it gets replaced with a new one by the player. This is Super Nova Stadium’s version of reloading.
In conclusion, designing blasters for the first-person perspective starts with key principles, with works within the narrative and aesthetic constraint.