Camera¶
Two perspectives, one character, and a rule for when each applies. For the implementation see Camera system.
The rule¶
| Where | Perspective | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Towns and safe zones | Third person | You are here to look at people and buildings. The free-look rig frames the character in the world. |
| Trails between towns | First person | You are here to aim. Traversal and combat both come down to putting the nozzle exactly where you want it. |
| Any conversation, anywhere | Third person | You should see who you are talking to and who is talking to you. |
The default for anywhere not covered by a zone is first person — the mountain is the common case, towns are the exception carved out of it.
Why the split exists¶
The hose needs precision the free-look rig cannot give. Recoil traversal is aiming at a point behind and below you while moving forwards; that is a first-person problem, and every attempt to do it over the shoulder fights the orbit.
But the town half of the game is social and architectural. A conversation played out down the barrel of a first-person camera is a wall of text with a face somewhere behind it, and a town you never see yourself standing in does not feel like a place you arrived at.
So the perspective is the mode indicator. Dropping to first person tells the player, without a prompt, that this is now the part with the beetles in it.
Zones¶
Safe areas are authored as trigger volumes. Entering asks for third person, leaving releases the request. Overlapping volumes are counted, not toggled — walking out of one while still inside another holds third person, so a town can be built out of several boxes without seams where they overlap.
Zone volumes are also the natural place to hang everything else that is true of a safe area: no enemy spawns, refill availability, ambient audio.
Transitions¶
The swap between rigs is covered by a screen transition, and the actual camera change happens at the covered moment. The reprojection between a third-person orbit and a first-person eye is not something that can be blended attractively, so it is never seen: the screen wipes, the rigs switch under it, and the wipe comes off with the new perspective already settled.
If no transition is configured, the rigs cross-blend instead, at a much shorter time than Cinemachine's default two seconds — long blends between perspectives are genuinely disorienting.
Handover details that matter:
- Continuity of heading. Entering first person picks up the exact yaw and pitch the previous camera was looking along, so the swap never reads as a teleport.
- Re-centring on exit. Leaving first person swings the free-look rig back behind the player, so the third-person view resumes facing the same way you were looking.
- The first application is not a transition. Spawning into a town starts in third person without playing a wipe at the player.
What changes with the mode¶
Beyond the camera itself, the mode drives: the arm IK weight (higher in first person), the head bone (collapsed in first person), the crosshair (first person only), and the world-space aim reticle painted on the target surface (third person only). One switch, five consequences, which is why they live in a single director rather than in each component.