How to build Tertiary Motion into Gameplay? (Continued)

In my last article I wrote about Tertiary Motion in video games. In this article I will continue on the topic and put forward some ideas on how to built tertiary motion into gameplay without alienating the player.


The Jogging Technique
One way to include more tertiary motion in games (and as a result, having them more 'cinematic' in style) would be to emphasize the outcome of small events through quick, short-term camera position switches, known as "jogging".

Assume that in an ambush, I fire a bullet to an enemy at a distance... the camera could quick-jump to a position that shows me with a close shot the impact of the bullet I just fired , but only for half-a-second or so, long enough to tell me that I hit or was very close to hit. (actually any game with a sniper-mode should have the basis for such a camera-algorithm already built into the game engine).In other words, the AI would respond by switching cam position if my bullet 'lands' within a certain range of the target, including the target itself. The quick switch to a close shot of the player's attempt to hit the enemy, could be a way to get her deeper involved with her objective, to hit the enemy. Examples of jogging can be seen in the Need For Speed series, in which the camera jogs to positions in which we see our cars flying through the air in slow motion from the most spectacular angles. But once the car touches the ground again, we are back in "normal" mode.


Jogging with Caution

It could be annoying for the player to see the cam switching too often, because basically it happens not as the result of a player decision. Also the interaction between game mechanics and various AI-controlled AI features can cause problems: for example it would be a huge task to get AI-contolled tertiary motion to work proper when a player uses automatic guns in a FPS. Such tertiary motion features would need to be tested in a variety of situations and probably presented as features that can be turned off if the player doesn't feel confortable with the switching.

One rule with jogging is that it should be done at locations or in situations in which the player has time to adapt to the return to normal gameplay mode after the jogging; meaning that in no way she should lose an advantage as a result of the absence of control during the jogg. Going back to the shooting example, a player probably would get angry with the game if she should discover that she was killed while the camera was jogging and the player had no control over the event. In short: Jogging should be meaningful in both aesthetic and narrative/dramatic terms, AND it should prevent all action that could damage the players status during jogging from happening.


What do you think about this article? Do you remember great moments of gameplay achieved through the use of tertiary motion? How do you think could game designers and game writers use tertiary motion to enhance gameplay experience? Please leave a comment and share with us!
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