the 3 finals

Its a bird....with a bird helmet on.

A good and bad example of a camera in video games

A good example of a camera view in video games would have to be the 3rd person view, being able to see the entire character (or avatar). Obviously there can be exceptions in games were it doesnt work well, for an example, on the more 'on-rails' game types, were the camera automatically moves to a certain angle, it can often hinder the player, often removing the freedom. It also becomes a problem when you are in a heated battle, and you can't see what your doing because the camera has a mind of its own. My favourite view is the 3rd person, as long as you have full control over it. Being able to use buttons to change the angle to how you see fit.

The camera angle that we are going to inplement in our game is a sorta top down, birds eye view, but on a slight angle (so it looks more three dimensional) the game is a real time strategy (rts) so this camera angle is the best for seeing more of the map, being able to see a big variety of units, etc.

Video game character graphics

My personal perception changes with different graphics for the same character. in this case, mario. the old school graphics are very limiting, in a sense that there is very minimal expression in the body, or face, because of the limitation in pixels/resolution, and colour. The current mario mirrors the look of a real human being, with more cartoony proportions, but i can relate to it much easier, and of course theres more creativity of the look - it can change depending on the situation in the video game. the old school mario has a very retro look , which is quite appealing to me. i like the simplicity. The head is half the size of the entire body, quite simplistic. but the newer graphics (in 3d) really show's mario's character...if he's shocked, scared, angry, etc. and makes the gaming experience more personal, with more depth. But the old school mario is more of an iconic image of mario, its easily distinguished with such a small colour palette and design. its kept to an absolute minimum (the limitations at the time). the new mario has alot more character, feels more like someone with a background (even though all mario games have vague storylines) . and the old one is more suited for an arcade experience, which i think focus's more on gameplay than the actual character.