1st- VS 3rd person view

[Sph!nx]

Well, I've searched for a thread with this topic covered because I assume this is something discussed much before but I must have overlooked the obvious.

I'm having a bit of trouble deciding if I want to go for a third person or first person perspective. I like them both, but don't want to do them both (how easy it may be). First person makes the enviroment feel much more interactive for me, but with third person one can do a lot more with the player character. (animations with spectacular actions, etc.) What do you prefer to play?

I intend to make every bit of content totally from scratch so from that point of view, what would be easier to do, 3rd- or 1st person?

Thanks ahead!

[steven8]

I generally prefer first person, yet in games like Duke Nukem and Star Wars Shadow of the Empire I am disoriented by the first person ,and have better success with third.

[Jay]

Speaking about RPGs and Action-Adventures, I love 1st person games of that category. Thief: Dark Project is the best example, because the thrilling atmesphere gets intesified because of the 1st person view. (Arx Fatalis is good too) Sadly you cannot make RPGs and Action-Adventures this way all the time, because sometimes you need more overview.

[MakerOfGames]

First person makes the player feel as if they are the character. Third person is for a different feel, as it lets the player see who they are and be able to see a good deal more of the environment than first person. I would ask myself, do I want to make a game where I am using guns a lot? If so ask yourself, how serious do I want the game to feel? Most third person shooters I have played, no matter how intese it got, have never made feel the danger or fear as being in first person. Personally I think first person games should only be used when you mainly fire guns and want a serious tone for the game. Just image Metroid Prime if it was third person, not as exciting eh? At least I don't think it would be. Any other kind of game that isn't a horror game I think should have third person. It always did seem clunky to play a Star Wars game in first person, it was too hard to control because I couldn't see enough of my character. Hey, thats another thing, if you are going to do platforming or puzzle solving, first person is a no-no. It makes the tasks extremely difficult in most cases because you need to see all of the character to better orient yourself for movement tasks. First person games limit advanced movement options such as doing flips and rolls as they become very disorientating.

I prefer first person games, but that is only true with shooters. Some third person shooters get it right such as Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, but others feel too clunky. I also very much enjoy third person games like Zelda and Mario. I suggest looking at what you really want to do with the game to make this decision. The camera position makes or breaks games.

[paradoxnj]

I think the concensus is to ask what genre of game you are making? I personally hate first person RPGs because you can't see your character that you worked so hard to customize. Survival Horror is about 60% third person and 40% cinematic view (fixed cameras).

Those are pretty much my 2 favorite genres of games.

[SV2.0]

Genre is definately the deciding factor here. There are very few games that use cemera schemes inapropreate to their gameplay and actually pull it off. Metal Arms is a great example of this. (I love that game.) Another good example is Oblivion. Personally, I prefer third person for shooters. Never did before Gears of War, but after playing that, FPS's made me feel blind. When done corectly, third person compensates for the lack of periferal vision in first person. It defeats the price of the one-demensional interface. (The screen) I don't know how many times I have died in COD4 because I didn't see a guy that was standng right next to me.