Drakensang: The Dark Eye Developer Diary #12

Drakensang.info is offering up a twelfth developer diary for Radon Labs’ Drakensang: The Dark Eye, this time with technical director André Weißflog discussing the game’s camera system.

Resting Mode is active when the leader of the group does not move. In this mode the camera tries to hold position and keep the leader in focus. Depending on the distance (between the leader and the camera), there is an area within the screen where the character will be tolerated to move without the camera changing perspective. If the character leaves that area, the camera follows without changing it’s position. Because of this smooth beaviour the player doesn’t have to reorientate all the time because of the camera changing position and perspective. Instead he can give instructions to the leading character via mouse click, just like a strategic simulation. This puts more emphasis on the aspect of an adventuring group than would a camera bound to the leading character (e. g. Knights of the Old Republic -ed).