Hi there! Today I'd like to continue from last week's post about datagraphs and discuss another functional part to each helmet - and that's the camera. Built into each helmet is a camera that is not only used by the datagraph mode to help query data for objects but it can also be used to capture images for various purposes (in the context of the game world) such as tracking the growth of organic life, sending imagery to other personnel across the facility, security, etc.
Take a picture, it's easy
Let's take a small step back - one of the design focusses of the game is to make the keyboard controls "hand-centric". Basically this means we're trying to avoid having the player look down at the keyboard or mouse at any point during the game. Thus, all controls are centered around the WASD keys and the mouse. With that in mind, taking a photo in the game is as simple as equipping a helmet and pressing the "Q" key. Here's a shot of the camera reticule:
Image Gallery
After one or more photos have been taken, they can be viewed in the image gallery. Note that the current version of the image gallery (as seen below) is temporary and will be updated once the new Unity GUI updates are released. The plan is to present it in a more immersive way. Here's a shot of the current image gallery:
When taking photos, if the targeted object happens to have associated datagraph data, that data will be captured along with the photograph. This allows the player to keep track of information for various objects if they so desire. He's a shot of the image gallery along with datagraph data:
There is an important gameplay aspect with regards to photographs, and it's basically the notion that the player may feel the desire to document what is going on at the Montauk facility and the surrounding area. Without giving too much away, the contents of these photographs may impact the game in certain ways. Not to mention it's a great tool for dealing with some of the more paranormal aspects of the game. The player may want to look more closely at some photos.
Ok, that's it for now. Thanks so much for reading!
Larry
