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Kojima on Silent Hills camera perspective & world design

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Brief news, brought up by get_crazy in the P.T. thread, I debated if it was news worthy, but a lot of people have been debating if Silent Hills should be first-person or third-person, so I thought it was topic worthy, and since it's really our first word on the actual game outside of the teaser.

http://whatifgaming.com/silent-hill...n-first-person-and-third-person-point-of-view

They're still debating on the exact angle for the whole game, but it sounds like the game won't be first-person only and will have third-person elements, and teasing the game may be open-world.

FRT6ioG.png


Edit: as some people pointed out, there's a distinct possibility this is fake. Keep you updated if we learn more.
 

A-V-B

Member
shamelessly quoting myself from the other thread

Having special first person areas is the way to go, I think. Because there are certain ways to scare people that only work from first person perspective or third person. So get specialized and have "climax events" where you're thrown into first person. I mean, in a sense, going through an entire sequence like PT then going to third person would create a slight feeling of doneness or safety, especially if it happens at the transition out from the otherworld back into the foggy world and into the murky daylight streets once again. It creates a really strong line between the lonely disconnect of the foggy world, and the intimate evil presence of the Otherworld and its neighbors. That's an extra useful tool to have in your arsenal, one too good to pass up.

Let's face it -- the first time we see the Otherworld, we gotta see the normal world first. But when you finally enter the place where you'll see the first transition, you also enter first person mode for the first time, so you see the gradual, unstoppable slide close up. Imagine if the part with the eyeball pictures kept going until you broke through.

Anyone remember the youtube user 666 video? Conceptually close to the eyeball section, only it went further. That's how I imagine it.
 
P.T. was an astounding showcase of how effective first-person horror can be, but at the same time I'm not sure I'd want to play the entire game like that. A mix would be fine, if done well. And if anyone can come up with interesting ways to mix the two perspectives, it's Kojima.
 

Spoo

Member
Thrilled he sees the importance of including first-person as an element in the game design, whether it's fixed sequences or choice (though I would prefer fixed, because you can do more with that in designing your scares, I imagine).
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Also my opinion is that he should do third-person and first-person for segments rather than allowing both the whole game. I feel scares/atmosphere/environment/design are much better suited in horror being designed around something, rather than choice. I know gamers love choice, but horror is better built around circumstance.
 

UrbanRats

Member
copypasting from the other thread:
They should do like Silent Hill 4.
Worked great there.

Also, seems like the game is still in the very early stages.
We'll probably get a teaser trailer for it at Gamescom 2015, or E32015 if we're lucky.

And a more solid one at E32016.

The good news is, there's still time to tweet Kojima about getting back some folks from the Team Silent (Yamaoka and Ito especially).
 

A-V-B

Member
Also my opinion is that he should do third-person and first-person for segments rather than allowing both the whole game. I feel scares/atmosphere/environment/design are much better suited in horror being designed around something, rather than choice. I know gamers love choice, but horror is better built around circumstance.

Besides, having choice would make it feel like you're more in control. Part of horror is helplessness.
 

AJ_Wings

Member
I can see them going the SH4 route of certain sections being in first-person while the majority is in third-person or it could end in vice-versa.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
2016 makes sense, could mean its only about 18 months. The game has only been teased as of yet.

It also means that 2015 for TPP is starting to look more likely.
 

yuraya

Member
2016 is a longs way off. But hopefully by than VR becomes more popular. They will probably do first person.
 
Didn't Kojima say at the MGS presentation that he was working on shipping TPP first then SH? Would make sense for one to be 2015, the other 2016.

Considering how loaded 2015 is, I am perfectly fine with that date.

It's the summer of 2014. Any publisher that plans to release a game in 2016 at the earliest should not reveal it 2 years prior. I'm getting sick of games being announced too soon.
 

Rosur

Member
2016 makes sense, could mean its only about 18 months. The game has only been teased as of yet.

It also means that 2015 for TPP is starting to look more likely.

I reckons its gonna be March or possibly May 2015 for TPP and then Silent Hills the same sort of dates as TPP in 2016.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
It's the summer of 2014. Any publisher that plans to release a game in 2016 at the earliest should not reveal it 2 years prior. I'm getting sick of games being announced too soon.

To this game's credit though, they announced it with something completely playable rather than a announcement or a teaser trailer or something. And if they want too, they could do more teaser plays before release.
 
A Silent Hill game needs to be third-person, no question about it.

Agreed. Especially in the face of all this first-person survival-horror we've been getting lately. There's an absurd amount of it.

I don't mind certain sections being first-person only though, a la The Room. That was one of the very few design choices in the game that worked out well.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Didn't Kojima say at the MGS presentation that he was working on shipping TPP first then SH? Would make sense for one to be 2015, the other 2016.

If he releases Silent Hills before TPP there will be meltdowns, haha.
 

Tookay

Member
While I definitely liked what first-person horror can bring to the table based off the demo, I think I'd prefer a mix of perspectives in the overall game. There are some things that only third-person horror can do effectively and it'd add some much needed variety/unpredictability to the whole proceedings.
 
Fragmenting the perspectives between certain sections of the game may work as long as it is done well; that is, as long as we don't get a clear division between areas where we are safe, and those where we should start expecting things to occur.
 

D-Stubbs

Member
Was expecting something around 2016 so not surprised that's what Kojima is aiming for. The whole switching between third and first is interesting. I feel if the P.T demo was third person it wouldn't be as good so I'm hoping they keep parts fixed in first person where it's necessary. I'm betting it'll be fixed in third and have some areas be in first person. I'd be good with that.
 
That's fine, but he should've got that game finished and out of the way before letting the public know of Silent Hills existence.

I would imagine they revealed it so early partly to gauge reaction. It's also advantageous to release a playable teaser at a time when a lot of people are hungry for content on their new PS4s. Doing this at any event in 2015 runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle. PT easily has the most positive buzz of anything at Gamescom.
 
Mostly third person with some intense first person bits sounds good imo. Choosing would be dumb, first person is infinitely scarier.
 

Get_crazy

Banned
It certainly is a better idea to cycle the first person and third person view rather than allowing players to choose between the two. That being said...

as long as we don't get a clear division between areas where we are safe, and those where we should start expecting things to occur.

But we can trust Kojima on this, can't we?
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I hope at least the open world is third person. I loved the first SH games because of that. The chars animations were good.

The combat wasn't the best, but it still worked out. Chances are first person would fuck it up even more.
 

Get_crazy

Banned
Third person when you're in big areas and first person when you're in small ones (corridors and stuff, like in the demo)
 
Not all people are able to play 1st person games. Me included. I even had problems to play P.T.

We all already live a life in 1st person view. But giving this effect multiplied by 2, causes motion sickness by many people.

I can't play 1st person games at all, without getting an headache or literally have to...

giphy.gif
 
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