Choosing the player’s perspective in a game is a crucial decision. Not only does it affect how players perceive the gameplay environment, it also creates expectations on how the game should be played. For instance, if you begin the game looking at the back of a car, it’s reasonable to expect that you will be driving the car.

In the game we’re developing, we’re working with a number of assumptions:

1. 1. The player can select and control more than one character in a serial format (one at a time).
2. 2. The environment is deformable and can be shaped by the player.
3. 3. The default control scheme is “click-to-move.”

For these reasons, we had decided that an isometric perspective would best suit our needs. Games with an isometric perspective provide an omnipotent feel (going all the way back to Populous) that we thought would convey the player’s role in our game.

That was the theory anyway.

In fact, what we failed to consider was how isolating an isometric perspective can be. Unless they are looking up at the camera, it’s difficult to make characters seem expressive. Sure, you can make exaggerated animations and sound effects, but we’re all hardwired to look at faces. It’s a real handicap if you can’t see them.

Another downside to isometric perspective is the lack of a horizon.  Sure you can continue to draw new “ground” as a character moves towards the edges of the screen, but its difficult to provide a sense of where the character is going (other than up/down/left/right).

So with all this in mind, we’ve been considering alternatives. In particular, the artificially short horizon in Animal Crossing has come up as something that might suit our purposes better.

As we continue to explore, we’d like to hear your ideas. Which games provide a good perspective? Which ones don’t?