CameraBots: Cinematography for Games with Non-Player Characters as Camera Operators

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Kneafsey James McCabe Hugh
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

Cinematography describes principles and techniques pertaining to the effective use of cameras to film live action. The correct application of these principles and techniques produces filmed content that is more engaging, compelling and absorbing for the viewer. 3D computer games employ virtual cameras in order to provide the player with an appropriate view of the game world. These virtual cameras can simulate all of the functionality of their real-world counterparts yet little effort is usually made to incorporate cinematographic techniques and principles into their operation. We introduce CameraBots, autonomous camera operators modelled closely on the non-player characters (NPCs) or bots already present in many games. CameraBots can perform a larger set of operations than their real-world counterparts since they are not subject to the same physical restraints. Thus, cinematographic principles can be applied to camera work with relative ease by reusing bot program code already present. Our system contains a director module and a cinematographer module which together are responsible for coordinating the CameraBots in a manner consistent with cinematography rules and practice. It is designed in a modular manner such that it may be applied to numerous computer games with little modification.