Hi there, I and some friends are developing a 3rd person shooter/adventure game. what do you all think should be the do's and dont's of 3rd person shooter/adv games?? Tell me what you like and don't like...gotta hear from the public. later ppl! :)

Well, you need to be sure to have lasers, magic spells, and robots and wizards on motorcycles and dragons who eat them. Whatever you do, don't include plumbers or clowns.

Hmm...

Maybe it would help if you offered a little more information about your project? Genre, setting...? You're asking a pretty wide open question there.

Well it's a game set in the near future, 2036. Just picture a Metal Gear Solid feel in a big city like Gotham. It takes place at a large corporation's complex. The weaponry is basically pistols, machine guns, gatlins, shotguns, katana blades, etc.
Maybe that lowers the vagueness.

Not a lot. With what you've given us, I think the list of "do"s and "don't"s is unlikely to get more advanced than:

DO: Explain with more detail

DON'T: Focus too much on weapons.

A description of the gameplay and atmosphere will be far more usefull to Gamedev posters than just telling us it'll be a cross between Metal Gear and Batman, but with weapons ranging from sharp bits of metal from feudal Japan to multi-barrelled automatic rifles from nineteenth-century USA to laser-powered CQB force multipliers from the world of tomorrow.

My advice is to forget about "Do" and "Don't" lists. Looking for hard and fast rules about game design is a good way to limit your potential. Instead, design a sample level from the game. Don't worry too much about story or whatever. Just draw a level on a piece of paper. Put some crates, some crawlspaces, some gun emplacements and a few guards into a two-story "kill house", and then sit down with your team and decide what it'll look like when your hero goes through that area and kills/incapacitates/evades the enemies. It's best to do this with a case of beer and some props, so you can act out all the ninjutsu, shooting, and tactics that he'll be using. I sometimes use this technique when I'm writing a story or planning a post on these forums. Even if it doesn't give you a 100% feasible design document, it'll help you get acquainted with your ideas and set the tone for your project.

Well I'm looking for more of what ppl want in this type of game. For instance, when I play a 3rd person game (MGS, Splinter Cell, Rez Evil), I like the character development. You got to have the ppl in the story grow, otherwise whats the point of progression with the game? Also I do not like how sometimes the camera is in front of the character and you cannot see whats in front of you.

These are the types of things Im looking for for feedback, things of a 3rd person game that transent all genres, settings, etc. There are things ppl like and dislike on any level. Also, have you been playing a 3rd person shooter and wished it had different functions, features, etc? Any feedback is appreciated.

Along those same lines, take a look at the camera in Pince of Persia: Warrior Within. By default, it's a chase cam, which does its best to show you whatever elevant items and enemies are in the area, but can be controlled with the right analog stick. There are two other options, however--first-person and "landscape" camera angles.

First-person is just what you think it is, and can be very handy for spotting traps, passages or enemies. Landscape is a pre-set location in the area, chosen for its favorable view of the area and the puzzle you're working on. The camera controls are limitted to zoom variables, but if I get stuck, I can just snap into landscape view and there's a good chance it'll show me some thing or relationship between objects that I hadn't seen otherwise.

As to character development, good use of NPCs is a terrific tool. Try to avoid the standard "damsel in distress", "venerable teacher", and "token minority sidekick who dies tragically" stereotypes, but use a good secondary character to reveal important info about the hero. If used properly, flashbacks can be useful as well. But try not to spend too much time in cut scenes. It's a shooter-type game, after all, and people will want action more than they want cinema. Plot and characterization are just the icing on the cake, and few people like cake with too much icing.