I think I am missing something very basic in game programming. Why my map feels so small? If camera is closer to ground, it should feel bigger right?

If I multiply the coordinate of every vertex on scene, it still does not make any difference. Flattening the scene (by like halving the z values) works but I don't want to do that.

Am I missing something basic here?

I think I am missing something very basic in game programming. Why my map feels so small? If camera is closer to ground, it should feel bigger right?

If I multiply the coordinate of every vertex on scene, it still does not make any difference. Flattening the scene (by like halving the z values) works but I don't want to do that.

Am I missing something basic here?

Hi taytay,

I don't think anyone is going to be able to answer your question without some more details. For starters:
- 2D or 3D?
- What type of game?
- What engine?

Can you provide some screenshots?

Like thok said, you should give more details.

But, if your using OpenGL (and 3D polygons), you could try to decrease the fovy in the gluPerspective function. That way the camera will be closer to the map, therefore your map will look bigger.

Hope it helps...

@thok
3d
FPS
no game engine, just opengl

Here are some screen shots
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/6370/testo2012010607280985.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5093/testo2012010607281127.jpg
http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/263/testo2012010607281197.jpg
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/1570/testo2012010607281279.jpg

In that terrain each grid is 2000x2000 unit, they are not really visible though. the river is half the grid size so its width is 1000 unit.

Each screenshot is taken from a different camera height (1, 10, 100, 1000) but the difference is not much. If I multiply every vertex with let's say 10, it does not make any difference. the map feels the same. For example that blue line is suppsed to be a river but it is too small.

@3333360

Is changing the fov good idea? My current FOV is 60.

Maybe things will look better when I add familiar things like trees etc

Well it's nearly imposible to get a sense of scale as it is now. That could be a huge 20x20km landscape, or it could be a small pile of sand with water poured onto it. If you added some trees, for example, it would help a lot.

Yes, you need to create vertical objects. That is in addition to just having regular objects that give a sense of scale.

Even terrain-only apps like Google Earth will dramatically scale the height values to help give a sense of altitude. The world is quite flat by itself.


Consider all your favorite 3D games. In order to pull off the world around the player, nearly every 3D game will add items that are very high relative to the player. This kind of (good) level design also gives a nice sense of height.

Is changing the fov good idea? My current FOV is 60.

TL;DR version:

For a simple game like you have, 60 degrees is a great number.



Longer "I care about making the best games I can" version:

The view angle is like telephoto lenses or studio photography lenses or fisheye lenses.

There are some fun little applets like this one that can help you play with it to understand what viewing angle means in real life.

For comparison with the real world:

Landscape photography often uses anywhere from 90-120 degree horizontal. Anything wider is usually a panoramic shot.
Many camera phones use about 30mm equivalent, slightly wider than 60 degree horizontal
A common portrait studio lens is 50mm, roughly 40 degree horizontal
A moderate telephoto of 200mm is roughly 10 degree horizontal
A deep telephoto lens at 300mm is roughly 7 degree horizontal
A supertelephoto lens at 400mm is about 5 degree
The high-end supertelephoto can go to about 800mm or 2.5 degree. That's basically a telescope that is 0.8 meter, or 2 feet 7 inches, long.


One place that view angle changes are used is in game's character creation. Sometimes you want to move the camera closer, other times you want to change the angle. Moving the camera closer to the character's nose will give a closeup of the head, but will also obscure the ears and hair. Moving the camera up and narrowing the angle will give a nice closeup of the character, but can also appear too much like a tabloid magazine zoomed photo.

It gets even more complex with different aspect ratios. A standard 4:3 screen at 60 degree horizontal will look a little tight, and at 16:9 will look loose.

View angle is something artists normally should have control over.