Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Q&A
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Q: What challenges did you face regarding the choice of a first-person view?
A: We already had some expertise with first person in our previous game (Arx Fatalis), so the challenge was more about how to bring something new to the experience. We decided to tackle the combat system: create a first person melee experience that just felt right. There have been attempts in the past, but we think nothing as convincing. This was a great opportunity and a great challenge. A tremendous challenge in fact.
First, we had no choice but to support a body-awareness system (the experience of seeing and almost feeling your own body in first person). Aside from the fact that having a body feels very immersive for obvious reasons, it's also absolutely necessary to see your feet when you kick an enemy. It also improves the player's ability to evaluate distance between himself and the opponent. Basically, you're not just a floating camera; you belong to the world, which makes a huge difference.
This body awareness is a very challenging feature, believe me. There are gazillions of things to think of when you start developing it.
Along with body awareness, we took on the challenge of creating a melee combat system that is fun, where the aiming is smooth, not confusing; where player strategy is at the forefront and where you really feel the hits (both given and received).
We're thrilled with the results so far: The constraints of a first person view have actually become our ally. There are things we implemented that you can only do in first person, such as aiming at a specific part of the body to maximize damage or disarm your enemy (if you aim at the hand). But most of all, the character/player relationship thanks to body awareness becomes visceral. You are the fighter, because you feel it. You are in your shoes. You are the guy who just managed to do the super cool move, and this is all possible thanks to the first person view.
