What in the world is an FPS? Gaming 101

So in my last outing, we discussed what exactly a video game is. We also looked at the 3 most basic categories of video games. The terms that we explored in our last article however are easily understandable. I mean not a lot of people would look at you starry eyed when you say stuff like Mobile Gaming, or X-Box 360.

But that changes when your gamer friend starts throwing around terms like RPG or FPS or for that matter DOTA. You know you have read/heard those terms somewhere (its impossible to be on the internet and not run across them), but what do these mean. Is Tower Defense some kind of spell, is MMO a weapon of mass destruction, who the hell is a tank?

I will answer all those question, but lets take them slow. As is the norm in every domain, once you become an expert, you start using acronyms. While all the above terms are gaming related, not all of them are of the same type. RPG is a type of game, DOTA is the name of an actual game, and ‘tank’ is a kind of character you can play in most RPGs (see what I did there).

Games can be classified under: HOW and WHAT. The HOW here signifies the way you play the game, the limitations and advantages that come with the rules. For eg. in both football and hockey you have to score a goal, but you can’t use your hands in the first and your feet in the second to touch the ball. Similarly, different games impose different rules on their players, primarily the perspective/viewpoint the gamer is presented with.

1) F.P.S (First Person Shooter)

First person here means the viewpoint you would have while playing the game. Remember the first person in English grammar, he is the one who is doing all the talking. Similarly first person in video games, is the one who is doing all the action; shooting, slicing, jumping, exploding and basically raising a hell. You are practically placed in the protagonist’s body. You can see your hands, your feet, your guns and everything around you except for your face (unless you catch yourself in a mirror).

The term shooter is self explanatory. While not all first person games are shooter and vice-verse. This is probably the most popular combination you would find in the video gaming industry right now. So an FPS is a game where you get to shoot people looking through the shooter’s eyes literally.

Counter Strike, Far Cry, Call Of Duty

2) Third Person Games

As you would expect here you are in the position where you can see both the guy who is afflicting the punishment and the victim. The camera is ideally placed behind and a little above the playing character, but different games allow for different angles.
Dead Space uses a fixed camera above the player’s shoulder.
Resident Evil (earlier games) used a fixed camera angle which didnt necessarily follow the player
Max Payne uses a fully rotational camera using Max as the center.

If you think about it any game that is not first person is a third person game, but what separates a T.P.G (Third Person Game) from others is that this genre usually focus on a single individual and the camera normally covers only a range of the environment/map.

3) Isometric/ Aerial view

Imagine looking at a map. Now imagine able to zoom in and zoom out on that map up to to a certain degree. In fact stop imagining and give Google maps a try. That’s what isometric/aerial games look like. The focus of these games is not on individual characters but rather on a number of units which can be controlled by the gamer. Think of it as a chess board, where you have multiple units to command, and you need to look at the entire board to best plan your move. This kind of camera angle as is obvious is best utilised for games which have a strategic element to them.

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Age Of Empires, League Of Legends, and even Farmville implement the isometric camera technique.

4) Side Scroller/Platformer

Mario, Contra, Mark Of The Ninja, Shank are all side scrollers.

Think of it as playing with dolls in a doll house, you look at the player from one side and control him the best you can from there. This is perhaps the oldest and the most wide spread formats for making games.

So that wraps up the tutorial for today. Catch us next time as we dig deeper and look at the various genres of gaming. MMO-RPG here we come.