Nice video from game designer analyzing camera movement on a platform game

[mouser]

This is a nice discussion for anyone interested in the subtleties of controlling the camera view in a video game.  DC server admin Gothic (John) has actually been working on a 2d space game recently and this issue has come up in our discussions about it.

Following yesterday’s analysis of Super Mario Bros. 3, today I spent some time with the camera behavior in Super Mario World. The Free-moving behavior gains some new sub-behaviors, including locking vertical camera movement to the top of the map and locking vertical camera movement relative to Mario’s last standing position on a platform (fixed or moving) or water exit point. Smart.

from http://waxy.org/links/

[Deozaan]

Wow that's really interesting. Especially at the end there when he walks off the top of the screen. I never noticed it during my play, probably because I'm always running around (filling the P meter). It makes me wonder if that was a bug/oversight that playtesters never found so it never got fixed.

[casonbang]

Nintendo is so good at game development, they make it look easy. I'm reminded of this Ars Technica review of Mario Galaxy 2:

It's much harder to nail a satisfying game mechanic—whether it's in 2D or 3D—than people understand. Nintendo constantly shows you something amazing and masterfully produced, and just when you've gotten over being amazed at how well it plays, the game throws it away and offers up something else, equally good.

Wow that's really interesting. Especially at the end there when he walks off the top of the screen. ... It makes me wonder if that was a bug/oversight that playtesters never found so it never got fixed.

It's part of the level design. It certainly seems Nintendo designs the control and camera schemes first and then bases level design entirely on those constraints. Notice they use the camera rules for water and a vine to get the camera vertical. Once Mario is back on the ground, there is no need to go back up to complete the level, so the camera doesn't follow him up. Nintendo makes great use of subtle camera cues to guide the player towards the goal.