Dissecting Fourth Person Point of View in Game Design

Abstract

Abstrak Point of view dalam desain game erat kaitannya dengan karakter, visualisasi, dan kamera. Seperti first person point of view dimana pemain menjadi karakter dalam game dengan penggunaan kamera yang memperlihatkan perspektif dari karakter game yang dimainkan. Third person point of view yaitu pemain mengontrol karakter sehingga penggunaan kamera memperlihatkan karakter yang dikontrol dan interaksinya dengan environment game. Dua point of view itu adalah point of view yang dikenal dalam desain game. Jika pemain bisa menjadi dan mengontrol karakter, bagaimana jika pemain tidak bisa menjadi maupun mengontrol karakter?. Karakteristik ini disebut sebagai fourth person point of view, istilah yang pertama kali digunakan oleh game Pavilion dalam materi promosinya. Adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk membahas karakteristik permainan fourth person point of view, dan perbandingannya dengan point of view lainnya. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian studi kasus yang membahas mengenai game Pavilion dengan teknik pengumpulan data berupa play-testing game, wawancara dan studi pustaka. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa point of view dalam game memiliki kaitan dengan genre dan style game. Pada studi kasus game Pavilion karakteristik fourth person point of view dapat digunakan karena game tidak berfokus pada eksplorasi cerita dan karakter.  Kata kunci: fourth person point of view, game design, game Pavilion   Abstract Point of view in game design is closely related to character, visualization, and use of in-game cameras. First person point of view means that the player becomes the character in the game, and the camera only shows the perspective from the character’s eyes. The meaning of the third person point of view is the player controls the character, the camera shows the character entirely so the player can see how the character interacts within the environment. These two points of view are basically known in game design. If a player can become and control a character, what if the player cannot become or control the character? This characteristic is called as the fourth person point of view, the term that was first used by game Pavilion in its promotional material. The purpose of this research is to discuss the characteristics of the fourth person point of view, and the comparison with another point of view. This is a case study research that discusses the Pavilion game with data collection techniques through play-testing the game, interviews, and literature studies. The result of the study shows that the point of view in the game has to do with genre and game style. Moreover, the case study of game Pavilion shows that its characteristic of fourth person point of view is appropriate because the game does not focus on the exploration of story and character.  Keywords: fourth person point of view, game design, game Pavilion