These docs describe 1.3, which is in testing. The version on Fab is 1.1: read its docs.

The camera for platformers and side-scrolling brawlers: side-on, a little above, with room on the screen ahead of the way you're running. It follows height lazily so jumps feel like jumps, and when you turn round the space ahead swings across the screen rather than flipping.

The camera#

• 1

  Add the camera.

  A Blendable Follow Camera with the Side Scroller preset: 11 metres out on a 55° lens, a few degrees above, looking along -Y so +X runs left to right.

• 2

  Add the shakes.

  A Blendable Shake beside it, Body left empty. Hits still land; there's just no bob or operator from that far out.

• 3

  Build along X.

  Run your level along the X axis. If yours runs along Y, change Facing under Hold The Angle on the Rig: 0 looks along +X.

• 4

  Play.

  Run both ways and jump. The rest of this page is tuning.

What makes it feel right#

Room ahead. A composition shift moves the character back from the middle by up to 18% of the screen, in the direction they're heading, so what's coming is on screen before they reach it. It's driven by the angle between the view and the way they're moving, so it's full running across the screen and nothing running into it or out of it. Ease Direction Changes is on, so turning round swings the space across rather than snapping it there.

Lazy height. Vertical Follow (x) on the Rig's Pivot is 0.35: the camera follows height at about a third of the pace it follows everything else. A jump rises without the camera bobbing up after it, and a long climb still gets followed.

A tall free drift. The character may wander 12% up or down the screen, and 4% across, before the camera corrects. Short hops never move the camera; running always does.

Tune those three first. A bigger lead suits a fast game where things come at you; a smaller one suits a slow platformer where you look around. A lower Vertical Follow makes tall jumps read bigger, at the cost of losing the character off the top of the screen.

Depth#

The camera follows the character in depth as well, so lanes, or a path that bends towards the screen, just work. It doesn't lock the character to a line: that's your movement's job, and the camera follows whatever it does.

Bigger moments#

• A boss room. Pull the camera back for the fight with Push Camera Override: a longer Arm Length or a wider FOV, eased in, until Release Camera Override with the same Source. Or give the room a preset of its own with a Camera Preset Volume.
• Show the way. A point of interest that moves the camera can lean the shot towards a door or a secret while the player is near it.
• Lock-on. Side Scroller lock-on faces along the level and slides the middle of the shot in between you and your target.
• Hits. Mostly tilt, as from any distance: start from Shake_Impact_HeavyHit and push its tilt up.