How to create a beat 'em up style camera a la Turtles in Time?

Development Cinematics & Media
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1

Hey everybody!

So I’ve been working on a retro-style arcade beat 'em up game. I’m currently using a camera actor that grabs the X coordinate value from the player character and adjusts it’s position based on that (really basic sidescroller camera); but now I’m looking to tighten things up a bit and implement a more flexible camera system similar to the one used in TMNT: Turtles in Time or Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, X-Men, Simpsons arcade game, etc.

What I’m looking to have it do is move along with the players, not focused on one particular player. I want it to not move left (backward in the level) and to have it stop at combat checkpoints. I’ve had a few kicks at the can but nothing so far has worked as I had hoped. I’ve managed to block player characters to within the camera view by having blocking volumes attached to the camera that extend out across the playable area at the very edges of the screen; but I’m not even sure if that’s the way I should be doing this.

Does anyone have any ideas? Tutorials? Etc?

For anyone not familiar with the camera style I’m looking to recreate, you can see it in action here:

Turtles in Time video

Any input is greatly appreciated!

2

I meant to add that I currently have it not moving left again but it’s tied to the position of Player 1.

3

How about this?:

:)
4

Thanks Clockwork! This doesn’t do everything I need but it definitely gives me something to try working from.

If I can get what I need out of modifying this one I’ll update it to answered :slight_smile:

5

So I ran through everything in the tutorial video and spent a few days trying to tweak and rework it but I haven’t been able to convert this into what I’m looking for.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I really appreciate it.