So, I just finished watching the recording of the last livestream, and while seeing mining again, it crossed my mind that it would be really awesome to be able to fly through the mines you dug out, and look in every direction. And while mines gave me the idea, I think the same applies to flying through buildings and around your town. (So it would basically feel like flying in creative mode in minecraft does.)
It seems to me like something like this should be easier to implement than the x-ray or slices mode, because I think rendering basically doesn’t have to be changed, just the way the camera controls work. A problem I see, though, is what to do with portions of the map that are far away; the potential options would be, I suppose, either just render whatever you can and accept that it’ll cut off at some point (either because the end of the map is reached or because no more of the map can be loaded in) or just render fog in the distance.
edit: To clarify: I wouldn’t want this to replace the existing modes, I would want to have it in addition to the existing modes.
I get the point you’re trying to make. And it would be cool to be able to fly and look into your buildings and caves. However, I don’t think it should replace the camera and the visual modes, because they’re awesome! Also, with the way they implemented the camera it makes it easier to get an overview of your town: you can orbit around objects (like buildings); pan around easily, etc.
With minecraft you can’t really do this with the camera, though it was a long time since I played Minecraft so correct me if I’m wrong there.
It’s not a bad idea, but maybe more like another camera mode that you can easily switch to and from rather than something that replaces how it is now.
Ah, yes, I didn’t see that post, I suppose I searched for the wrong keywords. I think there is an important difference between the two suggestions, in that “Possession mode” changes the gameplay in a very significant way (and thus requires a lot of additional work in terms of balancing, coding, etc. and I think is a lot more controversial), whereas a floating camera you can control would be mostly an aesthetic feature.
