Video, Camera, and... Action

Hello everyone,

I was wondering about the following:

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(A) Video
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1. How do I display a video clip upon request?
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For example:

Let's say I'm building some battle-related game,
and I'd like to display a "Mission Debriefing" prior
to each game level - which should include, say,
some pre-made video clip of a battle-field scene.


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2. How do I place a game object WITHIN a video clip?
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For example:

To continue the above, let's say that I want to place
tanks that are firing at each other, within that video clip.



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(B) Camera
==========

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1. How do I run a game on "Auto Pilot"?
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For example:

Let's say, that the gamer in my battle-related game
is a soldier who runs around in the battle field,
and the camera shows things from soldier's eyes --
I believe this is called FPS.

How can I have the game run on "Auto Pilot",
as a part of, say, a commercial, so that the soldier
is running around and doing things "on their own",
without any user intervention?

Of course, what is to be displayed on screen is
some battle field stuff that occurs as if in real-time,
through the eyes of that soldier - which means,
I guess, moving the camera forward by script?


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2. How do I switch points of view / camera angle(s)?
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For example:

Let's say, that I want to allow the gamer in my
battle-related game to view the battle field from
multiple angles, say, from the soldire's eyes, from
above, from a distance at the ground level, etc.


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3. How do I zoom in/out on an object?
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For example:

Let's say, that the soldier in my battle-related game
has seen something far away, and uses some
special equipment to take a closer look at it,
but with a gradual "zoom-in effect".



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(C) Car race
==========

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1. How can I "convince" a car object to stick to the road?
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For example:

Let's say I'm building a car-race game, in which
the gamer is a car driver. Now, let's also assume
that the road, at some point, is on a bridge over
a river.

How can I prevent the gamer's car (or any other
car, for that matter), to stay on the road without
being able to "jump off" the bridge?


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2. Two-way road
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For example:

Let's say, that the road(s) in my car-race game are
available for a 2-way traffic.

How can I define an "in-road boundary" for car objects
in each direction, so that they cannot collide?


Well,
That's it for now :-)
Thanks,
Ronnie