Controlling the game camera with SFML View
In my opinion, the SFML View
class is one of the neatest classes. After finishing this book, when we make games without using a media/gaming library, we will really notice the absence of View
.
The View
class allows us to consider our game as taking place in its own world, with its own properties. What do I mean? Well, when we create a game, we are usually trying to create a virtual world. That virtual world rarely, if ever, is measured in pixels, and rarely, if ever, will that world be the same number of pixels as the player's monitor. We need a way to abstract the virtual world we are building so that it can be of whatever size or shape we like.
Another way to think of SFML View
is as a camera through which the player views a part of our virtual world. Most games will have more than one camera/view of the world.
For example, consider a split screen game where two players can be in different parts of the world at the same time...