After experiencing the spectator camera for the first time recently I have to say it's much better than Arma 2's was, but there are some really strange design choices:
- The free camera really shouldn't have momentum, it makes it awkward to use and unresponsive to movement input. If you're spectating something you generally want to do so with precision.
- The controls should at least be made clear upon death (currently a popup comes up welcoming you to spectator mode and nothing more. Which leaves you looking through the view of a dead body thinking it's broken).
However I think the spectator mode could also be greatly improved by replicating some elements of zeus. Namely:
- The zeus camera controls should really be adopted for the free camera. They're much more intuitive and largely negate the second issue listed above.
- If the camera were also to move much the same as the zeus camera it would be much more precise and intuitive.
- Nametags that appear above the units that are available to spectate (like the zeus group/unit icons but with names) when in free camera would be useful.
- Not part of zeus, but there ought to be an obvious on-screen way to bring up the spectator mode controls. This stops people from thinking spectator mode is broken and also removes the need to explain the controls to each new member of the dead. A simple interface could facilitate this.
- A list of currently living players who are available to spectate (corresponding with RscSpectator_allowedGroups) would be useful (like the unit list on the left of the zeus interface).
- Any implementation of such an interface should probably be toggle-able exactly like the zeus interface.
- A virtual spectator entity would be a nice addition to the game (like the virtual zeus entities but for spectators instead).