Umarangi Generation #2 -- One Perfect Shot

A perfectly framed postcard. No adjustments needed. My footing is secure. And… my camera’s fucking stuck?

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Umarangi requires a “reload” between every shot--pulling the camera’s lever to load up the next piece of film.  Everytime you want to take a picture, you have to look through the camera viewfinder and click to shoot. But each time, you have to pull your face away to load the film. To put it in hedonistic gamer terms, it’s like a sniper rifle in any first-person shooter; pulling your face from the scope, and watching your character’s hand chamber a new shot. 

But each reload I make in Umarangi is an exhilarating test of patience. Why is it such a rush to frame a shot, only to realize you can’t take it?

Part of it is the ‘why’-- why you’re looking through the viewfinder: the drama of being a sniper in Call of Duty or Overwatch is dependent on who or what you’re looking at. Waiting with baited breath for an enemy to enter your line of sight, or just waiting for nothing to happen while a match revolves around you, takes a sense of urgency from your play. 

But the drama from being an Umarangi photographer comes from your own patience. The Umarangi world is breathless and weighted down. Characters don’t move. People, animals, cars, trucks won’t move out of your line of sight. So it becomes a test of patience and withholding careless movement. Accidentally moving the mouse or taking an accidental step while you reload will kill your perfectly framed shot.

The other reason this camera-reload mechanic works so well: the lack of an automatic reload. Most sniper rifles, as soon as you shoot, exit the scoped mode automatically to have your character reload. A design choice to ensure the pace of battle doesn’t overwhelm the player; and that a more experienced sniper doesn’t have an advantage in quick reloading/scoping.

Yet Umarangi allows you to get stuck. If you take a picture, but try to snap another picture looking through the viewfinder, nothing will happen. It’s routinely taken me five seconds to fumble around the keyboard, asking myself, “did I break this?” But to make the conscious decision to leave the scoped view, make the reload, and pull the camera back up feels so analog and so manual. This is a lack of handholding. And a distinct connection to the technology in your hand. 

(GIF courtesy of warpdoor.com)