Gaming study by itaykeren looks at the subject of how scrolling works in 2D video games, the hidden design methods which control the presentation of levels around the playable character:

… I was quite surprised that camera work, a subject with more than 30 years of history in games, was hardly discussed.

Scrolling or Panning refers to any attempt to display a scene that is larger than what fits in a single screen. There are many potential challenges with scrolling, like choosing what the player needs to see, what we as designers would like the player to focus on, and how to do it in a way that’s fluid and comfortable for the player.

While I’m going to focus on 2D camera systems, many of these general concepts apply to 3D as well.