Hi Joshua !
I loaded your zip. The code was incomplet but I think I know what your
not doing

When the level opens...press 0 (zero) and then the down arrow.
You should see your plate. If you had made a cube you would have seen a wall.
When I added the camera coordinates I pressed 0 and backed away .
The camera was level with the plate.
The simple thing to do is to add a position in the level using WED.
Then with your script, change the angles of the camera.
( a cube will help also)
I played with your code and this should work.
Code:
function main()
{
video_mode = 7;
level_load ("firstgame.wmb");
wait (2);
// The position was loaded in WED tested and removed
// these position shoul work.
camera.x = -500;
camera.y = 0; // at the center
camera.z = 500;
camera.pan = 0;
camera.tilt = 310; // look down
}
Hope this helps.
Michel in Ottawa