Sorry, after thinking things through for a few minutes, a few things come to mind. I tried out the clamp function you mentioned, and I have a few questions about how it would work...

1. How can I make the screen move at a constant rate? Would I have to move the terrain rather than the player?

2. If I were to use clamp, the camera could no longer be set at the view_box's coordinates, thus moving the camera wherever the player goes (camera.x = player.x, ect.) How Could I set the camera to look down without actually following the charaacter.

3. As far as clamp is concerned, is it resolution indipendent? I wouldnt want the movement bounds to mess up if the player chooses a different resolution other than my test resolution (1280x800).

Thanks again in advance,
Raddaddy