Storage medium having game program stored thereon and game apparatus

• US 20060258443A1
• Filed: 01/09/2006
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Kawai, Toshinori, Moro, Isao, Miyake, Hiromichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,695,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/30
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/426 involving on-screen location information, e.g. screen coordinates of an area at which the player is aiming with a light gun
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images

Abstract

A predetermined action is performed between a player object and another object positioned in a first determination range when a player designates said another object by controlling a pointing device. On the other hand, when the player performs an operation so as to designate said another object positioned outside the first determination range, a position of the player object is updated based on the designated position.

Claims

1. A storage medium having stored thereon a game program to be executed by a computer of a game apparatus which displays on a display screen a game image representing at least a portion of a virtual space in which a player object and at least another object appear, and which is operated using a pointing device for outputting input coordinates of a coordinate system on the display screen according to an operation performed by a player, wherein

the game program causes the computer to execute:

a virtually positioned coordinate storage step of storing, in a memory, virtually positioned coordinates indicating a position of the player object and a position of said another object in the virtual space;

a first determination range setting step of setting a first determination range based on the position of the player object in the virtual space, according to the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object;

a detection step of detecting input coordinates outputted by the pointing device;

a designated object detection step of detecting, when the input coordinates on the display screen overlap with one of the player object and said another object positioned in the virtual space, the object with which the input coordinates overlap as a designated object which is designated by the player;

a first action process step of executing, when the designated object is determined as being said another object in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, a predetermined action between the designated object and the player object;

a player object position update step of updating, when the designated object is determined as being outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object stored in the memory such that the player object is moved in a direction of a point which is in the virtual space and which overlaps with the input coordinates on the display screen; and

a display control step of displaying, on the display screen, the player object and said another object based on the virtually positioned coordinates for each object stored in the memory.

2. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the first action process step includes a step of determining an action to be performed between the player object and said another object according to a combination of an item held by the player object and a type of said another object.

3. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the player object position update step includes a step of updating, based on the input coordinates, the player object position data stored in the memory when the designated object is not detected in the designated object detection step.

4. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the first determination range setting step includes a step of changing a size of the first determination range according to an item held by the player object.

5. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the first determination range is set in the virtual space as a range having a predetermined angle between a facing direction of the player object and a direction offset to a left side of the facing direction and the same predetermined angle between the facing direction of the player object and a direction offset to a right side of the facing direction, based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object.

6. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the game program causes the computer to further execute:

a second determination range setting step of setting, in the virtual space, a second determination range which is different from the first determination range, based on the position of the player object; and

a second action process step of performing, when the designated object detected in the designated object detection step is a specific object positioned in the second determination range outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, an action between the specific object and the player object, the action being different from the action performed in the first action process step between the specific object and the player object.

7. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 1, wherein

the game program causes the computer to further execute a player action process step of performing, when the designated object detected in the designated object detection step is the player object, a predetermined action between the player object and said another object positioned in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of said another object.

8. A storage medium having stored thereon a game program to be executed by a computer of a game apparatus which displays on a display screen a game image representing at least a portion of a virtual space in which a player object and at least another object appear, and which is operated using a pointing device for outputting input coordinates of a coordinate system on the display screen according to an operation performed by a player, wherein

the game program causes the computer to execute:

a virtually positioned coordinate storage step of storing, in a memory, virtually positioned coordinates indicating a position of the player object and a position of said another object in the virtual space;

a first determination range setting step of setting a first determination range based on the position of the player object in the virtual space, according to the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object;

a virtual input coordinate calculation step of calculating, when the input coordinates are outputted, virtual input coordinates which are in the virtual space and overlap with the input coordinates on the display screen;

a designated object detection step of detecting, when the virtual input coordinates calculated in the virtual input coordinate calculation step overlap with one of the player object and said another object positioned in the virtual space, the object with which the virtual input coordinates overlap as a designated object which is designated by the player;

a first action process step of executing, when the designated object is determined as being said another object in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, a predetermined action between the designated object and the player object;

a player object position update step of updating, when the designated object is determined as being outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object stored in the memory based on the virtual input coordinates such that the player object is moved in a direction based on the virtual input coordinates; and

a display control step of displaying, on the display screen, the player object and said another object based on the virtually positioned coordinates for each object stored in the memory.

9. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the virtual input coordinate calculation step includes a step of calculating, when the input coordinates on the display screen overlap with a game field disposed in the virtual space, the virtual input coordinates on the game field.

10. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the first action process step includes a step of determining an action to be performed between the player object and said another object according to a combination of an item held by the player object and a type of said another object.

11. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the player object position update step includes a step of updating, based on the virtual input coordinates, the player object position data stored in the memory when the designated object is not detected in the designated object detection step.

12. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the first determination range setting step includes a step of changing a size of the first determination range according to an item held by the player object.

13. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the first determination range is set in the virtual space as a range having a predetermined angle between a facing direction of the player object and a direction offset to a left side of the facing direction and the same predetermined angle between the facing direction of the player object and a direction offset to a right side of the facing direction, based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object.

14. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the game program causes the computer to further execute:

a second determination range setting step of setting, in the virtual space, a second determination range which is different from the first determination range, based on the position of the player object; and

a second action process step of performing, when the designated object detected in the designated object detection step is a specific object positioned in the second determination range outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, an action between the specific object and the player object, the action being different from the action performed in the first action process step between the specific object and the player object.

15. The storage medium having the game program stored thereon according to claim 8, wherein

the game program causes the computer to further execute a player action process step of performing, when the designated object detected in the designated object detection step is the player object, a predetermined action between the player object and said another object positioned in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of said another object.

16. A game apparatus which displays on a display screen a game image representing at least a portion of a virtual space in which a player object and at least another object appear, and which is operated using a pointing device for outputting input coordinates of a coordinate system on the display screen according to an operation performed by a player, the game apparatus comprising:

a storage means;

a virtually positioned coordinate storage control means for storing, in the storage means, virtually positioned coordinates indicating a position of the player object and a position of said another object in the virtual space;

a first determination range setting means for setting a first determination range based on the position of the player object in the virtual space, according to the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object;

a detection means for detecting input coordinates outputted by the pointing device;

a designated object detection means for detecting, when the input coordinates overlap with, on the display screen, one of the player object and said another object positioned in the virtual space, the object with which the input coordinates overlap as a designated object which is designated by the player;

a first action process means for executing, when the designated object is determined as being said another object in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, a predetermined action between the designated object and the player object;

a player object position update means for updating, when the designated object is determined as being outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object stored in the storage means such that the player object is moved in a direction of a point which is in the virtual space and which overlaps with the input coordinates on the display screen; and

a display control means for displaying, on the display screen, the player object and said another object based on the virtually positioned coordinates for each object stored in the storage means.

17. A game apparatus which displays on a display screen a game image representing at least a portion of a virtual space in which a player object and at least another object appear, and which is operated using a pointing device for outputting input coordinates of a coordinate system on the display screen according to an operation performed by a player, the game apparatus comprising:

a storage means;

a virtually positioned coordinate storage control means for storing, in the storage means, virtually positioned coordinates indicating a position of the player object and a position of said another object in the virtual space;

a first determination range setting means for setting a first determination range based on the position of the player object in the virtual space, according to the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object;

a virtual input coordinate calculation means for calculating, when the input coordinates are outputted, virtual input coordinates which are in the virtual space and overlap with the input coordinates on the display screen;

a designated object detection means for detecting, when the virtual input coordinates calculated by the virtual input coordinate calculation means overlap with one of the player object and said another object positioned in the virtual space, the object with which the virtual input coordinates overlap as a designated object which is designated by the player;

a first action process means for executing, when the designated object is determined as being said another object in the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, a predetermined action between the designated object and the player object;

a player object position update means for updating, when the designated object is determined as being outside the first determination range based on the virtually positioned coordinates of the designated object, the virtually positioned coordinates of the player object stored in the storage means based on the virtual input coordinates such that the player object is moved in a direction based on the virtual input coordinates; and

a display control means for displaying, on the display screen, the player object and said another object based on the virtually positioned coordinates for each object stored in the storage means.