Game system

• US 20070004482A1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Sega
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Sega
• Inventors: Ando, Hiroshi, Takehara, Shiro, Fujiwara, Akihito
• Granted Patent: US 7,749,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/6
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/48 Starting a game, e.g. activating a game device or waiting for other players to join a multiplayer session
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/53 involving additional visual information provided to the game scene, e.g. by overlay to simulate a head-up display [HUD] or displaying a laser sight in a shooting game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/636 involving process of starting or resuming a game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8017 Driving on land or water; Flying

Abstract

[ProblemsTo provide a game system in which each of the players in turn controls a common character (operation object) so as to enjoy a continuous electric game; and to provide a game system in which a previous player who has been replaced by another player still has willing to participate in the game. There is provided a game system to which a plurality of players can access via respective operation terminals. According to input data from the operation terminals, a calculation processing device executes a game program, judges that a plurality of players are participating in the game, establishes teams, each consisting of a plurality of players, assigns a common character to each team, decides a reference point when the operation of the character is to be performed by another player belonging to the same team according to the program, judges whether the character has reached the reference point according to the parameter of the character, and, if the judgment is yes, offers the operation right of the character to another player, and controls the game system to continue the operation of the character addording to the signal from the operation terminal of the another player.

Claims

1. A game system which can be accessed by a plurality of players via operation terminals, comprising a memory and a calculation processing device, wherein,

a game program is stored in said memory, said calculation processing device executes the game program based on input data from the operation terminals, and wherein

said game system is made to implement:

means for deciding that a plurality of players have participated for game playing;

means for establishing team composition for the plurality of players;

means for assigning a common character to each team;

means for determining a reference point at which operation for said character is changed over between players who belong to the same team, based on said game program;

means for deciding whether or not said character has arrived at this reference point, from parameters of the character; and

means for transferring a right of operating said character to another player when the decision is affirmative, and performing control so as to continue operation of the character, based on a signal from the operation terminal by the other player.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said reference point is a ground point within a three dimensional virtual space which is defined by said game program.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said reference point is a time point which is on a time axis.

4. The system according to claim 1, comprising means for transmitting information between a first operation terminal of a first player and a second operation terminal of a second player.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said means is means for implementing voice chat between said first operation terminal and said second operation terminal.

6. A game program for causing a computer to function as a game device, in which a plurality of players input operation signals via respective operation means, a relay race game is executed within a game space by player characters which are operated based on the operation signals, and in which game images of the relay race game corresponding to each player are created and outputted as a game screen to display means corresponding to each player, wherein

said game program includes:

a game setting process of, based on operation signals from the players, reading out from a recording medium data for player characters based on selection by the players, and acquiring information about division of the players into teams for said relay race game, and about the order of play within each team;

a game execution process of executing a start of said relay race game between the teams based on said team division information and the order-of-play information, and, based on the order-of-play information, performing a process of taking a player character of each team set as a current runner among said player characters, as a current runner character, to be moved within the game space;

a display process of, based on the order-of-play information, moving the player character of each team which is set as the current runner among the player characters within said game space as the current runner character, and displaying the situation of movement as a game screen on game screen display means of the players;

a decision process of acquiring position coordinates of said current runner character within the game space, taking a predetermined operation change over position as a reference point, and deciding whether or not said character is positioned within a predetermined distance range from the reference point;

a notification process of, when decided that said current runner character is positioned within the predetermined distance range from the operation change over position, providing a display which notifies a change over of operation of said current runner character on the game screen of the player who operates the next runner character which is set as the next runner among the player characters based on the order-of-play information; and

an operation change over process of, when said current runner character arrives at the operation change over position, along with displaying said next runner character at the position of said current runner character, also inhibiting operation signals from the operator of said current runner character, and making effective an operation signal from the operator of the next runner character.

7. The game program according to claim 6, further comprising:

a change over timing calculation process of, in said notification process, calculating timing at which operation change over is performed, based on the distance between said current runner character and said reference point; and

a change over timing display process of providing a display which shows timing of operation change over on the game screen of the operator of said next runner character, based on the change over timing information calculated by the change over timing calculation process.

8. The game program according to claim 7, further comprising:

a process of, in said notification process, displaying said next runner character translucently overlapped on said current runner character which is being displayed on said game screen of the operator of said next runner character; and

a process of, based on the change over timing information which has been calculated by said change over timing calculation process, changing the transparency of the display of said current runner character and of said next runner character as the time for change over approaches, and, at the time point when the time for change over has arrived, displaying said next runner character normally along with canceling the display of said current runner character.

9. The game program according to claim 7, further comprising:

a process of, in said notification process, deforming said current runner character which is being displayed on the game screen of the operator of said next runner character into said next runner character; and

a process of, based on the change over timing information which has been calculated by the change over timing calculation process, performing display so as to deform said current runner character into said next runner character as the time for change over approaches.