VIDEO GAME PROCESSING APPARATUS, A METHOD AND A COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR PROCESSING A VIDEO GAME

• US 20070173333A1
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Square Enix
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Square Enix
• Inventors: MATSUI, Yusuke, MATSUHARA, Keisuke, KITASE, Yoshinori
• Granted Patent: US 7,637,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/43
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/49 Saving the game status; Pausing or ending the game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games

Abstract

In a continue screen operation corresponding process, in the case where the player selects to reflect an acquired experiential value to a PC experiential value, a control section of a video game apparatus adds the acquired experiential value to a level-up unused experiential value. Then, in the case where the control section determines that the level-up unused experiential value is an experiential value required for a next level or more, the control section increments a level of a player character, subtracts the experiential value required for a next level from the level-up unused experiential value, and adds the experiential value required for a next level to a level-up used experiential value. The control section then updates an experiential value required for a next level. In the case where the control section determines that the level-up unused experiential value becomes less than the updated experiential value required for a next level, other status of the player character is updated and the processing flow is terminated.

Claims

1. A video game processing apparatus that causes an image display apparatus to display a player character of a video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, the video game processing apparatus controlling progress of the video game by controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the video game processing apparatus comprising:

a game progress state information memory for storing game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game;

a game progress state information update processor that, when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updates the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

an acquired experiential value determiner that determines an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met;

an experiential value memory that stores the experiential value determined by the acquired experiential value determiner;

a game continuation determiner that, when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determines whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

an experiential value reflection receiver that receives from the player whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to a level of the player character in the video game in the case where the game continuation determiner determines to continue playing the video game;

an experiential value reflector that reflects the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the level of the player character in the video game in the case where the experiential value reflection receiver receives the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game; and

a game continuation processor that, when the experiential value reflection receiver receives the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game after the game continuation determiner determined to continue playing the video game, maintains the level of the player character in the video game, to which the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory has been reflected by the experiential value reflector, and causes the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.

2. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the experiential value reflector reflects the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the level of the player character in the video game even before the game progress state information is updated after the predetermined save execution condition is met, or even when a stage in the video game is cleared.

3. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the experiential value reflector reflects the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the level of the player character in the video game only in the case where the experiential value is a predetermined reference value or more.

4. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:

a reference value determiner that determines the predetermined reference value used to determine whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game in accordance with at least one of setting contents of the degree of difficulty in the video game and the type of a stage in the video game.

5. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an experiential value parameter reflector that reflects the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to a parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game, wherein the experiential value parameter reflector reflects the experiential value to the parameter other than the level of the player character in the case where the experiential value reflection receiver receives the instruction that the experiential value is not to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game.

6. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game includes a money point that is to be used as money in the video game, and the experiential value parameter reflector converts and reflects the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the money point.

7. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met when a life point of an enemy character is lowered to a predetermined battle impossible value and the enemy character becomes a battle impossible state or when a battle state with an enemy character whose life point is lowered is terminated due to a predetermined condition such as escape of the enemy character.

8. The video game processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined battle impossible value includes:

an action impossible value that is set as a value at which the enemy character becomes an action impossible state; and

an escape value that is set as a value at which the enemy character starts to escape.

9. A video game processing apparatus that causes an image display apparatus to display a player character of a video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, the video game processing apparatus controlling progress of the video game by controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the video game processing apparatus comprising:

a game progress state information memory for storing game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game;

a game progress state information update processor that, when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updates the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

an acquired experiential value determiner that determines an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire an experiential value is met;

an experiential value reflector that reflects the experiential value to a level of the player character in the video game immediately when the acquired experiential value determiner determines the experiential value;

a game continuation determiner that, when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determines whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

an experiential value reflection receiver that receives from the player whether to maintain the reflection of the experiential value by the experiential value reflector in the case where the game continuation determiner determines to continue playing the video game; and

a game continuation processor that, when the experiential value reflection receiver receives the instruction that the reflection of the experiential value by the experiential value reflector is to be maintained after the game continuation determiner determined to continue playing the video game, maintains the reflection of the experiential value by the experiential value reflector, and causes the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.

10. A method of processing a video game by causing an image display apparatus to display a player character of a video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, the method controlling progress of the video game by controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the method comprising:

when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updating game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game and is stored in a game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

determining an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met;

storing the experiential value thus determined in an experiential value memory;

when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determining whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

receiving from the player whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to a level of the player character in the video game in the case where it is determined to continue playing the video game;

reflecting the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the level of the player character in the video game in the case where the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received; and

when the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received after it was determined to continue playing the video game, maintaining the level of the player character in the video game, to which the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory has been reflected, and causing the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is reflected to the level of the player character in the video game even before the game progress state information is updated after the predetermined save execution condition is met, or even when a stage in the video game is cleared.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is reflected to the level of the player character in the video game only in the case where the experiential value is a predetermined reference value or more.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

determining the predetermined reference value used to determine whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game in accordance with at least one of setting contents of the degree of difficulty in the video game and the type of a stage in the video game.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

reflecting the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to a parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game, wherein the experiential value is reflected to the parameter other than the level of the player character in the case where the instruction that the experiential value is not to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game includes a money point that is to be used as money in the video game, and the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is converted and reflected to the money point.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met when a life point of an enemy character is lowered to a predetermined battle impossible value and the enemy character becomes a battle impossible state or when a battle state with an enemy character whose life point is lowered is terminated due to a predetermined condition such as escape of the enemy character.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the predetermined battle impossible value includes:

an action impossible value that is set as a value at which the enemy character becomes an action impossible state; and

an escape value that is set as a value at which the enemy character starts to escape.

18. A method of processing a video game by causing an image display apparatus to display a player character of a video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, the method controlling progress of the video game by controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the method comprising:

when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updating game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game and is stored in a game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

determining an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire an experiential value is met;

reflecting the experiential value to a level of the player character in the video game immediately when the experiential value is determined;

when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determining whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

receiving from the player whether to maintain the reflection of the experiential value in the case where it is determined to continue playing the video game; and

when the instruction that the reflection of the experiential value is to be maintained is received after it was determined to continue playing the video game, maintaining the reflection of the experiential value, and causing the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.

19. A computer program product for processing a video game, progress of the video game being controlled by causing an image display apparatus to display a player character of the video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, and controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the computer program product causing a computer to execute:

when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updating game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game and is stored in a game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

determining an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met;

storing the experiential value thus determined in an experiential value memory;

when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determining whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

receiving from the player whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to a level of the player character in the video game in the case where it is determined to continue playing the video game;

reflecting the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to the level of the player character in the video game in the case where the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received; and

when the instruction that the experiential value is to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received after it was determined to continue playing the video game, maintaining the level of the player character in the video game, to which the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory has been reflected, and causing the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is reflected to the level of the player character in the video game even before the game progress state information is updated after the predetermined save execution condition is met, or even when a stage in the video game is cleared.

21. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is reflected to the level of the player character in the video game only in the case where the experiential value is a predetermined reference value or more.

22. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the computer program product further causes the computer to execute:

determining the predetermined reference value used to determine whether or not the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is to be reflected to the level of the player character In the video game in accordance with at least one of setting contents of the degree of difficulty in the video game and the type of a stage in the video game.

23. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the computer program product further causes the computer to execute:

reflecting the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory to a parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game, wherein the experiential value is reflected to the parameter other than the level of the player character in the case where the instruction that the experiential value is not to be reflected to the level of the player character in the video game is received.

24. The computer program product according to claim 23, wherein the parameter other than the level of the player character in the video game includes a money point that is to be used as money in the video game, and the experiential value stored in the experiential value memory is converted and reflected to the money point.

25. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined condition to acquire the experiential value is met when a life point of an enemy character is lowered to a predetermined battle impossible value and the enemy character becomes a battle impossible state or when a battle state with an enemy character whose life point is lowered is terminated due to a predetermined condition such as escape of the enemy character.

26. The computer program product according to claim 25, wherein the predetermined battle impossible value includes:

an action impossible value that is set as a value at which the enemy character becomes an action impossible state; and

an escape value that is set as a value at which the enemy character starts to escape.

27. A computer program product for processing a video game, progress of the video game being controlled by causing an image display apparatus to display a player character of the video game on an image screen of the image display apparatus, and controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image screen in accordance with operations by a player, the computer program product causing a computer to execute:

when a predetermined save execution condition is met, updating game progress state information that indicates a progress state of the video game and is stored in a game progress state information memory to allow the player to resume playing the video game from the progress state of the video game indicated by the game progress state information;

determining an experiential value that the player character is caused to acquire in the case where a predetermined condition to acquire an experiential value is met;

reflecting the experiential value to a level of the player character in the video game immediately when the experiential value is determined;

when the player character becomes a battle impossible state, determining whether or not the video game is to be continued in response to an instruction from the player;

receiving from the player whether to maintain the reflection of the experiential value in the case where it is determined to continue playing the video game; and

when the instruction that the reflection of the experiential value is to be maintained is received after it was determined to continue playing the video game, maintaining the reflection of the experiential value, and causing the video game to proceed to a scene indicated by the game progress state information stored in the game progress state information memory.