METHOD AND/OR SYSTEM FOR ADAPTIVE GAMING EXPERIENCE

• US 20080039204A1
• Filed: 08/02/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Ackley, Jonathan, Blossom, Jonathan, Jordan, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 8,221,220 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/40
• 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 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• 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 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1012 involving biosensors worn by the player, e.g. for measuring heart beat, limb activity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/405 being a wireless ad hoc network, e.g. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Pico net
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/406 Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5573 player location

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to systems for providing an interactive experience to game participants.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a gaming experience to participants through interaction at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site; and

providing gaming feedback to said participants at said interactive installations to dynamically control flow of individuals over site in response to a condition and/or event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing gaming feedback comprises providing gaming feedback to said participants to dynamically control flow of individuals over said site in response to densities of individuals over portions of said site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises identifying locations of mobile devices associated with theme park patrons, and wherein said providing gaming feedback further comprises directing said participants based, at least in part, upon proximity of said mobile devices to said interactive installations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing gaming feedback further comprises providing said gaming feedback to at least one of said participants based, at least in part, on a handicap status associated with said at least one of said participants.

5. The method of claim 4, and further comprising directing said at least one of said participants to a gaming experience that is compatible with said handicap status.

6. A method comprising:

providing a gaming experience to participants through interaction at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

detecting locations of two or more of said participants in proximity to a particular one of said interactive installations; and

coordinating said two or more of said participants to affect a game mechanic associated with said particular one of said interactive installations.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said coordinating said two or more of said participants further comprises coordinating said two or more of said participants to be mutual allies in affecting a gaming outcome.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said coordinating said two or more of said participants further comprises coordinating said two or more of said participants to be mutual opponents in affecting a gaming outcome.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said detecting said locations further comprises:

transmitting a first radio frequency signal from said particular one of said interactive installations encoded with information associated with said particular one of said interactive installations; and

receiving second radio frequency signals from said two or more of said participants at said particular one of said interactive installations comprising information associated with identities of said two or more of said participants and information associated with said particular one of said interactive installations.

10. The method of claim 6, and further comprising advancing at least one game state associated with said two or more of said participants in response to said affected game mechanic.

11. The method of claim 6, and further comprising providing one or more special effects in response to said affected game mechanic.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein:

at least one of said one or more game participants are capable of simultaneously receiving a plurality of gaming experiences at an associated mobile device;

said requests for hints are generated in response to a user input received at said mobile device; and

said requests are associated with a gaming experience currently selected for presentation on said mobile device.

12. A method comprising:

providing an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with mobile communication devices, said gaming experience comprising a plurality of progressive game states; and

selectively transmitting progressively explicit clue messages to a mobile device in response to repeated requests for hints from one of said one or more game participants associated with said mobile device, said clue messages being based, at least in part, on a location of said mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said progressive game states comprise a puzzle which is solvable by said one or more game participants.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said puzzle is solvable by said one or more game participants, at least in part, through interaction with said mobile device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said puzzle is solvable by said one or more game participants, at least in part, through interaction with an interactive installation in proximity to said mobile device in a geographic area.

17. A method comprising:

providing an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants through interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

monitoring one or more loading conditions external to said site; and

altering said interactive gaming experience to at least one of said one or more game participants in real-time based, at least in part, on said monitored one or more factors.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of said one or more of said loading conditions comprises an availability of a resource.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of said one or more loading conditions comprises an availability of electrical power.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of said one or more loading conditions comprises a size of a queue of participants waiting to enter the site.

21. A method comprising:

communicating with one or more mobile devices to provide an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with said one or more mobile devices;

maintaining game participant specific information associated with at least one of said one or more game participants; and

altering said interactive gaming experience in real-time according to a predetermined performance metric based, at least in part, on said game participant specific information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said information comprises an order in which at least one of said one or more game participants attempted to complete a game objective.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said improving said interactive gaming experience comprises changing a game mechanic associated with an interactive installation.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises behavior associated with said one or more game participants.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a physical handicap status of at least one of said one or more game participants.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein said information comprises time spent by at least one of said one or more game participants in one or more game states.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein said information further comprises a count of images captured on one or more of said mobile communication devices.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said information is further representative of a count of said captured images which are posted by at least one of said one or more game participants.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein said information is representative of one or more paths taken past RFID readers located at interactive installations.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein said information further comprises a count of help requests associated with one or more game states in said gaming experience.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein said information further comprises a count of a number of skip game state requests associated with a particular game state.

32. The method of claim 21, wherein said information further comprises information identifying participant collisions and participant game states associated with said participant collisions.

33. The method of claim 21, wherein altering said interactive gaming experience further comprises changing an order of sub-missions associated with at least one of said one or more game participants.

34. The method of claim 21, and further comprising grouping said one or more participants into a plurality of groups having an associated set of sub-missions, and wherein said altering said interactive gaming experience further comprises changing an order of sub-missions associated with at least one of said groups.

35. The method of claim 21, wherein said altering said interactive gaming experience further comprises preventing collisions of said game participants.

36. The method of claim 21, wherein said altering said interactive gaming experience comprises making one or more objectives, tasks and/or missions of said gaming experience easier.

37. The method of claim 21, wherein said altering said interactive gaming experience comprises making one or more objectives, tasks and/or missions of said gaming experience more difficult.

38. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a gender of at least one of said one or more game participants.

39. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a birth date of at least one of said one or more game participants.

40. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a food allergy of at least one of said one or more game participants.

41. The method of claim 21, wherein said game participant specific information comprises an age of at least one of said one or more game participants.

42. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform, said computing platform being adapted to;

provide a gaming experience to participants through interaction at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site; and

provide gaming feedback to said participants at said interactive installations to dynamically control flow of individuals over site in response to a condition and/or event.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said computing platform is further adapted to provide said gaming feedback to dynamically control flow of individuals over said site in response to densities of individuals over portions of said site.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein said computing platform is further adapted to provide said gaming feedback to at least one of said participants based, at least in part, on a handicap status associated with said at least one of said participants.

45. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform, said computing platform being adapted to;

communicate with participants to provide a gaming experience at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

detect locations of two or more of said participants in proximity to a particular one of said interactive installations; and

coordinating said two or more of said participants to affect a game mechanic associated with said particular one of said interactive installations.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein said computing platform is further adapted to coordinate said two or more of said participants to be mutual allies in affecting a gaming outcome.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein said computing platform is further adapted to coordinate said two or more of said participants to be mutual opponents in affecting a gaming outcome.

48. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform, said computing platform being adapted to;

communicate with one or more game participants associated with mobile devices to provide an interactive gaming experience to said one or more game participants, said gaming experience comprising a plurality of progressive game states; and

selectively transmitting progressively explicit clue messages to a mobile device in response to repeated requests for hints from one of said one or more game participants associated with said mobile device, said clue messages being based, at least in part, on a location of said mobile device.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein said progressive game states comprise a puzzle which is solvable by said one or more game participants.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein said puzzle is solvable by said one or more game participants, at least in part, through interaction with an interactive installation in proximity to said mobile device.

51. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform, said computing platform being adapted to;

communicate with one or more mobile devices to provide an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with said one or more mobile devices;

maintain game participant specific information associated with at least one of said one or more game participants; and

alter said interactive gaming experience in real-time according to a predetermined performance metric based, at least in part, on said game participant specific information.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said information comprises an order in which at least one of said one or more game participants attempted to complete a game objective.

53. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said computing platform is adapted to alter said interactive gaming experience by changing a game mechanic associated with an interactive installation.

54. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a physical handicap status of at least one of said one or more game participants.

55. An apparatus comprising:

a computing platform, said computing platform being adapted to;

provide an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants through interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

monitor one or more loading conditions external to said site; and

alter said interactive gaming experience to at least one of said one or more game participants in real-time based, at least in part, on said monitored one or more factors.

56. The apparatus of claim 55, wherein at least one of said one or more of said loading conditions comprises an availability of a resource.

57. An apparatus comprising:

means for providing a gaming experience to participants through interaction at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site; and

means for providing gaming feedback to said participants at said interactive installations to dynamically control flow of individuals over site in response to a condition and/or event.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein said means for providing gaming feedback comprises means for providing gaming feedback to said participants to dynamically control flow of individuals over said site in response to densities of individuals over portions of said site.

59. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein said apparatus further comprises means for identifying locations of mobile devices associated with theme park patrons, and wherein said means for providing gaming feedback further comprises means for directing said participants based, at least in part, upon proximity of said mobile devices to said interactive installations.

60. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein said means for providing gaming feedback further comprises means for providing said gaming feedback to at least one of said participants based, at least in part, on a handicap status associated with said at least one of said participants.

61. An apparatus comprising:

means for providing a gaming experience to participants through interaction at interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

means for detecting locations of two or more of said participants in proximity to a particular one of said interactive installations; and

means for coordinating said two or more of said participants to affect a game mechanic associated with said particular one of said interactive installations.

62. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein said means for coordinating said two or more of said participants further comprises means for coordinating said two or more of said participants to be mutual allies in affecting a gaming outcome.

63. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein said means for coordinating said two or more of said participants further comprises means for coordinating said two or more of said participants to be mutual opponents in affecting a gaming outcome.

64. An apparatus comprising:

means for providing an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with mobile communication devices, said gaming experience comprising a plurality of progressive game states; and

means for selectively transmitting progressively explicit clue messages to a mobile device in response to repeated requests for hints from one of said one or more game participants associated with said mobile device, said clue messages being based, at least in part, on a location of said mobile device.

65. The apparatus of 64, wherein said progressive game states comprise a puzzle which is solvable by said one or more game participants.

66. A apparatus comprising:

means for communicating with one or more mobile devices to provide an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants associated with said one or more mobile devices; and

means for maintaining game participant specific information associated with at least one of said one or more game participants;

means for altering said interactive gaming experience in real-time according to a predetermined performance metric based, at least in part, on said game participant specific information.

67. The apparatus of claim 66, wherein said means for altering said interactive gaming experience comprises means for changing a game mechanic associated with an interactive installation.

68. The apparatus of claim 66, wherein said game participant specific information comprises behavior associated with said one or more game participants.

69. The apparatus of claim 66, wherein said game participant specific information comprises a physical handicap status of at least one of said one or more game participants.

70. An apparatus comprising:

means for providing an interactive gaming experience to one or more game participants through interactive installations geographically dispersed over a site;

means for monitoring one or more loading conditions external to said site; and

means for altering said interactive gaming experience to at least one of said one or more game participants in real-time based, at least in part, on said monitored one or more factors.