Game system for varying parameter of a character

• US 20080153601A1
• Filed: 02/13/2008
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Tahara, Kouzou, Sato, Kenta
• Granted Patent: US 7,736,235 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 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• 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 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6045 for mapping control signals received from the input arrangement into game commands
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8029 Fighting without shooting

Abstract

A game apparatus generates a game image for display on a display screen. A size and a shape of an attack input supplied to the game apparatus is determined and one or more characteristics of an attacked game character is changed based on one or both of the size and shape of the supplied attack input.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having a game program stored therein, the game program causing a computer of a game apparatus, which generates a game image for display on a display screen, to implement a method comprising:

a game image display control step of allowing a game image comprising one or more game characters to be displayed on the display screen;

a coordinate detection step of detecting a coordinate value at specified time intervals, the coordinate value indicating a position on the display screen which is pointed to by a pointing device;

a shape identification step of identifying a graphical shape of an input trajectory represented by a coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a size calculation step of calculating a size of the graphical shape of the input trajectory represented by the coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a basic condition determination step of determining an attack style for changing respective characteristic parameters of at least one attacked game character based on the graphical shape identified by the shape identification step, each characteristic parameter indicating a characteristic of the corresponding attacked game character;

an effectiveness determination step of determining an effectiveness of the attack style on the at least one attacked game character based on the size calculated by the size calculating step; and

a characteristic parameter change step of changing the characteristic parameter of the at least one attacked game character based on the attack style determined by the condition determination step and the attack effectiveness determined by the effectiveness determination step.

2. The storage medium according to claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises a character selection step of selecting the at least one attacked game character from among the one or more game characters contained in the game image, and

wherein the characteristic parameter change step changes only the characteristic parameter of the at least one attacked game character selected by the character selection step.

3. The storage medium according to claim 2, wherein the characteristic parameter change step changes a degree of change in the characteristic parameter in accordance with a number of the at least one game character selected by the character selection step.

4. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a change representation addition step of, after the graphical shape of the input trajectory is identified by the shape identification step, changing the game image in a different manner in accordance with a type of the basic condition determined by the graphical shape of the input trajectory.

5. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises a trajectory display control step of displaying the input trajectory in a position on the display screen which corresponds to the coordinate value detected by the coordinate detection step.

6. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein from among a plurality of pieces of reference graphics data stored in the game apparatus and indicating a type of the basic condition, the shape identification step selects a piece of reference graphics data, which indicates a shape most analogous to a shape represented by the coordinate value group, and the shape identification step determines the shape represented by the selected piece of reference graphics data as the graphical shape of the input trajectory.

7. The storage medium according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

a vector data group calculation step of calculating a vector data group indicating a distance and a direction between sequential coordinate values based on the coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step; and

a correction step of correcting a plurality of sequential pieces of vector data indicating a same direction and contained in the vector data group, so as to be represented as a piece of vector data, and

wherein the shape identification step selects a piece of reference graphics data indicating a shape most analogous to a shape of the vector data group corrected by the correction step.

8. A game apparatus comprising:

the storage medium of claim 1; and

a program implementing section for implementing a game program stored in the storage medium.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having a game program stored therein, the game program causing a computer of a game apparatus, which generates a game image for display on a display screen, to implement a method comprising:

a game image display control step of allowing a game image comprising game characters to be displayed on the display screen;

a coordinate detection step of detecting a coordinate value at specified time intervals, the coordinate value indicating a position on the display screen which is pointed to by a pointing device;

a shape identification step of identifying a graphical shape of an input trajectory represented by a coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a character selection step of selecting for attack at least one game character having a characteristic parameter, which indicates a characteristic of the game character and is required to be changed, from among the game characters contained in the game image based on an area on the display screen which is defined by the input trajectory;

a basic condition determination step of determining an attack style for changing the characteristic parameter, which indicates the characteristic of the attacked game character, based on the graphical shape identified by the shape identification step; and

a characteristic parameter change step of changing the characteristic parameter of the at least one attacked game character selected by the character selection step, based on the attack style determined by the condition determination step.

10. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

a size calculation step of calculating a size of the graphical shape of the input trajectory represented by the coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step; and

an effectiveness determination step of determining an effectiveness of the attack style on the at least one attacked game character based on the size calculated by the size calculating step, and

wherein the characteristic parameter change step changes the characteristic parameter of the at least one game character based on the effectiveness of the attack style determined by the effectiveness determination step.

11. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the characteristic parameter change step changes a degree of change in the characteristic parameter in accordance with a number of the at least one game character selected by the character selection step.

12. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises a change representation addition step for, after the graphical shape of the input trajectory is identified by the shape identification step, changing the game image in a different manner in accordance with a type of the basic condition determined by the graphical shape of the input trajectory.

13. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises a trajectory display control step of displaying the input trajectory in a position on the display screen which corresponds to the coordinate value detected by the coordinate detection step.

14. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein from among a plurality of pieces of reference graphics data stored in the game apparatus and indicating a type of the basic condition, the shape identification step selects a piece of reference graphics data, which indicates a shape most analogous to a shape represented by the coordinate value group, and the shape identification step determines the shape represented by the selected piece of reference graphics data as the graphical shape of the input trajectory.

15. The storage medium according to claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

a vector data group calculation step of calculating a vector data group indicating a distance and a direction between sequential coordinate values based on the coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step; and

a correction step of correcting a plurality of sequential pieces of vector data indicating a same direction and contained in the vector data group, so as to be represented as a piece of vector data, and

wherein the shape identification step selects a piece of reference graphics data indicating a shape most analogous to a shape of the vector data group corrected by the correction step.

16. A game apparatus comprising:

the storage medium of claim 9; and

a program implementing section for implementing a game program stored in the storage medium.

17. A method for changing a game parameter, the method being implemented by a computer of a game apparatus, which generates a game image for display on a display screen, the method comprising:

a game image display control step of allowing a game image comprising game characters to be displayed on the display screen;

a coordinate detection step of detecting a coordinate value at specified time intervals, the coordinate value indicating a position on the display screen which is pointed to by a pointing device;

a shape identification step of identifying a graphical shape of an input trajectory represented by a coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a size calculation step of calculating a size of the graphical shape of the input trajectory represented by the coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a basic condition determination step of determining an attack style for changing a characteristic parameter of an attacked game character, which characteristic parameter indicates a characteristic of the attacked game character, based on the graphical shape identified by the shape identification step;

an effectiveness determination step of determining an effectiveness of the attack style on the attacked game character based on the size calculated by the size calculating step; and

a characteristic parameter change step of changing the characteristic parameter of the attacked game character based on the attack style determined by the condition determination step and the effectiveness of the attack style determined by the effectiveness determination step.

18. A method for changing a game parameter, the method being implemented by a computer of a game apparatus, which generates a game image for display on a display screen, the method comprising:

a game image display control step of allowing a game image comprising game characters to be displayed on the display screen;

a coordinate detection step of detecting a coordinate value at specified time intervals, the coordinate value indicating a position on the display screen which is pointed to by a pointing device;

a shape identification step of identifying a graphical shape of an input trajectory represented by a coordinate value group detected by the coordinate detection step;

a character selection step of selecting for attack at least one game character having a characteristic parameter, which indicates a characteristic of the attacked game character and is required to be changed, from among the game characters based on an area on the display screen which is defined by the input trajectory;

a basic condition determination step of determining an attack style for changing the characteristic parameter, which indicates the characteristic of the attacked game character, based on the graphical shape identifiedby the shape identification step; and

a characteristic parameter change step of changing the characteristic parameter of the game character selected for attack by the character selection step, based on the attack style determined by the condition determination step.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having a game program stored therein, the game program causing a processor of a game apparatus, which generates a game image for display on a display screen, to implement a method comprising:

determining a size and a shape of an attack input supplied to the game apparatus; and

changing one or more characteristics of an attacked game character based on one or both of the size and shape of the supplied attack input.

20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the input comprises an input drawn around the attacked game character.

21. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the input comprises an input drawn to touch the attacked game character.

22. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise hit points (HP) of the attacked game character.

23. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the one or more characteristics comprise magic points (MP) of the attacked game character.

24. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the shape of the attack input is determined by comparison of the attack input with a plurality of pre-stored shapes.

25. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the shape of the attack input is determined using vector data generated from the attack input.