ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE GAME PLAY AND DEFEND MODE PROCESSING TO ENABLE SOCIAL FRIENDS TO ASSIST AND ALTER GAME PLAY OUTCOMES

• US 20160236087A1
• Filed: 12/18/2014
• Published: 08/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Zynga Incorporated
• Inventors: McNeil, Cameron, Maynard, Jordan
• Granted Patent: US 9,737,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/497 Partially or entirely replaying previous game actions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/847 Cooperative playing, e.g. requiring coordinated actions from several players to achieve a common goal
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat

Abstract

Methods for allowing a user to participate and change outcome of an asynchronous game includes receiving an indication of an attack initiated by a second player on a first player'"'"'s game base during game play. In response, a first social post is generated to inform friends of the first player of the attack and request assistance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base. An acceptance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base is detected from a third player at the first social post. In response, game replay of the attack by the second player is initiated and the third player is enabled to participate in the game replay and defend the game base of the first player. A second social post is generated to inform the first player and the friends of the first player of the third player'"'"'s contribution in defending the first player'"'"'s game base.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication that a game base of a first player has been attacked by a second player during game play of an interactive game, the indication being detected by a game execution logic of the interactive game;

generating a first social post to inform one or more friends of the first player of the attack and request assistance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base, the first social post being generated by a social post generator module of the interactive game;

in response to the first social post, detecting acceptance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base by a third player at the first social post, the acceptance detected by a user interaction analyzer module of the interactive game;

initiating a game replay of the attack by the second player at the game base while enabling the third player to defend the game base of the first player, the game replay being initiated by a game play analyzer module of the interactive game; and

generating a second social post informing the first player and the friends of the first player of the third player'"'"'s defense of the first player'"'"'s game base, the second social post being generated by the social post generator module of the interactive game,

wherein method operations are performed by a processor on a server computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first social post is generated when the social post generator module detects at least a pre-defined threshold amount of resources or particular type of resource in the game base has been attacked and defeated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the game play between the first player and the second player is asynchronous and wherein the game replay of the attack with the third player defending the game base is synchronous.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the attack on the game base of the first player is during a time period when the first player is off line.

5. The method of claim 1, further includes,

providing a link to a video recording of the attack in the first social post, the link allowing the third player to preview the attack and to strategize defending the game base prior to participating in the game replay of the attack, wherein the video recording of the attack is captured by a game play recorder module and the link is provided by the social post generator module.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the video recording captured by the game play recorder module provides an integrated view of game play that captures interactions at the game base involving resources of the first player available in the game base and the resources of the second player used to attack the game base of the first player.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social post generated by the social post generator module includes a link to a combined video recording capturing the third player'"'"'s defense of the game base during the attack, the combined video recording is generated by a game play recorder module and includes an integrated view of game replay that captures interactions at the game base involving resources of the first player available in the game base, resources of the second player used in attacking the game base of the first player and resources of the third player used in defending the game base of the first player during the attack.

8. The method of claim 1, further includes providing game results of the attack during game play, using the game play analyzer module, for rendering at respective display screens associated with the first player and the second player, wherein the game results provide current status of wins and losses awarded during the attack.

9. The method of claim 1, further includes providing game results of the defense of the game base during game replay, using the game play analyzer module with input from the user interaction analyzer module, for rendering at respective display screens associated with the first player and the third player, wherein the game results provide a current status of wins and losses awarded during defense of the first player'"'"'s game base.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second social post is generated by the social post generator module when at least one of a plurality of pre-defined conditions is met, the plurality of pre-defined conditions include amount of resources in the game base of the first player being defeated by more than a pre-defined threshold, resources of the second player being destroyed or a pre-defined battle timer expired.

11. The method of claim 1, further includes returning the third player to the third player'"'"'s game base upon conclusion of game replay, the returning of the third player is performed using the game execution logic.

12. The method of claim 1, further includes removing the request from the first social post of the third player by the social post generator module, in response to detecting acceptance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base or upon expiration of a pre-defined period of time of non-action at the first social post.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication that a first player'"'"'s game base has been attacked by a second player during game play of an interactive game, the indication being detected by a game execution logic of the interactive game;

generating a first social post to inform a plurality of social contacts of the first player of the attack and request assistance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base, wherein the first social post is forwarded to the plurality of social contacts of the first player, the first social post being generated and forwarded by a social post generator module of the interactive game;

in response to the first social post, detecting acceptance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base at the first social post, the acceptance being detected from two or more social contacts of the first player by a user interaction analyzer module of the interactive game;

initiating a game replay of the attack by the second player at the game base while enabling each of the two or more social contacts responding to the first social post to independently defend the game base of the first player, the game replay being initiated by a game play analyzer module of the interactive game; and

generating a second social post with a link to a combined video recording of a select one of the two or more social contacts defending the game base of the first player, the second social post forwarded to the first player and the plurality of the social contacts of the first player informing of the defense of the first player'"'"'s game base by select one of the social contacts, the second social post being generated and forwarded by the social post generator module of the interactive game, wherein the combined video recording is captured by a game play recorder module,

wherein method operations are performed by a processor on a server computing device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein game play of the select one of the social contacts is chosen for inclusion in the second social post by the social post generator module, based on outcome of the interactive game from the game replay.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the outcome of the game replay includes identifying, using the user interaction analyzer module and the game play analyzer module, one or more of number of resources of the second player that were destroyed by the particular social contact, number of resources of the first player that were preserved, number of resources of the social contact used during game play, number of resources of the social contact that were destroyed during game play, and amount of time taken to defeat the second player.

16. The method of claim 13, further includes providing game results of the attack during game play, using the game play analyzer module, for rendering at respective display screens associated with the first player and the second player, wherein the game results provide current status of wins and losses awarded during the attack.

17. The method of claim 13, further includes providing game results of the defense of the game base during game replay, using the game play analyzer module with input from the user interaction analyzer module, for rendering at respective display screens associated with the first player and each of the social contacts that accepted the request to defend the first player'"'"'s game base, wherein the game results provide current status of wins and losses awarded to the respective social contacts during defense of the first player'"'"'s game base.

18. The method of claim 13, further includes deleting the request from the first social post provided to each of the two or more social contacts by the social post generator module, when no action is registered at the first social post from the corresponding social contact within a pre-defined period of time.

19. The method of claim 18, further includes providing a link to a video recording of the attack in the first social post, by the social post generator module, to allow each of the two or more social contacts to view the game play of the attack, in response to the corresponding social contacts interacting with the first social post after lapse of the pre-defined period of time, wherein the video recording of the attack captured by a game play recorder module.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the video recording provides an integrated view of game play that captures interactions at the game base involving resources of the first player available in the game base and the resources of the second player used to attack the game base of the first player.

21. The method of claim 13, further includes providing a link to a video recording of the attack in the first social post, by the social post generator module, to allow each of the two or more social contacts to view the game play of the attack, in response to the corresponding social contacts interacting with the first social post after lapse of the pre-defined period of time, wherein the video recording of the attack is captured by a game play recorder module.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the combined video recording is captured by a game play recorder module and provides an integrated view of game replay that captures interactions at the game base involving resources of the first player available in the game base, the resources of the second player used to attack the game base of the first player and the resources of the select one of the social contacts defending the first player'"'"'s game base during the attack.

23. A system, comprising:

a client device with a display screen for rendering user interface to select an interactive game for game play and for providing interaction affecting game play; and

a server computing device, the server computing device executing game code of the selected interactive game, the game code having;

a game execution logic configured to define game objects, game attributes for game play in accordance to game rules defined therein, and to modify a game scene in accordance to interaction detected during game play, wherein the interaction from a first player is used to define and defend a game base;

a game play recorder configured to record the game play and a game replay;

a game play analyzer configured to analyze the game play in order to detect an attack initiated by a second player on the game base and to initiate a game replay of the attack by the second player to enable a third player to defend the game base of the first player;

a social post generator configured to generate a first social post for informing one or more friends of the first player of the attack on the game base by the second player during game play and for requesting assistance to defend the first player'"'"'s game base, and a second social post for informing the first player and the friends of the first player of the attack and the third player'"'"'s role in defending the first player'"'"'s game base from the attack during game replay; and

a user interaction analyzer configured to detect and analyze interaction of the third player to the first social post, the detected interaction causing a signal to be generated to the game play analyzer for initiating the game replay, based on the analysis, to allow the third player to participate in defending the game base of the first player.

24. The system of claim 23, further includes,

a game information data store to store game related data,

a user information data store to store user related data, and

a game play recordings data store to store the game play and the game replay of the interactive game.