Game device and computer-readable storage medium

• US 6,379,253 B1
• Filed: 04/20/2000
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Konami Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Konami Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Nishioka, Hidenori
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, BINH AN DUC
• Application Number:
  US09/556,586
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• Field of Search: 463/43, 463/44, 463/30, 463/31, 463/32, 463/33, 463/34, 463/23, 463/1, 463/2, 273/148.B, 273/460, 273/461, 700/90, 700/91, 700/92
• 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 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/69 by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/204 the platform being a handheld device
• 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

A game device which plays a game in which a player manipulates a character compelled to live in an uninhibited island alone, and through the game, the player experiences virtual actions relating to a matter of life and death to acquire knowledge to survive. The player instructs the character in the game to create a new tool to get the food and to eat the food. A state of health of the character varies similarly to the real world, according to whether the character eats the food or not and how the character eats it.

Claims

1. A game device which is capable of playing a game in which a player manipulate a character and make the player experience virtual actions relating to a matter of life and death in connection to the character, the game device comprising:

parameters which influences upon the matter of life and death; and

a control unit which increases or decreases values of the parameters with lapse of time in a game space, wherein the control unit further increases or decreases the value of the parameters in response to actions of the character and the parameters comprise a first group parameters including a degree of fullness of the character, an intake of water, and a degree of tiredness.

2. The game device of claim 1, wherein when at least one parameter of the first group parameters reaches to a predetermined limit value, a life point which represents a state relating to the matter of life and death is reduced.

3. The game device of claim 2, wherein the limit values about the parameters representing the degree of fullness of the character'"'"'s stomach and the intake of water are set to zero, and the limit value of the parameter representing the degree of tiredness is set to 100.

4. The game device which is capable of playing a game in which a player manipulates a character, and the character lives in an inhabited island alone with acquiring knowledge to survive, the game device comprising:

a plurality of images each of which represents a food;

a command which instructs to pick up the food;

a storage unit which stores a time when the food is picked up;

a first control unit which when a time the character eats the food a predetermined time later from the stored time, changes a state of the food; and

a second control unit which associates the state of the food with a state of health of the character.

5. The game device of claim 4, further comprising:

a plurality of individual items; and

a composing unit which composes a new item used for the game by combining the items.

6. The game device of claim 5, wherein the new item is an item to process the foods or to pick up the foods.

7. The game device of claim 6, wherein the foods include animals, images representing the animals are prepared, and the new item is an item relating to hunting of the animals.

8. The game device of claim 7, wherein the new item is a processing item to process a piece of meat of the animal, and the state of health of the main character varies according to whether the item is used or not.

9. The game device of claim 8, further comprising a processing command instructing to roast the piece of meat of the animal with the processing item.

10. The game device of claim 9, wherein when the main character eats the meat without selecting of the processing command by the player, an index representing the state of health of the character is reduced.

11. The game device of claim 8, wherein the piece of meat of the animal is rotted as time elapses, and when the character eats the rotted meat, the index representing the state of health of the character is reduced.

12. The game device of claim 8, wherein the processing item is a firing item to fire used for roasting the piece of meat of the animal.

13. The game device of claim 4, wherein the foods include plants, images representing the plants are prepared, and the command that instructs to pick up the foods is a command to pick up the plants.

14. The game device of claim 13, wherein influence of the picked up plants upon the state of health of the character in the game is randomly determined at the start point of the game.

15. The game device of claim 13, wherein the plant which is picked up by the character can not be harvested again until a predetermined time elapses.

16. The game device of claim 14, wherein when the character eats a poisonous plant, the index representing the state of health of the character is reduced.

17. The game device of claim 15, further comprising a third control unit which detects a time in the game when the plant is picked up by the character, and reproduces and displays the plant after the predetermined time elapses from the time when the plant is picked up.

18. A recording medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to play a game in which a player manipulates a main character, and the character lives in an inhabited island alone with acquiring knowledge to survive, the program comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of images each of which represents a food;

preparing a command which instructs to pick up the food;

storing a time when the food is picked up;

changing a state of the food when the character eats a food a predetermined time later from the stored time; and

associating the state of the food with a slate of health of the character.

19. The recording medium of claim 18, wherein a plurality of images representing animals are stored, the animals are caught by selecting a command to hunt the animals, and the state of health of the character in the game is changed according to whether the character selects a processing command instructing to process the caught animals or not.

20. A recording medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to play a game in which a player manipulates a character and, through the game, the player experiences virtual actions relating to a matter of life and death in connection to the character, the program comprising the steps of:

preparing parameters which influences upon the matter of life and death; and

increasing or decreasing values of the parameters as time in a game space goes by, wherein the step of increasing or decreasing changes the value of the parameters in response to actions of the character and the parameters comprises a first group parameters including a degree of fullness of the character'"'"'s stomach, an intake of water, and a degree of tiredness.

21. The recording medium of claim 20, wherein the program reduces a life point which represents a state relating to the matter of life and death when at least one parameter of the first group parameters reaches to a predetermined limit value.

22. The recording medium of claim 21, wherein the limit values about the parameters representing the degree of fullness of the character'"'"'s stomach and the intake of water are set to zero, and the limit value of the parameter representing the degree of tiredness is set to 100.

23. The recording medium of claim 20, wherein the program provides use of a processing command instructing to roast a piece of meat of the animal.

24. The recording medium of claim 23, wherein the program reduces an index representing the state of health of the main character when the character eats the piece of meat without selecting of the processing command by the player.

25. The recording medium of claim 20, wherein the program represents that the piece of meat is rotted as time elapses, and reduces the index representing the state of health of the character when the character eats the rotted meat.

26. The recording medium of claim 23, wherein the program issues the processing command after a tool to fire used for roasting the piece of meat of the animal is selected.

27. The recording medium of claim 26, wherein the program produces the tool to fire when the player instructs to combine predetermined items.