Recording medium storing video game program and video game device

• US 7,578,742 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Yoshimoto, Hirohito, Miyamoto, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): SAGER, MARK ALAN
• Application Number:
  US11/086,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20050215323A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,616 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 463/37
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/2145 the surface being also a display device, e.g. touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/218 using pressure sensors, e.g. generating a signal proportional to the pressure applied by the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/245 specially adapted to a particular type of game, e.g. steering wheels
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• 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 13/44 involving timing of operations, e.g. performing an action within a time slot
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/56 Computing the motion of game characters with respect to other game characters, game objects or elements of the game scene, e.g. for simulating the behaviour of a group of virtual soldiers or for path finding
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/57 Simulating properties, behaviour or motion of objects in the game world, e.g. computing tyre load in a car race game A63F13/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1056 involving pressure sensitive buttons
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1062 being specially adapted to a type of game, e.g. steering wheel
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8011 Ball

Abstract

The player gives a change in the input through a touch operation to a character pattern P2 displayed on a second display screen 12a covered by a touch panel. The character pattern P2 is associated with a player character P1 displayed on a first display screen 11a, and is displayed on a larger scale than the player character P1. The player character P1 is moved according to the change in the input. Thus, a video game is provided that is played on a dual-screen video game device with a novel operation in which the player can accurately specify an intended position.

Claims

1. A recording medium storing a video game program executed by a computer of a video game device including a first display screen and a second display screen covered by a touch panel, wherein the video game program makes the computer to function as:

first game image display control programmed logic circuitry for displaying, on the first display screen, a first game image including a player character which is movable in the first display screen in accordance with an operation performed by a player;

second game image display control programmed logic circuitry for displaying a second game image on the second display screen in which a character pattern corresponding to the player character in the first game image is displayed on a larger scale than the player character in the first game image and in a fixed manner in the second display screen;

input detection programmed logic circuitry for detecting an input position and an input change specified through a touch operation on the touch panel;

change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry for, when at least a portion of the input position detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry is on the character pattern displayed on the second display screen, calculating change condition data used for changing an appearance of the player character according to the input position on the character pattern and the input change detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry; and

player character control programmed logic circuitry for changing the appearance of the player character based on the change condition data.

2. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 1, wherein the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry divides a detection region of the touch panel corresponding to the character pattern displayed on the second display screen into a plurality of defined regions, and calculates an action parameter as the change condition data, wherein the action parameter is calculated based on which defined region includes the input position on the character pattern.

3. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 1, wherein:

the player character is a moving object that moves in a game space;

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates, as the change condition data, initial movement condition data used for determining an initial movement direction of the moving object in the game space, based on a direction of the input change; and

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates, as the change condition data, movement transition condition data used for changing a movement direction of the moving object in the game space after the movement of the moving object in the initial movement direction has been started, based on the input position on the character pattern.

4. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 1, wherein:

the input detection programmed logic circuitry determines whether or not there is an input to the touch panel at regular intervals, and detects the input position and the input change by detecting coordinate positions on the touch panel while the input is being detected continuously; and

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry extracts coordinate positions at an input start point and an input end point from the input to the touch panel continuously detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry, and calculates the change condition data according to the coordinate positions at the input start point and the input end point.

5. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 4, wherein:

the player character is a moving object that moves in a game space;

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates, as the change condition data, initial movement condition data used for determining an initial movement direction and a velocity of the moving object in the game space, based on a direction from the coordinate position at the input start point to the coordinate position at the input end point; and

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry divides a detection region of the touch panel corresponding to the character pattern displayed on the second display screen into a plurality of defined regions, and calculates, as the change condition data, movement transition condition data used for changing a movement direction of the moving object in the game space after the movement of the moving object in the initial movement direction has been started, wherein the movement transition condition data is calculated based on which defined region includes at least one of the coordinate positions on the character pattern at the input start point and the input end point.

6. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 5, wherein the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry divides the detection region of the touch panel corresponding to the character pattern displayed on the second display screen into a plurality of defined regions according to a direction from the coordinate position at the input start point to the coordinate position at the input end point.

7. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 5, wherein the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry calculates the movement transition condition data so that an amount by which a movement direction of the moving object is changed is larger as a distance between a predetermined reference position and a straight line including the coordinate position at the input start point and the coordinate position at the input end point is larger, the predetermined reference position being included in the detection region of the touch panel corresponding to the character pattern displayed on the second display screen.

8. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 1, wherein

the input detection programmed logic circuitry determines whether or not there is an input to the touch panel at regular intervals, and detects the input position and the input change by detecting coordinate positions on the touch panel while the input is being detected continuously;

the video game program makes the computer to further function as a timer for clocking an input detection time being an amount of time for which an input is continuously detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry; and

the change condition calculation programmed logic circuitry extracts coordinate positions at an input start point and an input end point from the input to the touch panel continuously detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry, and calculates the change condition data according to at least two of the coordinate position at the input start point, the coordinate position at the input end point and the input detection time.

9. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 1, wherein

the input detection programmed logic circuitry determines whether or not there is an input to the touch panel at regular intervals, and detects the input position and the input change by detecting coordinate positions on the touch panel while the input is being detected continuously;

the video game program makes the computer to further function as shape producing programmed logic circuitry for, while an input is continuously detected by the input detection programmed logic circuitry, producing a single shape representing a relationship between a current input coordinate position on the touch panel and the coordinate position at the input start point;

the second game image display control programmed logic circuitry displays, on the second display screen, the second game image further including the shape produced by the shape producing programmed logic circuitry.

10. The recording medium storing a video game program according to claim 9, wherein the shape produced by the shape producing programmed logic circuitry is an isosceles triangle in which the current input coordinate position is an apex, and the coordinate position at the input start point is at a midpoint along a base having a predetermined length.

11. A video game device, comprising:

storage locations for storing the video game program according to claim 1;

a first display screen;

a second display screen covered by a touch panel; and

game execution programmed logic circuitry for executing the video game program stored in the storage locations.