Game program product, game apparatus and game method indicating a difference between altitude of a moving object and height of an on-earth object in a virtual word

• US 8,012,006 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2006
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Koganezawa, Tsutomu, Haga, Takayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Suhol; Dmitry
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRAY, BRANDON RAMON
• Application Number:
  US11/491,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20070265044A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 463/3, 463/5, 463/7, 463/36, 463/42
• US Class Current: 463/7
• 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 13/537 using indicators, e.g. showing the condition of a game character on screen
• 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 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• 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 2300/646 for calculating the trajectory of an object

Abstract

A game apparatus includes an LCD. An on-earth object existing in a virtual game space is reproduced on the LCD from a viewpoint of capturing ahead of a flying object moving in the virtual game space. A velocity parameter and a direction parameter which defines the movement parameter of the flying object are changed in response to a button operation by a player. An altitude where the flying object will reach after a lapse of a time T (T>0) is predicted on the basis of the movement parameter of the flying object. A height above the sea level of the on-earth object existing in the predicted point is detected with reference to map data. Difference information indicating a difference between the detected height above the sea level of the on-earth object and altitude of the flying object is output to the player through the LCD.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing computer readable instructions to be executed by a processor of a game apparatus to perform a method which generates a display of a virtual game space in which an land object is arranged, and a moving object moving in said virtual game space on a screen, the method comprising:

changing a movement parameter defining a movement of said moving object in response to a player'"'"'s operation;

predicting a reaching point where said moving object will reach after a lapse of a time T (T>

0) on the basis of said movement parameter;

detecting at least any one of a current altitude of said moving object and an altitude of said moving object in the reaching point predicted by said predicting;

detecting a height of said land object in the reaching point predicted by said predicting; and

generating an output which provides to said player difference information indicating a difference between the detected altitude and the detected height.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said generating the output includes generating an output of height information indicating said height as a part of said difference information, and generating an output of altitude information indicating said altitude as another part of said difference information.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 2, wherein said height information includes a first bar character extending in a vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said height, and said altitude information includes a second bar character extending in the vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said altitude.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 3, wherein said first bar character has a bar main body extending upward from a lower side of said screen and an upper edge portion set at a position corresponding to said height, and said second bar character has a bar main body extending downward from an upper side of said screen and a lower edge portion set at a position corresponding to said altitude, and a space from said upper edge portion to said lower edge portion means a difference between said height and said altitude.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 3, wherein said generating the output of the height information includes determining the length of said first bar character by a logarithmic arithmetic.

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises generating a different warning depending on a numerical range to which a subtracted value obtained by subtracting the detected height from the predicted altitude.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 6, wherein said generating a different warning includes generating a first warning to have a first manner when said subtracted value belongs to a first numerical range where numerical values above 0 are distributed, and generating a second warning to have a second manner when said subtracted value belongs to a second numerical range where numerical values below 0 are distributed.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

setting each of a plurality of numerical values as said T;

respectively subtracting a plurality of the detected heights from a plurality of the detected altitudes with respect to the plurality of predicted reaching points; and

specifying a minimum subtracted value out of the plurality of subtracted values calculated by said respective subtracting, wherein said generated output indicates the difference information corresponding to the minimum subtracted value specified by said specifying.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein said changing includes changing a direction parameter defining a moving direction of said moving object in response to a first operation by said player, and changing a velocity parameter defining a moving velocity of said moving object in response to a second operation by said player.

10. A game apparatus which generates a display on a screen a virtual game space in which a land object is arranged, and a moving object moving in said virtual game space, the game apparatus comprising:

change programmed logic circuitry for changing a movement parameter defining a movement of said moving object in response to a player'"'"'s operation;

predicting programmed logic circuitry for predicting a reaching point where said moving object will reach after a lapse of a time T (T>

0) on the basis of said movement parameter;

first detecting programmed logic circuitry for detecting at least any one of a current altitude of said moving object and an altitude of said moving object in the reaching point predicted by said predicting programmed logic circuitry;

second detecting programmed logic circuitry for detecting a height of said land object in the reaching point predicted by said predicting programmed logic circuitry; and

output programmed logic circuitry for generating an output to said player difference information indicating a difference between the altitude detected by said first detecting programmed logic circuitry and the height detected by said second detecting programmed logic circuitry.

12. A game apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said generated output includes height information indicating said height as a part of said difference information, and altitude information indicating said altitude as another part of said difference information.

13. A game apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said height information includes a first bar character extending in a vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said height, and said altitude information includes a second bar character extending in the vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said altitude.

14. A game apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said first bar character has a bar main body extending upward from a lower side of said screen and an upper edge portion set at a position corresponding to said height, and said second bar character has a bar main body extending downward from an upper side of said screen and a lower edge portion set at a position corresponding to said altitude, and a space from said upper edge portion to said lower edge portion means a difference between said height and said altitude.

15. A game apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the length of said first bar character is determined by a logarithmic arithmetic.

16. A game apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising warning programmed logic circuitry for generating a different warning depending on a numerical range to which a subtracted value obtained by subtracting the height detected by said second detecting programmed logic circuitry from the altitude predicted by said predicting programmed logic circuitry belongs.

17. A game apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said warning programmed logic circuitry generates the warning so as to have a first manner when said subtracted value belongs to a first numerical range where numerical values above 0 are distributed, and generates the warning so as to have a second manner when said subtracted value belongs to a second numerical range where numerical values below 0 are distributed.

18. A game apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising:

setting programmed logic circuitry for setting each of a plurality of numerical values as said T;

subtracting programmed logic circuitry for respectively subtracting a plurality of the heights detected by said second detecting programmed logic circuitry from a plurality of the altitudes detected by said first detecting programmed logic circuitry with respect to the plurality of reaching points predicted by said predicting programmed logic circuitry; and

specifying programmed logic circuitry for specifying a minimum subtracted value out of the plurality of subtracted values calculated by said subtracting programmed logic circuitry, wherein said output programmed logic circuitry generates an output indicating the difference information corresponding to the minimum subtracted value specified by said specifying programmed logic circuitry.

19. A game apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said changing programmed logic circuitry includes first change programmed logic circuitry for changing a direction parameter defining a moving direction of said moving object in response to a first operation by said player, and second change programmed logic circuitry for changing a velocity parameter defining a moving velocity of said moving object in response to a second operation by said player.

11. A game method to be performed by execution of computer readable instructions, tangibly stored on a computer readable storage medium, by a game apparatus for displaying on a screen a virtual game space in which a land object is arranged, and a moving object moving in said virtual game space, the game method comprising the steps of:

(a) changing a movement parameter defining a movement of said moving object in response to a player'"'"'s operation of the game apparatus;

(b) predicting a reaching point where said moving object will reach after a lapse of a time T (T>

0) on the basis of said movement parameter;

(c) detecting at least any one of a current altitude of said moving object and an altitude of said moving object in the reaching point predicted by said step (b);

(d) detecting a height of said land object in the reaching point predicted by said step (b); and

(e) generating an output to said player difference information indicating a difference between the altitude detected by said step (a) and the height detected by said step (d).

20. A game method according to claim 11, wherein said generating the output step (e) includes a first information generating step for generating height information indicating said height as a part of said difference information, and a second information generating step for generating altitude information indicating said altitude as another part of said difference information.

21. A game method according to claim 20, wherein said height information includes a first bar character extending in a vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said height, and said altitude information includes a second bar character extending in the vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said altitude.

22. A game method according to claim 21, wherein said first bar character has a bar main body extending upward from a lower side of said screen and an upper edge portion set at a position corresponding to said height, and said second bar character has a bar main body extending downward from an upper side of said screen and a lower edge portion set at a position corresponding to said altitude, and a space from said upper edge portion to said lower edge portion means a difference between said height and said altitude.

23. A game method according to claim 21, wherein the length of said first bar character is determined by a logarithmic arithmetic.

24. A game method according to claim 11, further comprising a warning-generating step for generating a different warning depending on a numerical range to which a subtracted value obtained by subtracting the height detected by said detecting step (d) from the altitude predicted by said predicting step (b) belongs.

25. A game method according to claim 24, wherein said warning-generating step includes generating said warning so as to have a first manner when said subtracted value belongs to a first numerical range where numerical values above 0 are distributed, and generating said warning so as to have a second manner when said subtracted value belongs to a second numerical range where numerical values below 0 are distributed.

26. A game method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a setting step for setting each of a plurality of numerical values as said T;

a subtracting step for respectively subtracting a plurality of the heights detected by said detecting step (d) from a plurality of the altitudes detected by said detecting step (c) with respect to the plurality of reaching points predicted by said predicting step (b); and

a specifying step for specifying a minimum subtracted value out of the plurality of subtracted values calculated by said subtracting step, wherein said generating the output step includes generating the difference information corresponding to the minimum subtracted value specified by said specifying step.

27. A game method according to claim 11, wherein said changing step (a) includes a first change step for changing a direction parameter defining a moving direction of said moving object in response to a first operation by said player, and a second change step for changing a velocity parameter defining a moving velocity of said moving object in response to a second operation by said player.

28. A computer system comprising;

a non-transitory readable storage medium tangibly storing computer readable instructions;

a processor configured to execute the instructions to;

generate a display of a virtual game space in which a non-moving object is arranged, and a moving object moving in said virtual game space on a screen;

change a movement parameter defining a movement of said moving object in response to a player'"'"'s operation;

predict a reaching point where said moving object will reach after a lapse of a time T (T>

0) on the basis of said movement parameter;

detect at least any one of a current altitude of said moving object and an altitude of said moving object in the predicted reaching point;

detect a height of the non-moving object in the predicted reaching point; and

generate an output which provides to said player difference information indicating a difference between the detected altitude and the detected height.

29. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to generate the output by generating an output of height information indicating said height as a part of said difference information, and generating an output of altitude information indicating said altitude as another part of said difference information.

30. The computer system according to claim 29, wherein said height information includes a first bar character extending in a vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said height, and said altitude information includes a second bar character extending in the vertical direction of said screen with a length corresponding to said altitude.

31. The computer system according to claim 30, wherein said first bar character has a bar main body extending upward from a lower side of said screen and an upper edge portion set at a position corresponding to said height, and said second bar character has a bar main body extending downward from an upper side of said screen and a lower edge portion set at a position corresponding to said altitude, and a space from said upper edge portion to said lower edge portion means a difference between said height and said altitude.

32. The computer system according to claim 30, wherein the output of the height information is generated by determining the length of said first bar character by a logarithmic arithmetic.

33. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions to generate a different warning depending on a numerical range to which a subtracted value obtained by subtracting the detected height from the predicted altitude.

34. The computer system according to claim 33, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to generate a different warning includes generating a first warning to have a first manner when said subtracted value belongs to a first numerical range where numerical values above 0 are distributed, and generating a second warning to have a second manner when said subtracted value belongs to a second numerical range where numerical values below 0 are distributed.

35. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions to:

set each of a plurality of numerical values as said T;

respectively subtract a plurality of the detected heights from a plurality of the detected altitudes with respect to the plurality of predicted reaching points; and

specify a minimum subtracted value out of the plurality of subtracted values calculated by said respective subtracting, wherein said generated output indicates the difference information corresponding to the minimum subtracted value specified by the specifying.

36. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to perform said change by changing a direction parameter defining a moving direction of said moving object in response to a first operation by said player, and changing a velocity parameter defining a moving velocity of said moving object in response to a second operation by said player.

37. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the non-moving object is a land-based object.

38. The computer system according to claim 28, wherein the non-moving object is an on-planet object.