Game program, game apparatus and game control method

• US 8,241,120 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2010
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Company Limited (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Otsuka, Nagayasu
• Primary Examiner(s): McClellan, James S
• Application Number:
  US12/718,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20100160042A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 463/31, 463/32, 463/33, 463/2, 463/3
• US Class Current: 463/31
• 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 13/5258 by dynamically adapting the position of the virtual camera to keep a game object or game character in its viewing frustum, e.g. for tracking a character or a ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6684 by dynamically adapting its position to keep a game object in its viewing frustrum, e.g. for tracking a character or a ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8011 Ball
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation

Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to make a game player comfortably watch moving pictures when a camera'"'"'s line-of-sight tracks a moving object. In a program of the present invention, a control unit recognizes point-of-sight position data for indicating a position of a camera'"'"'s point-of-sight. Then, the control unit recognizes a view-frustum region and an intra-view-frustum region. Next, the control unit decides whether or not a moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region. When the control unit decides that the moving object is located outside the intra-view-frustum region, the control unit executes processing of moving at least one of the camera'"'"'s point-of-sight and a camera'"'"'s point-of-target so that the moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for a video game in which a camera coordinate system is set for a position of a camera disposed in a three-dimensional game space and in which a moving object moving in the three-dimensional game space is displayed on an image display unit, the computer program comprising:

code for causing a control unit to recognize point-of-sight position data indicating where a point-of-sight of the camera is;

code for causing the control unit to recognize point-of-target position data indicating where a point-of-target of the camera is;

code for causing the control unit to recognize a view-frustum region which extends in a direction from the point-of-sight indicated to the point-of-target;

code for causing the control unit to recognize an intra-view-frustum region which is within the view-frustum region;

code for causing the control unit to determine whether or not the moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region;

code for causing the control unit to move at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target in order for the moving object to be located within the intra-view-frustum region, if the control unit determines that the moving object is not located in the intra-view-frustum region;

code for causing the control unit to compute a first-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the point-of-target position data, the first-directional vector being in a first direction from the point-of-sight to the point-of-target;

code for causing the control unit to compute a second-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the moving-object position data, the second-directional vector being in a second direction from the point-of-sight to the moving object;

code for causing the control unit to determine whether or not the first direction and the second direction match; and

code for causing the control unit to stop at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target from moving, if the control unit determines that the first direction and the second direction match.

2. The non-transitory computer recording medium according to claim 1, the computer program further comprising

code for causing the control unit to recognize moving-object position data indicating where the moving object is;

code for causing the control unit to compute distance data indicating distance between the point-of-sight and the moving object; and

code for causing the control unit to recognize camera speed data corresponding to the distance data, the camera speed data indicating at least one of moving speed of the point-of-sight and moving speed of the point-of-target,

wherein the code for causing the control unit to move at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target includes code for causing the control unit to move at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target in order for the moving object to be located within the intra-view-frustum region, based on the camera speed data.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 2, wherein

the code for causing the control unit to recognize camera speed data corresponding to the distance data includes code for causing the control unit to reduce at least one of the moving speed of the point-of-sight and the moving speed of the point-of-target in accordance with the distance data.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 3, wherein

the code for causing the control unit to recognize camera speed data corresponding to the distance data includes code for causing the control unit to recognize such camera acceleration data that at least one of the moving speed of the point-of-sight and the moving speed of the point-of-target is reduced in accordance with the distance data, and for causing the control unit to recognize the camera speed data computed based on the camera acceleration data.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 1, the computer program further comprising

code for causing the control unit to recognize moving-object position data indicating where the moving object is.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 5, wherein

the code for causing the control unit to move the point-of-sight in order for the moving object to be located within the intra-view-frustum region, if the control unit determines that the moving object is not located in the intra-view-frustum region, and

the code for causing the control unit to stop at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target from moving includes code for causing the control unit to stopping at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target, if the control unit determines that the moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region after the control unit determines that the moving object is located outside the intra-view frustum region and if the control unit determines that the first direction and the second direction match.

7. A game apparatus for a video game in which a camera coordinate system is set for a position of a camera disposed in a three-dimensional game space and in which a moving object moving in the three-dimensional game space is displayed on an image display unit, the game apparatus comprising:

point-of-sight position recognition means for recognizing point-of-sight position data indicating where a point-of-sight of the camera is;

point-of-target position recognition means for recognizing point-of-target position data indicating where a point-of-target of the camera is;

view-frustum region recognition means for recognizing a view-frustum region which extends in a direction from the point-of-sight to the point-of-target;

intra-view-frustum region recognition means for causing recognizing an intra-view-frustum region which is within the view-frustum region;

position determination means for determining whether or not the moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region;

first point-of-sight control means for moving at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target in order for the moving object to be located within the intra-view-frustum region, if that the control unit determines that the moving object is located outside the intra-view-frustum region;

first-directional vector computation means for causing the control unit to compute a first-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the point-of-target position data, the first-directional vector being in a first direction from the point-of-sight to the point-of-target;

second-directional vector computation means for causing the control unit to compute a second-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the moving-object position data, the second-directional vector being in a second direction from the point-of-sight to the moving object;

direction determination means for causing the control unit to determine whether or not the first direction and the second direction match; and

second point-of-sight control means for causing the control unit to stop at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target from moving, if the control unit determines that the first direction and the second direction match.

8. A method for controlling a video game in which a camera coordinate system is set for a position of a camera disposed in a three-dimensional game space and in which a moving object moving in the three-dimensional game space is displayed on an image display unit, the method comprising:

causing a control unit to recognize point-of-sight position data indicating where a point-of-sight of the camera is;

causing the control unit to recognize point-of-target position data indicating where a point-of-target of the camera is;

causing the control unit to recognize a view-frustum region which extends in a direction from the point-of-sight indicated to the point-of-target;

causing the control unit to recognize an intra-view-frustum region which is within the view-frustum region;

causing the control unit to determine whether or not the moving object is located within the intra-view-frustum region;

causing the control unit to move at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target in order for the moving object to be located within the intra-view-frustum region, if the control unit determines that the moving object is not located in the intra-view-frustum region;

causing the control unit to compute a first-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the point-of-target position data, the first-directional vector being in a first direction from the point-of-sight to the point-of-target;

causing the control unit to compute a second-directional vector based on the point-of-sight position data and the moving-object position data, the second-directional vector being in a second direction from the point-of-sight to the moving object;

causing the control unit to determine whether or not the first direction and the second direction match; and

causing the control unit to stop at least one of the point-of-sight and the point-of-target from moving, if the control unit determines that the first direction and the second direction match.