Game development architecture that decouples the game logic from the graphics logic
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- by a game flow software module that includes game flow logic and a state machine, the game flow software module being executed or executing from one or more random-access memory (RAM) locations within a gaming machine;
receiving a request to start a game flow for the play of a game of chance, the game flow including rules for playing the game of chance;
generating a plurality of game states in the game flow, the plurality of game states being used or usable to play the game of chance according to the rules; and
communicating game state information for one or more of the game states to one or more other gaming software modules via one or more application program interfaces,wherein the game flow logic and the state machine for generating the game states is separate from logic for the one or more other gaming software modules, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules including core logic for core gaming machine-wide functionality, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules not including game flow logic for generating the game states.
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Abstract
A disclosed gaming machine is designed to execute a modular gaming software architecture. A plurality of gaming software modules may be loaded into RAM on the gaming machine and executed to play a game of chance. Many of the gaming software modules are designed to communicate via application program interfaces so that the logic in many of the gaming software modules may be designed independently of each other. In particular, the modular gaming software architecture allows a game flow software module used to generate a game of chance on the gaming machine to be decoupled from a game presentation software module used to present the game chance. Thus, a group of games may be designed where the games share a common game flow software module but use different game presentation software modules to change the look and feel of the game.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
by a game flow software module that includes game flow logic and a state machine, the game flow software module being executed or executing from one or more random-access memory (RAM) locations within a gaming machine; receiving a request to start a game flow for the play of a game of chance, the game flow including rules for playing the game of chance; generating a plurality of game states in the game flow, the plurality of game states being used or usable to play the game of chance according to the rules; and communicating game state information for one or more of the game states to one or more other gaming software modules via one or more application program interfaces, wherein the game flow logic and the state machine for generating the game states is separate from logic for the one or more other gaming software modules, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules including core logic for core gaming machine-wide functionality, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules not including game flow logic for generating the game states. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method comprising:
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by a game presentation software module that includes game presentation logic, the game presentation software module being executed or executing from one or more random-access memory (RAM) locations within a gaming machine; receiving a request to start a game presentation for the play of a game of chance; receiving game state information for one or more game states of the game of chance; generating graphics and audio information based on the game state information; displaying, or causing to be displayed, graphics and sounds for one or more of the game states based on the graphics and audio information on a display screen of the gaming machine and on audio output devices of the gaming machine; communicating presentation state information for the game presentation with one or more other gaming software modules via one or more application program interfaces, wherein the game presentation logic for generating the graphics and audio information is separate from logic for the one or more other gaming software modules, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules including core logic for core gaming machine-wide functionality, the logic for the one or more other gaming software modules not including game presentation logic for generating graphics and audio information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method comprising:
by a gaming operating system being executed or executing from one or more random-access memory (RAM) locations within a gaming machine; receiving a request to start the game of chance; communicating, via a game flow application program interface, a command to a game flow software module that, when received by the game flow software module, causes the game flow software module to generate game state information for a plurality of game states in a game flow for the game of chance; communicating a plurality of commands to the gaming machine to control the play of the game of chance based on the game state information; and communicating with one or more other gaming software modules via one or more application program interfaces, wherein logic for implementing the gaming operating system, including core gaming machine-wide functionality, is separate from logic for the one or more other gaming software modules, including game flow logic for implementing the game flow software module to generate the game state information. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
Specification