Synchronizing mission progress in peer-to-peer cooperative games
First Claim
1. A multiplayer game system using a peer-to-peer network architecture, comprising:
- a first machine executing a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order to progress to a subsequent objective, the first machine tracking a first mission progress line for a first player including which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the first mission progress line occurring during a first time period;
an interface for a peer-to-peer network, the first machine enabled to receive information through the peer-to-peer interface from a second machine executing the video game and tracking a second mission progress line for a second player, the second mission progress line tracking which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the second mission progress time occurring during a second time period, the second time period occurring outside of the first time period and wherein the first machine and second machine are not in communication during the second time period,wherein the first machine is enabled to synchronize mission progress of the players by updating the first mission progress line with a union of a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the first player and a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the second player.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems are described for a multiplayer video game on a peer-to-peer network in which a player'"'"'s or players'"'"' missions are tracked individually as mission lines, each mission line being composed of a series of ordered objectives. Each objective generally must be completed in order of the sequence with no forking of objective paths. Each objective can include one or more conditions that can be completed in any order within the objective. Players can go off on different missions and then come back to synchronize their mission progress so that they benefit from the other player'"'"'s gameplay. Players can also synchronize the conditions achieved within the missions during long missions with many difficult conditions to achieve in order to advance their combined progress.
24 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A multiplayer game system using a peer-to-peer network architecture, comprising:
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a first machine executing a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order to progress to a subsequent objective, the first machine tracking a first mission progress line for a first player including which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the first mission progress line occurring during a first time period; an interface for a peer-to-peer network, the first machine enabled to receive information through the peer-to-peer interface from a second machine executing the video game and tracking a second mission progress line for a second player, the second mission progress line tracking which objectives have been met and which conditions have been achieved in the video game, at least a portion of met objectives or achieved conditions of the second mission progress time occurring during a second time period, the second time period occurring outside of the first time period and wherein the first machine and second machine are not in communication during the second time period, wherein the first machine is enabled to synchronize mission progress of the players by updating the first mission progress line with a union of a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the first player and a set of objectives and conditions that have been achieved by the second player.
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2. A method of synchronizing a multiplayer video game on machines connected in a peer-to-peer network architecture, the method comprising:
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providing on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players; tracking on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved; receiving on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine, the second machine having tracked at least a portion of the second mission progress line while the first machine was unavailable to communicate regarding the game; and updating the first mission progress line with the received data regarding the second mission progress line, such that an updated first mission progress line of the first player is at least the union of the first mission progress line and the second mission progress line. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of synchronizing a multiplayer video game on machines connected in a peer-to-peer network architecture, the method comprising:
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tracking on a first machine a first instance of a mission progress line of a first player of a video game, the mission progress line including a sequence of objectives to be accomplished by a player during gameplay; receiving information from a second machine for a second instance of the mission progress line of a second player of the video game, at least a portion of progress within the second instance of the mission progress line occurring at a time when the first machine and second machine are not in communication; and updating on the first machine the first instance of the mission progress line with the second instance of the mission progress line, the updating occurring while the machines operate on a peer-to-peer network, such that an updated first instance of the mission progress of the first player in the video game is at least the union of the first instance of the mission progress line and the second instance of the mission progress line. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A machine-readable storable medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform operations, the operations comprising:
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providing on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players; tracking on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved; receiving on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine; and crediting the first mission progress line to form a union of the first mission progress line and the received data regarding progress in the second mission progress line that is achieved when disconnected from the peer-to-peer network.
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18. A computer system executing instructions in a computer program, the computer program instructions comprising program code to:
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provide on a first machine a video game with a predetermined sequence of game objectives, each game objective including a predetermined set of conditions to be achieved by one or more players in order for the video game to progress to a subsequent objective for at least one of the one or more players; track on the first machine a first mission progress line for a first player, the tracking including storing in a memory which objectives of the sequence of game objectives have been met and which conditions of each objective have been achieved; receive on the first machine data regarding a second mission progress line for a second player from a second machine connected in a peer-to-peer network to the first machine, the second machine having updated at least a portion of the second mission progress line while the first machine was powered down; and update the first mission progress line with the received data regarding the second mission progress line, such that an updated first mission progress line of the first player is at least the union of the first mission progress line and the second mission progress line.
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Specification