Combat action selection using situational awareness

• US 8,328,637 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Langridge, Adam J., Molyneux, Peter D., Simmons, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Elisca, Pierre Eddy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kamal, Shahid
• Application Number:
  US11/820,968
• Publication Number:
  US 20080318654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,000 Days
• Field of Search: 463/8, 463/29, 463/31, 463/36
• US Class Current: 463/29
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/422 automatically for the purpose of assisting the player, e.g. automatic braking in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• 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 13/833 Hand-to-hand fighting, e.g. martial arts competition A63F13/837 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6054 by generating automatically game commands to assist the player, e.g. automatic braking in a driving game
• 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 2300/8029 Fighting without shooting

Abstract

A game environment is disclosed where actions are automatically selected based on a situational awareness for a player in the game environments. The situational awareness can be determined based on conditions of the player, objects and other characters in the game environment.

Claims

1. A method of operating a game environment, comprising:

receiving input from a user indicative of an operation of a game controller;

assessing a situational awareness status of a user-controlled player including at least one player condition, at least one opponent condition and at least one object condition in the game environment, the at least one player condition including a plurality of attack zones that are centered about the user-controlled player, the at least one opponent condition including a position of the opponent relative to the plurality of attack zones, and the at least one object condition including a position of the object relative to the plurality of attack zones;

identifying a plurality of possible actions for the player for execution in the game environment, each of the plurality of possible actions having one or more prerequisites that need to be fulfilled in order for the corresponding action to be performed, at least some of the one or more prerequisites being associated with the plurality of attack zones;

utilizing a processor that is a component of a computing device to identify two or more of the plurality of possible actions for the player as having had their prerequisites fulfilled based on the operation of the game controller and the situational awareness;

selecting one of the two or more of the plurality of possible actions for execution in the game environment, the selection of the one being based on priority rankings of the two or more of the plurality of possible actions;

receiving a second input from the user indicative of the operation of the game controller after selecting the one of the two or more of the plurality of possible actions;

assessing a second situational awareness status of the player that is different from the first-mentioned situational awareness status; and

selecting a second action for the player that is different from the one of the two or more of the plurality of possible actions based on the second input and the second situational awareness status.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the selection of the one is based on the one having a higher priority ranking than any other ones of the two or more of the plurality of possible actions, and wherein the plurality of attack zones include a first attack zone closest to user-controlled player and a second attack zone that is further away from the user-controlled player.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the priority rankings are selected by the user, and wherein a size of the second attack zone is increased upon a weapon being associated with the user-controlled player.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the priority rankings are selected by a developer of the game environment, and wherein the at least some of the one or more prerequisites that are associated with the plurality of attack zones include the opponent and the object being within a same one of the plurality of attack zones.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one of the two or more of the possible actions includes using a stationary object to attack an opponent in the game environment, and wherein the at least some of the one or more prerequisites that are associated with the plurality of attack zones include the opponent and the object being within different ones of the plurality of attack zones.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation of the game controller includes pressing a button and a directional movement.

7. A computer readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to operate an interactive interface with a user, the instructions comprising:

a game environment adapted to receive input from a user indicative of an operation on a game controller and display content of a game including a user-controlled player, at least one object and at least one opponent;

an environment monitoring module adapted to monitor current object conditions of the at least one object and current character conditions of the player and the at least one opponent within the game environment when the input is received;

an action table having a plurality of separate entries, each of the plurality of separate entries corresponding to a different action that can be performed by the user-controlled player within the game environment, each entry including a description of the action, one or more prerequisites for performing the action, and a priority level of the action, the one or more prerequisites being based at least in part on the object conditions and the character conditions; and

an action selection module that utilizes a processor that is a component of a computing device to select a first action for the player from the action table for the game environment based on a first situational awareness that includes the object conditions, the character conditions, the one or more prerequisites, and the priority levels, and the action selection module selecting a second action for the player from the action table for the game environment based on a second situational awareness and a second input from the user indicative of the operation On the game controller, the second situation awareness being different from the first situational awareness, and the second action being different from the first action.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the one or more prerequisites includes a location of the at least one opponent relative to a zone.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the one or more prerequisites includes a status of the user-controlled player relative to a weapon.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the different actions include the player attacking the at least one opponent, the player using a weapon, and the player attacking the at least one opponent with the at least one object.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the object conditions include a position of the at least one object and the character conditions include a position of the at least one opponent relative to one or more zones.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the game environment is adapted to receive a third input of the user indicative of the operation of the game controller after the action selection module has selected the first and the second actions, and wherein the action selection module selects a third action different from the first and the second actions based on current object conditions and current character conditions determined by the environment monitoring module when the third input is received.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the operation is a button being pressed on the game controller and a directional movement.

14. A method for performing combat actions in a game environment, comprising:

identifying a player, an opponent, and an object in the game environment;

receiving user input indicative of an attack by the player against the opponent;

determining a position and a state of the player, a position and a state of the opponent, and a position of the object;

providing a priority ranking to each one of a plurality of combat attack actions; and

utilizing a processor that is a component of a computer to select a combat attack action performed by the player against the opponent from the plurality of combat attack actions based on the position and the state of the player, the position and the state of the opponent, the position of the object, and the priority rankings;

receiving a second user input indicative of another attack by the player against the opponent; and

selecting a second combat action that is different from the first combat action and that is performed by the player against the opponent, the second combat action being selected from the plurality of combat attack actions based on a second position and state of the player, a second position and state of the opponent, a second position of the object, and the priority rankings.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the combat attack action includes the player using the object as a weapon to attack the opponent, wherein the priority rankings are set by a user, and wherein the state of the player includes a stance of the player.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the combat attack action includes throwing the opponent against the object, wherein the priority rankings are set by a developer of the game environment, and wherein the state of the opponent includes the opponent lying on a ground and/or being stunned.

17. The method of claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving user input indicative of initiating a third attack by the player, the user input being the same as initiating the first and the second attacks;

selecting a third combat attack action performed by the player from the plurality of combat attack actions; and

wherein the priority rankings include low, medium, and high.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the user input includes a button being pressed and a directional movement.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the combat attack action includes a combination of attacks.