Game system, game apparatus, game processing method, and recording medium

• US 9,415,315 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2013
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Suto, Fumiya, Ohta, Keizo
• Primary Examiner(s): YOO, JASSON H
• Application Number:
  US13/913,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20140221085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/332 using wireless networks, e.g. cellular phone networks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/424 involving acoustic input signals, e.g. by using the results of pitch or rhythm extraction or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/53 involving additional visual information provided to the game scene, e.g. by overlay to simulate a head-up display [HUD] or displaying a laser sight in a shooting game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/803 Driving vehicles or craft, e.g. cars, airplanes, ships, robots or tanks
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat

Abstract

An example system includes a plurality of communication terminal devices each provided with: an environmental information acquisition part acquiring information concerning a surrounding environment; a communication data generating part, on the basis of the acquired environmental information, generating communication data having a smaller data amount than the environmental information; a transmitting part transmitting the generated communication data; a receiving part receiving communication data transmitted by another communication terminal device; an image generating part generating an image on the basis of the received communication data; and a display processing part performing processing of displaying the generated image in a manner of being related to a player participating in the game.

Claims

1. A game system comprising a plurality of communication terminal devices transmitting and receiving information and each of the communication terminal being configured to execute a game, wherein each of the communication terminal devices comprises:

a display; and

a processing system, including at least one processor, the processing system coupled to the display and being configured to;

display, on the display, a plurality of player objects, each of the displayed player objects corresponding to a different communication terminal device participating in the game;

during execution of the game, acquire environmental information of surroundings of the communication terminal device;

transform the acquired environmental information into information of frequency components representing the acquired environmental information in a frequency domain;

generate communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of the information of the frequency components representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain, wherein data amount of the generated communication data is smaller than data amount of the acquired environmental information;

transmit the generated communication data to one or more of the plurality of communication terminal devices;

receive, from another communication terminal device corresponding to one of the displayed player objects, communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing environmental information, captured by the another communication terminal device, in the frequency domain;

generate an image based on the change of the amplitude of the frequency component indicated in the received communication data; and

display, on the display, the generated image in a manner of being related to the displayed player object corresponding to the another communication terminal device participating in the game.

2. The game system according to claim 1, wherein the generated communication data has a different data format from the acquired environmental information.

3. The game system according to claim 1, wherein acquiring environmental information includes acquiring sound information of surroundings of the communication terminal device.

4. The game system according to claim 3, wherein the communication data is generated on a basis of frequency components of the acquired sound information.

5. The game system according to claim 4, wherein

transforming the acquired environmental information includes transforming the acquired sound information into the information of frequency components, and

the transformed information of frequency components are divided into a plurality of frequency bands and the communication data is generated for each frequency band.

6. The game system according to claim 5, wherein the communication data is generated in accordance with an average of the frequency component in each frequency band.

7. The game system according to claim 6, wherein the processing system is configured to calculate a follow value following the average and, on a basis of the average and the follow value, generate the communication data.

8. The game system according to claim 7, wherein the processing system is configured to adopt as the communication data a difference between the average and the follow value.

9. The game system according to claim 5, wherein the processing system is configured to calculate a follow value following a change in amplitude of the frequency component in each frequency band and, in accordance with the follow value, generate the communication data.

10. The game system according to claim 5, wherein plural pieces of communication data are transmitted for individual frequency bands.

11. The game system according to claim 10, wherein the plural pieces of communication data for individual frequency bands are transmitted in a given order.

12. The game system according to claim 5, wherein generating the image includes generating an image indicating a change in amplitude of the frequency component in each frequency band on a basis of the received plural pieces of communication data for individual frequency bands from the another communication terminal device.

13. The game system according to claim 12, wherein the processing system is configured to:

generate a polygonal figure having a plurality of vertices each related to one frequency band, and

a position of each vertex is determined on a basis of the received communication data.

14. The game system according to claim 13, wherein

each of the communication terminal devices further includes a storage configured to store plural pieces of waveform data related to individual frequency bands, and wherein

on a basis of plural pieces of received communication data for individual frequency bands, an image is generated in which a composite waveform obtained by combining waveforms concerning the plural pieces of waveform data stored in the storage is surrounded by the polygonal figure.

15. The game system according to claim 12, wherein

each of the communication terminal devices further includes a storage configured to store plural pieces of waveform data related to individual frequency bands, and wherein

on a basis of plural pieces of communication data for individual frequency bands, an image is generated of a composite waveform obtained by combining waveforms concerning the plural pieces of waveform data stored in the storage.

16. The game system according to claim 1, wherein the generated communication data is data having a numerical value corresponding to a change in the acquired environmental information.

17. The game system according to claim 16, wherein the generated image is displayed on the display when the numerical value exceeds a given value.

18. The game system according to claim 1, wherein the generated communication data is data having a numerical value corresponding to the change in the amplitude of the frequency component representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain and the numerical value is increased when the change in the amplitude of the frequency component representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain is increased.

19. The game system according to claim 1, wherein

the processing system is further configured to accept an operation from at least one of the communication terminal devices, and

based on the accepted operation, move the displayed player object corresponding to the communication terminal device from which the operation is accepted.

20. The game system according to claim 19, wherein the generated image is displayed in the vicinity of the player object.

21. The game system according to claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

accept an operation from an operation device coupled to a communication terminal device,

on a basis of the received communication data, generate an image of a player object corresponding the communication terminal device from which operation is accepted, and

display, on the display, the generated image of the player object.

22. The game system according to claim 1, wherein each of the communication terminal devices does not transmit the acquired environmental information.

23. The game system according to claim 1, wherein the generated image is an image unrelated to progress of the game.

24. A game apparatus transmitting and receiving information to and from another apparatus and executing a game participated by a plurality of players, the game apparatus comprising a processing system, including at least one processor, the processing system being configured to:

display, on the display, a player object corresponding to the game apparatus and a player object corresponding to the another apparatus participating in the game;

during execution of the game acquire environmental information of surroundings of the game apparatus;

transform the acquired environmental information into information of frequency components representing the acquired environmental information in a frequency domain;

generate communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain, wherein data amount of the communication data is smaller than data amount of the acquired environmental information;

transmit the generated communication data to the another apparatus;

receive, from the another apparatus, communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing environmental information, captured by the another apparatus, in the frequency domain;

generate an image based on the change of the amplitude of the frequency component indicated in the received communication data; and

display, on a display associated with the game apparatus, the generated image in a manner of being related to the displayed player object corresponding to the another apparatus participating in the game.

25. The game apparatus according to claim 24, wherein acquire environmental information includes acquiring sound information;

transforming the acquired environmental information includes transforming the acquired sound information into the information of frequency components and dividing the frequency components into a plurality of frequency component bands; and

the communication data indicates a change in the amplitude of the frequency component for each frequency component band.

26. A game processing method performed by a game apparatus configured to execute a game and including a display, the method comprising:

displaying, on the display, a plurality of player objects, each of the displayed player objects corresponding to a different game apparatus participating in the game;

during execution of the game, acquiring environmental information of surroundings of the game apparatus;

transforming the acquired environmental information into information of frequency components representing the acquired environmental information in a frequency domain;

generating communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain, wherein data amount of the communication data is smaller than data amount of the acquired environmental information,

transmitting the generated communication data to one or more communication devices;

receiving, from another name apparatus corresponding to one of the displayed player objects, communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing environmental information, captured by the another game apparatus, in the frequency domain;

generating an image on a basis of the change of the amplitude of the frequency component indicated in the received communication data; and

displaying, on the display, the generated image in a manner of being related to the displayed player object corresponding to the another game apparatus participating in the game.

27. A non-transitory recording medium recording therein a game program causing a computer of a game apparatus to transmit and receive information to and from another game apparatus, wherein the game program, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to:

display, on a display, a player object corresponding to the game apparatus and a player object corresponding to the another apparatus participating in the game,

during execution of the game program, acquire environmental information concerning a surrounding environment of the game apparatus;

transform the acquired environmental information into information of frequency components representing the acquired environmental information in a frequency domain;

generate communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing the acquired environmental information in the frequency domain, wherein data amount of the communication data is smaller than data amount of the acquired environmental information;

transmit the generated communication data to another game apparatus;

receive, from the another game apparatus, communication data indicating a change in an amplitude of a frequency component representing environmental information, captured by the another game apparatus, in the frequency domain;

generate an image based on the change of the amplitude of the frequency component indicated in received communication data; and

display, on the display, the generated image in a manner of being related to the displayed player object corresponding to the another game apparatus participating in the game.