In-game interface with performance feedback

• US 20050255914A1
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Incorporated (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Konami Digital Entertainment Incorporated (Konami Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: McHale, Mike, Egozy, Eran B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,806,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 13/5375 for graphically or textually suggesting an action, e.g. by displaying an arrow indicating a turn in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/814 Musical performances, e.g. by evaluating the player's ability to follow a notation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/303 for displaying additional data, e.g. simulating a Head Up Display
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/61 Score computation
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8047 Music games
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/368 displaying animated or moving pictures synchronized with the music or audio part
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/091 for performance evaluation, i.e. judging, grading or scoring the musical qualities or faithfulness of a performance, e.g. with respect to pitch, tempo or other timings of a reference performance
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/015 Musical staff, tablature or score displays, e.g. for score reading during a performance. graphical musical score editing G10H2220/121; musical score displays resulting from a transcription G10H2210/086
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/151 Musical difficulty level setting or selection

Abstract

An in-game interface for a music video game includes one or more feedback mechanisms configured to provide feedback to a player relating to the player'"'"'s performance of the music video game. A compare module compares the player'"'"'s performance with a reference performance provided by the music video game. A performance evaluation module determines the performance feedback to be presented to the player while the player performs the musical composition. In some embodiments, the player'"'"'s pitch and rhythm are compared against a reference pitch and rhythm. If the player'"'"'s pitch and rhythm matches the reference pitch and rhythm to within a predetermined target range, then the performance feedback is positive. Otherwise, the performance feedback is negative.

Claims

1. An in-game interface for a music video game, comprising:

a first portion configured for displaying graphical representations of music notes of a musical composition;

a compare module configured to compare a player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition with a reference performance of the musical composition provided by the music video game;

a performance evaluation module coupled to the compare module and configured to generate performance evaluation data based on results of the comparison of the player'"'"'s performance with the reference performance; and

a second portion including a first feedback display mechanism coupled to the performance evaluation module and configured to provide a first feedback indicative of the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition based on the performance evaluation data.

2. The interface of claim 1, wherein the first feedback display mechanism indicates if the player has performed a pitch of the musical composition correctly.

3. The interface of claim 1, wherein the first feedback display mechanism indicates if the player has performed a rhythm of the musical composition correctly.

4. The interface of claim 1, where in the graphical representations of the music notes are note tubes having widths indicative of how long the note should be held by the player.

5. The interface of claim 4, wherein at least one note tube is embellished to indicate an enhanced scoring opportunity.

6. The interface of claim 1, wherein the first portion further comprises:

an animated representation of a music staff for displaying the graphical representations of notes.

7. The interface of claim 6, where the music staff includes a highlight bar for indicating to the player when to perform a note of the musical composition.

8. The interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a background portion configured to generate an animated representation of the player of the music video game and an animated virtual audience; and

a third portion including a second feedback display mechanism coupled to the performance evaluation module and configured to provide a second feedback indicative of the reaction of the virtual audience to the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition.

9. The interface of claim 7, wherein the animated representation of the player is controlled at least in part by the performance evaluation data.

10. The interface of claim 7, where the animated representation of the virtual audience is controlled at least in part by the performance evaluation data.

11. The interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a third portion configured to display lyrics corresponding to the notes of the musical composition to be sung by the player.

12. The interface of claim 1, further comprising:

a third portion including a pitch arrow, which is configured to point up if the player sang a note too high in pitch and to point down if the player sang a note that is too low in pitch.

13. The interface of claim 1, wherein the performance evaluation data is based on an average of comparisons of the player'"'"'s performance with the reference performance.

14. The interface of claim 1, wherein the first feedback display mechanism is a bar graph that fills in response to the performance evaluation data.

15. The interface of claim 1, wherein the animated representation of the player includes animated lips, which are synchronized to the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition provided by the music video game.

16. The interface of claim 1, wherein the first feedback display simulates the operation of a Volume Unit (VU) meter.

17. The interface of claim 1, wherein the compare module compares a plurality of notes of the player'"'"'s performance with a plurality of notes of the reference performance.

18. An in-game interface for a music video game, comprising:

a background portion configured to generate an animated representation of a player of the music video game and a virtual audience;

a performance feedback interface configured to display graphical representations of music notes of a musical composition;

a compare module configured to compare the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition with a reference performance of the musical composition provided by the music video game;

a performance evaluation module coupled to the compare module and configured to generate performance evaluation data for the player;

a first feedback mechanism disposed in the performance feedback interface and coupled to the performance evaluation module, the first feedback mechanism configured to provide a first feedback indicative of the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition based on the performance evaluation data; and

a second feedback mechanism disposed in the performance feedback interface and coupled to the performance evaluation module, the second feedback mechanism configured to provide a second feedback indicative of the reaction of the virtual audience to the player'"'"'s performance of the musical composition.

19. The interface of claim 18, wherein the first feedback mechanism indicates if the player has performed a pitch of the musical composition correctly.

20. The interface of claim 18, wherein the first feedback mechanism indicates if the player has performed a rhythm of the musical composition correctly.

21. The interface of claim 18, where in the graphical representations of the music notes are note tubes having widths indicative of how long the note should be held by the player.

22. The interface of claim 21, wherein at least one note tube is embellished to indicate to indicate an enhanced scoring opportunity.

23. The interface of claim 18, wherein the performance feedback interface, further comprises:

an animated representation of a music staff for displaying the graphical representations of notes.

24. The interface of claim 18, where the music staff includes a highlight bar for indicating to the player when to perform a note of the musical composition.

25. The interface of claim 18, wherein the performance evaluation data is based on an average of comparisons of the player'"'"'s performance with the reference performance.

26. The interface of claim 18, wherein the first feedback mechanism is a bar graph that fills in response to the performance evaluation data.