Game apparatus, character and virtual camera control method, program and recording medium
AssigneeSquare Enix Co., Ltd.
InventorsNobuhisa Hiroshige, Takashi Isono
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To apply a certain change to a displayed image while controlling a position and direction of a character and a virtual camera. In changing a direction of a character card without changing its position, when the direction changes slowly a direction of a character changes according to change direction of the character card, and a visual point of a virtual camera moves circularly according to the change direction of the character. When the direction of the character card is changed fast only the visual point moves circularly and the direction of the character does not change.
Claims13
A game apparatus which displays, on a display, a game screen obtained by perspectively transforming, onto a virtual screen, a virtual three-dimensional space, in which a character acts in accordance with an instruction from a player, from a viewpoint of a virtual camera, the apparatus comprising:
- a card disposition system that disposes a card on a plane corresponding to a virtual two-dimensional plane perpendicular to a height direction of the virtual three-dimensional space, a position and a rotary direction of the card being changeable by the player;
- a card detector that detects the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card disposed on the card disposition system;
- a character controller that controls a position and a rotary direction of the character in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector, the rotary direction of the character indicating a direction in which the character faces;
- a virtual camera controller that controls a position of a visual point and a direction of a visual axis of the virtual camera with the position of the character as a reference point, in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector, the direction of the visual axis being defined as a direction from the position of the visual point towards the position of the character;
- a perspective transformer that perspectively transforms onto the virtual screen the virtual three-dimensional space from the viewpoint of the virtual camera, in which the position of the visual point and the direction of the visual axis are fixed by the virtual camera controller, and generates a two-dimensional image to be displayed on the display;
- and
- a display controller that display the two-dimensional image generated by the perspective transformer on the display,
- wherein the character controller does not change the rotary direction of the character when the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector is changed by rotation of the card and the position of the card detected by the card detector is not substantially changed, and
- wherein when the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector is changed by rotation of the card and the position of the card detected by the card detector is not substantially changed, the virtual camera controller circularly moves the position of the visual point around the character in order to change the direction of the visual axis in accordance with the change in the rotary direction of the card.
A character and virtual camera control method in a game in which a game screen is obtained by perspectively transforming, onto a virtual screen, a virtual three-dimensional space, in which a character acts in accordance with an instruction from a player, from a viewpoint of a virtual camera, and the transformed virtual space is displayed on a display, the method comprising:
- detecting a position and a rotary direction of a card disposed, by the player, on a plane corresponding to a virtual two-dimensional plane perpendicular to a height direction of the virtual three-dimensional space, and storing the detected position and the rotary direction of the card in a storage device;
- when the rotary direction of the card is changing without the position of the card substantially changing, controlling a position and a rotary direction of the character, in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card stored in the storage device, in order not to change the rotary direction of the character, the rotary direction of the character indicating a direction in which the character faces;
- when the rotary direction of the card is changed without the position of the card substantially changing, controlling a position of a visual point and a direction of a visual axis of the virtual camera with the position of the character as a reference point, in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card stored in the storage device, in order to change the direction of the visual axis by circularly moving the position of the visual point around the character in accordance with the change in the rotary direction of the card, the direction of the visual axis being defined as a direction from the position of the visual point towards the position of the character;
- perspectively transforming the virtual three-dimensional space from the virtual camera onto the virtual screen, the position of the visual point and the direction of the visual axis of the virtual camera being fixed, and generating a two-dimensional image to be displayed on the display;
- and
- displaying the generated two-dimensional image on the display.
A non-transitory computer readable medium on which a game program executed by a computer apparatus is recorded, which, when executing a game by operating a character in accordance with the game program, perspectively transforms onto a virtual screen, from the viewpoint a virtual camera, a virtual three-dimensional space in which a character acts in accordance with an instruction from a player, and displays the transformed virtual three-dimensional space on a display, the game program comprising:
- a card disposition system that disposes a card on a plane corresponding to a virtual two-dimensional plane perpendicular to a height direction of the virtual three-dimensional space, a position and a rotary direction of the card being changeable by the player;
- a card detector that detects the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card disposed on the card disposition system;
- a character controller that controls a position and a rotary direction of the character in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector, the rotary direction of the character indicating a direction in which the character faces;
- a virtual camera controller that controls a position of a visual point and a direction of a visual axis of the virtual camera with the position of the character as a reference point in accordance with the position of the card and the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector, the direction of the visual axis being defined as a direction from the position of the visual point towards the position of the character;
- a perspective transformer that perspectively transforms onto the virtual screen the virtual three-dimensional space from the viewpoint of the virtual camera, in which the position of the visual point and the direction of the visual axis are fixed by the virtual camera controller and generates a two-dimensional image to be displayed on the display;
- and
- a display controller that displays the two-dimensional image generated by the perspective transformer on the display,
- wherein the character controller does not change the rotary direction of the character when the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector is changed by rotation of the card and the position of the card detected by the card detector is not substantially changed, and
- wherein the virtual camera controller circularly moves the position of the visual point around the character in order to change the direction of the visual axis in accordance with the change in the rotary direction of the card by a rotation of the card, when the rotary direction of the card detected by the card detector is changed and the position of the card detected by the card detector is not substantially changed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.