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US 8,506,410 B2Granted
Automatic movement of player character in network game
AssigneeSquare Enix Co., Ltd.
InventorsJin Fujisawa, Takashi Anzai, Yoichi Kuroda, Yoshitaka Katsume
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A player participating in a network game moves a player character of the player by manipulating a video game apparatus of the player. As the player performs an autopilot operation, the video game apparatus moves the player character as an autopilot PC. A server apparatus manages the game which progresses according to the movement of each character, and transmits progress information of the game to the video game apparatus of each player participating in the network game. The movement of the autopilot PC is decided based on an action log recording the action of the player character responding to the manipulation of the player.
Claims17
A network game system including a server apparatus, and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to the server apparatus over a network, wherein each of players who respectively use the terminal apparatuses manipulates a player's own player character to participate in a game provided by the server apparatus, the server apparatus comprising:
- a character movement information receiver that receives character movement information transmitted from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;
- a character movement state updating unit that updates a movement state of a player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses stored in a movement state storage unit provided in the server apparatus according to the character movement information received by the character movement information receiver;
- and
- a game progress information transmitter that transmits, to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, game progress information indicating a progress state of the game according to the movement state of the player character corresponding to the each terminal apparatus and stored in the movement state storage unit,
- each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses comprising:
- a game progress information receiver that receives the game progress information transmitted from the game progress information transmitter;
- a game screen display that generates a screen according to the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, and displays the screen on a display device equipped in the terminal apparatus;
- a manual movement instruction input unit that, as the player who uses the terminal apparatus performs a predetermined operation on an input device equipped in the terminal apparatus, inputs a manual movement instruction for moving the player's own player character;
- a manual movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus according to the manual movement instruction input from manual movement instruction input unit;
- an automatic movement instruction input unit that, as the player who uses the terminal apparatus performs a specific operation different from the predetermined operation on the input device, inputs an automatic movement instruction for moving the player's own player character regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction;
- an automatic movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus based on the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction, until canceling of the automatic movement instruction since the input of the automatic movement instruction from the automatic movement instruction input unit;
- and
- a character movement information transmitter that generates the character movement information according to the movement of the player character of the player specified by the manual movement specifying unit or the automatic movement specifying unit, and transmits the character movement information to the server apparatus to be received by the character movement information receiver.
10 more elements
A network game system including a server apparatus, and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to the server apparatus over a network, wherein each of players who respectively use the terminal apparatuses manipulates a player's own player character to participate in a game provided by the server apparatus, the server apparatus comprising:
- a character movement information receiver that receives character movement information transmitted from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;
- a first character movement state updating unit that updates a movement state of a player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses stored in a movement state storage unit provided in the server apparatus according to the character movement information received by the character movement information receiver;
- an automatic movement instruction receiver that receives an automatic movement instruction transmitted from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;
- an automatic movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using a terminal apparatus corresponding to the automatic movement instruction based on the movement state of the player character stored in the movement state storage unit, regardless of the reception of the character movement information by the character movement information receiver, until canceling of the automatic movement instruction since the reception of the automatic movement instruction by the automatic movement instruction receiver;
- a second character movement state updating unit that updates a movement state of a player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses stored in a movement state storage unit according to the movement of the player character specified by the automatic movement specifying unit;
- and
- a game progress information transmitter that transmits, to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, game progress information indicating a progress state of the game according to the movement state of the player character corresponding to the each terminal apparatus and stored in the movement state storage unit,
- each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses comprising:
- a game progress information receiver that receives the game progress information transmitted from the game progress information transmitter;
- a game screen display that generates a screen according to the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, and displays the screen on a display device equipped in the terminal apparatus;
- a manual movement instruction input unit that, as the player who uses the terminal apparatus performs a predetermined operation on an input device equipped in the terminal apparatus, inputs a manual movement instruction for moving the player's own player character;
- a manual movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus according to the manual movement instruction input from manual movement instruction input unit;
- an automatic movement instruction input unit that, as the player who uses the terminal apparatus performs a specific operation different from the predetermined operation on the input device, inputs an automatic movement instruction for moving the player's own player character regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction;
- and
- an automatic movement instruction transmitter that transmits the automatic movement instruction input from the automatic movement instruction input unit to the server apparatus to be received by the automatic movement instruction receiver.
12 more elements
A game apparatus connected over a network to a server apparatus providing a game which progresses with a plurality of players manipulating player characters thereof to manipulate the player characters of the players, the game apparatus comprising:
- an input device;
- a display device;
- a game progress information receiver that receives game progress information transmitted from the server apparatus and indicating a progress state of the game according to a state of movement of the player character corresponding to each of the plurality of players;
- a game screen display that generates a screen according to the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, and displays the screen on the display device of the game apparatus;
- a manual movement instruction input that, as the player who uses the game apparatus performs a predetermined operation on the input device of the game apparatus, inputs a manual movement instruction for moving the player's own player character;
- a manual movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player's own player character according to the manual movement instruction input from manual movement instruction input unit;
- an automatic movement instruction input unit that, as the player who uses the game apparatus performs a specific operation different from the predetermined operation on the input device of the game apparatus, inputs an automatic movement instruction for moving the player's own player character regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction;
- an automatic movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player's own player character based on the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction, until canceling of the automatic movement instruction since the input of the automatic movement instruction from the automatic movement instruction input unit;
- and
- a character movement information transmitter that generates character movement information for the server apparatus to generate the game progress information, according to the movement of the player character of the player using the game apparatus which is specified by the manual movement specifying unit, and transmits the generated character movement information to the server apparatus.
7 more elements
A server apparatus connected to a plurality of terminal apparatuses over a network, and providing a game in which players respectively using the terminal apparatuses participate by manipulation of player characters of the players, the server apparatus comprising:
- a character movement information receiver that receives character movement information transmitted from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;
- a first character movement state updating unit that updates a movement state of a player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses stored in a movement state storage unit provided in the server apparatus according to the character movement information received by the character movement information receiver;
- an automatic movement instruction receiver that receives an automatic movement instruction input by each player in one of the plurality of terminal apparatuses;
- an automatic movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using a terminal apparatus corresponding to the automatic movement instruction based on the movement state of the player character stored in the movement state storage unit, regardless of the reception of the character movement information by the character movement information receiver, until canceling of the automatic movement instruction since the reception of the automatic movement instruction by the automatic movement instruction receiver;
- a second character movement state updating unit that updates a movement state of a player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses stored in a movement state storage unit according to the movement of the player character specified by the automatic movement specifying unit;
- and
- a game progress information transmitter that transmits, to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, game progress information indicating a progress state of the game according to the movement state of the player character corresponding to the each terminal apparatus and stored in the movement state storage unit.
4 more elements
A computer readable recording medium recording a program which is executed by a computer connected over a network to a server apparatus providing a game which progresses with a plurality of players manipulating player characters thereof to manipulate the player characters of the players, the program allowing the computer to function as:
- a game progress information receiver that receives game progress information transmitted from the server apparatus and indicating a progress state of the game according to a state of movement of the player character corresponding to each of the plurality of players;
- a game screen display that generates a screen according to the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, and displays the screen on a display device equipped in the computer;
- a manual movement instruction input unit that, as the player performs a predetermined operation on an input device equipped in the computer, inputs a manual movement instruction for moving the player's own player character;
- a manual movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus according to the manual movement instruction input from manual movement instruction input unit;
- an automatic movement instruction input unit that, as the player performs a specific operation different from the predetermined operation on an input device equipped in the game apparatus, inputs an automatic movement instruction for moving the player's own player character regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction;
- an automatic movement specifying unit that specifies a movement of the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus based on the game progress information received by the game progress information receiver, regardless of the input of the manual movement instruction, until canceling of the automatic movement instruction since the input of the automatic movement instruction from the automatic movement instruction input unit;
- and
- a character movement information transmitter that generates character movement information for the server apparatus to generate the game progress information, according to the movement of the player character of the player specified by the manual movement specifying unit, and transmits the generated character movement information to the server apparatus.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.