Game machine and movement control method of character

A movement control method of a character for controlling a movement of the character in a virtual three-dimensional space in a game,

• the game including:
• game control means for controlling, based on an operation input signal that is input from input operation means operated by a player, an operation of a game machine that moves a character along one of a plurality of paths that are set in a virtual three-dimensional space, the plurality of paths being further set to include portions from which the paths branch off or at which the paths meet, so as to increase or decrease the number of paths, the input operation means including a first input operation part for generating a normal movement input signal and a second input operation part for generating a special movement input signal, wherein the normal movement input signal includes an analog value for a direction of movement and an analog value for a movement amount of the character, and the special movement input signal includes an execution instruction for the special movement process;
• character position coordinate storing means for storing a position coordinate of the character moving in one of the paths;
• and
• path information storing means for storing a position coordinate and a directional vector that are given to each point of a sequence of points arranged in each of the paths in the game, the movement control method of the character comprising:
• an input signal analysis step for, when the operation input signal is input from the input operation means, analyzing a type of the input operation input signal;
• a normal movement process step for moving, based on the normal movement input signal analyzed by the input signal analysis step, the character along one of the paths based on the normal movement input signal;
• and,
• a special movement process step for moving, based on the special movement input signal analyzed by the input signal analysis step, a position of the character moving in the one path to a position coordinate in the virtual three-dimensional space of a path adjacent to the one path where the character is moving, while maintaining the speed of the character, by referring to position coordinates of the sequence of points stored in the path information storing means.