RU2302893C2 - Method for controlling of game by introducing spm pauses - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: methods for controlling of games, including internet games.

SUBSTANCE: method involves controlling game by introducing pauses in accordance with actions of characters, wherein at the beginning of game, table with events is visualized in playing system; employing user's introduction for marking events needing interference of player in event action time retarding mode up to introducing of pause in actions of characters; providing visualization of characters, their actions and events in playing system; determining speed of characters' actions in accordance with initial predetermined information; determining event of characters' actions requiring player' interference, during which playing system responds to characters' actions by retarding time of their actions and regulates time during which characters act in accordance with speed of events in playing system; providing retarding of character's action time up to time when pause in the action of character is introduced; setting action to out-of-action character by employing user's introduction and eliminating pause from game in case the last of out-of-action characters is visualized.

EFFECT: increased efficiency in controlling of events in playing system by player.

4 cl, 4 dwg

Description

The invention relates to methods for controlling a game, including a network game.

In the general case, the developer faces the problem of ensuring maximum interactivity, in other words, implementing the most convenient interaction between the user and the game world. Here the most important is the adopted model of playing time, by which we mean the system of rules and relations between playing time and physical. Support for the network mode also plays a significant role in commercial success, the introduction of which into the game, as a rule, significantly changes the entire game process (the so-called game-play), because the problem of organizing playing time is even more acute. The vast majority of modern games adhere to either Real-Time or Turn-Based concepts.

A known method of controlling the movement of characters during the game (control of the game), including visualization of the game level (environment), visualization of the player’s characters and the opponent’s characters visible to the player, processing user input, setting the player’s actions to his characters, processing the actions of the characters, determining the occurrence of events requiring player intervention, checking the occurrence of a game event for the need to change the state of the system, checking for the elimination of the cause of the event (US 6354942, A63F 13/10, publ. 12.03.2002).

The disadvantage of this method is the ineffective control of events and characters by the player, insufficient consideration of the player’s capabilities, regardless of his experience or physical capabilities.

A known game control method, including the ability to determine the start of a game, means for changing the state of the system, determining the speed of the characters in accordance with the initially given information, in which the system responds to the actions of the characters by slowing down their time and adjusts the execution time of the actions of the characters in accordance with the speed the passage of time (US 6439998, A63F 13/00, publ. 08.27.2002).

The disadvantage of this method is the dependence of the system on the capabilities of the player, his experience and equipment characteristics.

The basis of the invention is the task of creating a game control method in which, by introducing into the process of controlling game events and characters, slowing down the game time, up to setting a pause at automatically specified time points automatically or manually, based on the game logic, the player is effectively controlled over events and characters, regardless of his experience, physical capabilities and equipment characteristics, provides maximum interactivity, in other words, the implementation of the most convenient way from interaction between the user and the game world.

The achievement of the technical task is ensured by the fact that in the method of controlling the game by entering SPM pauses, including visualization of characters, means for determining the events of the start of the game and actions of characters, means for changing the state of the system, determining the speed of action of the characters in accordance with the originally set information, when which the system reacts to the actions of the characters by slowing down the time of their action and adjusts the execution time of the actions of the characters in accordance with the speed of the flow of time, additional additionally include means for determining the occurrence of all game events that require the introduction of acceleration or deceleration of time until a pause is entered, change the speed of time in accordance with game events entered into the game, provide means for interrupting the deceleration of time until a pause is entered, implemented by a player; when performing a network game, means are provided to control the duration of the pause.

In the case of an online game, a restriction on the total pause time may be introduced.

It also provides for the definition of a subset of events, the occurrence of which provides for the appearance of a shortcut and the slowing down of the speed of time until a pause is entered.

In the absence of user input, standard game settings are used, which determine a subset of events, the occurrence of which involves the appearance of a shortcut and the slowing down of the speed of time until a pause is entered.

In case of occurrence of game events requiring the intervention of a player, visualization of interface elements is provided, warning the player about the occurrence of events and providing him with additional information about the events.

Means for interrupting the deceleration of the speed of the passage of time up to the introduction of a pause at the time of the execution of actions or occurrence of events can be selected automatically in accordance with predetermined information.

Improving interactivity is achieved by entering “smart pauses” and the appearance of a message about the event, which gives the player the time needed to make a decision at the right time.

Interactivity in general corresponds to the average speed of the flow of playing time in relation to the physical. The numerical value of this value is in the range from zero to unity. The maximum value of interactivity is achieved with the complete absence of pauses in real time, but in this case, the player is extremely difficult to control the game process. Low interactivity, in turn, reduces the player’s interest in what is happening. The “smart” pause mechanism allows you to improve the player’s control over the process, while maintaining high interactivity. Compared to the classic turn-based system, the gain in interactivity is about 10-15%.

The invention is illustrated using figure 1, which shows the General schematic diagram of the game application, figure 2, which shows the scheme of the system in the "Pause" state, figure 3, which shows the diagram of the system in the "No pause" state . Figure 4 shows the mechanism for organizing the control of pauses when performing a network game.

As shown in figure 1, the General schematic diagram of the game application is as follows. The described game time management system SPM operates in the "Character Management in Level" stage. The general-game system in the "Character Management in Level" stage provides (provides) the following functions:

1. Visualization of the game level (environment).

2. Visualization of the player’s characters and the opponent’s characters visible to the player.

3. Processing user input, assigning a player actions to his characters.

4. Processing the actions of the characters.

5. Determining the occurrence of events that require player intervention.

6. Checking the occurrence of a game event for the need to change the state of the system.

7. Check for elimination of the cause of the event (for example, the character was given actions).

8. Visualization of game events.

9. Setting a pause (see figure 2).

10. Removing the pause (see figure 3).

In addition, at any time, the system in accordance with the input of the player can:

11. Force a pause.

12. Force a pause.

At each point in time of the “Manage characters in level” stage, the system is in one of two states - “Pause” and “No pause”. It is important to note that in both of these states all characters are or are not at the same time, regardless of which player they are controlled, including characters controlled by the game system. Thus, the most realistic simulation of game actions is achieved.

Using the proposed method for controlling the game can be explained as follows. At the beginning of the game, a table appears in which the player notes those events that require, from his point of view, his intervention in the time dilation mode until the pause is entered. When such an event occurs during the game, the system responds to it by the appearance of a slowdown in the flow of time up to a pause depending on user input. When an event appears on the computer screen, information about the event that occurred, as well as additional information about this event, appears. In the case of a network game, initially the players agree on the procedure for limiting the pause, and the system monitors its use.

In SPM, each character’s action requires a certain amount of real time. In a sense, this corresponds to a situation where the time equivalent of AR tends to zero. There is no concept of a “move” and, especially, a “phase”. All actions take place in real time, which is sometimes interrupted by pauses.

There are several types of pauses, including the user can forcibly stop the game at any time. In addition to such a pause, which is called Hard Pause in SPM terminology, there are also soft pauses (Soft Pause or simply Pause). Soft pauses occur when any of the player’s characters has no actions, i.e. idle. Despite the seeming simplicity of such a solution, it allows almost completely negating one of the main problems of controllability in the Real-Time model - simple characters.

Thus, "SPM is such a system for organizing playing time in which a pause occurs whenever at least one character has no action." The system must initiate a pause when the characters are idle. Moreover, the control focus in this case can automatically move to an idle fighter.

We will call such a pause a smart pause (Smart Pause), a soft pause (Soft Pause) or just a pause. In this case, the SPM system can support the usual hard pause. If there are no hard pauses, the clever pause mechanism seems reasonable.

This means that setting the action to the last of the idle characters will automatically release the game from pause. Note that assigning an action to an idle character may not entail the removal of a pause. This will happen if more than one character is inactive. In this case, the control can automatically switch to the next character without action.

Sometimes a situation arises when a particular character is not needed at some point. However, to continue the game, SPM requires it to have an action. This contradiction is resolved as follows. In the definition of many actions, the existence of endless actions is not prohibited. We will call such actions a wait.

Note that the introduction of expectations does not return to the character downtime problem typical of Real-Time models. In fact, a character in the standby state can only be removed from it in two ways - by controlling the user or by the actions of the SPM system itself. The second case at the same time guarantees that a possible simple character will not have disastrous consequences (in the game sense).

Another feature of SPM is the inclusion of a hard pause not by the user, but by the system. It is used when exceptional events occur. You can consider it as an optimization of the SPM - often in the game world there are events in which a player engages in a hard pause in the vast majority of cases.

In general, the SPM system allows you to more effectively organize the game process, make character management less dependent on the player’s capabilities and equipment characteristics. The invention allows you to simulate the processes of real life in the game system, since all the characters perform their actions simultaneously. At the same time, the player gets rid of the need to make a decision in a limited period of time, instead, when a potentially important game event arises for the player, the system visualizes it, provides additional information on it and, in accordance with predetermined information, initiates a time delay up to a pause. This behavior increases the controllability of the system.

In the future, after the characters are given actions in response to the player’s input, the system can, in accordance with predetermined information, initiate the completion of the time dilation up to a pause. This greatly enhances the interactivity of the gameplay. When performing a network game, this is especially important, therefore, additional means are provided for controlling the total pause time for each player, which allows more flexible adjustment of the system in accordance with the desire of the player.

Claims (4)

1. The way to control the game system by entering pauses associated with the actions of the characters, which consists in the fact that at the beginning of the game a table with events in the game system is visualized, using user input, events that require the player to intervene in the mode of slowing down the time of the events are recorded before entering a pause for the actions of the characters, the characters, their actions and events are visualized in the game system, the speed of action of the characters is determined in accordance with the initially given information, they create a character action event that requires player intervention, in which the game system reacts to the character’s actions by slowing down their action time and adjusts the character’s actions execution time in accordance with the speed of events in the game system; when an event is entered by the player, information about the event that occurred, slow down the character’s actions until the character’s pause is entered, if the last of the idle sonazhey then define an action standing idle character using the user input with said shoot game pauses. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that when performing a network game provide for controlling the duration of the pause action of the character and introduce a limit to the total pause time of the action of the character in the network game. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a subset of events is determined, the occurrence of which involves the appearance of a shortcut on the computer screen and the slowing down of the speed of the event in the gaming system until the character is paused. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that in the event of occurrence of game events requiring the intervention of a player, visualization of interface elements is provided that alert the player about the occurrence of game events and provide him with additional information about game events.

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