Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring an element of a participants physical...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-21
2003-10-28
O'Neill, Michael (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring an element of a participants physical...
C463S001000, C463S023000, C463S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06638160
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a game system using a computer and a storage medium to be used for such game system.
A number of game systems using a computer request a particular operation of a player, and detect an operation actually performed by the player in response to the request. Such game systems then evaluate the detected operation, and execute a process, for example, calculating a score, varying progress of the game or the like in accordance with an evaluation result. The evaluation of the operation can be done in accordance with various procedures. In one instance, to evaluate operation, a deviation amount between timing of requesting the operation and timing when the player actually performs the operation in response to the request is detected, and the smaller the deviation amount, the higher the evaluation. As a typical instance in which such process is executed, a game system is provided which randomly chooses one operation portion in a plurality of operation portions to which the player can operate to thereby instruct an operation thereon, detects how long the player's operation is delayed from the instruction, and increases the evaluation as the delayed time is shortened.
The evaluation of the operation based on the deviation of the timing is carried out in a music game directed to operation in time with music. In such game, timing of a series of operations to be done in time with the music reproduced as background music (hereinafter BGM) is defined in advance and information corresponding thereto is prepared as data. During game play, the BGM is reproduced and, in connection with progress of the music, the player is instructed to perform operation in accordance with timing defined in the data. If the player performs the operation to follow the instruction, the game system compares the timing when each operation is done with the timing defined in advance, and the smaller the deviation amount therebetween, the higher the evaluation to the player's operation.
However, in a game system which considers the operation timing as an element for the evaluation, there is a possibility that the player's feeling of reality does not match the evaluation in the game, thereby causing the player to have feeling of having been wrongly evaluated. For example, the operation may be evaluated low, even when the player himself believes that he has performed the operation at a proper timing, or in the contrary case, the evaluation may be high, even though the player feels he has performed the operation at inadequate timing.
One of the causes for introducing such feeling of evaluation inaccuracy is the existence of another system or device as the reference besides the game system being used. As the typical instance thereof, there is a case that game software is diverted from the arcade-type game machine to the household game machine and vice versa. Between the arcade-type game machine and the household game machine, the hardware configurations and the details of the programs are different from each other. Therefore, even if the contents of each game seem to be the same at a first sight, there may be many differences, for example, responsiveness of an input device (timing of detecting the operation), or the differences in the procedure of the process for evaluation the operation. Such differences contribute to the feeling of wrongful evaluation. In the case of the music game, the player having already received a higher evaluation in the game play on the arcade-type game machine sometimes fails to obtain the evaluation that he or she believes appropriate in game play with the household game machine, even if the player chooses the same tune as that in the game play with the arcade-type game machine. The system or device to be as used as the reference is not limited to a game machine. For example, if in the case of providing an input device imitating an actual rifle or the like for a shooting game, there is a possibility that the relationship between an operation of a trigger and a timing when a bullet is actually shot is different from that in the actual rifle. In such case, if the person well accustomed to rifle shooting plays the game, that person may fail to obtain the result he or she believes appropriate, resulting in loss of the player's interest in the game. Further, even if the input device does not exist as a real device, when the player exchanges input devices, the same feeling of inaccurate evaluation due to an individual difference or property of the particular input device with respect to responsiveness thereof may result.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a game system capable of solving or reducing the feeling of evaluation inaccuracy to thereby improve interest of a game, and a storage medium suitable for being used in such system.
To achieve the above object, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game system comprising a storage device for storing reference data defining timing of at least one operation to be performed by a player on an input device in association with an elapsed time from a predetermined position as a reference in a game; an operation instruction device for instructing the player operation timing based on the reference data; an operation detection device for detecting actual timing of an actual operation performed on the input device by the player; an evaluation device for evaluating the actual operation detected by the operation detection device by comparing the timing of the operation defined in the reference data and the detected actual timing with each other; an adjustment value setting device for making the player perform a predetermined adjustment value setting operation and for setting an adjustment value to correct an evaluation result based on a result of execution of the adjustment value setting operation; and an adjustment execution device for changing the operation timing to be instructed by the operation instruction device based on the adjustment value with the predetermined position in the game being as a reference.
According to the above game system, if the adjustment has been executed, the operation timing instructed by the operation instruction device shifts in accordance with the adjustment value from the original timing of the operation which is defined to suppose the predetermined position in the game as the reference. Therefore, if the player has feeling of inaccuracy with respect to the correspondence relationship between the operation and the evaluation thereto, it is possible to execute the adjustment setting operation to thereby enable the player to play at the timing suitable for himself or herself.
In the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game system comprising: a storage device for storing a reference data defining timing of at least one operation to be performed by a player on an input device in association with an elapsed time from a predetermined position as a reference in a game; an operation instruction device for instructing the player operation timing based on the reference data; an operation detection device for detecting actual timing of an actual operation performed on the input device by the player; an evaluation device for evaluating the actual operation detected by the operation detection device by comparing the timing of the operation defined in the reference data and the detected actual timing with each other; an adjustment value setting device for making the player perform a predetermined adjustment value setting operation and for setting an adjustment value to correct an evaluation result based on a result of execution of the adjustment value setting operation; and an adjustment execution device for adjusting a deviation amount between the timing defined in the reference data and the actual timing detected by the operation detection device based on the adjustment value.
According to this game system, if the detected timing of the operation actually perf
Jones Scott E.
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Konami Corporation
O'Neill Michael
LandOfFree
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