Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-24
2001-12-25
Harrison, Jessica J. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring strategy or problem solving by a...
C273S15300J
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332838
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to 3D display game devices and 3D display game recording media, and more particularly, to a 3D display game device and a 3D display games recording medium of a type in which the game proceeds as a player takes any predetermined action for a plurality of game elements displayed on a game field spreading across a display screen.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventional video games varied in type include a video game, which is previously provided with a game field to play a game thereon. A role-playing game, for example, is provided with an enormous game field, and a main character is free to hop around thereover. In this case, however, the game field cannot be fully displayed in a single display screen, therefore scenes are changed as the game proceeds. On the other hand, there is another type of video game whose game field is sufficiently small for a single display screen. A typical example is puzzle game.
Conventional puzzle games include a descending puzzle game in which game elements such as block or panel drop and an ascending game in which such game elements rise. In such puzzle games, game elements such as block or panel are displayed on a game field spreading across a two-dimensional space (two-dimensional plane) (hereinafter, referred to as 2D game field), and a player plays a game by taking any action predetermined therefor.
In an exemplary conventional puzzle game, a 2D game field is previously divided into 12-square high by 6-square wide to display game elements such as block or panel thereon. On this 2D game field, a plurality of game elements varied in type are displayed. The player actuates a controlling device (controller) so as to change the location of the game elements. In this manner, when the game elements of a kind are in line over a predetermined number or when the game elements laterally occupy a space (one line), the game elements in line or the game elements occupying one line are eliminated. The game is measured by the number of the game elements eliminated or the number of lines eliminated on the 2D game field.
Another type of video game whose two-dimensional game field being comparatively small is a taking-up game such as “go”, chess, or “othello” (trade name) , and a shooting game such as “invader” (trade name).
As described in the foregoing, such conventional video games whose game fields for playing games thereon being sufficiently small for a single display screen all employ a game field spreading across a 2D space, therefore the area of the game field displayable on a single screen becomes inevitably smaller, and the number of game elements displayable thereon becomes resultantly less. Accordingly, restrictions imposed on the manner of game descriptions and game rules for newly developing games are tightened, and lead to difficulty in developing games full of creativity and imagination.
Further, no matter how the games are creative, two-dimensional game descriptions prevent the games from being fully creative in some cases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a 3D display game device in which the degree of freedom and the level of variety of a game being enhanced by the substantially up-scaled display range of a-screen-basis game field, and game descriptions being creative with a 3D appearance.
The present invention has the following features to attain the object above.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a three-dimensional display game device in which a game proceeds as a player takes an action predetermined for game elements varied in pattern displayed on a game field spreading across a display screen, the 3D display game device comprising:
a controller which is actuated by the player; and
an image processing part for effecting program processing for a 3D display game in response to actuation of the controller, and then generating image data for the 3D display game for display on the display, wherein
the image processing part comprises:
a 3D game field display control part for generating, for display on the display, a 3D game field which is laterally extended around a tubular subject and provided with a plurality of display regions arranged along a line direction of the subject which is equal to a circumferential direction, and along a column direction thereof intersecting the line direction;
a two-dimensional field table structured by spreading the 3D game field across a 2D plane, and is provided with a plurality of entries each corresponding to one of the display regions of the 3D game field, wherein, to the entries, pattern data of the game elements to be displayed on the corresponding display regions is written;
a read part for reading the pattern data of the game elements after designating a read address of the 2D field table;
a texture data generation part for generating texture data for displaying a shape unique to every pattern of the game elements; and
a placement processing part for placing the texture data corresponding to the pattern data of the game elements read from the 2D field table on the corresponding display regions of the 3D game field for display.
As described above, in the first aspect, a game field is the 3D game field laterally extended around the tubular subject. Therefore, the degree of freedom and the level of variety of a game are enhanced by the up-scaled game field compared to the conventional 2D puzzle games. Further, as the game can be structured with a 3D appearance, thinking games such as puzzle game, taking-up game, or shooting game can be more creative and fun. Still further, as the game proceeds not only in the front but at the back, the game can be sophisticated with an everlasting appeal. Still further, according to the first aspect, a 2D field table structured by spreading the 3D game field across a 2D plane is provided to control game elements which are to be placed on the display regions of the 3D game field. Therefore, 3D display is realized through 2D processing, thus the processing can be simplified.
In the later-described embodiment, the 3D game field can rotate in the line direction in response to the actuation of a controller. Accordingly, the player can easily know what is going on at the back of the game field. To rotate the 3D game field, for example, the correspondence between the display regions of the 3D game field and the entries of the 2D field table is shifted along the line direction. By shifting the correspondence in such manner, the game elements placed on the display regions of the 3D game field are accordingly shifted in the line direction. With such shifting, there is no need to move data stored in the 2D field table, and thus the processing for rotation can be simplified. Since the correspondence between the display regions of the 3D game field and the entries of the 2D field table is normally defined by a read order from the 2D field table, the shifting can be exemplarily realized by shifting a start position for the read part to read data from the 2D field table in the line direction. When the image processing part is high in efficiency, the pattern data of the game elements stored in the entries of the 2D field table may be moved in the line direction for rotation of the 3D game field.
Herein, as the 3D game field is laterally extended around the tubular subject, the game elements are visually in different shapes when a sight line is singularly fixed. Therefore, a plurality of texture data indicating the shapes varied from column to column of the 3D game field is stored for every pattern of the game elements, and when the pattern data of the game elements is each read from an entry of the 2D field table, texture data which corresponds to the pattern data and indicates the shape for the column where the display region of the 3D game field corresponding to the entry is located is selectively read for use. In this manner, there is no more need to produce texture data by calculation every time rendering is performed, and
Harrison Jessica J.
Nintendo Co. Ltd.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
LandOfFree
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