Amusement devices: games – Including means for processing electronic data – In a game requiring an element of a participants physical...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-23
2001-09-04
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Amusement devices: games
Including means for processing electronic data
In a game requiring an element of a participants physical...
C463S023000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283854
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for controlling the probability that a character succeeds in escaping from a battle in a video game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Of video games, Role Playing Games (hereinafter referred to as RPG) are conventionally well known. In the conventional RPGs, a character (hereinafter referred to as the player character) moving on a map in accordance with player instructions encounters enemy characters, earns an experience value while battling against the encountered enemy characters, and improves in the game.
In general, it is preferred that the RPGs and other video games reproduce a scene that can be similarly recognized in the real world. That is, battle processing performed between the player character and the enemy characters is unexceptionally reproduced realistically in the RPGs. For some of these RPGs including the battle processing performed between the player character and the enemy characters, a player can control the game in order that the player character escapes from the battle against the enemy characters. Accordingly, a scene in which one escapes from a battle and that can be recognized in the real world can be reproduced in the game, that is, the virtual world.
In the actual battle situation, whether one can escape from the battle actually depends on various factors, such as a difference in the strength with oneself and the enemy, the timing in which an escape is attempted at a desired moment, and the like. However, in the conventional RPGs and the other video games, in a case where the player character is instructed to escape from the battle with the enemy characters, the probability of success in escaping has been set as a fixed value. In such a video game, whether or not the player character succeeds in escaping from the battle is determined without regard to any of various significant factors, such as the difference in the strength of oneself and the enemy, and the like, thus, resulting in reproducing an unnatural scene which can not be seen in the actual world.
In overcoming such an unnatural scene, some video games in which the probability of success in escaping can vary in a case where the player character is equipped with a predetermined item have been distributed in Japan. However, a scene in which one escapes from a battle and that can be seen in the real world can not be reproduced even in such a video game, as long as the player character is equipped with the same item all way through, since the probability of success in escaping from the battle is set as a fixed value regardless of the strength of the enemy characters.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a video game which can realistically reproduce a battle scene even in a scene of an escape from the battle.
In order to achieve the object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a video game apparatus comprising: action instruction means for instructing an action to be performed toward an enemy character by a character which moves in accordance with an externally transmitted input in a battle against the enemy character; escape determination means for determining, in a case where the action determination means instructs the character to escape from the battle against the enemy character, whether the instructed escape will succeed or fail, in accordance with number of times an instruction to escape has been given; battle continuation means for controlling the battle between the player character and the enemy character to continue, in a case where the escape determination means determines a failure of the escape; and escape execution means for controlling the character to escape from the battle against the enemy character and for completing the battle, in a case where the escape determination means determines a success in the escape.
In the above-described video game apparatus, the escape determination means may determine whether the instructed escape will succeed or fail, in accordance with a status including various parameters set for the character and/or the enemy character.
The escape determination means may determine whether the instructed escape will succeed or fail, in accordance with, for example, a difference in level values set for the character and the enemy character.
In the case where the player character battles with a plurality of enemy characters, the escape determination means may determine whether the instructed escape will succeed or fail, in accordance with, for example, the difference in the level value set for the player character and the highest level value set from among the surviving enemy characters at that point in the battle.
The escape determination means may update the probability of determination of a success in the instructed escape, in a case where a value regarding a predetermined status set for the character is in a range of a predetermined value.
In the above-described video game apparatus, the probability that the character succeeds in escaping from the battle against the enemy characters may increase depending on the number of times the instruction to escape has been given, or the probability that the character succeeds in escaping from the battle against the enemy characters may increase depending on the difference in the level values of the battling character and the enemy character. Due to this, as in a condition which simulates the actual battle and wherein the player character can easily escape from the battle in the game, the probability of success in escaping can increase likewise in the actual world, so that the battle scene can be reproduced realistically even while the player character is escaping.
The above-described video game apparatus may further comprise enemy character determination means for determining whether the enemy character battling with the characters are “fixed” enemies which do not let the character escape from the battle. In this case, the battle continuation means may control the battle between the character and the enemy character to continue, in a case where the enemy character determination means determines that the enemy characters are “fixed” enemies.
The above-described video game apparatus may further comprise message output means for outputting a message that the escape has failed, in a case where the escape determination means determines a failure of the escape, and for outputting a message that the escape is not able to be performed, in a case where the enemy character determination means determines that the enemy characters are the “fixed” enemies.
Thus, in such a case where the character is not able to escape from the battle, the player can easily be informed from the output message as to whether the failure has resulted because the enemy characters are the “fixed” enemies, or instead because the character has simply failed in escaping.
The above-described video game apparatus may further comprise: escape succeeding probability storage means for storing the number of times the instruction to escape has been given and the probability of success in escaping, with the variables affecting each other; and escape-instructed occurrence counting means for counting the number of times in which an escape from the battle has been instructed toward the character from the action instruction means. In this case, the escape determination means may determine whether the escape instructed from the action instruction means will succeed or fail, in accordance with the probability of success in escaping which probability is stored in the escape succeeding probability storage means in a manner corresponding to the number of times the instruction to escape has been given, which number is counted by the escape-instructed occurrence counting means.
The above-described video game apparatus may further comprise: escape succeeding probability storage means for storing the number of times the instruction to escape has been given and the probability of success in escaping, in a
Cheng Joe H.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Square Co., Ltd.
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