GB1589647A - Team player video game - Google Patents

Description

(54) TEAM PLAYER VIDEO GAME (71) We, ATARI, INC., a Corporation organised and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, of 1265 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, State of California 94086, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention is directed to a video team game of which two players comprise a team and in which their co-ordinated effort is required to maximize their score.

Most prior multi-player games are zero sum games; that is, a player's score is improved by not co-operating with others playing the game.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for generating a plurality of movable objects on a video display screen where game players actuate manual control inputs for determining the movement of said objects comprising: at least two manual control means located at separate stations operable by a respective player to effect movement of the respective objects; and interactive means for causing one of the objects to move in response to movement of the other object, whereby the two players form a team in which their co-ordinated efforts are required.In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus providing a plurality of physical game effects controlled by players via manual controls, in which apparatus at least two manual controls are located at separate stations and are operable by a respective player; and interactive means for causing one of said game effects to be a dependent variable of the other game effect whereby said two game players form a team in which their co-ordinated efforts are required.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of one video game embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of another video game; and Figure 3 is a block diagram of the circuit used in conjunction with said video games.

The game illustrated in Figure 1 might be called a "tank" game in which, as shown on the video display 10, each tank has a tank body labelled object # 1 and object # 3 and the rotatable gun turrets are objects #2 and # 4. The manual player controls include in player positions # 1 and # 3 lever pairs 1 la, lib and 12a, 12b which move the respective tank bodies in a manner well-known in prior tank games; that is, the levers operate in a manner corresponding to that used for tracked vehicles: forward motion is produced by moving both levers forward and turning motion is produced by a contrary motion of the levers in the proper direction.

The four player positions or stations control the correspondingly numbered objects. In player positions #2 and #4 which control gun turrets # 2 and #4 and thus are labelled "gunner" are lever pairs 13a,b and 14a,b with the "b" lever pairs having a fire button to shoot the turret gun. Lever parts 1 3a ,b and 14alb are movable only in contrary motion for rotation of the turrets, (objects 2, 4).

Thus in operation the players operating the tank bodies (objects # 1, # 3) may freely move the tanks across the screen so that the tanks follow a non-linear path.

In accordance with the invention, interaction is provided between a tank's body and its turret in such a manner that the angular orientation, or more specifically the rotation of, a tank's body causes the tank's turret to move similarly, the tank turret's movement is in effect a dependent variable of the tank body's movement. In particular, the total rotation of the turret is a combination of the rotation of the tank's body and the gunners' manual rotational input on the levers 13a,b or 14a,b. Thus the two players 1 and 2 and the players 3 and 4 constitute respective teams.

Figure 2 illustrates a second game in which two players drive a hook-and-ladder truck 16 through the city streets and specifically turning left through an intersection as illustrated. The city streets are generated by a moving map display technique well-known in the art. A first player while positioned at his station controls a front truck, designated object # 1, the ladder is designated object # 2, while the rear truck which is controlled by the second player of the team is object # 3.

In operation, object # 1 would have horizontal and vertical positions since it would be movable by typical steering wheel player controls which would also provide for rotation. Translational movement of the ladder and rear truck would necessarily follow that of the front truck. However, the variable controlled by the second player is the rear trucks rotation which would be partly determined by a steering wheel. Lastly the angular orientation or rotation of the ladder object # 2 would be effected by all of the foregoing.

In practice a microprocessor (for example) would, after every translational movement in which horizontal and vertical position on the video screen of object # 1 is changed, compute the horizontal and vertical positions of the ladder and the rear truck objects 2 and 3. This computation is represented by the following four relationships: Hpos2 = Hposl + LCOS H Vpos2 = Vposl + Lsin 9 Hpos3 = Hposl + 2Lcos 9 Vpos3 = Vposl + 2Lsin 0 where 2L is the length of the ladder between the effective pivot points of the front and rear trucks; the position of the ladder is taken at its centre and H is the angle of the ladder to the horizontal.

In operation the object #1 would be driven with perhaps the use of a step table which contains the incremental horizontal and vertical steps for each rotation in a manner well-known in tank-type games and (3 would be determined from a table entry which would prescribe rotations of objects 1 and 3;that is the front and rear trucks.

To perform either the games of Figures 1 or 2, the circuit of Figure 3 may be used. This circuit is disclosed in greater detail in the specification of our United States Patent No.

4116444. In the case of the game of Figure 1 the horizontal and vertical positions of the four objects would be stored in storage memory 37 along with a code containing the address of its picture in picture memory 49.

The memory 49 would contain the tank body and all rotations and the tank turrets and all rotations. By means of the program memory 32 and microprocessor 31 rotation of the tank's body (for example) would cause a picture object representing the turret to be updated accordingly. The resultant aiming angle of the tank turret is the sum of the rotation of the tank and of the gun turret (the latter being controlled by a player.

In the case of the game of Figure 2 the relationship set out above could be accomplished in microprocessor 31.

In the circuit Figure 3, the microprocessor 31 is connected to a program memory 32 to provide for overall control of the various logic circuits. It stores the horizontal and vertical address of several objects to be displayed and in addition assigns an object identification number to each viz., 1,2... n where n might be as many as 16. The vertical and horizontal position data provides the upper left hand corner of the displayed object with the remainder of the object being generated by logic circuitry to be described below. The horizontal and vertical position data is read out of the microprocessor on its data line 33 which is connected to three different sections 34, 35 and 36 of an object storage random access memory (RAM) 37.

Object storage memory 37 contains predetermined memory locations of 1 to n for the horizontal and vertical positions of the object and, in addition, picture information. The memory 37 includes 3 x n cells. The position in the memory determines the display priority of the object if more than one object occupies the same position on the screen. The position is represented by eight bits of data; more can be used if greater resolution is desired. Since the memory cell corresponds to the object's identification number the address output of the microprocessor 31 when addressing memory 37 corresponds to the object's identification number. However, the picture number output from memory section 36 carries with it rotational information (which of course is controlled by a player).

Overall control of the timing of the microprocessor 31 comes from the sync generator unit 38 (S(;U) which provides outputs of vertical and horizontal (V and H) timing and blanking and composite sync all of which correspond to the normal signals associated with a television display. The vertical and horizontal blanking outputs of sync generator 38 control the switch 39 which accepts the object ID and the addresses from microprocessor 31 and connects them via the address line 41 to the object storage RAM 37.

In operation, during the vertical blanking interval, the microprocessor 31 addresses the object storage memory 37 and writes in vertical, horizontal and picture data for any or all objects.

During the horizontal blanking interval of each line of the video display 10 the object storage memory (RAM 37) is scanned by timing signals from the SGU and the vertical position for each object is compared to the vertical count of the sync generator 38. If the difference, A, is within a preset number (such as 8) corresponding to the vertical size of the object to be displayed, this is sensed by the compare and subtractor unit 42. This unit provides an in-range output on line 43 through an inclusive OR gate 44 to a horizontal RAM memory 46.

Memory 46 will eventually contain or have stored in it object identification numbers. In actual practice, the horizontal random access memory 46 stores in each of 256 possible locations, corresponding to the actual physical location of the beam image to be displayed, five bits of information which consists of a write token and a four bit object ID. The four bit object ID provides a binary count of zero through 15 or will accommodate 16 different moving objects in the present implementation. Storage in the proper horizontal location in the memory 46 is accomplished through switch 47 which accepts the horizontal positions from object storage 37.

Storage of information in the horizontal memory 46 (H RAM) is made during the horizontal blanking interval, as discussed above. If any object stored in vertical position is within A television lines of the vertical timing, the stored horizontal position (H POS) of the object becomes the address (see line 48 from switch 47) for the H RAM 46. The data written into the H RAM is the address (object ID) of the object storage RAM supplied by line 41 from switch 39; the first position of the RAM, i.e., RAM 1, is written with a "1" to indicate that an object to be displayed is present in this horizontal position.

In operation, as discussed, during the vertical retrace interval object memory 37 is updated; during horizontal retrace H RAM 46 is updated. Finally, during the active television line, the following takes place. The H RAM is scanned in time sequence by the horizontal timing signals. If a "1" or display token is detected in RAM 1, the graphics generator 51 is started by the START signal.

RAM 1 is also written with a + to clear it through gate 44 thus preparing the RAM for the next line. The object memory 37 is accessed by the object ID output into switch 39. The appropriate picture number is routed topicture memory 49 along with the V POS data. The above is repeated line by line until a complete frame is displayed and vertical retrace again occurs.

A picture memory 49 defines picture data which when transferred to a graphics generator 51 is converted to video data on line 52 through a summer 53 (also driven by composite sync) drives video display 10.

Picture memory 49 receives the difference between the stored vertical position (V POS) and the actual vertical line number (SGUV); this difference is indicative of the verticalline of the object to be displayed. In addition, the picture number from memory 37 provides the object ID along with rotational information. Picture memory 49 would usually be a programmable read only memory but may be random access in order to allow re-programming to vary the type of game.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Apparatus for generating a plurality of movable objects on a video display screen where game players actuate manual control inputs for determining the movement of said objects comprising: at least two manual control means located at separate stations operable by a respective player to effect movement of the respective objects; and interactive means for causing one of the objects to move in response to movement of the other object, whereby the two players form a team in which their coordinated efforts are required.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which each manual control means comprises a pair of hand operated levers.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which said movement is nonlinear.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said predetermined one object is movable to different angular orientations, said interactive means causing said other object to move similarly.

5. Game apparatus providing a plurality of physical game effects controlled by players via manual controls, in which apparatus at least two manual controls are located at separate stations and are operable by a respective player; and interactive means for causing one of said game effects to be a dependent variable of the other game effect whereby said two game players form a team in which their coordinated efforts are required.

6. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. vertical, horizontal and picture data for any or all objects. During the horizontal blanking interval of each line of the video display 10 the object storage memory (RAM 37) is scanned by timing signals from the SGU and the vertical position for each object is compared to the vertical count of the sync generator 38. If the difference, A, is within a preset number (such as 8) corresponding to the vertical size of the object to be displayed, this is sensed by the compare and subtractor unit 42. This unit provides an in-range output on line 43 through an inclusive OR gate 44 to a horizontal RAM memory 46. Memory 46 will eventually contain or have stored in it object identification numbers. In actual practice, the horizontal random access memory 46 stores in each of 256 possible locations, corresponding to the actual physical location of the beam image to be displayed, five bits of information which consists of a write token and a four bit object ID. The four bit object ID provides a binary count of zero through 15 or will accommodate 16 different moving objects in the present implementation. Storage in the proper horizontal location in the memory 46 is accomplished through switch 47 which accepts the horizontal positions from object storage 37. Storage of information in the horizontal memory 46 (H RAM) is made during the horizontal blanking interval, as discussed above. If any object stored in vertical position is within A television lines of the vertical timing, the stored horizontal position (H POS) of the object becomes the address (see line 48 from switch 47) for the H RAM 46. The data written into the H RAM is the address (object ID) of the object storage RAM supplied by line 41 from switch 39; the first position of the RAM, i.e., RAM 1, is written with a "1" to indicate that an object to be displayed is present in this horizontal position. In operation, as discussed, during the vertical retrace interval object memory 37 is updated; during horizontal retrace H RAM 46 is updated. Finally, during the active television line, the following takes place. The H RAM is scanned in time sequence by the horizontal timing signals. If a "1" or display token is detected in RAM 1, the graphics generator 51 is started by the START signal. RAM 1 is also written with a + to clear it through gate 44 thus preparing the RAM for the next line. The object memory 37 is accessed by the object ID output into switch 39. The appropriate picture number is routed topicture memory 49 along with the V POS data. The above is repeated line by line until a complete frame is displayed and vertical retrace again occurs. A picture memory 49 defines picture data which when transferred to a graphics generator 51 is converted to video data on line 52 through a summer 53 (also driven by composite sync) drives video display 10. Picture memory 49 receives the difference between the stored vertical position (V POS) and the actual vertical line number (SGUV); this difference is indicative of the verticalline of the object to be displayed. In addition, the picture number from memory 37 provides the object ID along with rotational information. Picture memory 49 would usually be a programmable read only memory but may be random access in order to allow re-programming to vary the type of game. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Apparatus for generating a plurality of movable objects on a video display screen where game players actuate manual control inputs for determining the movement of said objects comprising: at least two manual control means located at separate stations operable by a respective player to effect movement of the respective objects; and interactive means for causing one of the objects to move in response to movement of the other object, whereby the two players form a team in which their coordinated efforts are required.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which each manual control means comprises a pair of hand operated levers.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which said movement is nonlinear.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said predetermined one object is movable to different angular orientations, said interactive means causing said other object to move similarly.

5. Game apparatus providing a plurality of physical game effects controlled by players via manual controls, in which apparatus at least two manual controls are located at separate stations and are operable by a respective player; and interactive means for causing one of said game effects to be a dependent variable of the other game effect whereby said two game players form a team in which their coordinated efforts are required.

6. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.