JP6993585B2 - Game programs and game equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a game program and a game device.

Conventionally, in an action game or the like in a 3D (three-dimensional) space, an object including a player character, an enemy character, or the like is drawn in the three-dimensional space by using a virtual camera.
In such a game drawn in a three-dimensional space, if the player character is hidden by an object such as a building, a wall, or a terrain (hereinafter, simply referred to as "terrain"), it may be difficult to see.

Regarding this, Patent Document 1 describes a technique of separately drawing an image of a monochromatic mark on a terrain object to inform the user of the position of a player character.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-290550

However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, when a player character or the like is concealed in the back of an object such as an enemy character other than the terrain, it is not possible to draw so that this position can be known.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game program that solves the above-mentioned problems.

The game program of the present invention is a game program executed by a game device including a storage unit and a display unit, and the game device identifies a plurality of objects to be drawn according to the coordinate values of the drawing buffer. An identification buffer creation means that creates an identification buffer containing identification values, and a scene in which the plurality of objects in a three-dimensional space are converted into a scene seen from a virtual camera and drawn in the drawing buffer while performing a depth test. The drawing means and the function as a redrawing means for redrawing the hidden specific object after the scene is drawn by the scene drawing means corresponding to the identification value of the identification buffer created by the identification buffer creating means. The redrawing means determines whether or not to redraw the specific object included in the plurality of objects in accordance with the identification value of the identification buffer created by the identification buffer creating means. When it is determined that the object is to be redrawn, the specific object is drawn in the drawing buffer at a specific blending ratio, and when it is determined that the object is not redrawn, the object is not drawn .
The game program of the present invention is characterized in that the redrawing means increases the blending ratio when the orientation of polygons of other objects at the coordinates of overlapping pixels is close to horizontal with respect to the orientation of the virtual camera. do.
The game program of the present invention is characterized in that the redrawing means increases the blending ratio when the direction of the virtual camera is away from the front of the specific object .
The game program of the present invention is characterized in that the redrawing means increases the blending ratio when the depth of the specific object is on the inner side of the scene .
The game program of the present invention is characterized in that the redrawing means lowers the blending ratio in the vicinity of the contour of the specific object.
The game program of the present invention is characterized in that the redrawing means increases the blending ratio when the specific object and another object are close to each other .
The game device of the present invention is characterized by being a game device including a storage unit that stores the game program and a computer that executes the game program.

According to the present invention, an identification buffer including an identification value for identifying an object corresponding to the coordinate value of the drawing buffer is created, and the object is redrawn corresponding to the identification value of the identification buffer to obtain an enemy character or the like. It is possible to provide a game program capable of drawing so that the position of a player character or the like can be known for each object.

It is a block diagram which shows the hardware composition of the game system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the functional structure of the game system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart of the identification drawing process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram of the scene and each buffer in the identification drawing process shown in FIG. It is a screen example of the identification drawing process shown in FIG. It is a screen example of the identification drawing process shown in FIG.

[Embodiment]
The game device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The game device 1 is, for example, a PC (Personal Computer), a dedicated game machine, a smartphone, or the like. The game device 1 can cause a user to execute (play) a game by installing and executing application software (Application Software, Native application, hereinafter simply referred to as "application").

The outline of the game described in this embodiment will be briefly described. The game of the present embodiment is a role-playing game including elements of an action game, which is played on a virtual space drawn corresponding to a virtual camera. In this game, the appearance of the player character, which is the alter ego of the user, can be set in a specific range, and further, by equipping a large number of equipment, it is possible to display the player character individually. Then, in the battle scene, the player character equipped with these equipment and the monster (enemy character) fight. This enemy character may be huge, multiple, or individual movements fast.

<About hardware configuration>
The hardware configuration of the game system of this embodiment will be described.

Hardware Configuration of Game Device 1 The game device 1 includes a control unit 10, a storage unit 11, a connection unit 12, an image processing unit 13, a voice processing unit 14, an operation unit 15, a display unit 16, and an audio input / output unit 17. including.
The storage unit 11, the connection unit 12, the image processing unit 13, and the voice processing unit 14 are connected to the control unit 10 via a dedicated bus, an interface, and the like.
The game device 1 advances the game based on the installed game program 200 and the game data 210 (FIG. 2).

The control unit 10 controls the operation of the game device 1.

The storage unit 11 is mainly composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a ROM (Read Only Memory).
The storage unit 11 may include a recording medium for the control unit 10 and a recording medium for the image processing unit 13. These may be configured such that the same type of RAM is accessed by UMA (Uniform Memory Access) or includes a wide band RAM dedicated to the image processing unit 13. Further, each recording medium may be accessible from the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 in a unified address space.

The connection unit 12 is connected to a network N such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet.

The image processing unit 13 is a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).
According to the instruction of the control unit 10, a scene which is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional game image including a virtual space and each object is drawn (rendering, ray tracing, etc.) in frame units, for example.
The scene drawn by the image processing unit 13 is displayed on the display unit 16.

The voice processing unit 14 reproduces and synthesizes voice data in response to an instruction from the control unit 10, performs D / A (Digital to Analog) conversion, and outputs the game voice. The game sound is output from the speaker, earphone output terminal, or the like of the sound input / output unit 17 connected to the sound processing unit 14. The voice processing unit 14 can also perform A / D (Analog to Digital) conversion of a voice signal input from the microphone of the voice input / output unit 17 and input the signal.

The operation unit 15 is a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, a dedicated or general-purpose game controller, a touch panel, an acceleration sensor, and the like. The operation unit 15 can send and receive data related to the operation input. The user gives an operation instruction to the game device 1 by the operation unit 15.

The display unit 16 is a dot matrix display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL display.

The audio input / output unit 17 is a speaker, an earphone output terminal, a microphone, or the like.

Each part of the game device 1 described above is a hardware resource for executing the game program 200 (FIG. 2) of the present embodiment.

-Regarding the flow of control of the game device 1 Next, the flow of control during game execution in the game device 1 will be described.

First, the game device 1 downloads and installs the game program 200, which is a game application, from an optical recording medium, a flash memory medium, a server (not shown) on which the application can be downloaded, or the like, based on the user's operation.

After that, the game device 1 advances the game based on the game program 200 and the game data 210.
The game device 1 acquires a user's instruction by the operation unit 15 and executes the game. At this time, the game device 1 outputs the game image and the game sound to the display unit 16, the sound input / output unit 17, and the like as a game effect as the game progresses.

In this way, the game device 1 advances the game.

<About the functional configuration of game system X>
Next, the functional configuration of the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 that realizes the game system X, and the detailed configuration of the data will be described.

Functional configuration of the control unit 10 of the game device 1. The control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 execute the game program 200 stored in the storage unit 11 to create a scene drawing means 100 and an identification buffer. It functions as means 101 and redrawing means 102.

The scene drawing means 100 reads the object data 111 and converts a plurality of objects in the three-dimensional space into a scene viewed from a virtual camera. Then, the scene drawing means 100 creates a depth buffer 112, and draws polygons of an object pixel by pixel in the drawing buffer 113 while performing a depth test using the depth buffer 112. This drawing may be normal rendering or ray tracing, and various programmable shaders can also be applied.
Further, the scene drawing means 100 acquires a user's instruction from the operation unit 15, and executes other processing of the game according to the user's instruction. At this time, the scene drawing means 100 advances the game based on the game data 210.

The identification buffer creating means 101 creates the identification buffer 114. In the present embodiment, the identification buffer creating means 101 determines which object is drawn for each pixel of the drawing buffer 113 when the drawing buffer 113 is drawn by the scene drawing means 100. Then, the identification buffer creating means 101 sets the ID (identification, identification value) of the determined object in the identification buffer 114 in pixel units.

The redrawing means 102 redraws the specific object corresponding to the identification value of the identification buffer 114. In the present embodiment, an example in which the player character object included in the object data 111 is used as the specific object will be described. Specifically, the redrawing means 102 refers to the identification value of the identification buffer 114 for each pixel of the specific object, and determines whether or not to redraw. When the redrawing means 102 determines that each pixel of the specific object is to be redrawn, it draws the drawing in the drawing buffer 113 at a specific blending ratio, and when it determines that the drawing is not performed, the redrawing means 102 discards the pixel without drawing.
As this specific blending ratio, the redrawing means 102 can lower the blending ratio in the vicinity of the contour of the specific object. Further, the redrawing means 102 can increase the blending ratio when the distance between the specific object and the other object is short. More specifically, the redrawing means 102 may also calculate the blend ratio from one or any combination of a group consisting of the pixel depth of the drawing buffer 113, the pixel normal, the direction of the virtual camera, and the depth of the scene. It is possible.

Explanation of data stored in the storage unit 11 of the game device 1. The game device 1 stores the object data 111, the depth buffer 112, the drawing buffer 113, the identification buffer 114, the game program 200, and the game data 210 in the storage unit 11. Store.

The object data 111 is data of a plurality of objects. The plurality of objects include an object (hereinafter, referred to as a "scene object") that constitutes a scene such as a player character, an enemy character, a terrain, and a background. The object data 111 includes, for example, the type and coordinates of polygons (polygons, meshes) in a three-dimensional virtual space for each object, bones for deformation, texture image data, material and lighting settings, and the like. Contains information necessary for drawing. In addition, the object data 111 also includes data for a physics engine, effects, and other modeling data. Further, each object data 111 is set with a value corresponding to the identification value for each scene object.

The depth buffer 112 is a buffer indicating the depth at each pixel of the drawing buffer 113. The depth buffer 112 uses, for example, a Z buffer or a depth buffer type buffer containing a depth value indicating the distance (Z value, depth) from the front side to the back side for each polygon viewed from the virtual camera. May be good. The number of bits of this depth value can be set to, for example, an integer value of 16 to 32 bits, a 16 to 32 bit floating point number, or the like for each pixel.

The drawing buffer 113 is an image data buffer (color buffer) or the like corresponding to the game image displayed on the display unit 16. The drawing buffer 113 is set to, for example, a resolution and a color depth corresponding to the performance of the display unit 16 and the set image quality. In addition, the drawing buffer 113 may be drawn a plurality of times or drawn at a high resolution, and then antialiasing processing or the like may be performed. In addition, when the display unit 16 is capable of stereoscopic drawing corresponding to a plurality of parallaxes, the drawing buffer 113 can be set according to the number of these parallaxes. Alternatively, the drawing buffer 113 may be a buffer for image data in an intermediate state. As the intermediate state, for example, a drawn state of only the scene may be used in which various status values, menus, and the like are not described.

The identification buffer 114 is a buffer containing identification values for identifying a drawn object corresponding to the coordinate values of each pixel of the drawing buffer 113. This identification value is a value that makes it possible to identify (distinguish) an object. Specifically, the identification value may be configured as, for example, a value indicating the number of the scene object. At this time, as the identification value, it is possible to use a value indicating a specific type, group, etc. of a specific monster, etc., instead of necessarily assigning one number to one object. That is, the identification values may be uniquely set for each object, or may be grouped into a range that can be identified for each type or group. The identification value may be set in units of 4 to 32 bits or the like, corresponding to the number of bits of the identification buffer 114, for example.

The game program 200 is a program that operates the game device 1 as the above-mentioned functional means and includes application software and middleware of the game for realizing the game of the present embodiment. In addition to the program for advancing the game itself, the game program 200 also includes a programmable shader program for mainly performing image processing and shading processing (shading) in drawing a scene in the image processing unit 13. The programmable shader includes, for example, a vertex shader, a pixel shader, a shader for ray tracing, and the like.

The game data 210 is data necessary for playing the game. The game data 210 includes data regarding the progress of the game. Various data included in the game program 200 are selected by the game data 210, and it is possible to play a game corresponding to the user's account information. In addition to this, the game data 210 may include account settings for each account. Account settings include information about the game progress of each user's account.

In the present embodiment, the game data 210 includes the redraw setting 211.
The redraw setting 211 includes an identification value of a specific object to be redrawn so that it can be identified when it is hidden, such as a player character. Further, the redrawing setting 211 includes a redrawing identification value which is an identification value of another object whose hiding is determined when the specific object is redrawn. That is, the redrawing identification value is an identification value of another object used for determining whether or not to redraw a specific object when it is concealed.

In addition, the game data 210 also includes, for example, identification values, experience points, names, attack and defense parameters, drop items, and other values necessary for the progress of the game corresponding to each object. Further, the game data 210 includes various data necessary for playing the game, such as image data such as thumbnails, menu and home screen data, character data, and voice data.

The control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 function as the scene drawing means 100, the identification buffer creating means 101, and the redrawing means 102 by executing the game program 200 stored in the storage unit 11.

In addition to these, the storage unit 11 may include, for example, account information to be transmitted to the other game device 1, information about friends, other account information received from the other game device 1, and the like.

<About identification drawing process>
Next, the identification drawing process executed by the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.
In the identification drawing process of the present embodiment, an example in which a player character object is set as a specific object and an enemy character such as a huge monster is set as another object in the redrawing setting 211 of the game data 210 will be described. On top of this, the identification buffer 114 is also created when the scene is drawn. At this time, it is determined whether the object of the player character is concealed by the set object such as the enemy character, and if it is concealed, it is redrawn to inform the user of the position. That is, when the player character is hidden by the enemy character, it is drawn with a specific blend ratio.

In the identification drawing process of the present embodiment, the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 expand the game program 200 stored in the ROM or the HDD into the RAM and execute the game program 200 using the hardware resources.
Hereinafter, the details of the identification drawing process by the game apparatus 1 will be described step by step with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(Step S100)
First, the scene drawing means 100 of the game device 1 performs the scene drawing process.
The scene drawing means 100 executes a so-called rendering pipeline that converts a plurality of objects in the three-dimensional space into a scene seen from a virtual camera and draws them in the drawing buffer 113 while performing a depth test as the game progresses.
At this time, the scene drawing means 100 performs a depth test on all the scene objects and draws them.

A specific example will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4A is a conceptual diagram showing the scene S of the present embodiment. In this scene S, as scene objects, an object M of an enemy character, an object P which is a player character and a specific object, and an object G which is a terrain object are drawn in the direction of the virtual camera C.

Specifically, for example, the scene drawing means 100 reads the data of the scene object from the object data 111. Then, the scene drawing means 100 draws by applying a vertex shader, deforming by a bone, rotating, applying a physics engine, affine transformation, etc. for each polygon of the object at the position of the virtual camera set by the user, for example. Calculate the coordinates of the polygon. Then, when drawing each pixel of each polygon, a depth test is performed on the creation of the depth buffer 112. This depth test is a process of referring to the depth value on the depth buffer 112 for each pixel and determining whether or not the depth value is before (the foremost) the depth value. The scene drawing means 100 applies a pixel shader and writes the pixels to the drawing buffer 113 only when it is in the foreground. At this time, the scene drawing means 100 writes a new depth to the depth buffer 112. The scene drawing means 100 can also perform ray tracing at the time of this drawing.

In the example of FIG. 4B, the depth buffer 112 is drawn so that the depth on the front side of the drawn scene object becomes a small value. The depth buffer 112 shows a part of the depth buffer 112 corresponding to the coordinates of the drawing buffer 113. In the state of this example, in the drawing buffer 113-1 for example, the player character in the back of the enemy character is partially hidden by the enemy character and drawn. That is, even for the player character object, the pixels in the portion where there is no object in the foreground and are not hidden are drawn.

(Step S101)
Next, the identification buffer creating means 101 performs the identification buffer creation process.
The identification buffer creating means 101 creates an identification buffer 114 in which an identification value for identifying a scene object is set corresponding to the coordinate value of the drawing buffer 113. That is, the identification buffer creating means 101 writes, for each pixel of the drawing buffer 113, an identification value that can identify which object type, group, or the like is drawn in the identification buffer 114. That is, the identification value is a value corresponding to the foremost object drawn in each pixel of the drawing buffer 113. Therefore, the identification buffer creating means 101 can update the identification buffer 114 in conjunction with the progress of the depth test.

In the example of FIG. 4B, the identification buffer creating means 101 sets the identification values corresponding to "P", "M", "G", etc., which are objects such as a player character, an enemy character, and a terrain, into the identification buffer 114. Write.

(Step S102)
Next, the redrawing means 102 determines whether or not to redraw each pixel of the specific object.
In the example of the present embodiment, the redrawing means 102 performs affine transformation or the like on the object of the player character set to the specific object identification value of the redrawing setting 211 in the same manner as the above-mentioned scene drawing process, and pixels each polygon. It is converted into the coordinates on the drawing buffer 113 in units. The redrawing means 102 refers to the identification value of the identification buffer 114 corresponding to the coordinates for each of these pixels. Then, the redrawing means 102 determines whether or not the referenced identification value is an identification value of another object set in the redrawing identification value of the redraw setting 211. That is, the redrawing means 102 determines the overlap between the player character and the enemy character.

If the referenced identification value is an identification value of another object, the redrawing means 102 determines Yes. That is, for example, if the redrawing means 102 is a pixel in which an enemy character or the like is drawn in front of the player character (hereinafter, referred to as “overlapping pixel”), the redrawing means 102 determines Yes.
The redrawing means 102 determines No if the other referenced identification value is not included in the identification value of another object set as the redraw identification value. That is, when the redrawing means 102 is a pixel (hereinafter, referred to as “non-overlapping pixel”) in which the player character itself is drawn or an object other than the terrain or the enemy character is drawn, No. to decide.

In the case of Yes, the redrawing means 102 advances the process to step S103.
If No, the redrawing means 102 advances the process to step S105. In this case, the redrawing means 102 does not redraw the specific object on the non-overlapping pixels. That is, the redrawing means 102 does not redraw an object such as a terrain, a pixel of a player character already drawn, or the like. Therefore, the drawing buffer 113 is maintained in the state at the time of drawing the scene.

(Step S103)
When redrawing, the redrawing means 102 performs a blend rate calculation process.
The redrawing means 102 calculates a specific blend ratio for redrawing the above-mentioned overlapping pixels in the drawing buffer 113.
The redrawing means 102 may calculate the blend ratio so that it becomes low near the edge such as the contour of a specific object, for example.
In addition, the redrawing means 102 may calculate the blend ratio so that it becomes low when the distance between the specific object and the other object is short. That is, for example, even when the distance between the player character and the enemy character is short, the blending rate can be lowered.

Further, the redrawing means 102 may calculate the blend ratio corresponding to the pixel depth, the pixel normal, the direction of the virtual camera, the depth of the scene, and the like.
More specifically, the redrawing means 102 draws a specific object darkly by increasing the blending ratio, for example, when the pixel depth is large. This makes it easier to identify the player character and the like.
The redrawing means 102 increases the blending ratio, for example, when the pixel normal is large, that is, when the orientation of the polygons of other objects at the coordinates of the overlapping pixels is close to horizontal with respect to the orientation of the virtual camera. This makes it possible to make the equipment and contours of the player character stand out.
The redrawing means 102 increases the blending ratio, for example, when the direction of the virtual camera is far from the front of the specific object. This makes it possible to easily identify the unevenness of a specific object.
For example, when the depth of the scene is on the back side, the redrawing means 102 can make it easier to identify a specific object by increasing the blending ratio.

(Step S104)
Next, the redrawing means 102 performs a redrawing process.
In the present embodiment, the redrawing means 102 again blends and draws the specific object into the drawing buffer 113 at the calculated blending ratio without the depth test.
In the present embodiment, the redrawing means 102 may, for example, blend-draw each of the overlapping pixels of the object of the player character with a single color different from the color of the texture used at the time of drawing the scene.

The drawing buffer 113-2 of FIG. 4B shows a state in which the specific object is redrawn in this way. In this way, the object P of the player character is redrawn only in the portion hidden by the object M of the enemy character, and it becomes easy to identify.

(Step S105)
Next, the redrawing means 102 determines whether or not the drawing of the specific object is completed.
The redrawing means 102 determines Yes when the above-mentioned processing for all the pixels of the specific object is completed. In other cases, the redrawing means 102 determines No.
In the case of Yes, the redrawing means 102 ends the identification drawing process.
If No, the redrawing means 102 returns the process to step S102 and continues the determination of redrawing the specific object.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show screen examples 500 and 501 actually drawn as a game screen, respectively. In the screen example 500, the object P is completely concealed by the object M. The screen example 501 is in a state where only a part of the screen example 501 is concealed.
In this way, even when a specific object such as a player character is hidden by an enemy character such as a huge monster and cannot be seen, it can be displayed so that the user can easily identify it.

The screen example 502 of FIG. 6 is an enlargement of a state in which a part of the left arm and the like of the body of the object P, which is a player character close to the enemy character, is in front, and the legs and the like are hidden by the object M of the enemy character. The figure is shown. In this way, the hidden part is redrawn in a shaded state, not just a silhouette (shadow) display. Therefore, it becomes easy for the user to identify that the player character is on the back side.

After that, the scene drawing means 100 draws a status value, a menu, or the like of the player character in the drawing buffer 113 based on the acquired game data 210, and advances the game.
As described above, the identification drawing process according to the embodiment of the present invention is completed.

[The invention's effect]
With the above configuration, the following effects can be obtained.
In recent years, there is an action game that hunts huge monsters in a three-dimensional space using a virtual camera. As described above, in the method using the virtual camera, it becomes easy to grasp the positional relationship of objects such as surrounding enemy characters, and it is possible to improve the game quality.
In such a game, the player usually operates the virtual camera by himself / herself to operate the visible position of the object of the player character so that the player character is not hidden by the terrain. However, since enemy characters such as monsters move violently, there is a problem that it is difficult to operate when the player character is hidden behind the enemy character.

However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, in order to determine whether or not the depth buffer 112 is concealed, it is only possible to display a monochromatic silhouette image without distinguishing between the terrain and the enemy character. For this reason, even if an attempt is made to apply it to an action game with intense movement, the positional relationship between the terrain, the enemy character, the background object, the player character, and the like is rather difficult to understand.
Therefore, there has been a demand for a technique of drawing so that the position of a player character or the like can be known for each object such as an enemy character and notifying the user.

On the other hand, the game program 200 of the present embodiment is a game program executed by the game device 1 including the storage unit 11 and the display unit 16, and the game device 1 corresponds to the coordinate value of the drawing buffer 113. Corresponding to the identification value of the identification buffer creating means 101 for creating the identification buffer 114 including the identification value for identifying a plurality of objects being drawn, and the identification buffer 114 created by the identification buffer creating means 101. It is characterized in that it functions as a redrawing means 102 for redrawing a specific object.

With this configuration, it is possible to draw so that the position of the player character or the like can be known for each object such as the enemy character. That is, when a specific object such as a player character is behind another object such as an enemy character, the identification value of the object such as the enemy character can be specified to redraw the specific object.
As a result, when the player character fights against a huge monster, the player character is identifiablely blended and redrawn if it is in the back of this monster, but if it is in the back of another terrain or background object, it is redrawn. Processing such as not redrawing is possible. As a result, the operability and game playability of the game can be improved.

The game program 200 of the present embodiment converts the game device 1 into a scene seen from a virtual camera by further converting a plurality of objects in the three-dimensional space, and draws the scene drawing means 100 in the drawing buffer 113 while performing a depth test. The redrawing means 102 determines whether or not to redraw a specific object included in a plurality of objects according to the identification value of the identification buffer 114 created by the identification buffer creating means 101, and redraws. When it is determined to draw, a specific object is drawn in the drawing buffer 113 at a specific blend ratio, and when it is determined not to be redrawn, it is not drawn.
With this configuration, it is possible to change whether or not to notify the user of the position of a player character or the like, which is a specific object, on an object-by-object basis in a game scene drawn in a three-dimensional space. That is, in an action game in three-dimensional space, the positional relationship between the front and the back of the terrain, enemy characters, background objects, player characters, etc. can be easily understood, and the user can be less likely to be confused even in a fierce action game. ..

Conventionally, if only a single color silhouette or edge is drawn as in Patent Document 1, the three-dimensional positional relationship is very large, especially in a game such as an action game in which the positional relationship between an enemy character and a player character tends to change dynamically. It was confusing.
The game program 200 of the present embodiment is characterized in that the redrawing means 102 lowers the blending ratio in the vicinity of the contour of the specific object.
By constructing in this way and drawing thinly with the outline of the specific object and deeply drawn inside, it becomes easy to intuitively understand that the specific object is hidden in the back side. Therefore, it is possible to make it easy to understand the three-dimensional positional relationship of the player character.

The game program 200 of the present embodiment is characterized in that the redrawing means 102 increases the blending rate when the distance between the specific object and another object is short.
With this configuration, the positional relationship between a specific object and another object becomes easy to understand. That is, for example, the user can be given a clue as to how close the player character is to the enemy character. As a result, the positional relationship between the player character and the enemy character in the three-dimensional space can be presented in an easy-to-understand manner, making it easier for the user to select an action and improving operability.

Conventionally, if only a single color silhouette or edge is drawn as in Patent Document 1, or if a simple blend drawing is performed, the equipment of the player character and its operating state, etc. cannot be understood well, and the operability is deteriorated especially in an action game. Was there.
In the game program 200 of the present embodiment, the redrawing means 102 calculates the blend ratio from one or any combination of a group consisting of the pixel depth of the drawing buffer 113, the pixel normal, the direction of the virtual camera, and the depth of the scene. Characterized by doing.
With this configuration, the equipment of the player character and its operating state are blended and displayed by redrawing, so that it can be presented to the user in an easy-to-understand manner. This makes it possible to improve operability.

The game device 1 of the present embodiment is characterized by including a storage unit 11 that stores the above-mentioned game program 200, a control unit 10 that is a computer that executes the game program 200, and an image processing unit 13.
With this configuration, the game program 200 of this embodiment can be applied.

[Other embodiments]
The control means and the processing procedure described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 are examples, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. The design of the processing procedure and the like can be appropriately changed without changing the gist of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of setting a player character object as a specific object and an enemy character object as another object has been described.
However, as a specific object, it is also possible to set an object such as a companion (companion) character, a player character's weapon, an effect such as ejected magic or an arrow, and a sign indicating a target. Alternatively, in the case of an online game that cooperates with or plays against another user, the specific object may be a character operated by the other user.
In addition, instead of setting all enemy characters as other objects when determining redrawing, for example, only specific enemy characters such as boss enemies may be set as other objects. Furthermore, it is also possible to set a background object or the like as other objects. For these, it is also possible to set multiple types of objects as specific objects and other objects, respectively.
With this configuration, various objects used in the game can be easily identified and displayed by the user as needed.

In the above-described embodiment, it is described that the blending ratio is lowered in the vicinity of the contour of the specific object at the time of redrawing.
However, it is possible to increase the blending ratio in the vicinity of the contour.
By configuring in this way, it is possible to make the outline stand out and display a specific object in an easy-to-understand manner.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of redrawing a specific object in a single color has been described.
However, it is also possible to configure a specific object to redraw the actual texture color by color conversion, brightness conversion, or the like.
Further, at the time of redrawing, it may be configured to draw by performing various image processing such as whitening and inversion instead of simply blend drawing.
With this configuration, it is possible to appropriately redraw a specific object according to the color tone, brightness, and the like of the game scene.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of performing a depth test using the depth buffer 112 has been described.
However, it is also applicable to a configuration in which a depth test such as Z sort, in which the depth test is performed in polygon units, is performed without using the depth buffer 112. Further, even when ray tracing is performed, an identification buffer 114 in which objects belonging to polygons, NURBS, metaballs, etc., to which rays intersect at the front (front) are set is created, and the drawing buffer 113 is redrawn as described above. It may be configured.
With this configuration, it is possible to support various configurations.

In the above-described embodiment, the identification buffer 114 is described as being created as a two-dimensional buffer having a resolution corresponding to the pixels of the drawing buffer 113 on a one-to-one basis.
However, the identification buffer 114 does not have to be a buffer having the same resolution as the drawing buffer 113. For example, the resolution of the identification buffer 114 may be set lower than the resolution of the drawing buffer 113, and the identification value may be stored in units of several to several tens of pixels.
Alternatively, for example, only the rectangular area corresponding to the coordinates in which the specific object is drawn may be set in the drawing buffer 113 as the identification buffer 114. Even when the above-mentioned ray tracing is performed, it is possible to configure it in this way. Further, the identification buffer 114 may have a data structure for storing the difference of the changed part, a tree structure, or may be created based on a buffer for detecting collisions.
With this configuration, the storage capacity of the storage unit 11 required for the identification buffer 114 can be reduced. It can also be applied to various configurations.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of redrawing the drawing of the three-dimensional space has been described.
However, even in the drawing of an object in two dimensions such as a sprite in which the drawing priority is set, it is possible to redraw with the above configuration.
With this configuration, it is possible to present a specific object to the user in an easy-to-see manner even in an environment where a plurality of sprites overlap each other.

In the above-described embodiment, a role-playing game having elements of a three-dimensional action game is described as an example, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it can be applied to various types of games such as fighting action games, shooting games, simulation games, board games, and puzzle games.

・ Variation of hardware configuration The control unit 10 is for CPU (Central Processing Unit, central processing unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor), ASIC (Application Specific Processor), etc. It may include an information processing unit including.

The storage unit 11 is a non-temporary recording medium, and a DRAM, SRAM, or the like may be used as the RAM of the main storage unit 11. As the ROM, as the auxiliary storage unit 11, various non-volatile and rewritable semiconductor memories such as EEPROM, flash memory, and 3DX point may be used. In addition, SSD (Solid State Drive) or eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard) can be used as the auxiliary storage unit 11 instead of the RAM or HDD.

The connection unit 12 is a network connection unit 12 including a LAN board for connecting to a network N such as a LAN, a wireless LAN, a WAN, and a mobile phone network, a wireless transmitter / receiver, and the like.

The image processing unit 13 may include an information processing unit such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor).

The operation unit 15 may be connected wirelessly or by wire. This wireless or wired connection may be USB, Bluetooth®, or the like.

In the game device 1, the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 may be integrally formed like a GPU built-in CPU or a chip-on-module package.
Further, the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 may have a built-in RAM, ROM, flash memory, or the like.

Variation of System Configuration The operations of the control unit 10 and the image processing unit 13 of the game device 1 are not limited to the examples described in the above-described embodiment.
Although the game device 1 of the above-described embodiment is described so as to operate as a single unit, it can also be configured as a game system including the game device 1, another game device, a server, and the like. In this case, it is also possible to perform image processing including the above-mentioned identification drawing process on the server and stream-deliver it to the game device 1.

In the above-described embodiment, although the example in which the game program 200 of the present embodiment is a native application is described, it may be configured as a web application. That is, the game program 200 may be an application that can be executed by a web browser or the like. In this case, the game program 200 and the game data 210 stored in the storage unit 11 may be temporarily stored in the RAM or the like each time.

Although an example in which a PC or the like is used as the game device 1 is described in the above-described embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be realized by using an arcade game housing provided in a game center or the like.

Even when these other embodiments are adopted, the effects of the present invention are exhibited. Further, it is also possible to appropriately combine this embodiment with other embodiments and other embodiments.

Further, it is needless to say that the configuration and operation of the above-described embodiment are examples and can be appropriately modified and executed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 Game device 10 Control unit 11 Storage unit 12 Connection unit 13 Image processing unit 14 Audio processing unit 15 Operation unit 16 Display unit 17 Audio input / output unit 100 Scene drawing means 101 Identification buffer creation means 102 Redrawing means 111 Object data 112 Depth buffer 113, 113-1, 113-2 Drawing buffer 114 Identification buffer 200 Game program 210 Game data 211 Redrawing settings 500, 501, 502 Screen example C Virtual camera G, P, M Object N Network S Scene

Claims (7)

A game program executed by a game device including a storage unit and a display unit, wherein the game device is used.
An identification buffer creation means that creates an identification buffer containing identification values for identifying multiple objects being drawn, corresponding to the coordinate values of the drawing buffer.
A scene drawing means that converts the plurality of objects in the three-dimensional space into a scene seen from a virtual camera and draws it in the drawing buffer while performing a depth test.
Corresponding to the identification value of the identification buffer created by the identification buffer creating means, it functions as a redrawing means for redrawing a hidden specific object after drawing the scene by the scene drawing means .
The redrawing means is
Whether or not to redraw the specific object included in the plurality of objects is determined according to the identification value of the identification buffer created by the identification buffer creating means, and if it is determined to be redrawn, the above is described. A specific object is drawn in the drawing buffer with a specific blend ratio, and if it is determined that it will not be redrawn, it will not be drawn.
Game program. The redrawing means is
The game program according to claim 1, wherein when the orientation of polygons of other objects at the coordinates of overlapping pixels is close to horizontal with respect to the orientation of the virtual camera, the blending ratio is increased . The redrawing means is
The game program according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blend ratio is increased when the direction of the virtual camera is away from the front of the specific object . The redrawing means is
The game program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the depth of the specific object is the back side of the scene, the blending rate is increased. The redrawing means is
The game program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the blend ratio is lowered in the vicinity of the contour of the specific object. The redrawing means is
The game program according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein when the specific object and another object are close to each other, the blending ratio is increased. A storage unit that stores the game program according to any one of claims 1 to 6 .
A game device including a computer for executing the game program.

Images