JP2002045571A - Network game - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a many-person simultaneous participation type network game wherein the operation of a player affects the game progress of other players. SOLUTION: The number of towels, whereon the time for allowing the game to progress advantageously is represented, is restricted to a specified number, which is stored in a number-of-towel storage part 14. A game executing part 12 gives instructions to a towel throwing part 13 when required to throw the towel from a player terminal such as a personal-computer terminal 30. The throwing part 13 supplies the towel to the execution part 12 according to the instructions unless the number, stored in the storage part 14, of the towels has been reduced to zero, and the above number of the towels is reduced by one.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiplayer network game in which a player plays a game by operating a plurality of player terminals connectable to a game server via a communication network. The present invention relates to a network game in which an operation on a terminal affects the progress of a game on all other player terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a game currently being played as a network game via a communication network such as the Internet or a personal computer communication, a game server (a computer such as a host computer) is operated in accordance with data transmitted from each player terminal. There are two types: a personal type in which a program built in the game is run to return output data, a game type in which the game server mediates two or more player terminals to play a match, and a team type in which each player forms a team and plays the game. It is roughly divided. In a personal type network game, for example, it is possible to compete with other players on a personal performance list or the like, but the game for each player proceeds independently. In competitive or team-type network games, the behavior of one player affects the behavior of other players, but is limited to one to several players.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a multiplayer network game in which the operation at each player terminal affects the progress of the game at all other player terminals. It is in.

[0004]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a network game in which a player operates a plurality of player terminals connectable to a game server via a communication network to play the game. The game server further comprises: an element storage unit storing at least one type of element required to guide the game in an advantageous direction for the player by a specific number; and in response to a request from the player terminal, A network game is configured including: an element supply unit that extracts the element from the element storage unit within the specific number range and supplies the extracted element to the player terminal.

[0005] In the network game according to the present invention, a player playing the game operates a player terminal to supply elements necessary for guiding the game in an advantageous direction from the game server. Only a specific number of elements are stored in the element storage means, and the element supply means can supply the elements only within the range of the number. Therefore, if an element is supplied to one player terminal, all other player terminals have lost one means of playing the game, which is relatively disadvantageous. Therefore, according to the present invention, the operation at each player terminal affects the progress of the game at all other player terminals, and the player is always aware of the presence of the other players and the overall progress of the game. Since the user participates in the game while considering the game, the interest of the game can be enhanced. In addition, it is possible to encourage the player to rejoin the game, triggered by the timing of the element introduction. In particular, if the game is installed on a specific site, the number of repeaters can be increased.

[0006] Preferably, the elements can be regularly and / or irregularly replenished to the element storage means with a constant and / or variable number. For example, only once a day,
If you try to replenish the elements at a fixed time, each player will start playing at that time. Further, the element supply means can supply the elements to the player terminals in a first-come-first-served manner in accordance with the order in which the requests are made from the player terminals, thereby further intensifying competition between the players. The elements are at least one type, and may be two or more types. For example, on the screen of the player terminal, items such as weapons, medicines, tools, and food, and gauges such as gold, fuel, hit points, and magic points, and programmatically Is the number of times, numerical value, time, distance, and the like, which are represented, for example, the number of times an operation or process is allowed. Simply, it is the amount represented by the item displayed on the screen of the player terminal. In such a case, the number of elements can be a number obtained by counting the quantity for each unit. For example, for time, 10 seconds is defined as one unit, and the unit of 10 seconds is 10
It is counted as an individual. Preferably, the element supply means checks the progress of the game for each player terminal,
Supply elements according to progress. This makes it possible to adjust the degree of difficulty or the degree of competition between players according to the nature of the game, for example, by prohibiting or allowing one player to store a large number of elements.

The game server can be physically constituted by one computer, or can be constituted by a plurality of computers connected by a LAN or the like. The element storage means is typically an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk connected to a computer.

[0008] The present invention is also a network game in which a player operates a plurality of player terminals connectable to a game server via a communication network to play the game. Requesting at least one type of element for guiding the game in an advantageous direction, and supplying the element from the game server to the player terminal until a specific number of the element prepared by the game server is exhausted. The network game was configured as follows.

In such a network game, when a specific number of elements is exhausted, the player cannot receive the elements. Thus, getting an element for one player is disadvantageous for another player. Therefore, according to the present invention, a player is always aware of the presence of another player and participates in the game while taking into account the overall progress of the game, thereby increasing the interest of the game. In addition, it is possible to encourage the player to rejoin the game, triggered by the timing of the element introduction. In particular, if the game is installed on a specific site, the number of repeaters can be increased.

[0010] The element is a quantity represented by an item displayed on the screen of the player terminal.
The amount may be a number counted for each unit. Furthermore, the item is a towel, and the towel represents a certain length of time, and a sauna father is displayed on the player's terminal while the towel is displayed. The game ends when the sauna father leaves the sauna. The state of the sauna father is a head towel state where the sweat is stopped by putting a towel on the head and the sweat is stopped, a sweat-free state where the towel is not displayed and the sweat is stopped, and a towel In this case, the user takes either a sweating state, in which the patient is in a poor physical condition due to sweating without displaying, or a falling state, in which the towel is not displayed and she is drooling from the open mouth. As the time represented by the towel elapses, the head towel changes from a sweat-free state, from a sweat-free state to a sweating state, from a sweating state to a falling state, and from a falling state to the end of the game. Depending on the supply of time, the state changes from a collapsed state to a sweating state, from a sweating state to a sweatless state, and from a sweatless state to a head towel state. The state without sweat is defined as the start of the game, and the time represented by the towel cannot be supplied in the head towel state. In addition, the sauna father wipes himself with a towel when changing from a head towel state to a sweatless state, exits the screen when the game ends from a collapsed state, and drools with a towel when changing from a collapsed state to a sweaty state. When the state changes from the sweating state to the no-sweat state, the user wipes himself with a towel. When the state changes from the no-sweat state to the head towel state, he performs various animation operations of placing the towel on his / her head.

[0011] The time represented by the towel may vary in length randomly and / or according to a coefficient determined based on the progress of the game. For example, the coefficient is determined by the following equation (1), and the time is determined by the following equation (2). n = a + b (1) T = n × t (s) (2) where, n: coefficient a: random number set at the start of the game (10 ≦ a ≦ 20) b: set at the time of state change T: time towel is represented t (s): unit number of seconds (for example, 1 to 5 seconds)

Furthermore, the speech of the sauna father may be output from the player terminal as sound according to the progress of the game and / or irrespective of the progress of the game. President! ] May be output as a voice, and the state may be changed to a state without sweat. On the player terminal, the number of towels in stock, the number of towels used today, and the scheduled number of towels to be supplied next time can be displayed. The planned number of towels to be supplied can be adjusted based on the number of members registered for participating in the game, the number of past accesses, the number of towels in stock, and the number of towels used.

The player terminal is a device that can be connected to the Internet, for example, a personal computer, a computer game machine, a mobile phone, or a PHS. The communication network used is the Internet, a telephone line network, a packet network, or the like. Dedicated software for communication and game execution is installed in the player terminal, so that screen display, input / output control, and a part of game processing can be performed. That is, the game server may merely supply the elements to the player terminal, or may perform all the processing by itself and transmit character / image / audio data indicating the progress or the result to the player terminal. When many processes are performed in the game server, the elements are used for executing the game program in the game server. For example, the fact that the elements are supplied is displayed on the screen of the player terminal by an item or a gauge. With the transmission of character / image / sound data indicating the progress or result,
It is assumed that the element has been supplied to the player terminal. Access to the game may require membership or may be free. If a fee is charged, a fee may be charged according to the number of supplied elements.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, one embodiment of the network game according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of one embodiment of a network game according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a game server 10 is connected to a personal computer terminal 30 and a game machine terminal 32 owned by a player via the Internet 20. The game server 10 is connected to a packet switching server 40 via the Internet 20, and the packet switching server 40 is connected to a mobile phone 60 via a packet network 50. Although only one is shown in the figure, it goes without saying that a plurality of player terminals such as the personal computer terminal 30, the game machine terminal 32, and the mobile phone 60 can be connected to the game server 10 at the same time.

The game server 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 11, a game execution unit 12, a towel insertion unit 13, a towel quantity storage unit 14, and an image / audio data storage unit 15. The transmission / reception unit 11 transmits / receives data between each player terminal and the game execution unit 12. The game execution unit 12 has a built-in game program, and receives a control signal from each player terminal and time data represented by a towel from the towel insertion unit 13 to execute the game program. Upon receiving a command from the game execution unit 12, the towel insertion unit 13 outputs time data to the game execution unit 12 until the number of towels stored in the towel number storage unit 14 becomes 0, and outputs one time data. Each time, the number of towels stored in the towel number storage unit 14 is reduced by one. Towel number storage unit 14
Stores the number of towels specified by the game execution unit 12. The specific number of towels is obtained by calculation by the game execution unit 12. The calculation is performed based on the number of registered members, the number of past consumption of towels, the current number of remaining towels, and the like.
The number of towels is reset at a certain time every day. The towel represents time data supplied at one time, but the actual length of the time data is not constant, and the game execution unit 12 reads out the image / audio data storage unit 15 according to the progress of the game. And audio data and image data to be transmitted to each player terminal via the transmission / reception unit 11.

The towel represents time data supplied at one time, but the actual length of the time data is not fixed, and the length is determined by the game execution unit 12 by performing an operation. First, the coefficient is determined by the following equation (1), and then the length of time is determined by the following equation (2). n = a + b (1) T = n × t (s) (2) where, n: coefficient a: random number set at the start of the game (10 ≦ a ≦ 20) b: set at the time of state change T: time towel is represented t (s): unit number of seconds (for example, 1 to 5 seconds)

FIG. 2 shows a liquid crystal screen of the mobile phone 60. The liquid crystal screen includes a title 61, an image display unit 62, a numerical value display unit 63, a father entrance button 64, and a towel input button 6.
5 is displayed. The title 61 represents a game title of [Sauna Father]. The title 61 and the screen layout are stored in the image / audio data storage unit 15 as image data. The image display unit 62 displays an image simulating the inside of the sauna, and further displays a sauna father serving as a main character and a towel representing time data serving as an element. These image data are also stored in the image / audio data storage unit 15. An example of an image displayed on the image display unit 62 is shown in FIG. Numerical value display unit 63 displays the total number of towels distributed today, the total number of towels used today, the remaining number of towels today, the highest endurance time in the past, the endurance time of this play, and the number of towels to be distributed tomorrow. This is used as a reference for player operation of the player terminal. The father entrance button 64 is a start button, and the towel insertion button 65 is the only operation button that can be operated by the player during execution of this [Sauna Father] game.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show images displayed on the image display section 62. FIG. The scene is inside the sauna, and the appearance is a sauna father, who uses the inserted towels to act.
The image is actually an animated image, but here are representative frames. In other words, the entry scene, towel head action, towel refusal action when head towel, sweat wiping action, normal sweating action, action on the verge of falling,
It is one frame of each animation of fainting, cleaning the floor, and leaving caterpillar. The image changes as time passes or when a towel is inserted. Each image data is stored in the image / audio data storage unit 15 as MP.
It is stored in the EG format.

Sauna dad sometimes talks. The audio is stored in the image / audio data storage unit 15 in the MP3 format. For example, the lines are [Ah] [Hot] [No]
[Is Tanaka married? . . ] [2 frames? . . ], Etc., which may or may not relate to the progress of the game. At the start and end of the game, a sound of opening and closing the door of the sauna is transmitted.

The purpose of this [Sauna Father] game is to allow the sauna father to enter the sauna as long as possible. The entry time is extended by inserting the towel with the towel insertion button 65, but the number of towels is limited, and it is [first come, first served]. Therefore, if one player puts in a towel, the other player's share will be reduced. The number of towels is reset only once a day as described above. If the player starts playing with that time in mind, it is easy to extend the admission time due to the large stock of towels.

The qualification to participate in [Sauna Father] provided by the game server 10 may be unlimited or restricted, and may be provided free of charge or provided for a fee. For example, if [Sauna father] provided by the game server 10 is a member registration system that requires pre-registration, the player connects each player terminal to the game server 10 to enjoy the game in order to enjoy the game. A password and an identification code string are received by inputting a name / credit card number and the like. The password is recorded by the player and is input when connecting to the game server 10. The identification code string is built in each player terminal and is used by the game server 10 to identify the terminal. The charge is based on the connection time and the number of towels supplied.

Next, the game procedure of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of executing the [Sauna Father] game.

First, the game is started by pressing the father entrance button 64 of FIG. At the start, the game execution unit 1
The coefficient a and the coefficient b, which are random numbers, are determined by Step 2 (Steps S1 and S2), and an animation of the entrance scene of the sauna father is displayed (Step S3). At the beginning of the game, a sweatless state is displayed, and a sweatless animation loop is developed (step S4). That is, unless a towel is input by the towel input button 65 (step S41), a predetermined time is counted until a timeout occurs (step S41).
42).

The predetermined time is determined based on the timeout coefficient n calculated from the coefficient a and the coefficient b. The timeout coefficient n is a + b as described above, and a is 10
Since b is 0 to 20 at 20, the timeout coefficient n is in the range of 10 to 40. By multiplying this by t (s), a predetermined time is obtained. Since t (s) is, for example, 1 s, the predetermined time is 10 to 40 s.

Assuming that a towel is inserted by the towel input button 65 in step S41, an animation for putting on a towel is displayed (step S43), the coefficient b is determined again (step S44), and the program enters a head towel animation loop (step S44). S5). Here, a predetermined time is counted until the timeout occurs (step S52).
However, even if the towel is inserted (step S51), the counting is continued with the towel rejection animation (step S53). Then, when the time-out occurs, the sweat wiping animation (no sweat) is displayed (step S54), the coefficient b is determined again (step S55), and the flow returns to the sweatless animation loop (step S4).

If the towel is not inserted until the timeout occurs in the animation loop without sweat, the coefficient b is determined again (step S45), and the program enters the sweating animation loop (step S6).

In the sweating animation loop, the sweating animation of the normal sweating action and the action of the action immediately before falling down are sequentially displayed as time elapses. The animation is continued until a towel is inserted (step S61) or a timeout occurs (step S62). When a towel is inserted, a sweat wiping animation (no sweat) is displayed (step S63), and after the coefficient b is determined (step S64), the flow returns to the sweatless animation loop (step S4).

When a timeout occurs, the coefficient b is determined (step S65), and the program enters a collapse animation loop (step S7). Here, as long as the towel is not inserted (step S71), a time-lapse animation (step S72) until the time-out occurs (step S72). When the towel is inserted, the floor wiping animation is displayed (step S73), and after the coefficient b is determined (step S74), the flow returns to the sweating animation loop. When the time-out occurs, a caterpillar exit animation is displayed (step S75), the sauna father exits the sauna, and the game ends.

As described above, in the [Sauna Father] game, the player operates the player terminal to supply towels from the game server 10. Only a specific number of towels are stored in the towel number storage unit 14, and the towel input unit 14 can supply towels only within the range of the number. Therefore, if a towel is supplied to one player terminal, one means for making the game advantageous to all other player terminals is lost, which is relatively disadvantageous. Therefore, in the [Sauna Father] game, the operation at each player terminal affects the progress of the game at all other player terminals,
Since the player always participates in the game while being aware of the existence of other players and taking into account the overall progress of the game, the interest of the game can be enhanced.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a multiplayer network game in which the operation at each player terminal affects the progress of the game at all other player terminals. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of one embodiment of a network game according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen of the mobile phone according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image displayed on the image screen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image displayed on the image screen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an image displayed on the image screen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image displayed on the image screen of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a game procedure according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Game server 11 Transmission / reception part 12 Game execution part 13 Towel loading part 14 Towel number storage part 15 Image / audio data storage part 20 Internet 30 PC terminal 32 Game machine terminal 40 Packet exchange server 50 Packet network 60 Mobile telephone

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A network game in which a player operates a plurality of player terminals connectable to a game server via a communication network to play the game, wherein the game server is advantageous to the player. Element storing means for storing at least one kind of element necessary for guiding in a specific direction by a specific number, and, in response to a request from the player terminal, storing the element within the specific number range. And an element supply means for extracting the element from the player terminal and supplying the element terminal to the player terminal. 2. The network game according to claim 1, wherein a constant and / or indefinite number of the elements are regularly and / or irregularly replenished in the element storage means. 3. The network game according to claim 1, wherein the element supply unit supplies the elements to the player terminal in the order requested by the player terminal. 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the element is a quantity represented by an item displayed on a screen of the player terminal, and the number of the elements is a number obtained by counting the quantity for each unit. 3. The network game according to any one of 3. 5. The network game according to claim 1, wherein the element supply unit checks the progress of the game for each player terminal, and supplies the element according to the progress. 6. A network game in which a player operates a plurality of player terminals connectable to a game server via a communication network to play a game, wherein the player terminal sends the game server to the game server. Requesting at least one type of element to guide the game in an advantageous direction, and providing the element from the game server to the player terminal until a certain number of the element provided by the game server is exhausted. A featured network game. 7. The network game according to claim 6, wherein a constant and / or indefinite number of the elements are prepared periodically and / or irregularly. 8. The element according to claim 6, wherein the element is a quantity represented by an item displayed on a screen of the player terminal, and the number of the elements is a number obtained by counting the quantity for each unit. 7. The network game according to 7. 9. The method according to claim 9, wherein the item is a towel, the towel represents a certain length of time, and a sauna father who keeps entering the sauna is displayed on the player terminal while the towel is displayed. Item 9. A network game according to item 8. 10. The state of the sauna father includes a head towel state in which the towel is put on the head and sweat is stopped, and a normal state in which sweat is stopped without displaying the towel. A certain state without sweat, a sweating state where the towel is not displayed and the person is sweating and is in poor physical condition;
The towel is not displayed, and it is either in a collapsed state in which the towel is dripping from the open mouth and falls down, and the time represented by the towel changes from the head towel state to the sweat-free state. The state changes from the sweat-free state to the sweating state, from the sweating state to the collapsed state, and from the collapsed state to the end of the game, and by the supply of the time represented by the towel, the sweating state is changed from the collapsed state to the sweating state. State, from the sweating state to the sweatless state, and from the sweatless state to the head towel state. The sweatless state is defined as the start of the game, and the head towel state is represented by the towel. 10. The network game according to claim 9, wherein time cannot be supplied. 11. The sauna father wipes himself with the towel when changing from the head towel state to the sweat-free state, exits the screen from the collapsed state at the end of the game, and changes from the collapsed state to the sweat state. When changing to the scraping state, wipe the drool with the towel. When changing from the sweating state to the sweatless state, wipe yourself with the towel, and change from the sweatless state to the head towel state. 11. The network game according to claim 10, wherein each animation operation of placing a towel on one's head is performed. 12. The network game according to claim 9, wherein the length of time represented by the towel changes randomly and / or according to a coefficient determined based on the progress of the game. . 13. The network game according to claim 12, wherein the coefficient is determined by the following equation (1), and the time is determined by the following equation (2). n = a + b (1) T = n × t (s) (2) where, n: coefficient a: random number set at the start of the game (10 ≦ a ≦ 20) b: set at the time of state change T: time towel is represented t (s): unit number of seconds (for example, 1 to 5 seconds) 14. The network game according to claim 9, wherein the speech of the sauna father is output as voice from the player terminal according to the progress of the game and / or irrespective of the progress of the game. 15. In the state of collapse, rarely [Hi!
President! 15. The network game according to claim 14, wherein the words are output as voice and change into a state without sweat. 16. The network game according to claim 9, wherein the player terminal displays the number of towels in stock, the number of towels used today, and the scheduled number of towels to be supplied next time.