JP2003000953A - Network game system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a network game system which allows users to play games continued from a contest at any desired time while the contest is held by reducing the hourly confinement of the users per round to let a number of participants in the contest handle the games in similar ways. SOLUTION: Schedules are previously determined for carrying out games by a schedule managing means on the side of a lobby server 1. It is made possible to advance the games simultaneously to the nth round from the first round until the nth day. Each one of those who win respective rounds of games is selected as an winner of the round involved of the games and one or more others are treated as losers. On the following n+1th day, one each of winners of the respective rounds moves forward to one upper round and the losers all return to the first round. Game terminals are connected to arbitrary networks on any day of the games held as determined by the schedules to carry out the games in real time. On the final day of the match, one person who wins the final round is decided to be a champion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a network game system in which each game terminal is connected to a network to play a game (match) with a large number of opponents in real time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional network game system, when a tournament is played using a real-time network game, the player is required to connect to the network for a long time as the tournament holding time becomes longer. For example, in the case of a soccer game, if a tournament is held in a conventional system such as a qualifying league / final tournament, the players who have survived have to wait for their next game, and cannot leave the front of the monitor until the end. Furthermore, the more the number of participants in the tournament, the longer the tournament holding time.
Considering that one game can be completed in 10 minutes, if there are 32 participants in the tournament, 50 minutes in 5 games and 60 in 64 people
If it is a killer title, it is possible that about 10,000 participants will be expected, but in this case 2 hours 2
The player will be restrained in front of the monitor for as long as 0 minutes.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The first round is March 3
A method of managing the tournament by designating a date such as March 10th on the 2nd round is conceivable, but in that case, the action of the player is restricted at the designated time, and it is hard to say that it is friendly to the player. Therefore, it is required to realize a game system in which the players can participate at their own convenience by minimizing the schedule and time constrained by the game time of each player. The present invention responds to the above-mentioned request, and its purpose is to have a short time constraint per user, and to deal with a large number of tournament participants in a similar manner. It is to provide a network game system that can play the continuation of the tournament.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a network game system according to the present invention connects a game terminal which desires to participate in a game to a network in a predetermined time zone to play the game in real time. In a network game system to be advanced, a schedule management means for determining a schedule and a time for playing the game one or more times in advance, and a game can be progressed from the first round to the nth round at the same time on the nth day of the game, and each round will survive. A means for processing the match such that one player is the winner of the round and one or more other players are the losers; and the one winner is the next one on the (n + 1) th day of the next game. The game terminal has a round judging means for judging that all the losers will return to the first round. Perform a game in real-time connection to Ttowaku, the winning in the final round match, the last day 1
It is configured to determine the person as the winner. Further, the present invention is configured such that one person who has won the k-th round on the game holding day of the i-th day can skip the next holding day and participate from the (k + 1) -th round on the following holding day. .

[0005]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a network game system according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the Internet is used and other networks can be used. A lobby server 1 that manages and operates this system is connected to the Internet network 2. Each game terminal 4a, 4b ... 4n connects to the Internet network 2 to play a game in real time when participating in the game according to the schedule and time.

[0006] A round-robin league battle is conducted with four participants of the tournament as one group, and the winner of the nth round can participate in the next round (n + 1 round) at the date and time of the next and subsequent tournaments. Those who cannot win the championship will participate from the first round on and after the next tournament. We will reduce the number of players to 1/4 each time the competition is held,
The last remaining player will be the winner. From the first round to the nth round, the tournament will be held at the same time.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the lobby server of FIG. This drawing describes only the portion related to the present invention. Network communication means 6 for communicating with game terminals via the Internet 6, rounding / group allocation section 7a, schedule management section 7b, match progress section 7
The CPU 7 has the functions of c and the round determination unit 7d and performs the tournament operation management process, and the memory unit 8 that stores the game terminal information 8a and the game management information 8b participating in the game.

The round group allocating unit 7a allocates the game terminals participating in the game to a group of four players and assembles a brute force league game. That is, based on the result determined by the round determination unit 7d, a process of assigning each opponent is performed. The schedule management unit 7b determines the date and time to hold the event, notifies the game date and time to each game terminal on the Internet, and manages the schedule until the event ends. The match advancing unit 7c issues an instruction to the game terminal device for which each opponent has been decided so that the game can proceed simultaneously from the first round to the nth round. The round determination unit 7d determines the round to be participated in by the game terminal device based on the data sent from the data storage unit of the game terminal device 4 described later. If the winning data is sent, the winner of the round is the winner and participates in the next round up, and all the remaining losers are 1
You will be competing in rounds.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the game terminal machine of FIG. An input unit 11 such as a keyboard or a game pad, an interface unit 12 for taking an input signal into a game terminal device, a communication unit 13 for communicating with other game terminal devices and servers via the Internet, and a network / server connection processing unit 14a. A CP that has a game start processing unit 14b, a game progression unit 14c, and a game end processing unit 14d, and controls the entire game.
A U15, a memory unit 15 having a data storage unit 15a and a game program storage unit 15b, an image processing unit 16 for processing a game image, and a display 17 are provided.

In the data storage section 15a of the memory section 15,
The winning / losing data of the game terminal, the data of how many rounds the game has currently progressed, the registered name and personal information of the user, and normal save data are stored. Further, the game program storage unit 15b stores a program of a game that participates in the competition, and the program may be stored in a removable medium, for example, a CD-ROM. When the player inputs a predetermined item from the input unit 11 at a predetermined time on the opening date, the network / server connection processing unit 14a performs a process of connecting to the server or the opponent game terminal device via the communication unit 13. Game start processing unit 14
When the b is sorted by the server and the opponent is determined, the b is connected to the opponent game terminal device to perform the process of starting the game. The game progression unit 14c performs a process of advancing a game with an opponent according to a game program. The game end processing unit 14d performs a process of storing winning / losing data in the data storage unit 15a due to the conclusion of the game.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the basic operation of the game system according to the present invention. The game terminal device 4 is in an offline play state in which the game is started and is not connected to the Internet (step (hereinafter referred to as “S”) 401). CP of game terminal 4
U14 determines whether or not the game is over (S
402). If the game has ended, end processing is performed (S415). If the game is not over, CPU1
The network server connection processing unit 14a of No. 4 connects to the Internet network 2 and the lobby server 1 through the communication unit 13 (S403, S404). As a result, the game terminal 4 and the lobby server 1 are connected to enter the online play state (S405).

In this state, it is determined whether or not the player has performed an input operation for disconnecting the network (S406), and if the disconnection operation has been performed, the offline play state is restored. If no operation is performed, an input operation for selecting a tournament entry from the menu screen displayed on the display 17 is performed (S407). As a result, the data storage unit 15
From a, the current win / loss data of this game terminal and related data are sent to the server 1. On the server 1 side, when the tournament time comes, the opponents are distributed according to the round (S408). When information indicating that the tournament is impossible is sent from the server by the processing in S408, the state returns to the online play state (S405). When the tournament is possible, when the game start processing unit 14b is notified from the server 1 of the opponent of the nth round designated, the game start processing unit 14b connects to the opponent game terminal device and performs the game start processing.
Then, the game progression unit 14c plays a game of the nth round (S409).

The game end processing unit 14d determines whether the game is won or lost by the conclusion of the game (S410, S412).
If the player loses, the data storage unit 15 outputs data indicating that the player has been defeated.
It is stored in a (S411) and the state returns to the online play state of S405. When the result of winning or losing is not obtained (S413), the state is returned to the online play state as it is (S40).
5). If the player wins, the winning data is stored in the data storage unit 15a (S414).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the distribution of the game according to the round, S408 of FIG.
3 is a detailed description of the operation of FIG. The game terminal 4 will be on standby until the time when the competition is held (S501). The server 1 allocates the game terminals participating in the game to a group of 4 players and assembles a brute force league game. First, the round determination unit 7d determines how many rounds the player will participate in based on the information from the data storage unit (S502). Based on this, the round / group allocation unit 7a determines whether or not there is one player in the n-th round (S503). If there is one person, then it is determined whether or not n = 1 (S508). If it is not the first round, the player of the nth round is treated as a player of the n-1th round (S507), and the process returns to the determination of S503. If it is the first round, it is decided that the tournament will not be held due to the shortage of participants (S
509), Send information indicating that the tournament is impossible to the relevant game terminal.

On the other hand, if there is not one player in the nth round, it is judged whether or not the nth round is to be performed a plurality of times (S504).
To do. If there is not more than one, it is announced that it is the winning decision match (S505), and the match-matching for the nth round is set (S505).
506), Send information indicating that the tournament is possible to each game terminal. Also, in the case where a plurality of n rounds are held, the match matching of the n round is similarly set (S506), and the information indicating that the tournament is possible is sent to each game terminal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of the state of progress of a tournament by the game system according to the present invention. -Before the tournament Announce the tournament date and time (eg, the tournament will be held every Saturday at 11:00 pm) -First day of the tournament (1st Saturday at 11:00 pm) Accept the player's application to participate in the tournament. Participating players are divided into groups of four and a brute force league game is conducted. (March 3, 1st round) The player who won the first round of the league game can participate in the next round (second round) in the competition after the next round.
Players who could not win the first round league match will participate from the first round in the next and subsequent competitions.

2nd day of the tournament (11th Saturday of the second Saturday)
When a player accepts an application for participation in the tournament. If there is a winner of the first round among the participating players, the players are divided into groups of four and a brute force league match is performed (second round). The player who wins the second round league game can advance to the next round (third round). The player who cannot win the league game in the second round will play the first round again in the next and subsequent competitions. Then, the remaining players are divided into groups of four, and a round-robin league match is performed (first round). The player who won the first round league game can participate in the next round (second round) in the competitions after the next round. Players who could not win the first round league match will participate from the first round in the next and subsequent competitions.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the progress on the nth day of the tournament.・ Competition nth day (Saturday nth Saturday 11:00 pm) Players will be accepted to participate in the competition. When there is a winner of the (n-1) round among the participating players, the player is divided into groups of four and a round-robin league match is performed (n round). When the number of members participating in the nth round is four or less, the player is notified that the league is the final league. (N-2) Round winner, (n-3) Round winner ... The player who wins the league match of the k-th round can proceed to the next round (k + 1 round). Players who did not win the league match in the kth round will participate from the first round in the next and subsequent competitions.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of measures when the tournament is not participating. For example, a person who wins the first round on the first day of the tournament can advance to the second round on the second day of the tournament. However, if it is not possible to participate on the 2nd day of the tournament due to inconvenience, it is possible to participate from the 3rd day of the tournament onward, starting from the previous round, that is, the 2nd round. In this way, the number of participants of the player is reduced to 1/4 for each tournament holding date, and when the last one is decided, that player is made the winner.

[0020]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has various effects as follows. The time constraint for each player is short, for example, about 30 minutes, and it is possible to deal with a large number of tournament participants in the same manner. The player can play the rest of the tournament at any time during the tournament holding time. That is, you can play the continuation as you suddenly remembered, even after not playing for a few weeks. Further, the labor for maintenance for the operation of the tournament is saved, and the tournament can be operated automatically. It is possible to avoid duplicate entries of the losing player.
By distributing the tournament schedule and operating it for a long time,
This has the effect of extending the life of the game for a long time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a network game system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the lobby server of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the game terminal of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the basic operation of the system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining game distribution according to a round.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of the progress of a basic tournament.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining progress on the nth day of the tournament.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of measures when the tournament does not participate.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Lobby server 2 Internet network 3 lines 4, 4a, 4b, 4n game terminals 6 Network communication means 7, 14 CPU Round 7a / Group allocation department 7b Schedule Management Department 7c Match progress section 7d Rounding judgment part 8,15 memory section 9 buses 11 Input section 12 Interface part 13 Communication means 14a Network server connection processing unit 14b Game start processing unit 14c Game progress section 14d Game end processing unit 16 Image processing unit 17 Display

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A network game system in which a game terminal device desiring to participate in a game is connected to a network at a predetermined time zone to advance the game in real time, and a schedule and time of one or more times of performing the game in advance. The schedule management means that decides the game, and the game can be progressed from the first round to the nth round at the same time on the nth day of the game. One person who wins each round is the winner of that round, and one or more other losers are the losers. And means for processing the match such that the one winner is the next (n + 1) th day of the game,
The game terminal device has a round judging means for judging that all the losers go back to the first round and return to the first round. A network game system characterized by being configured so that one person who can play a game in the last round and win the final round is decided as the winner. 2. One player who has won the kth round on the day of the game held on the i-th day is processed so that he / she can skip the next scheduled day and participate from the (k + 1) th round on the subsequent scheduled days. The network game system according to claim 1.