JP2008194248A - Game device, game program and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game device capable of reading data without creating useless space in a memory area even if the size of the data to be read is different every stage. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of game data are read from a game medium into a RAM in each stage. If the data are voice data of an enemy character, the data are read into the RAM in the order starting from the voice data of one or a plurality of boss characters to the voice data of one or a plurality of small-fry characters in such a way that the empty space is not created by closing up the space from the front. Then, the address at the top of the data is registered in a data management table. In this way, the useless space in the memory area is eliminated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a game device, a game program that drives the game device, and a storage medium that stores the game program, and more particularly, to efficient data loading from the storage medium.

  2. Description of the Related Art Video game machines that incorporate a CPU and reproduce video / audio using the information processing function of the CPU have been widely used. As the video game machine, there are a video game machine used by connecting to a television, a portable video game machine in which a display, a speaker, and the like are integrated (see Non-Patent Document 1).

  Many video game machines do not have a game program or game data built-in, and the game program or game data is read from the CD, DVD, flash memory, UMD (Universal Media Disc) (registered trademark), etc. into the built-in memory. Execute.

  Many games (for example, Monster Hunter Portable (registered trademark)) are composed of a large amount of programs and data, and it is impossible to read all of them at once into the memory of the game machine, so the game is divided into multiple stages. The game is executed by loading (loading) the program and data for each stage into the memory of the game machine when the stage is switched.

  The data to be read includes multiple video data, multiple audio data, etc., but in order to facilitate memory management at each stage, the video data and audio data used at each stage have the same data size and which stage However, it is preferable that data can be managed at the same address.

  However, in recent games, there are a wide variety of video data and audio data used at each stage. Therefore, it is impossible to manage the memory with the same address at any stage. In particular, in the above-mentioned Monster Hunter Portable (registered trademark), even in the same stage, a monster that appears every time the stage is selected is changed to give a change to the game (see Non-Patent Document 2). In such a game, memory management is further complicated.

“PlayStation Portable” information, [online], PlayStation.com (Japan), [Search January 10, 2007], Internet <URL: http://www.jp.playstation.com/psp/> Monster Hunter Portable Official Guidebook (published on March 8, 2006, first edition Produced and sold by Enterbrain Inc.)

  Therefore, conventionally, each data can be managed at the same address by dividing the memory in advance according to the number of video data and audio data regardless of the data size. In this case, since the size of the read data is indefinite, each memory area reserved for each video data and audio data is fixed to the maximum size of the video data and audio data to be used.

  However, in such a memory management method, the actual data size is often different from the memory area secured in advance, and when data with a small size is read, a wasteful empty area is generated in the data area. There was a point (see center column in FIG. 5).

  In addition, since the number and size of memory areas allocated in advance are fixed, the number and size of usable video data and audio data are limited by this, and characters, objects, backgrounds, and audio appearing on the stage. It was difficult to change these according to the progress of the game.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a game device, a game program, a storage medium storing a game program, and the like that can be read so as not to be wasted in a memory area even if the size of data to be read is different for each stage. Objective.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a medium connection unit for connecting a storage medium storing a plurality of game data used for game execution and a game data storage area for storing game data read from the storage medium are set. A game device comprising: a built-in memory; and a control unit that reads game data from the storage medium into the game data storage area, wherein the control unit stores the plurality of game data from the storage medium to the game data storage When reading into an area, the game apparatus is characterized in that each game data storage area is read continuously.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the built-in memory further includes a data management table that manages a start address of each game data read into the game data storage area, and the control unit includes: When game data is read into the game data storage area, the start address of the game data is registered in the data management table.

  According to a third aspect of the invention, in the first and second aspects of the invention, the storage medium stores a plurality of game data for each of a plurality of stages that are sequentially executed in the game, and the control unit When a stage is executed, a plurality of game data of the stage is read into the game data storage area.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first to third aspects of the invention, the game data is voice data for generating a voice of a character appearing in the game.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a procedure for sequentially reading a plurality of game data used for executing a game from a storage medium connected to the medium connection unit to a game device having a control unit, and the read game data in an internal memory This is a game program for executing the procedure of transferring the storage area to the game data storage area.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a game device having a control unit, a procedure for selecting a game stage, and a plurality of game data used for executing the selected stage of the game from a storage medium connected to the medium connection unit. Is a game program for executing a procedure for sequentially reading the game data, and a procedure for transferring each read game data to the game data storage area of the built-in memory so that the storage area is continuous.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in addition to the procedure according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the game data is transferred to the game data storage area, and then the start address of the game data is provided to the game device having the control unit. Is a game program for further executing the procedure of registering the data in the data management table.

  The invention of claim 8 is a computer-readable storage medium storing the game program according to claim 5, claim 6 or claim 7.

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of pieces of game data are read from the built-in memory, even if the sizes of the game data are different, an efficient memory can be managed without generating a useless empty space in the memory.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of a portable video game machine to which the present invention is applied. The portable video game machine has a color liquid crystal display 4 in the center, a direction key 3 on the left side, and a button group 2 (Δ ○ × □ button) on the right side. A game medium in which a game program and game data are recorded is set in a media mounting unit (not shown), and the game starts when the power is turned on. The player operates the direction key 4 with the left hand and the button group 2 with the right hand to operate the characters in the game. In addition, a built-in speaker and an earphone terminal are also provided as an audio signal output unit (see FIG. 2).

  In the game media, for example, game programs such as Monster Hunter Portable (registered trademark) and game data are stored. The game “Monster Hunter Portable (registered trademark)” is a game in which a hunter as a main character operated by a player fights against a monster as an enemy character in a plurality of game spaces such as a cave and a coast. As will be described in detail later, this game is composed of a plurality of stages (also called game spaces and quests). For each stage, a game program and game data for executing the game of that stage are obtained from the game media. It is read into the built-in memory (RAM) of the video game machine. The game data includes sound data for generating sound corresponding to the progress of the game, image data for displaying a video corresponding to the progress of the game, and the like. Examples of the sound include BGM, footsteps of each character walking, sounds of weapons and the like, and sound of waves.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the portable video game machine 1.
The portable video game machine 1 includes a CPU 11, a drawing data generation processor 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 14, a drawing processing processor 15, a VRAM (Video-RAM) 16, a display unit 17, an audio. A processing processor 18, an amplifier 19, a speaker 20, an earphone terminal 21, an operation unit 22, a media interface 23, a wireless LAN module 24, and a bus 25 are included.

  Among these, the CPU 11, the drawing data generation processor 12, the RAM 13, the ROM 14, the drawing processing processor 15, the voice processing processor 18, the operation unit 22, the media interface 23, and the wireless LAN module 24 are connected by a bus 25 so as to be able to transmit data to each other. ing.

  The media interface 23 is a functional unit that accesses the game media 5 set in a media mounting unit (not shown) and reads out a game program and the like. The game media 5 stores the game program and game data as described above. The game data includes character and background image data, image data for displaying information such as status, sound data such as sound effects and BGM, message data using characters and symbols, and the like. The CPU 11 reads the game program and game data recorded in the game media 5 into the RAM 13 and executes them according to the operation of the operation unit 22 by the player.

  In the RAM 13, a load area for storing the game program and game data read from the game media 5 by the media interface 23 and a work area for the CPU 11 to process the game program are set. In the load area of the RAM 13, necessary game programs and game data are read from the game media 5 as the game progresses. The RAM 13 is also set with a data management table for managing the address of the read game data.

  The ROM 14 stores basic functions of the game apparatus 1 such as a disk loading function, a game program stored in the game media 5, and a basic program for controlling reading of game data.

  The CPU 11 controls the progress of the game by executing the game program read from the game media 5 into the RAM 13 as described above. More specifically, when a player's operation signal is input from the operation unit 22, the CPU 11 performs a predetermined game progress process on the operation signal in accordance with the game program, and displays the processing result as an image indicating the game progress (hereinafter referred to as game progress). , “Game image”) is displayed on the display unit 17 and a sound signal indicating the progress of the game (hereinafter referred to as “game sound”) is output to the speaker 20 and the earphone terminal 21.

  Drawing of the game image as the game progresses is performed by the drawing processor 15 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 11. The CPU 11 determines the content of the game image to be displayed on the display unit 17 based on the player's operation signal input from the operation unit 22, and generates necessary drawing data for the content in the drawing data generation processor 12. Then, the drawing data is transferred to the drawing processor 15 to perform drawing processing. The drawing processor 15 draws and generates a game image every 1/60 seconds, and writes the generated game image in the VRAM 16. The display unit 17 includes a transflective color liquid crystal display and a backlight LED (Light Emitting Diode), and displays a game image written in the VRAM 16.

  In addition, the CPU 11 determines sound effects such as sound effects and BGM to be output from the speaker 211 in accordance with the progress of the game, reads out sound data for generating the sound from the RAM 13, and inputs the sound data to the sound processor 18. To do. The CPU 11 reads the address of the audio data to be reproduced from the data management table described above, and reads the target audio data by accessing this address.

  The audio processor 18 gives a predetermined effect to the audio data input from the CPU 11, converts it into an analog signal, and outputs it to the amplifier 19. The amplifier 19 amplifies the audio signal input from the audio processor 18 and then outputs it to the speaker 20 and the earphone terminal 21. One speaker 20 is provided at each of the left and right ends of the apparatus main body, and stereo output is possible. Note that the audio data stored in the RAM 13 may be read by the CPU 11 and supplied to the audio processor 18, or the audio processor 18 may directly access the RAM 13 to read the audio data.

  The operation unit 22 includes the button group 2 (Δ ○ × □ button) and the direction key 3, receives the player's operation, and inputs an operation signal corresponding to the operation content to the CPU 11. The direction key 3 is an operator for instructing a moving direction of a main character that is a character mainly operated by an operator. A button group 2 consisting of four buttons “◯”, “△”, “×”, and “□” is for instructing a specific action (for example, jumping, bending, running, etc.) of the main character. It is an operator. The operation unit 22 includes a power switch for turning on / off the power in addition to these operators.

  The media interface 23 is an interface for accessing the game media 5 attached to the media attachment unit. The game media 5 can employ UMD (Universal Media Disc) (registered trademark), which is a kind of optical disc, in addition to semiconductor memory.

  The wireless LAN module 24 is a communication module for configuring a network by performing data communication with another game device 1 through a wireless LAN compliant with the communication standard IEEE802.11b (used frequency band 2.4 GHz, communication speed 11 Mbps). .

Here, with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the example of a structure of the stage in a game is demonstrated.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a stage configuration in the game “Monster Hunter Portable (registered trademark)”. In this game, a plurality of game spaces K1 to K10 are connected via a passage, and each game space corresponds to a stage of the present invention. Here, the game space is a space virtually generated by the CPU 11 in the game progress process based on the game program or game data, and the CPU 11 activates the character in this game space to generate game sound. Each game space is characterized as a virtual space such as a cave, a desert, a jungle snowy mountain, and a coast.

  In each game space, a hunter as a main character hunts a monster as an enemy character while moving in the game space. Each game space has a different type and number of monsters appearing in the game space, so every time the stage changes, that is, every time the main character moves in the game space, Audio data is read from the game media 5 into the RAM 13. The sound data is, for example, a sound of a monster, a sound of a wave in the case of a coast, a sound of a wind of snowstorm in the case of a snowy mountain, or the like.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining one game space among the plurality of game spaces shown in FIG. FIG. 2A is a plan view of the game space. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a display example (game screen) on the display 4 of the game space.

  In FIG. 2A, this game space has a passage connected to another game space on the left (west), right (east), and bottom (south). In this game space, there are three monsters 300, 301, and 302. That is, when the game shifts to the scene of this game space, as shown in the figure, the hunter 200 as the main character and the monsters 300, 301, and 302 as the enemy characters appear in the game space. Play against. FIG. 5B shows an example of a game screen in which the above scene where the hunter 200 and the monsters 300, 301, and 302 appear is displayed on the display 4. In the game screen, as shown in the figure, an image that is taken in a direction in which the monster can be seen from behind the hunter 200 side, which is the main character operated by the player, is displayed as a moving image.

  Here, the monster that is an enemy character is also large and small, and a large one like the monster 300 is called a boss character, and there are many types of movements and gestures, so the video data and audio data for this character are of a large size It is. On the other hand, since a small thing like the monster 302 is called a small fish character and there are few types of movement and gestures, the video data and audio data for this character are of a small size. The voice data of each character is made into one data by merging a plurality of actions and gesture voices. Therefore, the size of the audio data increases as the number of types of actions and gestures increases.

  The reason why the plan view of FIG. 6A is the xz plane is that a game screen with a horizontal line of sight as shown in FIG. 5B is rendered and displayed on the display 4 of the game machine. The height direction is the y-axis, and the plan view of FIG.

  As described above, since the capacity of the RAM 13 of the portable video game machine is limited, every time the hunter 200 moves in the game space, a game program and game data for executing a game in a new game space are stored in the game media. 5 to the RAM 13.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a game data storage area set in the RAM 13. In this figure, only an audio data storage area for storing audio data is shown. The audio data storage area includes a system (SYSTEM) data storage area 100, a player 1 (PLAYER 1) data storage area 110, a player 2 (PLAYER 2) data storage area 120, a player 3 (PLAYER 3) data storage area 130, and a player 4 (PLAYER 4). A data storage area 140, an enemy (ENEMY) data storage area 150, and a map (MAP) data storage area 160 are included. The system data is sound (system sound or the like) that can occur anywhere in a plurality of scenes (game space). The player 1 data is a voice (voice or the like) generated by a main character (hunter) that can be manipulated by the player of the portable video game machine 1. The player 2 to 4 data is sound generated by the main character of another portable video game machine 1 connected via the wireless LAN module 24. The enemy data is sound (such as a cry) generated by a monster that is an enemy character. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, since a plurality of monsters appear in one game space, the enemy data storage area 150 stores a plurality of sound data (enemy data). The map data includes environmental sounds such as footsteps and wave sounds.

  In the example of this figure, four audio data (enemy data) 151, 152, 153, 154 are written in the enemy data storage area 150.

  In the conventional method shown in the center of the figure, a storage area is allocated in advance for each sound data. When the actual sound data is smaller than the allocated storage area, or when the sound data to be read by the game space is stored. When the number is small, a wasteful empty area has occurred in the middle of the enemy data storage area 150, whereas in the method of the present invention shown on the right side of FIG. The memory area of the enemy data storage area 150 can be used without waste by storing the data at the end and registering the head address of each audio data in the data management table.

  In the system shown in this figure, the voice data of a boss character having a large data size is written in the enemy data storage area 150 first, and then the voice data of a small fish character is written.

6 and 7 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the portable video game machine.
FIG. 6A is a flowchart for explaining the operation at the start of the game. When the power is turned on, the main program and main data are loaded from the game media 5 set in the media loading unit (S1), and the game is started (S2). The main data includes game content, that is, information such as the type and number of enemy characters at each stage. When a game space (stage) is selected by the player's operation (S3), a game program for the game space is loaded from the game media 5 to the RAM 13 (S4), and game data for the game space is stored. The game media 5 is loaded into the RAM 13 (S5). After that, a game developed using this game space as a stage is started (S6). When the game in the game space is completed (S7), the process returns to S3 to select the next game space.

  FIG. 7 and FIG. 6B are flowcharts showing an operation when loading game data (audio data) from the game media 5 into the RAM 13.

  First, information on the game content in this game space is acquired from the main data loaded at the start of the game (S10), and what enemy characters appear in the game in this game space based on this game content information It is analyzed whether to do (S11). Then, the head address of the enemy data storage area 150 is set as the head address MP of the writable data area (S12).

  Next, it is determined from the analysis result whether or not a boss character appears in this game space game (S13). If the boss character does not appear (NO in S13), it is not necessary to load the voice data for the boss character, so the operation jumps to S17. When a boss character appears (YES in S13), the ID of the appearing boss character is acquired from the analysis result (S14), and a data load process (S15) is executed. The processes of S14 and S15 are executed for all boss characters appearing in the game space game (S16).

  Here, with reference to FIG. 6B, the data load processing of S15 will be described. First, the game media 5 is searched with the ID of the acquired boss character, and the size DSIZE of the voice data of this boss character is acquired (S30). Then, the audio data is loaded from the head address MP to the front (S31). After this loading is completed, the head address MP of this data is registered in the management table (S32). Then, the head address for the next data is shifted backward by DSIZE (S33). That is, MP ← MP + DSIZE is calculated. By performing the data load of the audio data by this processing, all the data is written in the enemy data storage area 150 by being left-justified.

  In FIG. 7, when the loading of the voice data of the boss character appearing in the game space in this game space is completed, or when the boss character does not appear, the operation moves to S17. In S17 and after, the voice data of the small fish character is loaded. Whether or not a small fish character appears in this game space game is determined from the analysis result (S17). If the small fish character does not appear (NO in S17), it is not necessary to load the voice data for the small fish character, and this process is terminated. If a small fish character appears (YES in S17), the ID of the small fish character that appears is obtained from the analysis result (S18), and the data loading process (S19) shown in FIG. 6B is executed. After executing the processing of S18 and S19 for all the small fish characters appearing in the game in the game space (S20), the processing is terminated.

  With reference to FIG. 8, a description will be given of a method of loading music data to be reproduced as BGM in a game among audio data. This example is a diagram for explaining a method of loading music data (environmental sound data) when a weather change occurs in three stages on a stage. First, areas for three environmental sound data are secured (A). This figure shows an example in which the environmental sound 1 data and the environmental sound 2 data have substantially the same data size and the environmental sound 3 data has a larger size. At the start of the stage, there is an introduction demo of the stage, so the stage start music is first, followed by the environmental sound 2 data of weather 2 (B). Since the stage start music has a large data size, it almost occupies a memory area for two environmental sound data (environmental sounds 1 and 2). After the introductory demonstration is completed, while the environmental sound 2 that is the environmental sound of the weather 2 is being reproduced, the stage start music is discarded and the environmental sound 1 data is loaded into the first half area (C). Next, while the environmental sound 1 is being reproduced, the environmental sound 2 data is read back to the area following the environmental sound 1, and a wide area for the environmental sound 3 data is made available in the latter half of the memory area (D). Then, all three environmental sound data are read by reading the environmental sound 3 data into this vacant area.

  As shown in FIG. 8C, when the environmental sound 2 data is written in the middle of the memory area and the free area of the memory is fragmented, a continuous area for reading the environmental sound 3 data cannot be secured. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4D, by rereading the environmental sound 2 data immediately after the environmental sound 1 data, a continuous free space can be secured in the latter half, and the environmental sound having a large data size is obtained. 3 data can be read, and useless empty areas can be eliminated.

  In this way, by reading data in the order of use, discarding the used data, and rereading the remaining data back to the front, the memory can always be used effectively. As a result, the degree of freedom of the environmental sound 3 data is increased, and the third weather using the environmental sound 3 data is not determined in advance, but can be freely determined within the range allowed by the memory area. For example, according to the progress of the game on the stage, it is possible to randomly select one weather from a plurality of weathers using random numbers or the like, or to randomly change the weather to three or more stages using random numbers or the like. . Thereby, the weather can be selected at random from all the environmental sound data prepared for the game, and the degree of freedom of weather change in the game can be increased.

  In this case, a plurality of free memory amounts are calculated in advance by calculating “free memory amount = secured memory amount− (environment sound 1 data size + environment sound 2 data size)”. It is only necessary to select the weather of the environmental sound data size that can be read into the free memory area from the weather. By such processing, even when the weather is randomly selected using a random number or the like, the environmental sound data to be read does not exceed the amount of free memory, so that data reading errors can be prevented in advance. In this way, by randomly selecting the weather within the range of the free memory amount calculated in advance, it is not necessary to set a proactive margin to prevent an error, and the free memory area can be utilized to the maximum extent. .

  In the above embodiment, the audio data memory area and the audio data loading method have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to audio data, and can also be applied to loading other data such as image data and programs. .

  In the above embodiment, a portable video game machine has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to a morphological video game machine, but may be applied to a so-called video game machine used by being connected to a television. Is also possible. It can also be applied to game software for personal computers.

Schematic external view of a portable video game machine to which the present invention is applied Block diagram showing the internal configuration of the portable video game machine The figure which shows the structural example of the some stage in a game The figure which shows the example of the game screen displayed on the display of a portable video game machine The figure which shows the structural example of a game data storage area Flow chart showing game start operation and data loading process Flow chart showing the game data reading process The figure explaining the loading procedure of BGM data of a game

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable video game machine 2 ... Button group 3 ... Direction key 4 ... Display 5 ... Game media 11 ... CPU
13 ... RAM
18 ... Audio processor 20 ... Speaker 21 ... Earphone terminal

Claims (8)

A medium connection unit for connecting a storage medium storing a plurality of game data used for game execution;
A built-in memory in which a game data storage area for storing game data read from the storage medium is set;
A control unit for reading game data from the storage medium into the game data storage area;
A game device comprising:
The control unit reads the plurality of game data from the storage medium into the game data storage area so that the storage areas of the game data are continuous. The built-in memory further comprises a data management table for managing the start address of each game data read into the game data storage area,
2. The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the game data is read into the game data storage area, the control unit registers a head address of the game data in the data management table. The storage medium stores a plurality of game data for each of a plurality of stages sequentially executed in the game,
The game device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads a plurality of game data of each stage into the game data storage area when each stage is executed.   The game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game data is sound data for generating sound of a character appearing in the game. In a game device equipped with a control unit,
A procedure for sequentially reading a plurality of game data used for game execution from a storage medium connected to the medium connection unit,
Procedure to transfer each read game data to the game data storage area of the built-in memory so that the storage area is continuous,
Game program for running. In a game device equipped with a control unit,
Steps to select the game stage,
A procedure for sequentially reading a plurality of game data used for executing a selected stage of a game from a storage medium connected to the medium connection unit,
Procedure to transfer each read game data to the game data storage area of the built-in memory so that the storage area is continuous,
Game program for running.   In addition to the procedure described in claim 5 or claim 6, after transferring game data to the game data storage area, the start address of the game data is registered in the data management table. A game program for further executing the procedure.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the game program according to claim 5, 6 or 7.

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