JP2022131381A - program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique capable of realizing an action with a sense of unity of a plurality of characters with a simple operation.SOLUTION: In one embodiment, a program executed by a computer is provided. The program causes the computer to: enable a first character and a second character to be operated integrally; accept an operation for activating a skill possessed by the first character or the second character; and activate the skill corresponding to the operation in different modes between cases where either the first character or the second character possesses the skill and where both the first character and the second character possess the skill.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to programs.

A game is known in which a game object is caused to perform an action by an operation via a touch panel (see Non-Patent Document 1). In the game of Non-Patent Document 1, a skill (special technique) is linked in advance to the direction of the flick operation, and when the start of the operation is detected, a guide UI that guides in which direction the flick operation should be input is displayed. A skill is activated according to the direction of the input flick operation.

Also, in a console-type game machine, there is known a technique for assigning functions to operation buttons whose positions are fixed (see Non-Patent Document 2).

Famitsu App, "[White Cat Capture] Let's master the basic operations of" Punicon ", [online], August 29, 2014, December 18, 2020 Search, Internet <URL: https:/ /app.famitsu.com/20140829_431082/> Inside, ``A revolution will occur in 'Splatoon 2' with the button assignment function of the switch? Internet <URL: https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2020/04/14/128254.html>

Here, there is a type of game in which a plurality of characters form a party and take action in a virtual game space. Each of the plurality of characters performs an action in the game space according to the operation of the game player (hereinafter referred to as "user") or not according to the user's operation. By having a plurality of characters perform actions according to their individuality, the variety of actions is brought about and the interest of the game is enhanced.

When the user operates multiple characters, the operation input becomes very complicated. In particular, there are many restrictions on input operations when playing a game through operations via a touch panel, compared to console-type game machines in which functions are assigned to dedicated buttons. On the other hand, if the operation input is simplified, there is a possibility that the sense of unity of the characters may be lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a technique capable of realizing an action with a sense of unity of a plurality of characters by a simple operation.

In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention is a program executed by a computer, wherein a first character and a second character are integrally operable; Receiving an operation for activating a skill possessed by a character; activating a skill corresponding to the operation; To provide a program for causing a computer to exercise skills in different modes when both a first character and a second character hold the skills.

A program according to an aspect of the present invention can provide a technique capable of realizing an action with a sense of unity of a plurality of characters with a simple operation.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a game system related to a program according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a server in the game system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a user terminal in the game system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing related to skill activation by the user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the details of the skill activation process among the processes shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a game image related to skill activation. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an allocation table. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a skill detail table. FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a first example of a retained skill table. FIG. 9B is a diagram showing a second example of the retained skill table. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an effect table. 11 is a flow chart showing an example of processing related to skill assignment by the user terminal shown in FIG. 3. FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the details of skill detail display processing among the processing shown in FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the details of the skill changing process among the processes shown in FIG. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a game image showing skill allocation status. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a game image showing detailed information on skills. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a game image for skill assignment change.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Elements that are the same as or similar to elements that have already been explained are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals, and overlapping explanations are basically omitted. For example, when there are a plurality of identical or similar elements, common reference numerals may be used to describe each element without distinction, and the common reference numerals may be used to distinguish and describe each element. In addition, branch numbers are sometimes used.

[One embodiment]
(1) Outline of Game A program according to one embodiment is a program for realizing a game on a terminal device (hereinafter referred to as "user terminal") used by a user who is a game player. Hereinafter, a program according to one embodiment will be called a game program to distinguish it from a program for realizing general computer functions.

The games realized by the game program are not limited to a specific category, and include, for example, role-playing games (RPG), action games, adventure games, simulation games, breeding games, shooting games, sports games, puzzle games, etc.). or may be part of such a game (such as a mini-game or event).

A game program can place various objects in a game space to realize a game. A game space is a space for arranging various objects implemented by a game program. In the following description, the game space is mainly a three-dimensional space, and the objects placed in the game space are also mainly displayed in three dimensions. is also applicable.

Various objects include character objects. A character is, for example, a human character, an animal character, an anthropomorphic character, or the like, but is not limited to these. A character object is an object that moves. Character objects (hereinafter simply referred to as "characters") include characters that act in response to user operations and NPCs (Non Player Characters) that act independently of user operations. Various objects also include background objects. Background objects are objects that constitute the background of the game, such as trees, rocks, grass, sky, rivers, ponds, buildings, and equipment.

Each object has a set value arbitrarily determined by a game designer or the like. A set value is a numerical value (also referred to as "parameter") representing position, size, shape, color, ability, attribute, and other various information. Objects of characters can have set values, particularly called statuses. The status includes, but is not limited to, information such as physical strength, attack power, defense power, and retention skill.

As an example, the following description assumes a game in which a plurality of characters perform actions in a field in response to user's operations. A field is an example of a game space, and can be expressed as a wide variety of spaces that imitate grasslands, forests, urban areas, dungeons (labyrinths, facilities, other closed spaces), and the like. A character acquires items, avoids gimmicks and traps, or fights an enemy character encountered within the field. Actions include movement, attack, defense, retreat, and any other action that can be taken within the game space. Actions include activation of skills. A skill is a special skill used in the game. Each character can have different skills. Possession may be read as holding, possessing or possessing, or the like. When receiving an operation for activating a skill possessed by a character, the game program activates the skill if activation conditions are satisfied. When a skill is activated, it affects the status of the caster character or surrounding characters.

The plurality of characters includes a first character and a second character that can be operated integrally. Here, "integrally operable" means that a user's operation is reflected on a plurality of characters. Making the first character and the second character integrally operable means, for example, making the first character and the second character operable as a single object, and making the first character or the second character operable. Including reflecting on both the first character and the second character, or having either the first character or the second character being manipulated causes the other to automatically take cooperative or complementary actions, etc. . The first character and the second character do not need to be integrally operable all the time during the progress of the game.

The game program can activate the skill when receiving an operation for activating the skill possessed by at least one of the first character and the second character. The game program also activates the skill in different manners depending on whether one of the first character or the second character has the skill and when both the first character and the second character have the skill. Let

Activating a skill in a different manner means that when both the first character and the second character possess the skill, the level is higher than when either the first character or the second character possesses the skill. Including activating the skill with Activating a skill in a different manner means that, when both the first character and the second character possess the skill, the level of the skill possessed by the first character and the level of the skill possessed by the second character are changed. Includes activating skills at combined levels. Activating the skill in a different manner also includes enabling the activation of the skill under more relaxed conditions when both the first character and the second character possess the skill. Activating the skill in different modes also includes adding a special effect to the game scene related to the activation of the skill when both the first character and the second character possess the skill. Activating the skill in different manners also includes varying the range or influence of skill activation when both the first character and the second character possess the skill. Activating the skill in different ways can be translated as adding a special effect to the activation of the skill.

In the following description, it is assumed that the first character is a human character (hereinafter referred to as "player character") and the second character is a monster character (hereinafter referred to as "monster"). In the following, a game in which a player character rides a monster and performs various actions integrally, including activation of skills possessed by the player character or the monster, in response to user's operation, is assumed. Hereinafter, the player character and the monster that are integrally operated are collectively referred to as "operating character".

The game program includes a game program that locally realizes a game on one user terminal, a game program that cooperates with a user terminal and a server to realize a game, and a game program that allows a plurality of user terminals (via a server or not via a server) to be played. It may be a game program or the like that realizes a game in cooperation with The following is just an example of a game in which the server comprehensively manages the game program, transmits the game program and related data, etc. in response to requests from the user terminal, and the actual game progress is mainly realized at the user terminal. Describe the system.

(2) Configuration (2-1) Game System FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a game system 1 related to a game program according to one embodiment.
The game system 1 includes multiple user terminals 100 and a server 200 . Each user terminal 100 can communicate with the server 200 via the network NW. Any number of user terminals 100 can be connected to the server 200, but for the sake of simplicity, only one user terminal 100 will be illustrated and described in detail.

The network NW is, for example, the Internet, and includes access networks such as LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), mobile communication network, wired telephone network, FTTH (Fiber To The Home), and CATV (Cable Television) network. can contain.

A user terminal 100 is a terminal used by a user who plays a game. The user terminal 100 realizes a game by executing a game program, and realizes a game screen by displaying a game image according to the progress of the game. A game image may include an image that depicts a game space. An image depicting the game space may include images of multiple objects placed in the game space. Game images include still images or moving images. The game image can also include images of UI (User Interface) components expressed two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally. The user terminal 100 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet terminal, or a notebook personal computer. The user terminal 100 may be a stationary computer such as a desktop personal computer. User terminal 100 may also be a dedicated gaming terminal suitable for playing games. In the following description, as an example, the user terminal 100 is a smart phone with a touch screen.

The server 200 is a device operated and managed by, for example, a game developer. The server 200 comprehensively manages game programs and user information, and supports progress of the game on the user terminal 100 . Server 200 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer. For example, the server 200 receives user information and various requests from the user terminal 100 via the network NW, and transmits game programs and related data to the user terminal 100 via the network NW. The server 200 can transmit and receive information to and from multiple user terminals 100 at the same time, and can support the progress of games in multiple user terminals 100 in parallel.

The user terminal 100 may receive the game program and necessary setting data from the server 200 at once, and proceed with the game without communicating with the server 200 thereafter. Alternatively, the user terminal 100 may communicate with the server 200 from time to time as the game progresses, and receive the necessary game program or data from the server 200 each time.

(2-2) Hardware Configuration (2-2-1) Server As shown in FIG. 1, the server 200 includes hardware such as a processor 2001, a memory 2002, a storage 2003, a communication interface (communication I/F ) 2004 and an input/output interface (input/output I/F) 2005 , which are electrically connected to each other via a bus 2006 .

A processor 2001 controls the overall operation of the server 200 . The processor 2001 includes, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Micro Processing Unit), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The processor 2001 is not limited to a general-purpose processor, and may be a dedicated processor such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

A memory 2002 is a main storage device and includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like.

The storage 2003 is an auxiliary storage device and includes non-volatile storage devices such as hard disk drives (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD). The storage 2003 stores programs executed by the processor 2001, setting data necessary for executing the programs, and the like. Part of the program may be stored in ROM.

The processor 2001 can implement the processing functions described later by reading a program from the storage 2003, expanding it in the memory 2002, and interpreting and executing the expanded program.

A communication interface (communication I/F) 2004 is a module for communicating with an external device such as the user terminal 100 via the network NW, and includes a signal processing circuit for transmission and reception, an optical connector, and the like. Communication interface 2004 may include, for example, an optical communication module.

An input/output interface (input/output I/F) 2005 captures operation data input by an operator through an input device such as a keyboard or mouse, and outputs output data to an output device such as a liquid crystal or organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display or speaker. Output.

(2-2-2) User Terminal As shown in FIG. 1, the user terminal 100 includes, as hardware, a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a sensor 1004, and a communication interface (communication I/F) 1005. , an input/output interface (input/output I/F) 1006 , and a touch screen 1007 , which are electrically connected to each other via a bus 1008 .

A processor 1001 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 100 . The processor 1001 includes, for example, general-purpose processors such as CPU, MPU, and GPU. The processor 1001 is also not limited to a general-purpose processor, and may be a dedicated processor such as ASIC or FPGA.

The processor 1001 reads a program from the storage 1003, expands it in the memory 1002, and interprets and executes the expanded program, thereby realizing processing functions to be described later.

A memory 1002 is a main storage device and includes ROM, RAM, and the like.

The storage 1003 is an auxiliary storage device and includes internal or external semiconductor memory (for example, flash memory). The storage 1003 stores programs executed by the processor 1001, setting data necessary for executing the programs, and the like. Part of the program may be stored in ROM.

The sensor 1004 is, for example, an image sensor, sound sensor, acceleration sensor, angular velocity sensor, geomagnetic sensor, GPS sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, or the like. The sensor 1004 converts various sensed information into electrical signals and outputs them.

A communication interface (communication I/F) 1005 is a module for communicating with an external device such as the server 200 via the network NW, and includes a signal processing circuit for transmission/reception, an antenna, a LAN terminal, and the like. The communication interface 1005 can include a module for mobile communication, a module for wireless/wired LAN, a module for short-range wireless communication, and the like.

An input/output interface (input/output I/F) 1006 takes in input data from an external device and outputs output data to the external device. The input/output interface 1006 can include, for example, physical buttons of the user terminal 100, a speaker built into the user terminal 100, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, and the like.

The touch screen 1007 includes an input unit 1071 and a display unit 1072, and has functions of receiving user input operations and displaying various images to the user.

The input unit 1071 is, for example, a capacitive or resistive touch panel. The input unit 1071 detects a contact position touched by a user's finger or a touch pen (stylus pen), and generates coordinate information of the contact position.

The display unit 1072 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display, and displays various images based on display data. The display unit 1072 realizes a game screen by displaying a game image.

The user terminal 100 can also accept user operations from external input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and controller connected via the input/output interface 1006 . The user terminal 100 may acquire game programs and related data from an external storage device such as a memory card connected via the input/output interface 1006 . The user terminal 100 can also output display information to an external output device such as a display or speaker connected via the input/output interface 1006 . The user terminal 100 may use an external storage device such as a memory card connected via the input/output interface 1006 as the storage 1003 . User terminal 100 may also accept a signal from sensor 1004 as a user operation.

(2-3) Functional Configuration (2-3-1) Server FIG. 2 shows an example of the functional configuration of the server 200 in the game system 1 shown in FIG. Illustrations and descriptions of the functional configuration of a general computer and the well-known configuration required to realize the game are omitted.

The server 200 has a function of communicating with each user terminal 100 and supporting the progress of the game on the user terminal 100 . For example, the server 200 has a function of transmitting a game program, related data necessary for executing the game program, etc. to each user terminal 100 in response to a request from each user terminal 100 .
The server 200 includes a control section 210 and a storage section 220 .

Storage unit 220 is mainly implemented by storage 2003 . The storage unit 220 includes a game program storage unit 221 , a game information storage unit 222 and a user information database (DB) 223 .

The game program storage unit 221 stores game programs.

The game information storage unit 222 stores various game information referred to when executing the game program.

The user information database (DB) 223 is a database that stores information about users associated with each user terminal 100, and stores user account information, for example.

Control unit 210 is mainly implemented by processor 2001 and memory 2002 . The control unit 210 controls the functions of the server 200 as a whole. Control unit 210 can function as reception control unit 211 , transmission control unit 212 and game progression unit 213 by executing the game program stored in game program storage unit 221 .

The reception control unit 211 receives, from each user terminal 100, a transmission request for user information, a program or related data, information regarding the progress of the game in each user terminal 100, and the like.

The transmission control unit 212 transmits the requested program or related data, updated program, or the like to each user terminal 100 . The transmission control unit 212 can also request each user terminal 100 to transmit information about the progress of the game.

The game progress unit 213 refers to the game information stored in the game information storage unit 222 and the account information stored in the user information database 223 according to the code described in the game program, and determines the progress of the game on each user terminal 100. to manage. The game progression unit 213 can also determine whether information collection from each user terminal 100 is necessary and whether data transmission to each user terminal 100 is necessary.

For example, the control unit 210 receives a game program transmission request from the user terminal 100 by the reception control unit 211, determines the game program and related data to be transmitted to the user terminal 100 by the game progress unit 213, and controls transmission. The determined game program and related data are transmitted to the user terminal 100 by the unit 212 .

(2-3-2) User Terminal FIG. 3 shows an example of the functional configuration of the user terminal 100 that can be used in the game system 1 shown in FIG. Illustrations and descriptions of the functional configuration of a general computer and the well-known configuration required to realize the game are omitted.

User terminal 100 includes a control unit 110 and a storage unit 120 .
The storage unit 120 is mainly implemented by the storage 1003 . Storage unit 120 includes game program storage unit 121 , game information storage unit 122 , and skill information storage unit 123 .

The game program storage unit 121 stores game programs.

The game information storage unit 122 stores various game information referred to when executing the game program. The game information includes, for example, setting values of various objects arranged in the game space, various other information related to the game space, and the like.

The skill information storage unit 123 stores various information regarding skills. The skill information storage unit 123 stores, for example, an allocation table, a skill detail table, a retained skill table, and an effect table. The assignment table includes information indicating correspondence between operations and skills assigned to the operations. The skill detail table includes skill setting information such as skill names, operations to which skills can be assigned, descriptions of skills, activation conditions, and the like. The possessed skill table includes information representing the skill possessed by each character and its level. The effect table contains information that specifies, by level, the effects when each skill is activated. The skill information storage unit 123 further includes information specifying special effects to be added to skill activation when both the player character and the monster possess skills.

Control unit 110 is mainly implemented by processor 1001 and memory 1002 . The control unit 110 controls the functions of the user terminal 100 as a whole. By executing the game program stored in the game program storage unit 121, the control unit 110 controls the game progression unit 111, the object control unit 112, the display control unit 113, the operation reception unit 114, the skill allocation unit 115, and the skill activation unit. 116.

The game progression unit 111 refers to the game information stored in the game information storage unit 122 according to the code described in the game program, arranges objects in the game space, and progresses the game. The game progression unit 111 can reflect a user's instruction specified from a user's operation received from the operation reception unit 114, which will be described later, in the progress of the game.

The object control section 112 controls the actions and statuses of various objects placed in the game space. The object control unit 112 allows the player character and the monster to be operated integrally. The object control unit 112 can integrally operate a plurality of characters including a player character and a monster. The object control unit 112 causes the operation character (a plurality of characters that are integrally operable) to act according to the user's operation. The user can move the playable character or cause the playable character to perform an action by inputting an operation to the input unit 1071 .

Display control unit 113 generates display data for displaying an image on display unit 1072 . Images may include moving images or still images. The display data generated by the display control unit 113 includes display data for displaying an image of the game space, for example, an image from a virtual camera (not shown) arranged in the game space. The virtual camera includes a virtual camera set to track or track the playable character and a virtual camera fixed in the game space. The display data generated by the display control unit 113 also includes display data for displaying images of UI (User Interface) components. For example, the display control unit 113 can generate display data for superimposing a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image of a UI component on a three-dimensional image representing a game space. The display control unit 113 can also control the position, zoom, tilt, focus, angle of view, magnification, etc. of the virtual camera according to the user's operation.

The operation accepting unit 114 accepts a user's operation input via the input unit 1071 . Hereinafter, the expression “user's operation” refers to the user's operation input via the input unit 1071 . User operations include various types of operations via the input unit 1071, such as tap operations, long press operations, flick operations, and swipe operations. A tap operation is an example of an operation in which one contact position is detected on the input unit 1071 and is not detected within a predetermined time. A tap operation is input by, for example, the user lightly touching the touch screen with a fingertip and releasing it immediately. A long press operation is an example of an operation in which a contact position is detected at one point on the input unit 1071, and the contact continues for a predetermined time or longer and is detected within a predetermined range. A flick operation is an example of an operation of moving a single contact position on the input unit 1071 in a short period of time in chronological order. A flick operation is input by, for example, the user touching the touch screen with a fingertip and lightly flicking the finger in an arbitrary direction while touching the touch screen. A swipe operation is an example of an operation of moving a single contact position on the input unit 1071 in time series in a longer period of time than a flick operation. A swipe operation is input by, for example, the user touching the touch screen with a fingertip and moving the finger in an arbitrary direction while touching the touch screen. A flick operation and a swipe operation may be interchanged without distinction.

The operation accepting unit 114 can determine the type of user's operation and the direction of the operation. The type and direction of user manipulation may be determined by known methods. The operation reception unit 114 can detect the start of the user's operation based on the detection of the contact position by the input unit 1071 . The operation reception unit 114 can detect the end of the user's operation based on the transition from detection of the contact position by the input unit 1071 to non-detection. The operation reception unit 114 continuously acquires coordinate information from the input unit 1071 from the contact position (start position) corresponding to the start of the user's operation to the contact position (end position) corresponding to the end of the user's operation, A direction of user manipulation may be determined. The operation reception unit 114 can determine flick operations in four directions, for example, up, down, left, and right. The direction of the operation is determined based on, for example, the top-bottom direction of the game image (game screen) displayed on the display unit 1072 . Further, the operation reception unit 114 can determine the type of user's operation based on the contact position, contact time, or movement distance. The operation reception unit 114 can also determine the effectiveness of the user's operation based on the contact position, contact time, or movement distance. The type of user's operation includes information indicating the target of the user's operation. For example, the types of user operations include a flick operation for activating the skill of the playable character, a swipe operation for moving the playable character, a tap operation for selecting a specific UI component, and the like.

The skill assigning unit 115 has a function of assigning (activating) a skill possessed by a player character or a monster to an arbitrary operation according to a user's selection. Operations include flick operations. Manipulation may also include a long press, tap, swipe, or any other touch manipulation. The skill assignment unit 115 can also assign different skills to each of a plurality of operation directions (for example, each direction of flick operation). The skill assignment unit 115 manages correspondence between operations and skills assigned to the operations using the assignment table.

The skill activation unit 116 has a function of receiving a user's operation and activating a skill corresponding to the received user's operation. The skill activation unit 116 identifies the skill to be activated by referring to the allocation table based on the type of user's operation and the direction of the operation determined by the operation reception unit 114 . The skill activation unit 116 also identifies the skill level to be activated based on the information stored in the skill information storage unit 123 . In general, the higher the skill level, the greater the effect when the skill is activated. The skill activation unit 116 also determines whether or not special effects need to be added. Furthermore, the skill activation unit 116 calculates various parameters related to skill activation, and updates the parameters of each character as an effect of skill activation.

(3) Operation Next, the information processing operation of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. 3 will be described.
Processing of the user terminal 100 generally includes processing related to skill activation and processing related to skill assignment.

(3-1) Processing Related to Skill Activation First, processing related to skill activation will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 10. FIG.
When receiving an operation for activating a skill, the user terminal 100 can activate the skill corresponding to the operation. In the following description, as an example, the operation for activating the skill includes flicking operations in four directions (up, down, left, and right). Also, hereinafter, a skill assigned to a flick operation or a skill activated by a flick operation is also referred to as a "flick skill".

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing related to skill activation among the processing of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG.
As a premise for the subsequent processing, it is assumed that the control unit 110 and the storage unit 120 of the user terminal 100 cooperate to advance the game according to the code described in the game program and generate the display data. The game progression unit 111 arranges various objects in the game space (field). Also, it is assumed that a skill is assigned to at least one directional flick operation, and that correspondence is stored in the assignment table.

In step S1, the control unit 110 allows the object control unit 112 to integrally operate a plurality of characters including a player character and a monster. Here, the object control unit 112 enables the player character and the monster to be integrally operated as an integral operating character in which the player character rides the monster.

In step S2, when an operation is input via input unit 1071 and the operation is received by operation receiving unit 114, control unit 110 determines whether the operation is an operation for activating a skill or not. Determine if it is an operation. In one embodiment, when the operation reception unit 114 receives a flick operation in a predetermined area within the game image displayed on the touch screen 1007, the control unit 110 causes the received operation to activate a skill ( skill activation operation). If the received operation is determined to be a skill activation operation (“skill activation operation”), control unit 110 passes the direction of the flick operation determined by operation reception unit 114 to skill activation unit 116, and processing proceeds to step S3. proceed to If it is determined that an operation outside the predetermined area has been received or if it is determined that the operation is not a flick operation (“other than skill activation operation”), the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S<b>3 , control unit 110 determines whether or not there is a skill assigned to the accepted operation by skill activation unit 116 based on the assignment table stored in skill information storage unit 123 . If there is no skill assigned to the direction of the received flick operation (NO), control unit 110 ends the process. At this time, an error message or the like indicating that there is no skill assigned to the operation may be displayed. If there are skills assigned (YES), the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the control unit 110 causes the skill activation unit 116 to activate the skill corresponding to the operation. Details of step S4 will be described later with reference to FIG.

On the other hand, in step S5, the control unit 110 cooperates with the game progression unit 111, the object control unit 112, or the display control unit 113 to execute an action corresponding to the received operation. Operations other than the skill activation operation can be associated with arbitrary actions in advance by the game designer. For example, when the received operation is a flick operation or swipe operation outside a predetermined area, control unit 110 moves the operated character within the field. For example, when the received operation is a long press operation outside the predetermined area, the control unit 110 displays the status information of the playable character. For example, when the received operation is a tap operation within a predetermined area, the control unit 110 pauses the progress of the game. If no action corresponding to the accepted operation has been set in advance, the game progression unit 111 may ignore the operation or display an error message or the like.

FIG. 6 is an example of a game image related to skill activation provided by the game program. Game image 10 is displayed on display unit 1072 . A game image 10 includes a player character 11 , a monster 12 , an effect 13 , a status gauge 14 and a predetermined area 20 .

The player character 11 is expressed as a human character as an example. The monster 12 is represented as a fictitious creature character. In the game image 10, the player character 11 is mounted on the monster 12 and receives an operation from the user as an integrated operating character.

An effect 13 is an example of an effect image displayed when the skill is activated. In FIG. 6, the effect 13 is expressed as light around the playable character.

The status gauge 14 is a UI component that indicates the status of the playable character. The status gauge 14 indicates in real time the increase/decrease in HP (hit points) and SP (skill points) of the operating character. HP is a numerical representation of the amount of damage that an operating character can withstand, and can also be called physical strength. For example, if the playable character receives damage from an enemy character's attack, the HP decreases, and when the HP reaches 0, the playable character becomes inoperable. SP is a numerical representation of the ability of an operating character to activate a skill, and is consumed when the skill is activated. For example, it is set such that SP decreases when the operating character activates a skill, and SP recovers (increases) when the enemy character is damaged by a normal attack other than the skill. Here, HP and SP are set as shared statuses for the player character and monsters.

The predetermined area 20 is an example of an area that receives an input of skill activation operation. A flick operation detected within the predetermined area 20 is accepted as a skill activation operation (“skill activation operation” in step S2 of FIG. 4). As an example, when both the start position and the end position of the flick operation are detected within the predetermined area 20, the operation accepting unit 114 accepts the flick operation as a valid flick operation for activating the skill.

The predetermined area 20 is arranged on the right side of the game image 10 so that the user can input a skill activation operation with the right hand (for example, the right thumb) while holding the longitudinal end of the user terminal 100 sideways. be. In this case, the user can, for example, input a skill activation operation with the right thumb and input other operations (such as movement) with the left thumb. However, the predetermined area 20 is not limited to this, and may be arranged on the left side in the game image 10 or may be an area covering the entire game image 10 . The position and size of the predetermined area 20 may be designed to change as the game progresses. The predetermined area 20 may be displayed so as to be visible to the user, or may be invisible to the user. Needless to say, the user's operation is not limited to the thumb, and may be input with any finger.

FIG. 6 also shows the user's hand 30 , the starting position 21 of the flicking operation, and the flicking operation 22 . The illustrated flick operation 22 is accepted as an upward flick operation. The start position 21 and the flick operation 22 are illustrated for convenience of explanation and are not displayed in the game image 10 . Also, the user's operation is not limited to the index finger.

In one embodiment, when the start of operation input is detected, the input operation is treated as a skill activation operation without displaying the operation direction to which the skill is assigned or a guide UI that guides the assigned skill. I am trying to accept it. This simplifies the game image, enhances the user's sense of immersion, and reduces the processing load on the processor 1001 . Alternatively, images such as the start position 21 and the flick operation 22 may be displayed in the game image as effects. For example, an image showing the trajectory of the operation such as the flick operation 22 may be superimposed and displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an allocation table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. As shown in FIG. The assignment table in FIG. 7 includes flick operations in four directions (up, left, right, down) and skill IDs and skill names assigned to each of them. In FIG. 7, for convenience of explanation, flick operations in four directions are shown graphically. The skill ID is unique identification information (identification/identifier) and links skills between multiple tables. The skill name is presented to the user, for example, in order to identify the skill in a game image (game screen). In Figure 7, the skill "jump" is assigned to the upward flick operation, the skill "fire" is assigned to the left direction, and no skill is assigned to the right direction (NA: Not available / Not applicable ), and “Stomp” is assigned downward. The allocation table was designed by the game designer. Alternatively, the allocation table has the allocations changed or set by the user as described below. A skill assigned to an operation in the assignment table is a skill possessed by at least one of the player character, which is the operating character, or a monster.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a skill detail table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. As shown in FIG. The skill detail table is arbitrarily designed by the game designer and contains setting information for each skill in the game. In this example, the skill detail table includes information on skill ID, skill name, assignable direction, skill description, consumption SP and special consumption SP.

The assignable direction is an example of information designating an operation to which a skill can be assigned. In this example, each skill can be assigned to any one of the four directions of flicking. For example, the skill "jump" can be assigned to an upward flick operation. The skill "Attack" can also be assigned to the upward flick operation. The skill "fire" can be assigned to the left flick operation. The skill "Thunder" can be assigned to the flick operation in the right direction. The skill "Stomp" can be assigned to a downward flick operation.

The skill description includes character information that briefly describes the skill, and can be presented to the user in the game image. A skill description may include a description of the effects when the skill is invoked. The skill description may be parameters defining attack power and attack range.

Consumed SP indicates the SP required for activating a skill, and is set for each skill. When the skill is activated, the SP possessed by the operating character as shown in the status gauge 14 of FIG. 6 is consumed. If the consumed SP is greater than the SP possessed by the operating character, the skill cannot be activated. Therefore, SP consumption is one of the skill activation conditions. Here, the consumption SP of the skill "jump" is set to 20, and the consumption SP of the skill "attack" is set to 15. Note that the consumed SP does not depend on the skill level here.

Special consumption SP can be used instead of consumption SP as a special effect when both the player character and the monster have a specific skill. Here, the special consumption SP is set to a value smaller than the consumption SP, and is set so that activation conditions for skills possessed by both the player character and the monster are relaxed.

FIG. 5 shows details of the skill activation process in step S4 among the processes shown in FIG.
In step S401, the skill activation unit 116 determines whether or not to retain the skill assigned to the operation based on the player character's skill table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. reads that level.
In step S402, the skill activation unit 116 determines whether or not to retain the skill assigned to the operation based on the monster character retention skill table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. reads that level.
Steps S401 and S402 may be executed in a different order, or may be executed concurrently.

9A and 9B show an example of a retained skill table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. FIG. The possessed skill table includes information of skills possessed by each character (skills associated with each character). The skill information may include skill ID, skill name and skill level. The number or types of skills possessed by each character can change as the game progresses. For example, each character can be designed to acquire new skills when predetermined conditions such as an increase in experience points are met. The number or types of skills possessed by each character may be fixed. Skill levels may also change as the game progresses for each character and skill. For example, the skill level can be designed so that the value increases when predetermined conditions such as the passage of time and the frequency of use of the skill are met. The skill level may be a fixed value.

FIG. 9A shows an example of a retained skill table for a specific player character (player character A). The player character A has the skills "jump", "fire", etc., and has a level 1 for "jump" and a level 2 for "fire".
FIG. 9B shows an example of a retained skill table for a specific monster (monster B). Monster B has the skills "jump", "stomp", etc., and the level of "jump" is 3 and the level of "stomp" is 1.

The skill information storage unit 123 can store a retained skill table as shown in FIG. 9A or 9B for each character. For example, when a user can have multiple player characters and multiple monsters in a game, if there are three player characters and five monsters, a total of eight possessed skill tables can be stored.

When the skill to be activated is "jump", using the example of FIGS. 9A and 9B, in step S401 the player character (player character A) holds the skill "jump" and its level is "1". At step S402, the monster (monster B) has the skill "jump" and its level is "3".

In step S403, the skill activation unit 116 determines whether or not both the player character and the monster possess the skill. If both are held (YES), the process proceeds to step S404, and if only one of them is held (NO), the process proceeds to step S405. In the above example, both the player character and the monster possess the skill "jump", so the process proceeds to step S404.

In step S404, the skill activation unit 116 reads information designating a special effect from the skill information storage unit 123, and prepares to add the special effect to the skill activation. A special effect is an effect that is added when both the player character and the monster possess the activated skill. By adding a special effect, when both the player character and the monster have a certain skill, the skill is activated in a different manner than when only one of the player character or the monster has the skill.

A first example of a special effect is to activate a skill at a level higher than the skill level possessed by either the player character or the monster. In this case, for example, the skill activation unit 116 reads, from the skill information storage unit 123, specification information indicating that a level higher than the skill level possessed by the player character or monster by a value M (M>0) is adopted as the activation level. . Taking the example of the skill "jump", the skill activation unit 116 sets the level "1+M (for example, 2, 3, 4, etc.)" higher than the player character's level "1", or the monster's level "3". A higher level "3+M (eg, 4, 5, 6, etc.)" is adopted as the activation level. The activation level is not limited to an integer, and may be a decimal number such as "2.5" or "3.2".

A second example of the special effect is to activate the skill at the total level of the skill level possessed by the player character and the skill level possessed by the monster. In this case, for example, the skill activation unit 116 reads, from the skill information storage unit 123, specification information indicating that the total level of the player character and the monster is to be used as the activation level. In the example of the skill "jump", the skill activation unit 116 adopts the total level "4" (1+3=4), which is the sum of the player character's level "1" and the monster's level "3", as the activation level. .

A third example of a special effect is that the skill can be activated under more relaxed conditions. In this case, for example, the skill activation unit 116 reads, from the skill information storage unit 123, designation information indicating that the special consumption SP is to be used instead of the consumption SP. For example, in the case of the skill "jump", the special consumption SP "12" is adopted instead of the consumption SP "20".

A fourth example of the special effect is to add a special effect to the game scene related to skill activation. In this case, for example, the skill activation unit 116 reads information designating a special effect to be added when the skill is activated from the skill information storage unit 123 . A special effect can be added to the normal effect (for example, effect 13 in FIG. 6) when the skill is activated. Special effects include, for example, visual effects on game images such as changes in color and light of characters to be operated, changes in color and light in attack animations, wind noise, explosion sounds, melodies, and other sound effects. Includes auditory effects output with images or vibration effects. A special presentation may be a combination of these.

A fifth example of a special effect is to change the range or influence of skill activation. In this case, for example, the skill activation unit 116 reads information designating the influence range or influence of skill activation from the skill information storage unit 123 . For example, the special effect expands attack range or attack power by a predetermined factor. The special effect may change the skill attribute, such as changing the fire attribute to the water attribute. Alternatively, the special effect may include other effects related to a battle scene with the enemy character, such as an effect of recovering HP, an effect of making the enemy character stand still for a certain period of time, an effect of making the operating character invincible for a certain period of time, and the like.

Due to such special effects, even with the same skill at the same level, the situation where both the player character and the monster possess the skill is compared to the case where only one of the player character or the monster possesses the skill. is activated in a different manner. The above special effects may be employed in combination. The contents, set values, combinations, etc. of the special effects may be arbitrarily set by the game designer.

In step S405, the skill activation unit 116 calculates various parameters related to skill activation. Activation of a skill affects the status parameters of the operating character who activates the skill or surrounding enemy characters.

As an example, the skill activation unit 116 first acquires the SP consumption value of the skill to be activated based on the skill detail table stored in the skill information storage unit 123 . The skill activation unit 116 also cooperates with the object control unit 112 to acquire the SP value possessed by the playable character and compare it with the consumed SP value. If the SP consumption value of the skill is greater than the SP value owned by the operating character, the activation condition is not satisfied, so the skill activation unit 116 does not activate the skill. In this case, in cooperation with the display control unit 113, a message such as "SP shortage" may be displayed. When the value of the SP consumed by the skill is smaller than the SP value owned by the playable character, the skill activation unit 116 subtracts the SP consumed from the SP value owned by the playable character. In addition, when special consumption SP is adopted as a special effect, "consumption SP" is read as "special consumption SP."

If the activation condition is satisfied, the skill activation unit 116 further extracts information (for example, attack power, attack range, information about resilience, special effects, etc.). Based on the read information, the skill activation unit 116 determines how much the physical strength parameter of the enemy character within the attack range should be reduced and how much the physical strength parameter of the operating character should be reduced using, for example, a preset calculation formula. Calculate whether to recover or not. The skill activation unit 116 passes the calculated parameters to the game progression unit 111 and the object control unit 112 to update various statuses of the operating character and the enemy character.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an effect table stored in the skill information storage unit 123. As shown in FIG.
The effect table contains information that specifies the effects when a skill is activated for each level. The effects table was arbitrarily designed by the game designer. FIG. 10 illustrates the effects of skills "jump" and "fire" among a wide variety of skills. "Level" means "total level" when the levels of player characters and monsters are added together.

In FIG. 10, for each level, the attack power is specified numerically, and the attack range is specified as a grid-shaped area (black indicates the position of the playable character, and hatching indicates the attack range). Each skill is set so that the higher the level, the greater the effect. For example, the skill "Jump" increases in attack power and attack range as its level increases. "Jump" at level 1 has an attack power of 10 and an attack range of one block in front of the operating character. "Jump" of level 2 has an attack power of 12 and an attack range of 8 blocks in front of and on both sides of the operated character. "Jump" at level 3 has an attack power of 15 and an attack range of 24 blocks in front of and on both sides of the operated character. The skill activation unit 116 can use such values for parameter calculation in step S405. That is, as a special effect, if the skill is activated at a higher level or total level, it can have a stronger impact and the user can progress the game more advantageously.

The effect table may also contain setting information such that when the level reaches a threshold N, the effect of the skill becomes stronger.
As an example, FIG. 10 shows that when level N is reached, a special skill (described as “special” in the figure) is activated. Special skills are, for example, those that make the effect more powerful without changing the nature of the effect by activating the skill (first special skill), or those that produce new effects that did not exist before reaching level N (second special skills), etc. For example, level N "Jump" has an attack power of 100, and as a special skill, it can also attack enemies behind it. This is an example of a first special skill where the nature of the effect remains the same but the effect becomes more powerful. On the other hand, the level 1 skill "fire" has an attack power of 10 and an attack range of 11 blocks around the operated character. Level 2 skill "Fire" increases attack power to 20 without changing attack range. Level N "Fire" has an attack power of 300, expands the attack range, and has the effect of becoming invincible for a certain period of time after attacking as a special skill. This is an example of a second special skill that produces new effects that were not there before reaching level N.

A special skill may be activated only when both the player character and the monster possess the skill. In this case, the special skill can be said to be an example of the special effect described above.

In step S406, the skill activation unit 116 cooperates with the game progression unit 111 and the display control unit 113 to generate display data for displaying an image related to activation of the skill, and causes the display data to be displayed. The image related to skill activation includes an image of the player character riding a monster and activating a skill possessed by the player character or the monster. The image related to skill activation also includes, for example, the effect 13 shown in the game image 10 of FIG. As an example of the above special effects, the number of effects 13 may be increased or the color of the effects 13 may be changed. Activation of the skill may be expressed as the player character 11 executing the skill, the monster 12 executing the skill, or both of them executing the skill. For example, an image of fire blowing out from the tip of the sword held by the player character 11, or an image of fire blowing out from the mouth of the monster 12, or both of them may be used to express the activation of the skill "fire".

(3-2) Processing Related to Skill Assignment Next, processing related to skill assignment will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 16. FIG.
The user terminal 100 can assign a skill to any operation according to the user's selection. In the following description, it is assumed that an operation for activating a skill (an operation to which a skill can be assigned) is a flick operation in the four directions of up, down, left, and right. In the following description, it is assumed that the total level obtained by summing the levels is used as a special effect added when both the player character and the monster have skills.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of processing related to skill assignment among the processing of the user terminal 100 shown in FIG. For the subsequent processing, it is assumed that the control unit 110 and the storage unit 120 of the user terminal 100 cooperate to progress the game according to the code described in the game program and to generate the display data.

In step S<b>11 , the control unit 110 determines whether or not the operation reception unit 114 has received an instruction for skill allocation processing during the progress of the game. An instruction for skill assignment processing is accepted as an operation by the user to tap a specific UI button in a game image showing an arbitrary game scene, such as a field scene. The skill allocation process can be started at any time when the user wants to check the allocation status or change the allocation during game start or during game progress. If the instruction is not accepted (NO), the game continues to progress, and if the instruction for skill allocation processing is accepted (YES), the process proceeds to step S12.

In step S<b>12 , control unit 110 causes display control unit 113 to generate display data for displaying a game image showing the skill allocation status, and causes display unit 1072 to display the generated data. Display control unit 113 generates display data based on the skill detail table stored in skill information storage unit 123 . As shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that each skill has an assignable direction set in advance, and one skill can be assigned to each direction. In the example of FIG. 8, either "jump" or "attack" can be assigned to the upward flick operation. Skills may include skills that are pre-assigned to trigger actions by the game designer and cannot be re-assigned by the user. Each skill may have multiple allocatable directions, or may have only one allocatable direction, limiting the allocatable directions for each skill. .

FIG. 14 is an example of a game image showing the skill allocation status displayed in step S12. A game image 50 is displayed on the display unit 1072 of the user terminal 100 . Game image 50 includes scene title 51 , return button 52 , and table 53 .
The scene title 51 includes the words "flick skill assignment" to indicate that the current display is for flick skill assignment.

The return button 52 is an example of a user selectable UI component (operation button). The return button 52 has a so-called "return" function. When the return button 52 is selected by a tap operation or the like, the game image 50 is switched to the image displayed immediately before (for example, a game image showing a field scene).

Table 53 shows a list of skill assignment statuses. The table 53 is generated based on the latest held skill table and allocation table each time the game image 50 is displayed. This example assumes that a skill has already been assigned to each direction of the flick operation. As in the assignment table of FIG. 7, "jump" is assigned to the flick direction "up", "fire" is assigned to the flick direction "left", and "stomp" is assigned to the flick direction "down". In the flick direction "right", text information "skill is not held" is displayed. This indicates that the monster or player character does not possess a skill that can be assigned to the flick direction "right" and no skill has been assigned. In this example, in addition to the up, down, left, and right flick directions, a long press operation (hatched center circle) is also displayed as shown in the bottom row. This is based on the assumption that the long press operation is assigned the skill "dive" by default, and that the assignment cannot be changed by the user.

Table 53 also includes, for each skill, the level of the player character (simply "player" in the figure) and the level of the monster. As shown in the possessed skill tables of FIGS. 9A and 9B, each character has a level for each skill possessed. Table 53 also contains the total level obtained by adding the player character's level and the monster's level. The skill "jump" assigned to the upward flick operation is "level 1" for the player character, "level 3" for the monster, and the total is "level 4" (4=1+3). On the other hand, the skill "fire" assigned to the flick operation in the left direction is "level 2" for the player character, "none" for the monster (the monster does not have the "fire" skill), and the total is "level 2” (2=2+0). In this way, the total level of a skill that is not possessed by either the player character or the monster is calculated assuming that level to be zero (0). The table 53 may display "level 0" instead of "none".

Table 53 also includes detail button 54 and change button 55 .
The details button 54 is an example of a UI component selectable by the user. One detail button 54 is arranged for each flick skill displayed in the table 53 . When the detail button 54 is selected, the display control unit 113 displays a game image (skill detail image) showing detailed information of each skill, which will be described later.

The change button 55 is also an example of a user-selectable UI component. One change button 55 is arranged for each skill, among the flick skills displayed in the table 53, for which the user can change the assignment. When the change button 55 is selected, the display control unit 113 displays a game image for skill change (skill change image) that allows the skill assignment to be changed, which will be described later.

For example, by displaying an image showing the skill assignment status as shown in FIG. 14, the user can confirm which skill is currently assigned to what kind of operation. Further, the user selects the return button 52 if he/she wants to finish checking the assignment status, selects the details button 54 if he wants to check the details of the skill, or presses the change button 55 if he/she wants to change the skill assignment. can be selected.

Even when the user assigns skills for the first time (initial assignment), the user can assign skills to operations by selecting the change button 55 from the image showing the skill assignment situation as shown in FIG. Upon initial assignment, each flick direction may be provisionally assigned a default skill, or all flick directions may not be assigned a skill. If no skill is assigned to any flick direction, in the example of FIG. 14, the words "skill not assigned" and a change button 55 can be displayed in the line for that flick direction.

In step S13 of FIG. 11, the control unit 110 determines whether or not the operation receiving unit 114 has received a predetermined operation on the game image showing the skill allocation status. The predetermined operation includes an operation of switching the image showing the skill allocation status to another image. Here, it is assumed that the predetermined operation is an operation of selecting any of the return button 52, detail button 54, or change button 55 in FIG. If the predetermined operation is not accepted (NO), the image showing the skill allocation status is maintained, and if the predetermined operation is accepted (YES), the process proceeds to step S14.

In step S<b>14 , control unit 110 determines the content of the received predetermined operation by operation receiving unit 114 . Here, the content of the operation is either "return", "details" or "change". If "return", the process proceeds to step S15, if "details", the process proceeds to step S16, and if "change", the process proceeds to step S17.
In step S15, control unit 110 causes display control unit 113 to display the image that was displayed immediately before the image of the skill allocation situation.
In step S<b>16 , the control unit 110 mainly uses the display control unit 113 to perform skill detail display processing, which will be described later.
In step S<b>17 , the control unit 110 mainly uses the skill allocation unit 115 to perform skill change processing, which will be described later.

FIG. 12 shows details of the skill detail display process of step S16 among the processes shown in FIG.
In step S<b>1601 , the display control unit 113 acquires detailed information on the selected skill from the skill detail table stored in the skill information storage unit 123 . For example, in FIG. 14, when the detail button 54 in the row of the skill "jump" (upward flick operation) is pressed, the display control unit 113 retrieves the details of the skill "jump" from the skill detail table shown in FIG. information.

In step S<b>1602 , the display control unit 113 generates and displays a detailed skill image showing skill information based on the acquired information.

FIG. 15 is an example of a detailed skill image displayed in step S1602. The game image 60 can be displayed on the display unit 1072 of the user terminal 100. FIG. A game image 60 is an example of an image when the detail button 54 in the row of the skill "jump" in FIG. Includes button 66 and back button 67 .

The scene title 61 includes the characters "skill details", and the currently displayed image is the skill detail image (in this example, the image displayed as a result of pressing the detail button 54 in the image 50 showing the skill allocation status). ).

A flick direction 62 indicates a flick direction to which a skill can be assigned. The skill name 63 indicates the name of the skill ("jump" in this example). The SP information 64 indicates information on consumption SPs and special consumption SPs. Description 65 includes a description of the skill. The switch button 66 has a function of switching the game image 60 to a detailed skill image related to the next flick skill displayed in the previous skill allocation situation image 50 . In this example, when the switch button 66 is selected, the game image 60 is switched to an image showing detailed information on the skill "fire" displayed in the row immediately below the skill "jump" in FIG. .

Back button 67 provides a "back" function similar to back button 52 of FIG. In this example, when the return button 67 is selected, the game image 60 is switched to the skill allocation situation image 50 that was displayed immediately before.

In step S1603, the operation accepting unit 114 determines whether or not a predetermined operation has been accepted on the detailed skill image. The predetermined operation includes an operation of switching the detailed skill image to another image. Here, it is assumed that the predetermined operation is an operation of selecting either the switch button 66 or the return button 67 in relation to the example of FIG. If the predetermined operation has not been accepted (NO), the skill detailed image is maintained, and if the predetermined operation has been accepted (YES), the process proceeds to step S1604.

In step S1604, the operation reception unit 114 determines the content of the received predetermined operation. Here, the content of the operation is either "switch" or "return". In the case of "switch", the process proceeds to step S1605, and in the case of "return", the skill detail display process is exited, and the process proceeds from step S16 to step S12 in FIG. In step S12, the display control unit 113 displays the allocation status again.

In step S1605, the display control unit 113 selects the next skill (for example, the lower row) in the allocation status display image as the target. Thereafter, the process returns to step S1601, acquires information on the next skill (S1601), generates a new detailed skill image based on the acquired display, and displays it.

FIG. 13 shows details of the skill change process in step S17 of the process shown in FIG. The skill change process is a process that makes it possible to assign a skill to each direction of the flick operation according to the user's selection. The skill change process can also be called an assignment process or a setting process, and includes an initial setting process in which the user assigns a skill to a flick operation for the first time.

In step S1701, the operation accepting unit 114 identifies the flick direction selected for skill change. The selected flick direction is determined by which change button 55 is selected in the example of FIG. 14 . For example, when the change button 55 in the line of the skill “jump” assigned to the upward flick operation is pressed, the operation receiving unit 114 identifies that the upward flick operation has been selected. The operation accepting unit 114 passes information representing the identified flick direction to the skill assigning unit 115 .

In step S1702, the skill assigning unit 115 selects all the skills possessed by the player character that can be assigned to the selected flicking direction from the possessed skill table stored in the skill information storage unit 123, and their respective levels. and get.
In step S1703, the skill assigning unit 115 selects all the skills possessed by the monster that can be assigned in the selected flick direction from the possessed skill table stored in the skill information storage unit 123, and their respective levels and to get
Needless to say, steps S1702 and S1703 may be executed in a different order, or may be executed concurrently.

Next, in step S1704, the skill allocation unit 115 calculates the total level of each skill based on the information acquired in steps S1702 and S1703. More specifically, the skill assigning unit 115 first generates a union of skills possessed by the player character and skills possessed by the monster, which can be assigned in the selected flick direction. A union is a set of skills possessed by at least one of the player character or the monster. Then, the skill allocation unit 115 sums the player character's level and the monster's level for each of the skills included in the union to calculate the total level.

In step S1705, the display control unit 113 displays a game image for skill change (skill change image). The skill change image can also be rephrased as a setting image for setting skill allocation. In one embodiment, the skill change image includes a flick operation direction, skill information that can be assigned to the flick operation direction, a skill level possessed by the player character, and a skill level possessed by the monster.

FIG. 16 is an example of a skill change image or setting image displayed in step S1705. The game image 70 can be displayed on the display unit 1072 of the user terminal 100. FIG. A game image 70 is an example of an image when the change button 55 in the row of the skill "jump" assigned to the upward flick operation in FIG. 14 is pressed, and is obtained from the held skill table of FIGS. 9A and 9B contains information that is The game image 70 includes a scene title 71 , candidate columns 72 - 75 , cursor 76 , OK button 77 and cancel button 78 .

The scene title 71 includes the characters "skill change", and the currently displayed image is a skill change image (in this example, an image displayed as a result of pressing the change button 55 in the image 50 showing the skill allocation status). ).

The candidate columns 72 to 75 are examples of UI components that present candidates for skill change. The candidate field 72 includes the word "remove" and presents options for deselecting the skill assignment (releasing the assignment) in the selected flicking direction (upward in this example). Candidate columns 73-75 correspond to the union of skills possessed by at least one of the player character and/or the monster that can be assigned to the selected flick direction. In this example, "attack" (candidate column 74) and "slash" (candidate column 75) are presented as skills that can be assigned upward, in addition to the already-assigned "jump" (candidate column 73). . The candidate columns 73 to 75 also include information indicating the level of the player character (player level), the level of the monster (monster level), and the combined level (total level) of each skill. For example, the candidate column 73 includes character information "player level 1+monster level 3=total level 4" for the skill "jump". For example, the candidate column 75 contains character information "player level 1 + no monster level = total level 1" for the skill "slash" because the monster does not have the skill "slash". The candidate column 75 may be replaced with character information such as "player level 1+monster level 0=total level 1" or "player level 1=total level 1". If the number of assignable skills is greater or lesser, the number of displayed UI parts (candidate columns) is also increased or decreased.

A cursor 76 is an example of a UI component indicating that one of the candidate fields 72-75 is selected. FIG. 16 shows a state in which the candidate column 73 is selected. The user can select candidate columns 72-75 by touching any of candidate columns 72-75 via touch screen 1007, for example. When touched by the user, the cursor 76 moves to the selected candidate column 72-75. The cursor 76 may be moved by another operation such as a flick operation.

The OK button 77 is an example of a UI component that can be selected by the user, and has a function of assigning the skill selected by the cursor 76 to the flick direction.

The cancel button 78 is an example of a UI component that can be selected by the user, and has a function of canceling the change process and returning to the image (for example, the game image 50) indicating the skill allocation status that was displayed immediately before the game image 70.

If there are multiple skills that can be assigned to a particular flick direction, it is up to the user's preference which skill to assign. The user may assign the skill with the highest total level, or may assign the skill in consideration of the overall balance including other skills. A user may assign a skill for the purpose of increasing the level, if the level increases according to the number of times the skill is used. Alternatively, the user's preference may be based on an effect or the like when the skill is activated.

In step S1706, the operation accepting unit 114 determines whether or not a predetermined operation has been accepted on the skill change image. The predetermined operation includes an operation of switching the skill change image to another image. Here, it is assumed that the predetermined operation is an operation of selecting either the OK button 77 or the cancel button 78 in relation to the example of FIG. If the predetermined operation has not been accepted (NO), the skill change image is maintained, and if the predetermined operation has been accepted (YES), the process advances to step S1707.

In step S1707, the operation reception unit 114 determines the content of the received operation. Here, the content of the operation is either "OK" or "cancel". If "OK", the process proceeds to step S1708, and if "cancel", the process exits the skill change process and proceeds from step S17 to step S12 in FIG. In step S12, the display control unit 113 displays the allocation status again.

In step S1708, the skill allocation unit 115 executes processing for allocating the skill selected with the cursor 76 in the selected flick direction. The skill allocation unit 115 executes skill allocation processing by reflecting changes in an allocation table as shown in FIG. After that, the skill change process is exited, and the process proceeds from step S17 to step S12 in FIG. 11, and the display control unit 113 again displays the assignment status reflecting the latest skill assignment. For example, in the skill change image 70 shown in FIG. 16, when the OK button 77 is pressed with the candidate column 74 (attack) selected, the skill allocation unit 115 selects the flick direction "upward" in the allocation table in FIG. ” line from “jump” to “attack”. For example, when the OK button 77 is pressed with the candidate column 72 (remove) selected in FIG. 16, the skill assigning unit 115 rewrites the line "up" from "jump" to "NA". For example, when the OK button 77 is pressed with the candidate column 73 (jump) selected in FIG. 16, the skill assigning unit 115 keeps the "up" row as "jump". The allocation table changed (updated) as described above is read during the skill activation process.

(4) Effect As described in detail above, the game program according to one embodiment, when receiving an operation for activating a skill possessed by a player character or a monster, activates the skill corresponding to the received operation. . Here, the game program adds a special effect when both the player character and the monster possess the skill in a manner different from when either the player character or the monster possesses the skill. activate the skill. As a result, in a game in which a plurality of characters can be operated integrally, while maintaining the diversity of being able to activate the skills possessed by any one of the characters, a sense of unity in operating a plurality of characters is provided, and the interest is increased. can be enhanced.

In addition, the game program according to one embodiment enables skill assignment to each of a plurality of directions of flick operations according to user's selection. The game program stores the correspondence between the operations and the skills assigned to the operations as an assignment table in the skill information storage unit 123 . The game program also allows the user to change skill assignments. The user can strategically assign skills according to the progress of the game and activate the skills with a simple operation. By setting certain restrictions such as pre-assignable operations to each skill, the game becomes more strategic and more interesting. Even in a user terminal that does not have physical buttons such as a console type device, input can be performed without an excessive processing load by storing the correspondence between operations and assigned skills as in the assignment table described above. You can activate the skill corresponding to the operation.

Therefore, according to one embodiment, it is possible to provide a technique that can realize an action with a sense of unity of a plurality of characters with a simple operation.

[Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment.
A game in which a player character rides a monster and performs an action in a field has been described above as an example, but the game is not limited to this. For example, if a plurality of characters can be operated integrally, two characters may run side by side, one character may be followed by another character, or a plurality of characters may be united. It is also applicable to a mode in which an operation is accepted as a new single character. Further, the embodiments are not limited to games in which two characters can be operated integrally, but can also be applied to games in which three or more characters can be operated integrally. When three or more characters are operated integrally, only one character possesses skills, two characters possess skills, and three or more characters possess skills. , the skill may be activated in different ways.

The game realized by the game program may be a game in which the user can change the character to be operated. For example, the user possesses a plurality of player characters with different skills and a plurality of monsters with different skills, and can create a combination of player characters and monsters depending on the strategy. When the combination of the player character and the monster is changed, the user may be allowed to assign the flick skill each time.

It should be noted that the function of assigning skills to operations according to user's selection is not premised on a game in which a plurality of characters are integrally operated. A similar function can be employed in a game in which the user operates a single character. In this case, control unit 110 omits steps S1703 and S1704 shown in FIG. 13, extracts skills that can be assigned to a specific operation from among the skills possessed by a single character, and presents them to the user as assignment candidates. can do.

Operations to which skills can be assigned are not limited to flick operations. Embodiments can be applied to any operation that can be input to the touch panel. Similarly, the embodiments are applicable to operations for selecting UI components (for example, operation buttons, icons, soft keyboards) displayed within the game screen, or operations via other physical input devices. Therefore, although the touch panel has been described as an example of the input unit 1071, the present invention is not limited to this. The input unit 1071 may be a controller with multiple buttons. A user's operation on the input unit 1071 may be replaced with an operation via a controller button, a keyboard, or a mouse. For example, a tap operation may be rephrased as a click operation.

Furthermore, flick operations to which skills are assigned are not limited to the four directions of up, down, left, and right, and may include four diagonal directions. A single skill may be assigned to all flick operations without distinguishing between flick directions. For example, different skills may be assigned to a flick operation, a single-tap operation, and a double-tap operation. Embodiments can also be applied when skills are assigned to other user operations such as tap operations (single-tap/double-tap), long-press operations, swipe operations, pinch-in operations, and pinch-out operations.

The operation reception unit 114 can also receive a signal from the sensor 1004 as a user's operation. For example, the operation reception unit 114 can detect a user's gesture via an image sensor or a gesture sensor and receive it as an operation. Alternatively, the operation accepting unit 114 can detect the user's voice via a sound sensor and accept it as an operation. In this case, it is also possible to assign skills to specific gestures or voice keywords.

The specific numerical values, game images, detailed settings of skills, etc. described above are merely for convenience of explanation, and a wide variety of other values may be employed.

The flow of processing described using the flowcharts is not limited to the described procedures, and the order of some steps may be changed, and some steps may be performed in parallel. Also, the series of processes described above need not be executed consecutively in terms of time, and each step may be executed at any timing.

The configurations of the server 200 and the user terminal 100 may be replaced with other configurations that can implement the game program according to the embodiment. The configuration of the server 200 and the configuration of the user terminal 100 may be omitted, distributed to multiple devices, and replaced with similar configurations. Each functional unit of the server 200 and the user terminal 100 may be realized by using circuits. A circuit may be a dedicated circuit that implements a specific function, or it may be a general-purpose circuit such as a processor.

At least part of the processing of each of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by using a processor installed in a general-purpose computer as basic hardware. A program that implements the above process may be provided by being stored in a computer-readable recording medium. The program is stored in the recording medium as an installable format file or an executable format file. Recording media include magnetic disks, optical disks (CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, etc.), magneto-optical disks (MO, etc.), semiconductor memories, and the like. Any recording medium may be used as long as it can store the program and is readable by a computer. Alternatively, the program that implements the above processing may be stored on a computer (server) connected to a network such as the Internet, and downloaded to the computer (client) via the network.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made in the implementation stage without departing from the gist of the invention. Further, each embodiment may be implemented in combination as appropriate, in which case the combined effect can be obtained. Furthermore, various inventions are included in the above embodiments, and various inventions can be extracted by combinations selected from a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiments, if the problem can be solved and effects can be obtained, the configuration with the constituent elements deleted can be extracted as an invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Game system 100... User terminal 110... Control part 111... Game progress part 112... Object control part 113... Display control part 114... Operation reception part 115... Skill allocation part 116... Skill activation part , 120...storage unit 121...game program storage unit 122...game information storage unit 123...skill information storage unit 200...server 211...reception control unit 212...transmission control unit 213...game progression unit 220 Memory unit 221 Game program storage unit 222 Game information storage unit 223 User information database 1001 Processor 1002 Memory 1003 Storage 1004 Sensor 1005 Communication interface 1006 Input/output interface , 1007 -- touch screen, 1008 -- bus, 1071 -- input section, 1072 -- display section, 2001 -- processor, 2002 -- memory, 2003 -- storage, 2004 -- communication interface, 2005 -- input/output interface, 2006 -- bus.

Claims (9)

to the computer,
making the first character and the second character integrally operable;
receiving an operation for activating a skill possessed by the first character or the second character;
Activating a skill corresponding to the operation, wherein either one of the first character or the second character possesses the skill, and both the first character and the second character possess the skill. activating the skill in a different manner when holding
program to run the Activating the skill
When both the first character and the second character possess the skill, the sum of the level of the skill possessed by the first character and the level of the skill possessed by the second character. , including activating the skill,
A program according to claim 1. 3. The program according to claim 1, further causing the computer to assign a skill possessed by the first character or the second character to a flick operation direction according to a user's selection. accepting the operation includes determining a direction of the flick operation input by the user;
activating the skill includes activating the assigned skill in the determined direction;
4. A program according to claim 3. A setting for displaying the direction of a flick operation, information on a skill that can be assigned to the direction of the flick operation, the level of the skill possessed by the first character, and the level of the skill possessed by the second character. 5. The program according to claim 3, further causing the computer to display an image. the skill possessed by the first character or the second character can be assigned to one of a plurality of directions of flick operation;
displaying the setting image includes displaying on the setting image a skill that can be assigned to at least one of the plurality of directions of the flick operation;
the assigning includes assigning one skill selected by the user to at least one of the plurality of directions of the flick operation;
6. A program according to claim 5. Accepting the operation includes:
When the start of inputting an operation is detected, the input operation is accepted as the operation without displaying a guide UI for guiding the operation direction or the assigned skill.
A program according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The first character is a monster character,
The second character is a player character,
A program according to any one of claims 1 to 7. Making the first character and the second character integrally operable includes making the second character integrally operable while riding on the first character,
Activating the skill includes activating a skill possessed by the first character or the second character while the second character is riding the first character.
A program according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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