JP2529573B2 - TV game device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a video game device, and in particular, the difficulty level of the game changes depending on the player (operator), and the power of the hero varies depending on the ability of the player. The present invention relates to a video game device that is decided.

(Prior Art) An outline of a conventional device of this type will be described with reference to FIG. The figure shows the functions that the video game device has when a cassette, a disc, an IC card, etc. (hereinafter abbreviated as game storage medium) storing a game are set in the video game device and the power is turned on. It is represented by a block diagram.

The program control unit 31 has a function of controlling a large flow of the game program.

The difficulty level control unit 32 determines the difficulty level of the game for each scene by using a random number. The background screen control unit 33 has a function of selecting a background screen corresponding to a game scene. The display control unit 34 decodes the program relating to the inputted game, creates a signal for driving the display 35, and converts the program relating to the inputted game into a signal suitable for the display 35. Is. In addition, the display 35 converts the electric signal sent from the display control unit 34 into a light image so that the contents of the game can be seen by the eyes. An operation unit 36 is a device that is directly operated by the player.

On the other hand, the program group 37 is a program for one game and includes the programs of scenes 1 to n that constitute the game. The background screen data group 38 is composed of a data group showing the background screen of each scene. Further, the data holding unit 39 stores data of the last game ending scene, for example, scene data indicating at what number of the scene the last game ends, the score, the power, and the like. Since these data are recorded in the game storage medium at the end of the game, the data are read from the game storage medium and transferred to the data holding unit 39 at the start of the next game.

Next, the operation of the conventional device having the above configuration will be described.

When the game storage medium is selected by the player and the game storage medium is set in the video game device, data of the last game ending scene, data such as points and power are transferred to the data holding unit 39. The program control unit 31 reads out these data from the data holding unit 39 and accesses the program group 37 based on the data. As a result, a predetermined scene among the game scenes 1 to N is selected. In addition, data such as scores and powers are also included in the program group.
It is sent to 37 and held in a predetermined free area. In a device that does not have the data holding unit 39, the scene 1 is always
It starts from.

The difficulty level control unit 32 obtains a parameter of the difficulty level by a random number, obtains the difficulty level from the parameter, and determines the program group.
Send to 37. The program group 37 holds the difficulty level in a predetermined free area. The difficulty level is reflected in the number of characters, the speed of movement, etc. during the execution of the program. The background screen control unit 33 obtains information from the program control unit 31, selects the background screen data that matches the scene of the program currently being executed from the background screen data group 38, and outputs it to the display control unit 34.

In this way, the scene data of the game program in which the degree of difficulty is reflected and the background screen data corresponding to the scene are sequentially sent to the display control unit 34. The display control unit 34 decodes these transmitted data,
Create a signal compatible with the display 35
Send to 35. The display 35 is composed of, for example, a cathode ray tube, and displays the contents of the game. A signal input from the operation unit 36 operated by the player is applied to the program group 37 to control a part of the movement of the main character of the game.

When the game progresses as described above and the player finishes the game, data such as the scene number, score, and power at the end time is written in the game recording medium.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) Since the conventional game progresses as described above,
The game story progresses as programmed.
The change (difficulty level) during the game is mainly determined by random numbers. The change of the game determined by the random number is limited to the change of the movement of the character and the change of the attack power.

Therefore, as a result of the player's proficiency caused by playing the game repeatedly, there is a problem that the unexpectedness which is the source of the interest is weakened. Further, since the main character in the game moves regardless of the ability of the player, the main character cannot be the alter ego of the player. Therefore, there is a problem in that the player cannot fully play as the main character and there is a limit to the enjoyment of playing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and by changing the difficulty level of the game and the power of the protagonist according to the player, the player is always provided with unexpectedness and deeper enjoyment. To provide a video game device.

(Means and Actions for Solving Problems) According to the present invention, in a video game apparatus having at least an operation unit and a display, a calendar timer for providing time information and a means for holding an environmental data group including player-specific data. And a means for holding a program relating to the story and background of the game, and a power / difficulty level determining means for determining at least one of the power of the main character in the game and the difficulty level of the game in association with the environmental data group. However, the power / difficulty level determining means uses at least the play time, the player's age, the biorhythm, and the score of the past n (n is a positive integer) times recorded in the environmental data group as parameters, and the power and the difficulty of the hero. The feature is that at least one of the difficulty levels of the game is decided.

The present invention having the above-described configuration has the following operations.

The power of the protagonist in the game, the difficulty level of the game, etc. can be changed according to the playing time, age, biorhythm, fortune, tendency, etc. of the player on that day.

According to the present invention, as described above, since the content of the game and the real life of the player are deeply related, the player can be deeply absorbed in the game.

(Example) Below, this invention is demonstrated in detail with reference to drawings.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a hardware configuration diagram of a video game device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is an operation unit (joystick or the like) operated by a player with his / her hands or feet, 2 is an input port of a computer, 3 is a CPU, and 4 is a ROM.
Further, 5 is a RAM, 6 is a calendar timer backed up by a battery (not shown), 7 is a work memory used when various arithmetic processes are performed while the CPU 3 is operating, and 8 is an output port. Further, 9 is a display control unit, and 10 is a display for displaying menus, games and the like.

Here, the ROM and RAM 5 are included in a game recording medium (IC card or IC memory card) which stores a game program and various control programs. In some cases, the calendar timer 6
Further, in some cases, the recording medium has the CPU 3 and can be included in the recording medium.

Next, an example of the data stored in the ROM 4 and the RAM 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) and Table 1.

In RAM5, environmental data group A shown in FIG. 3 (a)
The ROM 4 stores the program group B, the special program group C, and the control program group D shown in FIGS.

As described in detail in Table 1, the environmental data group A stores (1) seasonal data, (2) holidays / special day data, and (3) player-related data (for two people). ing. Note that this data is not limited to two persons, and may be one person or three or more persons.

The "seasonal data" stores the month / day when the four seasons start. Since the start of the four seasons is considerably different in Okinawa, Tokyo, Hokkaido, etc., the data of the start of the four seasons corresponding to the land where the player is located is stored. The above "Data for holidays / special days" includes Children's Day, Respect for the Aged Day, Physical Education Day, Hinamatsuri,
Remember the month / day of Christmas, father's or mother's birthday, etc.
Further, as the "data regarding the player (for two persons)", the last game end scene, the last score, the initials, the birthday, the blood type, today's month / day, today's play count, today's play time, Memorize the past 10 points and the highest past score.

Next, as the program group B, the programs of scenes 1 to n of one game and the background screen data of each season are stored.

The special program group C includes (1) a special game program created for birthdays, (2) a special game program created for public holidays, and (3) special game programs created for special days. The special game programs and the background screen data for these special program groups are stored.

The "birthday program" is a program selected when the player himself / herself has a birthday. In the "program for holidays", the days played are, for example, Children's Day,
This program is selected when it is a day of respect for the elderly, a day of physical education, and so on. In addition, "Special Day Program"
Is a program selected for Hinamatsuri, Christmas, parents' birthdays, etc.

As the control program group D, as shown in FIG. 3B, the environmental data control program (1),
(2), a program control program, a difficulty level control program, and a background screen control program.

ROM4 (IC that holds the above programs and data
Card) is set in the main body of the video game device,
The video game device is provided with the following functions.

The function of the video game device will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG.

The environmental data control unit (1) 11 indicates a function executed by the environmental data control program (1). The environment data control unit (1) 11 operates as follows. First, when the player turns on the power of the video game device and sets the IC card in which the game is stored in the video game device, a signal for requesting to display the menu screen on the display 10 is output to the program control unit 12. To do. When the IC card is used for the first time, a signal requesting the player to input environmental data such as initials, birthday, blood type, and parents' birthday is input. When these environmental data are input, the environmental data is stored in a predetermined area of the environmental data group 21.

Next, the current month / day data is read from the calendar timer 6 and the data in the environmental data group 21 is referred to to determine what the season is, whether it is a holiday or a special day,
Check. Furthermore, if necessary, environmental data
It reads necessary data (parameter) from 21 and transfers it to the program control unit 12.

The program control unit 12 shows a function executed by the program control program.

The program control unit 12 controls a large flow of the game program. When the environmental data control section (1) 11 requests the display of the menu screen, it operates to send the data relating to the menu to the display control section 9. When it is determined that the play date is the player's birthday or the parents' birthday, the display 10 displays "Happy birthday". Also, the player's birthday,
In case of public holidays and special days, special program groups
It acts to select the program that fits the day from 22. Further, it activates the difficulty control unit 13 and transfers to the difficulty control unit 13 the data required by the difficulty control unit 13 among the data transferred from the environment data control unit (1) 11. . Further, the background screen control unit 14 is activated, and the seasonal data transferred from the environment data control unit (1) 11 is transferred to the background screen control unit 14. In addition, on a normal day,
A necessary program to be executed is determined from the program group 23, and the difficulty control section 13 and the background screen control section 14 are determined.
To start.

The difficulty level control unit 13 acts to determine the difficulty level of the game and the power of the main character for each scene.

For example, the power P and the difficulty level D are calculated and obtained from the following equations, respectively.

P = (pl + p + al + t) × st D = {(i + s + (3-al)} × f Here, pl represents “today's play time”, for example, 1
If it is less than the time, 10 points, if it is 1 to 2 hours, 5 points, if it is 2 to 3 hours, it will be 3 points, and if it is 3 hours or more, it will be 1 point. p represents a "biorhythm p curve", that is, a physical condition. For example, the p-curve of the biorhythm is divided into three stages of good, normal, and bad, and 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point are assigned to each. al represents "player's age", for example, 3 points for a person under 8 years old, 8-16
2 points for ages, 1 point for ages 16-46 and 3 points for ages 46 and up. t represents a “trend” and is obtained from the score data of the past n times. For example, when n ≦ 3, 3
Give points. When n ≧ 4, 1 point is given when 20% or more of the score of the n times is 20% or less of the highest point in the past, 2 points when 20-60% is given, and 3 points when 60% or more is given. . Also, st represents the start time of the game, and the start time is, for example, from 5 am
Give 2 points at 8 pm and 1 point from 8 pm to 5 am

Further, i and s in the expression of the difficulty level D are obtained from the “biorhythm i and s curves”. The i and s represent creativity and emotion, respectively. The i and s curves of the biorhythm are divided into, for example, good, normal, and bad stages,
Assign 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point to each. f represents a fortune, and a value of 1 to 3 is determined from the birth date and blood type of the player.

According to the above example, the power P is 4 to 38 points and the difficulty D is 2 to 24 points. The higher the score, the stronger the power P, and the lower the score, the easier the power D becomes. Conversely, the larger the score, the more difficult the power D becomes.

The power P and the difficulty level D obtained as described above
Is sent to the special program group 22 or the program group 23 and stored in a predetermined area shown in FIG.
Then, it will be referred to as the game program progresses,
The power of the main character of the game, the number of characters, the speed of movement, etc. can be changed according to the power P and the difficulty level D.

According to the present embodiment, the power of the hero and the difficulty level of the game are determined by parameters such as play time, player's age, biorhythm, fortune, tendency, etc., so that the player can play with a sense of unity with the hero. , You can make the game more fun.

Next, when the background screen control unit 14 receives the data of the four seasons from the environment data control unit (1) 11 via the program control unit 12, it responds to the season of the scene to be executed from the background screen data group 24. The background screen is selected and sent to the display control unit 9. As described above, the background screen data corresponding to spring, summer, autumn, and winter is stored in each scene of the program group. For example, in spring, scenes where flowers bloom in the fields and butterflies dance are included in the background screen. Also, in the winter, the background screen contains scenes where it is snowing or accumulating. In this way, by changing the background screen of each scene according to the season, it is possible to make the game change and to make the player feel closer to the game.

The environment data control unit (2) 15 has a function of calculating the score during the game execution and sending it to the display control unit 9 to display it on the display 10. At the end of the game, data such as the scene, score, today's month / day, number of today's plays, today's play time, etc. is transferred to the environmental data group 21. Also, if the score of this time is more than the highest score of the past,
The highest past score recorded in the environmental data group 21 is rewritten to the current score.

The display control unit 9 displays data such as menus transferred from the program control unit 12, the special program group 22, and the game story (stor) read from the program group 23.
y) data, data corresponding to the four seasons of each scene of the game read from the background screen data group 24, and data related to the score sent from the environmental data control unit (2) 15 to the electricity suitable for the display 10. It acts to convert to a signal.

Finally, the display 10 has a function of converting the electric signal transmitted from the display control unit 9 into a visible image.

Next, the operation of the above functional block diagram will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the power of the video game device is turned on, the environmental data control unit (1) 11 reads the month / day and time from the calendar timer 6 (step S1). Next, it is determined whether or not the game recording medium set in the video game device has been used for the first time (step S2). For the first time, the process proceeds to step S3, and the environment data control unit (1) 11 sends an instruction to display the initial menu to the program control unit 12. The program control unit 12 sends the data of the initial menu to the display control unit 9, and the display 10 displays the initial menu. Next, the environmental data control unit (1) 11 determines whether or not the player has registered environmental data such as the data of the months / days of the four seasons, initials, birthdays, blood types, and parents' birthdays from the operation unit 1. A judgment is made (steps S4 and S4 '). When the registration is completed, the process proceeds to step S5. It should be noted that, among the environmental data, data for a fixed month / day such as Children's Day, Respect for the Aged Day, etc. are registered in advance. When the game recording medium is not used for the first time, the process goes to step S5 and the menu for it is displayed on the display 10.

Next, when the player inputs the initials, birthday, and blood group by operating the operation unit 1 while looking at the menu, the environmental data control unit (1) selects the player (step
S6), the start of the game is selected from the continuation of the previous time or from the beginning (step S7). Then the step
The month / day data read in S1 is compared with the month / day of the birthday of the player, mother and father (steps S8, S9, S1).
0), and if any of the steps is YES, "Happy Birthday" is displayed on the display 10 (step S11). On the other hand, if all of the steps S8, S9, S10 are known, it is judged whether or not the game start key is turned on from the operation unit 1 (step S12). If yes, then it is determined whether the month / day has changed compared to the month / day last played (step S1).
3). That is, it is determined whether the date played last time is the same as the date played this time. Then, if it is possible on the same day, the program control unit 12 clears the number of plays and the play time stored in a certain storage area (step S14). Then, the process returns to step S8, and the processes of steps S8 to S13 are performed again. In addition, today's month /
The date is updated in step S14, so the next step S
Judgment of 13 becomes no.

When the player has played more than once on the same day, or when step S13 becomes NO due to the above operation, the process proceeds to step S15. At step S15, the play count is incremented by 1 (step S15). Then, the program control unit 12
Sets the start time of the game (step S16), and calculates the age and biorhythm (i, s, p) by calculation (step S17). The age is obtained from the date of birth and the month / day data read from the calendar timer. The biorhythm (i, s, p) is calculated by a predetermined calculation formula.
Next, the season is determined (step S18), and today's fortune is calculated (step S19). Further, the tendency is calculated from the past scores (step S20). Based on the result of the tendency, it is determined whether or not the player is tired of the game (step S21). If the past score has decreased, it is determined that the user is tired, and the program control unit 12 causes the display 10 to display a display of encouragement and a tip of the technique (step S22). Then, the program to be executed is determined (step S23).

The program control unit 12 mainly performs the processing from steps S14 to S23.

Here, the process of determining the program to be executed (step S23) will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The program control unit 12 first selects a scene number to be executed (step R1). Next, it is determined whether or not the game has progressed to the bonus stage provided at the boundary of the scene (step R2). At the bonus stage, the program control unit 12 determines that the environmental data group 21
Refer to "Festival / Special Day Data" to determine whether today is a birthday, children's day, respect for the aged, physical education day, Christmas, or Hinamatsuri (step R3 to R8), if there is a corresponding day, a program is selected from the special program group 22 as a bonus stage according to the day (steps R9 to R14). on the other hand,
When there is no applicable day, select a normal bonus stage program from the program group 23 (step
R15). When it is not the bonus stage, the scene number selected in step R1 is determined. As described above, the program to be executed is determined.

Returning to FIG. 4 (c) again, the description will be continued. Once the program to be executed is determined as described above, step
Proceeding to S24, the difficulty control section 13 calculates the power P and the difficulty D of the hero based on the above equations, and determines the power P and the difficulty D.

Next, the background screen control unit 14 determines a background screen from the background screen data group 24 based on the scene number determined in step S23 and the season determined in step S18 (step S25). Next, the game program is read from the program group 23 or the special program group 22 and the game is started (step S2
6). At this time, the physical condition of the player is displayed, and the background screen determined as described above is sent from the background screen data group 24 to the display control unit 9 and displayed on the display 10. Further, a story of the game is displayed on the screen, and when the player further operates the operation unit 1, a motion corresponding to the operation is displayed.

Next, the environmental data control unit (2) 15 updates the score, the power of the main character of the game, etc., and sends the data to the display control unit 9 to display it on the display (step S27).
Further, the data in the environment data group 21 is updated with the data of the game scene currently being executed (step S28). Next, it is judged whether or not the game is over (step S29), and if the result is NO, the process returns to step S23. On the other hand, if yes, the game ends.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to add the following enjoyment that is not available in conventional games.

(1) Since the power of the hero in the game and the difficulty level of the game are calculated by using the play time, age, biorhythm, fortune, tendency, etc. as parameters, the power of the hero,
The difficulty level of the game changes depending on the day or time of play.

(2) At the start of play, you can understand the general condition of the hero.

(3) If you get tired and continue to get terrible points, you will be taught tips on the technique and you can enjoy watching the bonus stage.

(4) Bonus stages change on children's day, Christmas, birthday, etc.

(5) You can enjoy at home because there is a screen of your father's and mother's birthday.

(6) When the season changes, the background and characters change completely.

In the above embodiment, the environmental data control unit (1) 11, the program control unit 12, the difficulty level control unit 13, the background screen control unit 14, and the environmental data control unit (2) 15 are processed in the respective steps described above. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the division of the processing may be changed. Further, the flow of each step of FIGS. 4A to 4C of the present embodiment is only an example, and it is obvious that those skilled in the art can easily change this. Therefore, it is a matter of course that the present invention includes within its scope processing that modifies the flow.

Further, although the embodiment has been described by using the IC card as the game recording medium, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a cassette, a disc or the like. In this case, in order to increase the access speed, the programs in the cassette, disk, etc. are once transferred to the memory such as RAM and used.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, there are various excellent effects as described below.

(1) Playing time, age,
The power of the protagonist changes depending on the day or time of play because it is calculated by using biorhythm, fortune, tendency, etc. as parameters. Therefore, even if the same game is repeated, unexpectedness always occurs and the player is not bored.

(2) The power of the protagonist is determined in consideration of each player's ability as described above. Therefore, the player can feel close to the protagonist in the game, and the enjoyment of playing is increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a video game device to which the present invention is applied,
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of data stored in a game storage medium according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a step in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of a conventional device, which is a flowchart showing details of S23. 1 ... Operation unit, 6 ... Calendar timer, 9 ... Display control unit, 10
... display, 11 ... environmental data control section (1), 12 ... program control section, 13 ... difficulty level control section, 14 ... background screen control section, 15 ... environmental data control section (2), 21 ... environmental data group,
22 ... Special program group, 23 ... Program group, 24 ...
Background screen data group

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A video game apparatus having at least an operation unit and a display, a calendar timer for providing time information, a means for holding an environmental data group including player-specific data, and a game story and background program. And a power / difficulty level determining means for determining at least one of the power of the main character in the game and the difficulty level of the game in association with the environmental data group. At least one of the power of the hero and the difficulty level of the game is determined by using at least the play time, the age of the player, the biorhythm, and the score of the past n (n is a positive integer) times recorded in the environmental data group as parameters. A video game device characterized in that