JP6134746B2 - Video game control server and video game control program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network.

  In recent years, each player can communicate with other players on the web through his / her own avatar (characters such as animals and robots that appear on the screen as a part of the player in a communication tool such as chat) created by each player. Various network services for communication via their avatars are provided.

  Many of these network services are played on a web browser (browser game). For example, when a browser game is played by accessing a service site via a communication network using a browser provided in a player terminal, the game progresses. In addition to providing predetermined event information to a player terminal from a service site, product information related to an event is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-182599 A

  However, in such a network service, there is a problem that a player who loses interest in the network service may appear due to provision of unwanted product information.

  Such problems also occur in items provided to players as the video game progresses. In other words, there is a problem that an item given to the player may deviate from what the player desires when proceeding with the video game.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to provide a player with items according to the player's taste in a video game provided as a network service.

  According to a non-limiting aspect, the video game control server of the present invention is a video game control server that controls the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network, Player information storage means for storing player information indicating the progress of the video game in each of the player terminals, item information storage means for storing item information including conditions for granting various items usable in the video game, Receiving means for receiving that the player has accessed a predetermined Web page, and whether or not the grant condition is satisfied in response to receiving the access by the receiving means A determination means for determining, and when the determination means determines that the grant condition is satisfied Characterized in that it comprises a item assigning means for assigning the item information corresponding to the applied conditions to the player information.

  According to a non-limiting aspect, the video game control program of the present invention is a video game control program for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network, In addition, a reception process for receiving that the player has accessed a predetermined web page, and a video game that can be used in response to receiving the access in the reception process. A determination process for determining whether or not the grant condition indicated by the item information stored in the item information storage unit that stores item information including the grant conditions for various items is satisfied, and the grant condition is satisfied in the determination process If it is determined that the item information has been assigned, the item information corresponding to the grant condition is stored in the one or more player terminals. It is intended for executing the item assigning process of giving the player information stored in the player information storage means for storing player information indicating the progress of the video game in, respectively.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the video game provided as a network service, the item according to the player's taste can be provided to a player more.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of a video game control system. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the storage state of item information. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a game screen. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a game screen control information provision process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the game screen containing an item provision screen. It is a flowchart which shows the other example of a game screen control information provision process.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a video game control system showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The video game control system 100 includes a video game control server 10, a plurality of player terminals 21 to 2N (N = 1, 2,...), And a search server 50. The video game control server 10, the player terminals 21 to 2N, and the search server 50 are each connected to a communication network 30 such as the Internet.

  The video game control server 10 is an information processing apparatus such as a WWW server, for example, and is managed by a system administrator. The video game control server 10 has a function of providing a video game to the plurality of player terminals 21 to 2N via the communication network 30.

  In addition, the video game control server 10 in this example includes a search character string receiving unit 10A, an item search character string specifying unit 10B, and an item granting determination unit 10C.

  The search character string receiving unit 10A has a function for receiving a search character string for the search server 50 to perform information search. Specifically, the search character string receiving unit 10A is input to a search character string input area 111 (see FIG. 3) in a search screen display area 110 described later in a video game executed on each of the player terminals 21 to 2N. Receive search string.

  The item search character string specifying unit 10B uses the search character string received by the search character string receiving unit 10A (a character string received for performing a Web search by the search server 50. For “item search character string”, “Web search” In response to receiving "character string", "basic search character string", etc.), the item corresponding to the search character string among the items indicated by the item information stored in the item information storage unit 12 to be described later Has a function for specifying an item search character string for searching. Specifically, the item search character string unit 10B specifies words included in the search character string and specifies each word as an item search character string. The method for specifying the item search character string is not limited to this, and for example, the search character string may be specified as the item search character string as it is. When the video game control server 10 includes thesaurus data, a word similar to the word included in the search character string may be included in the item search character string. Thereby, the video game control server 10 can accept the “search character string” and the “item search character string” substantially simultaneously.

  The item grant determination unit 10C grants various items to the players (or player characters) of the player terminals 21 to 2N according to the progress of the video game at the player terminals 21 to 2N and the usage contents of the search server 50, respectively. Whether or not based on a predetermined standard. In this example, the provision criteria (or item provision conditions) for various items are set in advance as item information for each item.

  In addition, the video game control server 10 in this example includes a game information DB 11 that is a storage medium in which game information indicating various information used for providing a video game is stored, and video games in each of the player terminals 21 to 2N. A player information DB 12 that is a storage medium that stores player information indicating the progress of the game, and an item information DB 13 that is a storage medium that stores item information that is information related to various items that can be used in the video game. .

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a storage state of item information in the item information DB 13. As shown in FIG. 2, the item information in this example includes an item ID for uniquely identifying an item, an item name, and an item provision condition that is a condition for imparting item information to player information.

  As an item granting condition, for example, a search with “soy sauce” (that is, the search character string receiving unit 10A has received “soy sauce” as a search character string) or a character string classified as food 10 times. The contents of use of the search server 10 by each player of the player terminals 21 to 2N, such as having searched (in this case, the video game control server 10 needs to store data defining the character string classification). It is sufficient that the conditions shown are included.

  Further, for example, a configuration may be adopted in which common item provisioning conditions are set for all item information. In this example, it is assumed that “items are given to players up to three times a day” is set as an item granting condition common to all item information.

  Each of the player terminals 21 to 2N is managed by each player, and is configured by various information processing devices such as a portable game device, a stationary game device, a computer device, and a mobile phone. In addition, it is assumed that the player terminals 21 to 2N in this example include a Web browser that can execute a portal site provided by the search server 50 and a video game provided by the video game control server 10.

  The search server 50 is a server that provides a portal site, and has a function as a search engine that searches various information from various information devices connected to the communication network 30.

  Here, the video game executed in this example will be described. One purpose of the video game in this example is to perform gardening in a virtual space.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a game screen displayed on the display device included in each of the player terminals 21 to 2N in the video game of this example. As shown in FIG. 3, the game screen includes an avatar P operated by the player, a search screen display area 110 that accepts input of a search character string, and a cultivation area 120 that is a cultivatable area of an item “seed” to be described later. Own cultivation area display area 130, item display area 140, display screen change button group display area 150 that accepts a display screen change request, and various processes in a video game (for example, a video game is performed in the same virtual space) An action button group display area 160 for receiving a request for executing a conversation process with a player and a shooting process for storing a game screen as an image.

  The search screen display area 110 includes a search character string reception area 111 that accepts input of a search character string, a search button 112 that accepts a search execution request for a Web page using the search character string accepted in the search character string acceptance area, and a video game And a hint display area 113 for displaying a hint related to a recommended search character string recommended for proceeding with. Here, the hint displayed in the hint display area 113 may be configured to be displayed by the video game control server 10 according to a predetermined program from the game information and the player information, or a system administrator of the video game control server 10. It is good also as a structure which displays the hint input by (1).

  The cultivation area 120 is an area where the avatar P is movable, and is an area for cultivating the item “seed”. In accordance with the progress of the video game, the player seeds the cultivation area 120, waters it, raises the fertilizer, blooms the flowers, sells the bloomed flowers, and advances the video game by obtaining virtual currency.

  The owned cultivation area display area 130 is an area that displays the cultivation area acquired by the player in accordance with the progress of the video game. In addition to the cultivation area, the player can also acquire pets and miscellaneous items.

  The item display area 140 is a display area indicating items that can be used by the player in the video game. For example, when the player has the item “seed”, the seed icon 141 is displayed to be selectable.

  Note that a virtual area indicating a virtually created area such as a town and an avatar operated by the players of the player terminals 21 to 2N are also displayed on the game screen. Moreover, the object displayed on a game screen is not limited to these, For example, the avatar which is not operated by the player may be displayed.

  The virtual area is created as two-dimensional data by a bitmap, for example. In this example, it is assumed that the avatar P is created as two-dimensional data using a sprite image (vector format image).

  In the video game of this example, in the “forest” prepared as a virtual area in advance, avatars operated by each player communicate with each other while performing actions related to gardening and gardening (such as chatting). ), Earning points equivalent to money and buying goods such as miscellaneous goods that decorate the forest.

  In other words, the “video game” in this example is a game for enjoying a virtual life using an avatar as a player's alternation, and the video game control server 10 uses a virtual field and various types for progressing the “video game” in this example. Are provided to the player terminals 21 to 2N.

  Next, the operation of the video game control server 10 of this example will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the game screen control information providing process executed by the video game control server 10. Here, the game screen control information (information for displaying the game screen) for controlling the display of the game screen to the player terminal 21 managed by the player A who operates the avatar P. An example of providing a display position and information including information indicating the display size of the game screen will be described. The player terminal 21 controls the display content of the game screen displayed on the display device included in the player terminal 21 according to the game screen control information transmitted from the video game control server 10. The game screen control information providing process shown in FIG. 4 is executed every update interval time of the game screen on the player terminal 21 (for example, every 1/15 seconds or every 1/10 seconds). Note that detailed descriptions of processes not particularly related to the present invention may be omitted. In addition to the game screen control information providing process, various processes executed by the search server 50 will be described as appropriate.

  In the game screen control information providing process, the video game control server 10 first checks whether or not a search character string has been received from the player terminal 21 (step S101). In the player terminal 21, an input of a search character string is received in the search character string reception area 111 (see FIG. 3) on the game screen by a predetermined operation by the player A of an input device (keyboard, mouse, touch panel, etc.) provided by the player terminal 21. When a selection instruction for the search button 112 is received, a search character string is transmitted to the video game control server 10 via the communication network 30.

  Here, if the search character string is not received (N of step S101), the video game control server 10 proceeds to the process of step S111 described later. On the other hand, when the search character string is received (Y in step S101), the video game control server 10 transmits the received search character string to the search server 10 (step S102).

  Note that the player terminal 21 may transmit a search character string to each of the video game control server 10 and the search server 50, or the video game control server 10 is transmitted from the player terminal 21 to the search server 50. The search character string may be received from the search server 50 (that is, the video game control server 10 receives the search character string via the search server 50).

  When the search character string is transmitted to the search server 50, the video game control server 10 uses the item search character string specifying unit 10B to specify the item search character string corresponding to the search character string (step S103).

  When the item search character string is specified, the video game control server 10 searches for item information using the specified item search character string (step S104).

  On the other hand, the search server 50 determines whether or not a search character string has been received from the video game control server 10 (step S501). Here, when a search character string is not received (N of step S501), the search server 50 shifts to a process of step S504 described later.

  On the other hand, when a search character string is received (Y in step S501), the search server 50 executes a Web search using the received search character string (step S502).

  When the Web search is executed, the search server 50 transmits a search end notification (search end notification) to the video game control server 10 (step S503), and issues a display request for the Web page list screen from the video game control server 10. It is determined whether or not it has been accepted (step S504).

  On the other hand, the video game control server 10 searching for item information receives the search end notification and updates the player information (step S105). In this example, the video game control server 10 stores in the player information the search character string and that the Web search has been executed using the search character string. That is, for example, when a Web search using the same search character string has been executed in the past, the video game control server 10 stores / updates the number of searches, the search date, etc. as player information. As a result, the condition for assigning item information is that “Web search using a predetermined character string has been executed a plurality of times” or “a plurality of character strings used for Web search are in a predetermined combination (for example,“ predetermined period ” The search character string used in the list can use “mandarin orange”, “melon”, “apple” ”), etc. as an item granting condition.

  When the player information is updated, the video game control server 10 determines whether or not the item provision condition of the searched item information is satisfied (is satisfied) by the item provision determination unit 10C (step S106). Here, when it is determined that the item granting condition is not satisfied (N in Step S106), the video game control server 10 proceeds to a process in Step S108 described later.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the item provision condition is satisfied (Y in step S106), the video game control server 10 provides item information to the player information (step S107).

  Next, the video game control server 10 transmits the item grant screen to the display screen of the display device included in the player terminal 21 (that is, information for displaying the item grant screen on the player terminal 21. Hereinafter, “send screen”. “Yes” means “send information for displaying the screen”) (step S108).

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a game screen including an item granting screen displayed on the display screen of the display device included in the player terminal 21. As shown in FIG. 5, the item granting screen 200 is displayed so as to be superimposed on the game screen. In addition, the item granting screen 200 includes a determination result display area 201 that indicates the final result of the item information grant determination and a search result display request that accepts a display request for a Web page list screen that indicates the result of the Web search by the search server 50. A reception item 202, a grant item use request acceptance button 203 for accepting an item use request indicated by the item information given to the player information of the player A, and a grant item image display area for displaying an image corresponding to the item indicated by the item information 204 is provided.

  In the determination result display area 201, a message corresponding to the determination result is displayed. That is, when item information is added to player information, a message including the name of the assigned item is displayed. Further, when the item information is not added to the player information, a message “Nothing was picked up”, a message indicating a hint for the player A to obtain an item, or the like is displayed. In addition, when item information is not provided to player information, it is good also as a structure by which a message is not displayed on the determination result display area 201. FIG.

  When the item grant screen is transmitted, the video game control server 10 determines whether or not to receive a display request for the web page list screen (step S109). In this example, the player terminal 21 transmits a Web page list screen display request to the video game control server 10 in response to the selection of the search result display request reception button 202 by the player A.

  Here, when the display request for the Web page list screen is not received from the player terminal 21 (N in Step S109), the video game control server 10 proceeds to the process in Step S111 described later. On the other hand, when a display request for the web page list screen is received from the player terminal 21 (Y in step S109), the video game control server 10 transmits a display request for the web page list screen to the search server 50 (step S110).

  At this time, the video game control server 10 transmits to the player terminal 10 a game screen in which the item grant screen is deleted. Alternatively, the player terminal 21 may transmit a Web page list screen display request to the video game control server 10 and the search server 50, respectively. Further, the video game control server 10 may be configured to receive a display request for a Web page list screen via the search server 50.

  When the display request for the Web page list screen is transmitted, the video game control server 10 determines reception of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the Web page accessed by the player terminal 21 (step S111). If it is determined that the URL has not been received (N in step S111), the video game control server 10 proceeds to the process in step S101.

  On the other hand, when receiving the display request for the Web page list screen (Y in Step S504), the search server 50 transmits a Web page list screen indicating the search result of the Web search to the player terminal 21 (Step S505).

  When the web page list screen is transmitted, the search server 50 determines whether to receive a web page selection notification from the player terminal 21 (step S506). In this example, the player terminal 21 receives the selection of the web page selected by the player A in response to the selection of the web page included in the web page list screen displayed on the display screen of the display device provided by the player A. A Web page selection notification including the URL of the page is transmitted to the server 50.

  When receiving the Web page selection notification (Y in Step S506), the search server 50 transmits the URL of the Web page indicated by the Web page selection notification to the video game control server 10 (Step S507), and proceeds to the processing of Step S501. .

  In this example, it is assumed that the player terminal 21 accesses the selected web page in response to accepting selection of the web page by the player A. That is, it is assumed that the web page list screen transmitted from the search server 50 to the player terminal 21 in step S505 has the URL of each web page included in the list screen. Note that the player terminal 21 may transmit a Web page selection notification to the video game control server 10.

  On the other hand, when receiving the URL from the search server 50 (Y in step S111), the video game control server 10 updates the player information according to the received URL (step S112), and proceeds to the process of step S101. By reflecting the URL indicating the web page accessed by the player in the player information, it becomes possible to use that the player A accesses a predetermined web page as an item granting condition. That is, the processing target of step S111 is not limited to the URL, and may indicate information on the Web page actually displayed on the player terminal 21 (such as a Web page provider or a product posted on the Web page). That's fine.

  The game screen control information provision processing ends in response to the Web browser being closed at the player terminal 21, for example.

  As described above, in the above-described embodiment, one or more video game control servers 10 that control the progress of the video game in one or more player terminals 21 to 2N connected via the communication network 30 are provided. The player information DB 12 that stores player information indicating the progress of the video game of each of the player terminals 21 to 2N, and item information that is information regarding various items (for example, the item “seed”) that can be used in the video game are stored. And the search server 50 receives a search character string for performing an information search (for example, Web search), and the item information indicated by the item information stored in the item information DB 13 from the received search character string. Identify the item search string to search for items according to the search string, Since the item information corresponding to the specified item search character string is searched and the searched item information is given to the player information, the player can select an item more according to the player's taste in the video game provided as a network service. Will be able to provide.

  That is, for example, when a player inputs a search character string for use in searching for information on the Internet, an item usable in the video game is given to the player in conjunction with the input search character string. Thus, the player's preference can be reflected in the item provided to the player.

  In the above-described embodiment, the item information has an item granting condition indicating a condition for granting each item information to the player information, and the video game control server 10 performs a web search using a search character string in the search server 50. Web search result information (for example, search end notification) indicating the search result is received, and it is determined whether the item granting condition is satisfied in response to receiving the Web search result information, and the item granting condition is satisfied. If it is determined that the item information is given to the player information, the frequency of giving the item to the player can be limited.

  In other words, for example, an item granting condition such as “when a player performs a web search with the same search character string a predetermined number of times, an item corresponding thereto is given” can be set.

  Further, as a condition for assigning an item, for example, “use a Web page of a company or the like registered as a sponsor of a video game” can be set. In this case, the video game control server may be configured to receive that the player has accessed the web page from the search server or the player terminal.

  In the above-described embodiment, the item is configured to be an item that can be grown in the video game (for example, an item “seed” that grows from a seed state until the flower blooms in the video game). It is possible to link the Web search and the breeding game, and to improve the game preference.

  In addition, although the video game control server 10 demonstrated the case where the video game control server 10 specified the item search character string according to the received search character string in embodiment mentioned above, the identification method of an item search character string is not limited to this. Hereinafter, the operation of the video game control server 10 when the item search character string is specified by another method will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing another example of the game screen control information providing process executed by the video game control server 10. The item search character string specifying method is different from the above-described game screen control information providing process (see FIG. 4). Hereinafter, steps for performing processing different from the above-described game screen control information providing processing will be described. In addition, about the step which performs the process similar to the game screen control information provision process mentioned above, the same step number is attached | subjected and demonstrated.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the video game control server 10 transmits a search character string to the search server 50 (step S102), and the search server 50 receives the search character string (Y in step S501).

  When the search character string is received, the search server 50 performs a Web search using the received search character string (step S502). Then, the search server 50 displays Web page character string information indicating a part of a character string (for example, a character string indicating a part of the Web page title or posted content) posted on the Web page included in the Web search search result. And a search end notification including the created web page character string information is transmitted to the video game control server 10 (step S503a). Here, the search server 50 may transmit the web page list screen to the video game control server 10, and the video game control server 10 may create web page character string information.

  When the search end notification including the web page character string information is transmitted to the video game control server 10, the search server 50 proceeds to the processing after step S504 in the game screen control information provision processing.

  On the other hand, when the search end notification is received and the player information is updated (step S103a), the video game control server 10 uses the item search character string specifying unit 10B to specify the item search character string corresponding to the Web page character string information. (Step S104a). Here, the item search character string specifying unit 10B searches for an item from the Web page character string information by searching for a character string (item search character string candidate) stored in advance in a storage unit included in the video game control server 10, for example. Specify a string.

  That is, for example, if the item search character string candidate “Mirin” is included in the Web page character string information as a result of the Web search using the search character string “Shoyu”, the item search character string specifying unit 10B determines the character string “Soy sauce”. And “Mirin” are specified as the item search character string.

  For example, a sponsor name and a product name sold by the sponsor (sponsor product name) are stored as item search character string candidates, and item information indicating items corresponding to the sponsor name and sponsor product name is also stored in the item information DB 13. It is good also as a structure stored in. This makes it possible to provide motivation for performing a web search by sponsor name or product name in a video game. Also, by setting item information according to the sponsor's corporate image, business type, etc., it becomes possible to provide items according to the player's hobby.

  When the item search character string is specified, the video game control server 10 searches for item information using the specified item search character string (step S105a), and proceeds to the processing after step S106 in the game screen control information provision processing.

  As described above, in the other embodiments described above, the Web search result information (for example, the search end notification) received by the video game control server 10 is posted on the Web page included in the search result of the Web search. Web page character string information indicating a part of the character string is included, and the video game control server 10 extracts a predetermined character string (for example, an item search character string candidate) from the Web page character string information to obtain an item search character string. Therefore, it is possible to create a possibility that an item that is not anticipated by the player is given, and to improve the game's preference.

  The video game control system 100 described above can be applied not only to breeding games such as seeds and pets, but also to video games that use items.

  Although not specifically mentioned in the above-described embodiment, the video game control server 10 executes the various processes described above according to a control program (video game control program) stored in a storage device included in the video game control server 10. .

  According to the present invention, in a video game provided as a network service, it is useful for providing a player with an item that more suits the player's taste.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Video game control server 10A Search character string receiving part 10B Item search character string specific | specification part 10C Item provision determination part 11 Game information DB
12 Player information DB
13 Item information DB
21 to 2N player terminal 30 communication network 50 search server 100 video game control system

Claims (5)

A video game control server for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network,
Player information storage means for storing player information indicating the progress of the video game in each of the one or more player terminals;
Item information storage means for storing item information including conditions for granting various items usable in the video game;
Determining means for determining whether or not a character string included in the Web page satisfies the provision condition when the player accesses the Web page;
An item granting unit for granting item information corresponding to the granting condition to the player information when the judging unit determines that the granting condition is satisfied,
The video game control server characterized in that the granting condition relates to a character string that can be recognized by the player as a character string related to the item included in the Web page. A video game control server for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network,
Player information storage means for storing player information indicating the progress of the video game in each of the one or more player terminals;
Item information storage means for storing item information including conditions for granting various items usable in the video game;
Determining means for determining whether or not a character string included in the Web page satisfies the provision condition when the player accesses the Web page;
An item granting unit for granting item information corresponding to the granting condition to the player information when the judging unit determines that the granting condition is satisfied,
The determination means determines whether or not a character string posted on a web page included in a search result using a search character string input by the player satisfies the provision condition. server. The video game control server according to claim 2, wherein the provision condition is a condition related to a predetermined character string. A video game control program for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network,
On the computer,
When the player accesses the Web page, a character string included in the Web page is stored in an item information storage unit that stores item information including conditions for assigning various items that can be used in the video game. A determination process for determining whether or not the grant condition indicated by the item information is satisfied,
When it is determined in the determination process that the grant condition is satisfied, item information corresponding to the grant condition is stored as player information indicating the progress of the video game at each of the one or more player terminals. An item granting process to be given to the player information stored in the player information storage means,
The video game control program characterized in that the provision condition relates to a character string that can be recognized by the player as a character string related to the item included in the Web page. A video game control program for controlling the progress of a video game in one or more player terminals connected via a communication network,
On the computer,
When the player accesses the Web page, a character string included in the Web page is stored in an item information storage unit that stores item information including conditions for assigning various items that can be used in the video game. A determination process for determining whether or not the grant condition indicated by the item information is satisfied,
When it is determined in the determination process that the grant condition is satisfied, item information corresponding to the grant condition is stored as player information indicating the progress of the video game at each of the one or more player terminals. An item granting process to be given to the player information stored in the player information storage means,
In the determination process, a video game for executing a process of determining whether or not a character string posted on a Web page included in a search result using a search character string input by the player satisfies the provision condition Control program.

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