JPH05228260A - Method for dialogic video game by joint operation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To execute co-operation with the interaction between an operator and an animation character, by mimicking the voice interaction between at least two interactive animation characters having voices different from each other, and the operator of a game machine. CONSTITUTION: A video game system generates, for example, plural animation sequences 21, 25, 28 indicating three animation characters occupied with rescue activity in cooperation, onto a video screen 11, and each character has the proper voice. When the sequence 21 is started, the characters 18 and 30 are in the dangerous state, and the character 17 trys to help them. The character 17 tells an opinion on the rescue activity, by speaking the words indicated by a voice balloon 20. When the operator 12 selects one of the alternative words by a controller 31, the amination is changed to the sequence 25, and the selected words is uttered by the voice of an operator control character 30. Then the character 18 grasps a rope, and then speaks the words programmed in advance, with the voice of the character 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention mimics a voice interaction between one or more operators who are gamers and one or more interactive animated characters on a television or video screen. A collaborative interactive video game method.

[0002]

Composition, Actions, and Effects of the Invention Two or more anime characters perform joint actions and discuss what to do. The characters speak to each other and to operators who directly or indirectly control what the characters do and say. Images and voices are generated based on digital data read from a laser disk, semiconductor memory or the like. Each operator has a lightweight controller with multiple push buttons and displaying two or more variable words or sentences. By pressing the button next to the selected sentence or phrase, the operator
Respond to what the character says. The anime character then verbally or verbally responds to the selected sentence, as spoken by the operator or as saying the operator-selected word. However, the character may perform a selected action corresponding to the word displayed on the controller. You don't have to have a conversation. Therefore, the operator feels a hallucination having a voice interaction with the character, involved in a joint activity.

There are two types of characters in the role-playing technique video game: a so-called operator-controlled character controlled by the operator and a so-called non-operator character not controlled by the operator. The operator-controlled character is the animation part of the operator and also carries out what the operator has selected. The non-operator character is not directly controlled by the operator, but is indirectly controlled by the operator by responding to the action selected by the operator or by responding to or doing what the operator-controlled character does. Be affected by. The non-operator character is programmed to perform different alternative actions based on what the operator or operator-controlled character said. The scene may repeat a non-operator character who always says different things and an alternative response for a different operator each time the scene is repeated for a predetermined period of time.

In a two-player game, the menu displayed to one operator may be different than the menu for the other operator, so that a handheld or portable controller may display the menu on a video screen. It is preferable to display in. Part of the fun is that some operators do not know what other operators are choosing. Also, the menu on the video screen breaks the illusion that the operator is talking to the true character. Therefore, the preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a handheld menu display controller with pushbuttons or equivalents for each menu. The present invention also utilizes a simulated voice that recites the selected words so that other operators can know what they are saying.

Push buttons, rotary knobs, pressure sensitive members, proximity sensitive pads, screen overlays, light pens, light sensors, joysticks, mice, trackballs, moveable cursors or crosshairs, highlighted Various input devices such as scrolling through the selection unit and spoken language may be applied to the handheld controller.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment of the present invention, a video game system includes a plurality of animated or image sequences 21, 25 showing three animated characters working together in a rescue operation. , 28 on the television or video screen 11. Each character has a unique voice. When sequence 21 begins, characters 18 and 30 are in danger and character 17 is trying to rescue it. The character 17 expresses his opinion in the rescue operation by speaking the words shown in the voice balloon 20 which is a balloon of the manga. The human operator 12, in this embodiment, has a portable or hand-held controller 31 (see FIG. 2) with three push buttons 14 located next to corresponding menu items on the liquid crystal display 22. Have fully shown). Two or more alternative response sentences or alternative phrases are displayed on the display 22 and are respectively associated with one of the three push buttons 14. The hand of the operator 12 is in a state of pressing one of the buttons 14 in order to select one of the words to be spoken by the operator-controlled character 30 controlled by the operator.

While the operator 12 decides which button to press, a continuing image sequence (not shown) continues to show the same scene with a character attempting to raise the rope or a character attempting to climb the rope.

When the operator 12 selects one of the displayed alternative words, the animation changes to a sequence 25, and the selected word or phrase of the operator-controlled character 30 that repeats the word selected by the operator. Generated by voice. This voice is shown in the balloon 23 (in this embodiment, "Tom,
Grab the rope. " ). Tom is the character 18 and in sequence 21 hangs on the ankle of character 30. After the character 30 says the selected phrase in the balloon 23, the character 18 grabs the rope and then tells the character 18 to respond with the pre-programmed word "I understand" for the selected phrase. The voice of the character 18 is shown in the balloon 24. Character 1
Action 8 is pre-programmed for the selected phrase. When the operator 12 selects another one of the alternative words, the character 18 behaves differently and speaks a different answer word.

The video game system then generates an animated sequence showing the character 18 climbing the rope. This climbing sequence is not shown. When the character 18 reaches the character 17 in sequence 28, the character 17 says "grabbing his arm" in the voice of the character 17, as in the balloon 27, and the rescue operation continues. Thus, the animated characters speak jointly to perform rescue operations and talk about these movements, with their movements and voices being directly or indirectly controlled by one or more operators. A second menu of alternative words for character 17 (not shown) for words spoken by character 17.
The operator may select from among them. This operator may be the second operator 10 shown in FIG.

After sequence 28, the video game system in turn generates other animation sequences in which the operator directly or indirectly controls the motion and voice of the character as described with respect to FIG. 1 above.

A game method shown in FIG. 7, which is a modification of the game shown in FIG. 1, will be described below.

Before starting each game, each operator may select a character he wishes to play. Alternatively, each operator-controlled character controlled by the operator and the question "Who wants to play this character?" May be displayed for each character on the video screen. .. video game·
The system then causes the alternative phrase for that character to be the operator who plays that character (in this example,
Record which controller 31 responds so that it is only displayed on the controller for the operator 12) who plays the character 30. The operator may also choose to play an operator-controlled character outside the video screen that is not always displayed on the video screen and interact with the character on the video screen.

Referring to FIG. 2, in another embodiment of the invention, a video game system displays two or more animated interactive characters 17, 18 on video screen 11. In this example, character 1
7 is an operator-controlled character controlled by the operator 12. The operator 12 can play the role of the character 17 and can talk to the character 18 and through the character 17 to other characters in the game. The operator 12 has three pushbuttons 1 next to the liquid crystal display 22 shown enlarged in FIG. 2 for clarity.
It has a hand-held controller 31 with four. The video game system displays three alternative response sentences on the display 22.
Display on top. The operator 12 inputs one of the displayed response sentences (“kiss again” in this embodiment).
Pushbutton 1 associated with the selected and displayed response
Select with 4. Then, the word selected from the display 22 is spoken in the voice 15 for the character 17. The words of character 17 are directed to character 18 who responds with voice 16 to the words of character 17.

The two characters 17, 18 may be made to respond in the reverse sequence. That is, the non-operator character 18 not controlled by the operator may say something first so that the operator controlled character 17 can respond as instructed by the operator 12. For example, after the operator 12 selects "Kiss me again", the character 18 says the necessary word "What do you want me to do?" Which is not one of the displayed alternative words, and then As a response to what the character 18 has said, the character 17 may reply "Kiss me again". Such inversion can be a more natural dialogue.

A voice or subtitle is a silent idea,
The idea of a character that can't speak like babies and animals,
Alternatively, it may be used to represent an inanimate object. The cloud-shaped balloon 19 shown in FIG.
7 represents a silent thought of a character 18 generated without moving his mouth in response to a spoken phrase 15 of 7. Speech for silent thoughts may be electronically converted for display to the operator as if it were not a typical voiced voice. For example, the silent idea can be converted into hollow or vibrating sounds and even whispering sounds by electronically or digitally editing the audio data before converting it to audio frequencies.

Referring to FIG. 3, the characters 17, 1
When eight perform a kiss-like co-action, one of the characters responds to the action shown, to what was said or performed prior to the sequence shown in FIG. 2, or to the indicator. In response to what is said or performed in response to the phrase selected from 22, the mouth may be moved and spoken, as indicated by the cloud balloon 29, or the mouth not moved. You may silently think that it should occur without synchronizing.

Referring to FIG. 4, in another embodiment of the present invention, a video game system displays a moving image sequence showing a character 18 hanging with a finger from a ledge on the outside of a building. Is displayed. Friends on the roof are throwing a rope on character 18 that is not long enough to reach character 18. This ledge-hanging condition continues to the next scene shown in FIG. 5, where two animated characters are interacting with each other and with one or more operators regarding the danger of character 18.

Referring to FIG. 5, the image sequence 21,
25 and 28 are rooftop scenes in which two dialogue characters are discussing how to rescue the character shown in FIG. One or more operators participate in the discussion by saying words, phrases, sentences, etc. to an interactive character who answers and asks questions or states an opinion that guides the operator's next input. The alternative phrase shown on the display 22 is the phrase 20.
It is a solution that should be proposed for the issues that have been held for. When the operator 10 depresses the push button 14 corresponding to "call 119", one character
Question 2 to the other character in sequence 25
Responding by speaking 3 with voice, the other character speaking the question 24 to the operator. The inquiry 24 is also made by an alternative action 26 on the display 22.
When the operator 12 depresses the button 14 corresponding to "down the rope.", The character voices the phrase 27 in sequence 28 as an opinion for the selected action. Thus, the mimicked word dialogue can continue by changing several words in the same scene.

After the rescue problem of the character 18 shown in FIG. 4 has been solved by the operator, one of the characters in FIG. 5, eg, the character 17, may show the motion that occurs in the rescue. Such actions include the character 17 helping the character 18 over the roof of the building in an animated image sequence similar to the image sequence 28 in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, in another embodiment of the present invention, a video game system includes a plurality of animated sequences 33 showing two animated characters 37, 38 playing a baseball game together. , 34, 35 video
Display on the screen 11. Both characters generate their own unique voices. When sequence 33 begins, character 37 is about to throw a ball at character 38, and character 38 is about to hit the ball with a bat. The character 37 speaks the words shown on the balloon 40 which criticizes the skill of the character 38 to perform the joint action. In this embodiment, the operator 12 has a hand-held controller 31 with three push buttons 14 next to a display 22 which displays words for alternative responses. The hand of the operator 12 is shown pushing a button 14 to select one of the alternative phrases. When the operator 12 selects one word, the word corresponding to the selected word is generated in the voice of the character 38. Such words are shown in the balloon 41.

The video then changes to a sequence 34 showing the character 37 throwing the ball, where the character 37 provides an opinion about his behavior in a joint activity. This voice is shown in the balloon 42.

The animation then changes to a sequence 35 showing a character 38 hitting the ball with a bat. When the character 38 makes a blank swing, the character 38 gives an opinion on the execution result of this baseball game. Such a voice is shown in the balloon 43. Therefore, character 3
7, 38 execute joint actions and dialogues regarding these actions while the actions and voices are directly or indirectly controlled by the operator. The word of the character in the balloon 43 may be selected by the operator from a second menu (not shown) of alternative words that the character 38 should say, or the word of the character on the display 22 may be changed by the character 38. The game system may automatically select based on the phrase selected by the operator to speak.

The actions of the characters 37, 38 differ depending on the words they say. For example, when the character 38 makes an annoying opinion, the character 37 puts his hands on his hips with a challenging attitude and an uncomfortable face,
You may also respond with a rude opinion and then resume the baseball game. The character 17 may throw a ball of a ball type different from what the character says. Further, the character 18 may swing the bat differently from what the character says. The collaborative action changes in response to operator input and is not fixed immutably as in motion picture film. Therefore, the selection made by the operator in the controller 31 influences what the character says and the action to be performed.

Referring to FIG. 7, in another embodiment of the present invention, a video game system includes a video sequence 2 showing three interactive characters working together in a rescue operation.
1, 25, 28 are generated on the video screen 11.
This game differs from the game shown in FIG. 1 in that the operator 12 does not directly control the words spoken by any of the three characters 17, 18, 30 shown in FIG. The word selected by the operator 12 shown in FIG. 7 is spoken in a voice different from any voice of the three characters.

At the beginning of sequence 21, characters 18 and 30 are in danger and character 17 is attempting to rescue them. The character 17 speaks the words shown on the voice balloon 20 and gives an opinion on the rescue operation. Two or more alternative responses are displayed on the display 22 and are associated with one of the three pushbuttons 14. The operator's 12 hand selects one of the alternative responses to provide the operator's conversation by depressing one of the push buttons 14. The selected phrase may be pronounced independently of the character or by an operator-controlled character other than the screen, which is a surrogate for the operator.

When the operator selects one of the displayed alternative responses, the animation changes to sequence 25 and the selected sentence is generated. This voice (in the illustrated example, “grabbing Tom, Rohm”) is shown on the balloon 32. Tom is a character 18 and then grabs the rope.
If the operator 12 selects a different alternative response, a different or the same character will perform the selected action.
The character 30 then responds with the voice of the character 30 the response phrase shown in the balloon 23 to this action or to the phrase of the agent of the operator of the balloon 32. The words used by the character 30 are pre-programmed words for the selected phrase. The wording of balloon 23 is not the same as the wording of balloon 32 in this embodiment. When the operator 12 selects another alternative phrase, the character 30 behaves differently and responds differently.

After the character 30 responds by speaking the words in the balloon 23, the video game system generates an animated sequence showing the character climbing the rope or performing the action indicated by the words of the balloon 23. .. This climbing sequence is not shown. When the character 30 reaches the character 17 in sequence 28, the character 17 says "grab your arm" as in the balloon 27 and the rescue operation continues. Thus, the animated characters jointly perform rescue activities and interact with these actions, with the actions and sounds controlled directly or indirectly by one or more operators. The words by character 17 are
The operator may select from other alternative words (not shown) for use. This operator may be the second operator shown in FIG.

The digital animation data for the background scene and the digital animation data for each character are used so that different anime characters that can move with respect to the background scene can be used for each background scene. It may be stored separately. Similarly, each character can say many different phrases without changing the scene,
The digitized voice data may be independent of the animation data. In the preferred embodiment, the animated character video audio sequence and the inductive phrase sequence are independently generated from separately stored digital data. Interaction data that is not used in one scene may then be used in different scenes with the same or different characters. Speech data consists of code sequences or compressed digital recordings of phonemes, words, sentences or words of some unique words, so that each character can speak many pre-programmed words or phrases. You may. Similarly, the physical digital data for each animated character may be stored separately from the split data such as moving lips, face, and gestures, which allows each character and its unique language to be spoken. Depending on the lips of different movements can be synchronized. The digital data for each character may be combined with body, lips, expressions, gestures, and voice.

When the operator depresses one of the buttons 14 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 the game system produces a voice speaking the selected phrase on behalf of the operator. The animated character then responds as if the sound produced was spoken by the operator. Since the operator selects the words to actually speak, the operator can quickly adapt to the fact that the words heard by the operator who is the interlocutor begin to be spoken by the operator's finger rather than the operator's pronunciation. it can. The simulated voice that recites the selected word is important for multiplayer games where each operator can hear what each other operator says to the character on the screen. Depressing one of the plurality of buttons 14 selects a verbal response to a word already spoken by the animated character and also selects a new dialogue sequence corresponding to the verbal response displayed on the display 22. Become.
The selected dialogue sequence comprises the face and voice of an anime character who speaks words in response to the operator's selected verbal response.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a handheld controller 31 having a push button 14 for each menu displayed on the display 22 and a simulated voice to avoid displaying the subtitle on the video screen. To use. However, the menu may be displayed on the video screen instead of the control's display and selected by the operator utilizing a handheld control without the display.

Each character may be an animated movie, digitized active action, analogized active action, split, etc., and may or may not be controlled by the operator. Good. The term "linguistic expression" in the present invention means many words, words, phrases, sentences, additional words, spells, main words, combinations of main words, symbols, etc.,
Further, it means a meaningful voice of a person, such as "what", "hmm", laughter, scream, etc. Kissing in the context of the present invention means that the lips of one character touch the lips of another character or other body part.

In the present invention, the term "cooperative action" refers to actions, such as rescue, tracking, manipulating, ball games, hugs, other mimicry games, other contents, other activities, etc., between friendly video characters. It is used in a broad sense to include competing motions or competitive motions between playing video characters.

We all have a desire to speak and be spoken by nature. It is also our innate desire to hear other people speak and thereby experience their emotions together, which has been used in movies and television where audio is essential. Interactive video games that allow human operators to participate in dialogues with animated characters that inspire human emotions, such as feature films, will always attract people. Because they satisfy the basic human desire to talk to others.

Although a unique embodiment has been described with respect to the invention, the invention can be modified in various ways.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an animation movie dialogue game played by one operator and three anime characters, while talking about joint rescue activities in which one character helps two other characters in danger. It is a figure which shows the game which performs the rescue operation.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hug sequence in an interactive game performed by two animated characters and one operator who interact with each other about a joint action.

FIG. 3 is a kiss in the interactive game of FIG.
It is a figure which shows a sequence.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a protrusion hanging scene in an interactive game in which an interactive movie character requires an immediate action by an operator.

5 is a diagram showing a dialogue sequence in an interactive game in which two anime characters interact with each other and an operator regarding the dangerous state shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a dialogue game in which a baseball game is performed by two anime characters who perform a joint action while having a dialogue about the joint action and one operator.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a dialogue game played by three animated characters and one operator who perform a rescue operation while having a dialogue about the joint rescue operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Operator 17, 18, 30, 37, 38 Anime character 14 Push button 22 Display 31 Control device

Claims (26)

[Claims] 1. A collaborative dialogue video game method for simulating a voice dialogue between two or more dialogue anime characters having different voices and an operator of a game device, comprising:
Producing a moving image showing first and second interactive characters performing a collaborative action, the first voice speaking to the second interactive character regarding the collaborative action being the first voice.
And displaying to the operator a plurality of alternative language expressions that occur in the voice of the dialogue character and respond to the first voice,
The operator receives an instruction from the operator that a language expression has been selected by the operator from the plurality of alternative language expressions, and a second voice that is responsive to the selected language expression is the voice of the second dialogue character. A collaborative interactive video game method comprising: generating an animated image that occurs and indicates that one of the characters performs an action in response to the second voice. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second voice is responsive to the selected linguistic expression using a word that is different than the selected linguistic expression. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second voice refers to words of a selected verbal expression. 4. The collaborative action includes assisting one character actor with another character in danger.
The method of claim 1. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the joint action includes one character advancing a ball toward another character. 6. The collaborative action includes one character hugging or kissing another character,
The method of claim 1. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein some of the interactive characters are animated movies. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein some animated images of the interactive character are generated from digitized images of living things. 9. A dialogue video game method of collaborative action for simulating a voice dialogue between two or more dialogue animation characters having different voices and an operator of a game device, the first collaborative action executing method. And a plurality of alternative linguistic expressions relating to the joint action are displayed to the operator by generating a moving image showing the second dialogue character, and the linguistic expression from the plurality of alternative linguistic expressions is displayed by the operator. A second voice that receives an instruction from the operator that the selected voice expression is selected by the operator, generates a first voice that responds to the selected language expression in the voice of the first dialogue character, and that responds to the first voice. A dialogue motion video game method of collaborative action, comprising: generating the voice of the dialogue second dialogue character. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first voice is responsive to the selected linguistic expression using a voice that is different from the language of the selected linguistic expression. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first voice refers to a word of a selected verbal expression. 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the collaborative action includes assisting one character with another character in danger. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the joint action includes one character advancing a ball toward another character. 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the collaborative action includes one character hugging or kissing another character. 15. The method of claim 9, wherein some of the interactive characters are animated movies. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein some animated images of the character are generated from digitized images of living things. 17. A collaborative dialogue video game method for simulating a voice dialogue between two or more dialogue anime characters having different voices and an operator of a game device, the danger being exposed to a dangerous state. Generating a moving image showing a character and generating a moving image showing first and second interactive characters performing a joint action to help the dangerous character from a dangerous state, the second moving image relating to the joint action. Generating a first voice speaking to the dialogue character of the first dialogue character in the voice of the first dialogue character, and displaying a plurality of alternative language expressions responsive to the first voice to the operator to display a plurality of choices. Second voice that proposes a physical action, receives an instruction from the operator that the language expression has been selected by the operator from the plurality of alternative language expressions, and responds to the selected language expression. In a voice of a second interactive character to generate an animated image showing that one of the characters performs the action suggested by the linguistic expression selected to help the dangerous character out of danger. A collaborative interactive video game method including: 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second voice is responsive to the selected linguistic expression using a word that is different than the selected linguistic expression. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the second voice refers to words of a selected verbal expression. 20. A collaborative interactive video game method for simulating an interaction between two or more interactive anime characters having different voices and an operator of a game device, wherein a series of actions are executed. Generating a moving image showing first and second interactive characters performing a joint action, producing a first voice in the voice of the first interactive character for the joint action, and a plurality of alternative actions; One of the plurality of alternative actions is selected by the operator to generate a moving image showing the action of the first interactive character that prompts the second interactive character to perform one of the A second voice that receives an instruction from the operator to generate a moving image showing the second interactive character performing the selected action and speaks to the first interactive character regarding the selected action. And a voice of a second interactive character. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the collaborative action includes assisting one character with another character in danger. 22. The game method of claim 20, wherein the collaborative action includes one character advancing a ball toward another character. 23. The method of claim 20, wherein the collaborative action includes one character hugging or kissing another character. 24. The method of claim 20, wherein some of the interactive characters are animated movies. 25. The method of claim 20, wherein some animated images of the interactive character are generated from digitized images of living things. 26. A collaborative dialogue video game method for simulating a voice dialogue between two or more dialogue animation characters having different voices and an operator of a game device, wherein the first collaborative movement is performed. And generating a moving image showing a second dialogue character, producing a first voice in the voice of the first dialogue character to speak to the second dialogue character in relation to the collaborative action, the first voice A plurality of alternative linguistic expressions for the second interactive character to be displayed in response to the operator, the linguistic expression being selected by the operator from the plurality of alternative linguistic expressions. An instruction is received from the operator and a second voice is generated in the voice of the second dialogue character in response to the selected language expression, one of the characters being produced by the operator for the second dialogue character. Generating an animated image showing performing a selected one of a plurality of actions in response to a particular one of the indicated alternative language expressions.
A collaborative interactive video game method.