JPH0651748A - Formation of character - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate an easy-to-see character image on a game machine by registering character patterns in a plane 0 of a generator and then registering a character pattern which is shifted in direction and includes 0 as overlapping bits in a plane 1. CONSTITUTION:When the computer game machine displays characters on its video screen, the character patterns are registered in the plane 0 of a splite generator. Further, the same data with the plane 0 are described in the plane 1 so that bit patterns in the plane 0 are shifted right by one bit and down by one bit. In this case, the plane 0 is given priority for the bits overlapping with the plane 0 and the bits of the plane 1 are set to 0, thus processing the character patterns. Consequently, the plane 0 is preferentially displayed as characters and the plane 1 is displayed as patterns for making the characters attractive. Therefore, the characters are seen in an embossed form and becomes easy to see.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to character display in a computer game device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a computer game device for home use has a method of superimposing two types of screens called a background (background) and a sprite (foreground) as a method of displaying on a video screen.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing set values of respective registers constituting a display screen. The setting value in each horizontal direction is in units of the number of characters, and the vertical direction is in units of the number of rasters.

In the system of this example, the background screen is composed of patterns called "characters" and the sprite screen is composed of patterns called "sprites". In this example system, one unit of character is 8
In contrast to x8 dots, sprites are managed with 16x16 dots. This will be described below according to this example.

The background screen is managed in the VRAM of the memory in the computer as shown in FIG. Background attribute table (BA
T) is a table set in the VRAM to specify what kind of character and what color is displayed at each character position on the virtual screen.

A character code representing a character pattern and a CG color code (CG COLOR) representing a color are designated for each address. As shown in FIG. 4, in this example, the CG color code is designated by 4 bits and the character code is designated by 12 bits of data.

As the character code, a character number defined by a character generator (CG) in the VRAM is designated, and an actual character pattern is registered in the character generator (CG) corresponding to this number.

In the character generator (CG), the character pattern is defined as shown in FIG. Since a character composed of 8 × 8 dots on the screen needs to be defined with a color number of 4 bits for each dot, four 8 × 8 dot surfaces are used in the character generator (CG). Each surface is called CH0, CH1, CH2, CH3, and one pattern is defined by a total of 16 words of information.

As described above, the background screen is VRA.
It is managed by a background table (BAT) and a character generator (CG) in M, and is displayed on the screen according to the contents of this memory.

As described above, the character color is C
4 of G color code and character generator (CG)
It is decided by the plane. The CG color code selects a color block of the color palette, and the character generator (CG) determines which color of the extracted color pattern.

The character generator (CG) is 8 × 8
Since it consists of four dots, one unit of character consists of 32 bits. In the game, a large number of such characters are prepared to form the background screen for the game.

Next, the sprite screen will be described.
The pattern and color of the character are determined by the background attribute table (BAT) and the character generator (CG), but that of the sprite is determined by the sprite attribute table (SAT) and the sprite generator (SG).

Sprite screens typically represent the subject pattern of a person, character, or the like represented on a background screen.
Although the content of the record is different from the case of the background screen, the sprite attribute table (SAT) is BAT, the sprite generator (SG) is CG,
Each corresponds.

The sprite generator (SG) is composed of four surfaces, the color number is determined from each surface, and points to the pattern color of the color palette.

Characters are displayed by forming one character pattern from the plurality of surfaces. In the system, one unit of SAT that defines a sprite pattern such as a character pattern is called a sprite. FIG. 6 shows the configuration of this SAT and sprite.

The faces forming the image pattern in the sprite generator (SG) are named 0, 1, 2, 3 planes in order from the smallest address, and one character or image pattern is formed by superposing these planes. To form.

[0017]

Conventionally, when a character is displayed on a video screen by a computer game machine, a sprite image composed of character data is displayed on the screen while being superimposed on the background screen. Depending on the situation, it may be difficult to read the characters. An object of the present invention is to create a character image that is easy to see on a computer game machine.

[0018]

In the present invention, first, a character pattern is registered in the 0 plane of the sprite generator, and dots are diagonally shifted to the 1 plane to describe the same data as the 0 plane. However, in this case, the bit overlapping the 0 plane is given priority to the 0 plane, and the bit of the 1 plane is set to 0 to process the character pattern.

[0019]

EXAMPLES A method for processing a character pattern of the present invention will be described with reference to examples. FIG. 7 shows a character pattern defined in the 0 plane. The one plane shown in FIG. 8 is created by shifting the bit pattern of the 0 plane of this character by 1 bit to the right and 1 bit below. However, the bit of 1 plane where the bit overlaps with the 0 plane is set to 0.

That is, in the example of FIG. 8, 2 rows and 6 columns, 6 rows and 7 columns, 7 rows and 6 columns, and 11 rows and 7 columns are 0. As a result, the 0 plane is preferentially displayed as characters, and the 1
The plane is displayed as a pattern to enhance the characters. In this example, the planes 2 and 3 are all cleared to 0 bit.

The color number of each dot of the displayed character pattern is determined by the total number of bits for each dot. For example, if the bit values of the corresponding dots on the ₀ , ₁ , ₂ , and 3 planes are a ₀ , a ₁ , a ₂ , and a ₃ , the color numbers are

A ₀ × 2 ₀ + a ₁ × 2 ¹ + a ₂ × 2 ² + a ³ × 2 ³

It can be obtained by Taking the first row and second column of FIGS. 7 and 8 as an example, the color number is 1 because a ₀ is on (= 1) and a ₁ is off (= 0). Similarly, in row 2 and column 3, a ₀ is off and a ₁ is on, so the color number is 2.

The color corresponding to the color number can be defined in the curry palette, and is collated with the color palette when the screen is displayed, and the color of the corresponding color number is displayed on the screen.

Therefore, if the color number 1 is defined as white and the color number 2 is defined as black in the color palette, the characters can be displayed on the screen in white and part in black. Of course, you can freely combine red and blue, yellow and purple, etc., depending on how the color pattern of the color palette is defined.

[0026]

According to the character pattern processing method of the present invention, characters can be seen in an embossed form and can be easily seen. This is especially effective on a screen that uses only one color. If the character pattern processing according to the present invention is performed on an important character display, the game player can be alerted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a computer display screen that manages a screen with a background and sprites.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of addresses in a background attribute (BAT) of a character on a virtual screen.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing positions and contents of a background attribute table (BAT) in VRAM.

FIG. 4 Background attribute table (B
It is an explanatory view showing the composition of AT).

FIG. 5: Character generator (CG) in VRAM
It is explanatory drawing which shows the position and content.

FIG. 6 is a sprite attribute (SA in VRAM).
It is an explanatory view showing composition of T) and a sprite generator (SG).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of character pattern data defined in the 0 plane.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of character pattern data defined for one plane.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G09G 5/02 9175-5G 5/36 9177-5G

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a computer game device that manages screen display by an attribute table on a VRAM and a generator, a character pattern is registered in the 0 plane of the generator, and the character pattern registered in the 0 plane is registered in the 1 plane in an appropriate direction. A character forming method characterized by shifting a character and registering a character pattern in which the bit overlapping with the character of the 0 plane is 0.