JPH0798106B2 - TV game device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video game device, and more particularly to a video game device adapted to give a feeling of familiarity to the game by adjusting the background of the game to the season in which the game is played. Is.

(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 storage medium for the game 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 rear 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, generates a signal suitable for the display 35, and outputs the signal to the display 35.
Send to. The display 35 is composed of, for example, a cathode ray tube, and displays the contents of the game. The signal input from the operation unit 36 operated by the player is a program group.
Applied to 37, controls some of the main character's moves in 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 story of the game 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 enthusiasm for repeatedly playing the game, there is a problem that the unexpectedness that 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 problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a video game device that constantly gives a player unexpectedness and deeper enjoyment by changing the background of the game depending on the season.

(Means and Actions for Solving Problems) The present invention relates to a video game device having at least an operation unit and a display, a calendar timer, a unit for holding an environmental data group including seasonal data, and a program for a game story. And a means for holding a background screen data group related to the environment data group,
And a means for selecting environment data suitable for the time information from the environment data group based on the time information obtained from the calendar timer, based on the environment data selected by the means, The feature is that the background screen is selected.

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

A back screen suitable for the season is selected for each scene of the game according to the season in which the player plays the game. Since this season can be arbitrarily determined by the player by inputting the month / day data, it can be matched with the actual season in the region where the player is. For example, in the case of Hokkaido, the start of spring can be set on May 1st, and in Tokyo, it can be set on April 1st.

According to the present invention, as described above, since the content of the game and the player's life are deeply related to each other, the player can immerse himself deeply in the game.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the 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 or her hand, 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 4 and the RAM 5 are included in a game recording medium (IC card or IC memory card) that stores a game program and various control programs. In some cases, the calendar timer 6 and, in some cases, the CPU 3 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.

The RAM 5 stores the environmental data group A shown in FIG. 3 (a), and the ROM 4 has the program group B, the special program group C and the control program shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). A program group D is stored.

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. The "program for holidays" is a program selected when the day being played is, for example, Children's Day, Respect for the Elderly Day, Physical Education Day, and so on. In addition, the "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.

When the ROM 4 (IC card) holding the above programs and data 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 on which the game is recorded in the video game device, a signal requesting that the menu screen be displayed on the display 10 is output to the program control unit 12. To do.
When the IC card is used for the first time, it outputs a signal requesting the player to input environmental data such as initials, birthday, blood type, and parents' birthday. 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 referenced to check what the season is and whether it is a holiday or a special day. If necessary, environmental data group 21
The necessary data (parameters) is read from and is transferred 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". If the player's birthday, a national holiday, or a special day, the special program group 22
It acts to select the program that suits the day from among. 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. On a normal day, a necessary program to be executed is determined from the program group 23, and the difficulty level control section 13 and the background screen control section 14 are activated.

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 = (p1 + p + a1 + t) × st D = {(i + s + (3-a1)} × f Here, p1 represents “play time of the day”, for example, 10 points if less than 1 hour, 5 points if 1 to 2 hours, If it is 2-3 hours, it will be 3 points, and if it is 3 hours or more, it will be 1. p represents the "p curve of biorhythm", that is, the physical condition.
For example, the curve is divided into three stages of good, normal, and bad, and three points, two points, and one point are assigned to each. a1 represents the "player's age", for example, 3 points for under 8 years old, 2 points for 8-16 years old, 1 point for 16-46 years old and 1 year old for 46 years old or older 3 points. t represents a “trend”, and the past n
Calculated from the score data of the times. For example, when n ≦ 3, 3 points are given. When n ≧ 4, 1 point is given when 20% or more of the n times score is 20% or less of the past highest score, 2 points when 20-60% is given, and 3 points when 60% or more is given. . Further, st represents the start time of the game, and is given 2 points when the start time is from 5 am to 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, and 3 points, 2 points, and 1 point are assigned 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 are sent to the special program group 22 or the program group 23 and stored in a predetermined area shown in FIG. 3 (a). Then, the power of the main character of the game, the number of characters, the speed of movement, etc. are sequentially referred to during the progress of the game program, and are 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, the background screen control unit 14 is the environmental data control unit (1).
When the data of four seasons is received from 11 through the program control unit 12, a background screen is selected from the background screen data group 24 according to the season of the scene to be executed, 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. If it's summer,
The background screen shows the scenery of the sea and mountains, the scenery of autumnal forests in autumn, and the scenery of snow and piles in winter. 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. However, other background screens such as rainy season may be added.

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. Also, at the end of the game, the scene at that time,
Data such as points, today's month / day, today's play count, today's play time, etc. is transferred to the environmental data group 21. If the current score is equal to or higher than the highest past score, 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 it into 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 displays the data of the initial menu in the display control unit 9
To display the initial menu on the display 10. 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 type with the operation unit 1 while looking at the menu, the environmental data control unit (1) selects the player (step S
6) Select whether the game starts from the last 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. If it is not the same day, the program control unit 12 clears the number of plays and the playing 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.

If you play more than once on the same day, or if step S13 turns to NO due to the above operation, step S
Proceed to 15. At step S15, the play count is incremented by 1 (step S15). Next, the program control unit 12 sets the start time of the game (step S16), and further calculates the age and biorhythm (i, s, p) (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 a 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 refers to the “data on public holidays / special days” in the environmental data group 21, and refers to today's birthday, children's day, respect for the elderly, physical education day, and Christmas day. Or, determine whether or not it corresponds to the Hinamatsuri (step
R3 to R8), special programs if applicable
As a bonus stage, a program corresponding to the day is selected from 22 (steps R9 to R14). On the other hand, when there is no corresponding day, a program of a normal bonus stage is selected from the program group 23 (step R9 to R14). R1
Five). 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. When the program to be executed is determined as described above, step S2
Proceeding to 4, the difficulty level control unit 13 calculates the power P and the difficulty level D of the main character based on the above equations, and determines the power P and the difficulty level 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, program group 2
The game program is read out from 3 or the special program group 22 and the game starts to be executed (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 displays the data on the display control unit 9
To display 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). 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) When the season changes, the background and characters change completely.
For example, when the game was in the spring when the butterflies were flying in the flowered fields, when the season changes in the summer, the yachts float in the sea.

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

(3) At the start of play, the general condition of the hero can be known.

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

(5) Since there is a screen for the birthday of one's father or mother, it can be enjoyed by the family.

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 the following excellent effects.

(1) When the season changes, the background and characters change so as to match the season, so that the player can enjoy the same game all year round with a new feeling.

(2) Also, since the game can be played in the background of the same season in which one is living, the game can be familiar.

(3) Although the season changes depending on the region, the player can input the date and time of the season change of the region in which he / she lives in to the video game device, so that the background screen of the game and the actual season are matched. be able to.

[Brief description of 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 part, 6 ... Calendar timer, 9 ... Display control part, 10 ... Display, 11 ... Environmental data control part (1), 12 ... Program control part, 13 ... Difficulty level control part, 14 …… Background screen control unit, 15 …… Environmental data control unit (2), 21 …… Environmental data group, 22 …… Special program group, 23 …… Program group, 24 …… Background screen data group

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video game apparatus having at least an operation unit and a display, a calendar timer, a means for holding an environmental data group including season data, a means for holding a program related to a game story, and the environmental data group. The apparatus further comprises means for holding a related background screen data group, and means for selecting environmental data suitable for the time information from the environmental data group based on the time information obtained from the calendar timer. A video game device, wherein the background screen is selected based on the environmental data selected by. 2. The means for retaining an environmental data group including the seasonal data retains at least environmental data relating to the months / days of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The video game device according to item 1.