JPH08276070A - Game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To suppress excessively sensitive movement and to facilitate and stabilize an operation by simulating movement of a target body in consideration of interactions with the environment acting on a plurality of positions of the target body on the basis of information supplied from an input device. CONSTITUTION: A CPU 101 reads in an operation signal from an input device 11 and topographic data from a topographic data ROM 109 or shape data from a shape data ROM 111 on the basis of a program stored in an ROM 2 and performs a car's movement calculation simulation such as a collision judgement of topography and a car, calculation of movement of a four-wheeled suspension, and a collision judgement between cars and executes a track calculation of a cloud of dust or the like as a special effect. The movement of a car is calculated by simulating the car's movement in a virtual space by an operation signal of a player from the input device 11. After coordinate values in a three- dimensional space are decided, a transforming matrix for transforming the coordinate values to a visual field coordinate system and shape data of the car, topography, and so on are designated in a geometerizer 110.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a game apparatus, and more particularly to a game (car racing) game in which an object such as a car is moved on a monitor in response to a player's operation. The present invention relates to a game device equipped with a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of computer technology, game machines are required to have clearer and more realistic images for both home and business use. Gaming devices are generally
A game apparatus main body having a built-in computer apparatus for executing a game program stored in advance, an operating device for giving an operation signal for instructing the movement of an object to be expressed by the game to the computer apparatus, and a game program for the computer apparatus. A display for displaying an image associated with the game development and a sound device for generating a sound associated with the game development.

There is a game device handling a driving game (car racing game) as one field of the game device having such a configuration. In driving games, it is necessary and important to simulate the movement of a car as realistically as possible.

Conventionally, this simulation employs a single-point model in which the vehicle is replaced with one mass point such as the position of the center of gravity. The degree of contact between the car (tire) and the ground is determined only at that one point, and the simulation is simplified without calculating the suspension or the like. For this reason, there is no movement in the pitch, roll, or yaw directions of the car on the screen, or the vehicle drifts when the steering angle exceeds a certain value, and the movement is merely monotonous under certain conditions.

However, the simulation based on such a single-point model is easy to process, and although the movement of the vehicle intended by the manufacturer can be easily obtained, the simulated movement of the vehicle is inevitably unnatural. There is a problem that the game lacks reality and the added value of the game device is poor.

Since the CPUs of recent years have dramatically improved in processing capability, the car is not considered as one mass point, but four tires come into contact with the road surface and receive a force from the road surface, and the force is transmitted through the suspension. It is possible to express the movement of the car in a very realistic manner by carrying out a real-time simulation that acts on the vehicle body and, as a result, determines the movement of the car.

On the other hand, in the driving game, the special effect on the behavior of the vehicle and the collision determination with another vehicle or a fixed object are now essential processes. Among them, as the parameter of the former special effect, sand smoke or the like has been conventionally used. In this case, it was based on a binary decision as to whether or not to emit sand smoke.

[0008]

However, when a full-scale simulation is performed according to the physical laws of an actual vehicle, the vehicle needs to operate in a game with a small amount of information such as no lateral acceleration or a small screen. Be more sensitive than that. Since the movement of the car occurs as a result, and the factors that determine the movement are many things such as the characteristics of the tire, the moment of inertia of the car, the mass of the car, the position of the center of gravity, etc. , The movement of the car cannot be easily operated (adjusted). Therefore, it is inappropriate to directly apply a full-scale simulation that requires a lot of information to a driving game game device, and to suppress a sensitive car behavior to obtain a comfortable operation feeling. -It lacked the delicate flavor of mu, and was not suitable for game devices.

On the other hand, the conventional special effect on the vehicle behavior is a binary process of producing or not producing sand smoke, so that the game is lacking in minuteness and is always unsatisfactory. was there.

Further, in the conventional game device of this type, when a collision between the own vehicle and another vehicle or a structure is determined, there is no consideration of setting the vehicle as a model suitable for the collision determination, and therefore, the collision occurs. There are problems that the result of judgment is unnatural, or that many calculations are required for collision judgment.

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention more realistically simulates and displays the behavior of an object such as a vehicle, and suppresses irritable behavior such as wobbling of the object. Is to facilitate and stabilize the operation (operation). Further, another object of the present invention is to
To enhance special effects such as sand smoke and collision detection with other vehicles,
It is to display a more realistic image.

[0012]

In order to achieve this object, a game device according to the present invention comprises an input device for a player to give information on the movement of an object on a screen,
A simulation device for simulating the movement of the target object in consideration of the interaction force with the environment acting on at least two or more positions of the target object based on the information given from the input device, and the simulation of the simulation device. And a display device for displaying the result on the screen. The object is, for example, a car on a game program. The two or more positions are, for example, the positions of the wheels of the vehicle.

Further, preferably, the simulation device includes a calculation means for calculating a force applied to the wheel, and a simulation means for simulating a motion including a yaw motion of the vehicle according to a calculation result of the calculation means. Equipped with. Further, preferably, the simulation device is
The control unit further includes a suppression unit that suppresses the movement of the object caused by the simulation result of the simulation unit. The suppressing unit is, for example, a virtual attenuator that suppresses the yaw motion. The simulation means,
It is a means for simulating at least one of a yaw angular velocity and a slip angle as an amount related to the yaw motion.
Further, the virtual attenuator is a damper that virtually generates a damping force that suppresses at least one of the yaw angular velocity and the slip angle.

Further, the simulation device comprises a calculation means for calculating the amount of a parameter representing a special effect relating to the behavior of the object according to the simulation result of the simulation means, and the display device is calculated by the calculation means. A means for displaying the obtained parameters on the screen together with the simulation result is provided. The object is a game program car. The parameter is, for example, at least one of sand smoke, splashes, and snow smoke that represents an attribute of a traveling path on which the vehicle travels.

Further, the simulation device has a judging means for judging a collision between the objects on the screen, and the judging means judges the collision by imitating the car as a pseudo elliptical sphere. Is a means to do.

In a preferred embodiment of the game device according to the present invention, an input device for the player to give information about the movement of the object on the screen, and a movement of the object based on the information given from the input device. A game device comprising: a simulation device for simulating; and a suppressing device for virtually suppressing the movement of the object simulated by the simulation device to a state where the player can appropriately operate on the screen, The object is a vehicle on a program, and the simulation device simulates a calculation means for calculating a force applied to a wheel of the vehicle and a movement including a yaw motion of the vehicle according to a calculation result of the calculation means. And a yaw angular velocity as a quantity related to the yaw motion. Simulating at least one of Beri angle, the suppressing means for suppressing damping force at least one of the slip angle the yaw rate is to include a virtual attenuator to virtually generated.

[0017]

In the game device of the present invention, the player gives information such as the steering wheel angle regarding the movement of the object on the screen (for example, a car in the driving game) from the input device. In response to this, the simulation device takes into account the interaction force with the environment (for example, the road surface of the vehicle) acting on at least two or more positions (for example, the positions of the wheels of the vehicle) of the object based on the input information. To simulate the movement of the object. In this simulation, for example, when the object is a car, the force applied to the wheels is calculated, and, for example, a yaw motion is simulated according to the calculation result, and further, the motion of the car generated by the simulation result, for example, the yaw direction. Movement is suppressed by a virtual attenuator. That is, the suppressing means virtually suppresses the simulated movement of the target object until the player can easily operate on the screen.

For example, at least one of the yaw angular velocity and the slip angle is suppressed by the virtual attenuator as the amount related to the yaw motion. The simulation result of this simulation device is displayed on the screen. Thereby, since the simulation is performed by the action force generated at the positions of the plurality of predetermined points of the target object, the behavior of the target object can be expressed more finely than in the past, and the amount that is dominant in the sensitivity of the motion of the target object (for example, Since the yaw motion of the car is virtually suppressed,
The player can stably move the target object on the screen.

Further, a parameter representing a special effect relating to the behavior of the object, for example, the amount of sand smoke on the screen is calculated and displayed according to the simulation result. As a result, the reality and power of the driving game is increased.

Further, when the object is a car, for example, the simulation device imitates the car like an elliptic sphere to judge a collision. Therefore, the collision judgment is accurate and the collision does not involve complicated calculation. The presence or absence of can be determined.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a driving gear according to the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows one Example of the game device for games.
This game device has a game device main body 1 as a basic element.
0, an input device 11, an output device 12, a TV monitor 13, and a speaker 14.

The input device 11 has a handle, an accelerator, a brake, a shift lever, a view change (viewpoint change) switch, and the output device 13 has a handle kickback mechanism and various lamps. The TV monitor 13 displays the image of the driving game, and a projector may be used instead of the TV monitor. The view change switch is a switch for changing the viewpoint. By operating this switch, the player is provided with, for example, a viewpoint from the driver's seat or a viewpoint in which the vehicle is viewed obliquely from the rear.

The game apparatus main body 10 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, ROM 102, R
AM 103, sound device 104, input / output interface 106, scroll data operation device 107, co-processor (auxiliary operation processing device) 108, terrain data RO
M109, geometallizer 110, shape data ROM1
11, drawing device 112, texture data ROM 11
3, a texture map RAM 114, a frame buffer 115, an image synthesizing device 116, and a D / A converter 117.

The CPU 101 includes a ROM 102 that stores a predetermined program and the like via a bus line, a RAM 103 that stores data, a sound device 104, an input / output interface 106, and a scroll data calculation device 10.
7, co-processor 108, and geometallizer 110
It is connected to the. The RAM 103 functions as a buffer, and writes various commands to the geometallizer 110 (display of objects, etc.), matrix writing during conversion matrix calculation (scaling of sand dust, which will be described later, etc.).

The input / output interface 106 is connected to the input device 11 and the output device 12, whereby the operation signal of the handle of the input device 11 is taken into the CPU 101 as a digital amount, and the CPU 1
The signal generated by 01 or the like can be output to the output device 12. The sound device 104 is connected to the speaker 14 via the power amplifier 105, and the acoustic signal generated by the sound device 104 is supplied to the speaker 14 after power amplification.

The CPU 101 is the ROM 10 in this embodiment.
2 based on the program stored in 2, the operation signal from the input device 11 and the terrain data from the terrain data ROM 109.
Shape data from the shape data ROM 11 (“object such as own vehicle, enemy vehicle”, and “moving path, terrain,
3D data such as "background of sky, spectator, structure, etc.)" is read to determine collision (collision) between the terrain and the vehicle, behavior calculation of four-wheel (wheel) suspension, collision determination between vehicles, etc. At least behavior calculation (simulation) and orbit calculation of sand smoke as a special effect are performed.

The vehicle behavior calculation simulates the movement of the vehicle in the virtual space according to the player's operation signal from the input device 11. After the coordinate values in the three-dimensional space are determined,
A transformation matrix for transforming these coordinate values into the visual field coordinate system and shape data (vehicle, terrain, etc.) are designated in the geometallizer 110. The terrain data ROM 109 is connected to the co-processor 108, so that the predetermined terrain data is stored in the co-processor 108 (and the CPU 10).
Passed to 1). The co-processor 108 mainly
To determine the collision between the terrain and the car, and
Floating-point arithmetic is mainly performed during this determination and vehicle behavior calculation. As a result, the co-processor 108 executes the collision judgment between the vehicle and the terrain, and the judgment result is given to the CPU 101. Therefore, the calculation load of the CPU is reduced, and the collision judgment is quicker. To be executed.

The geometallizer 110 is a shape data ROM.
111 and the drawing device 112. Shape data
In the data ROM 111, polygon shape data (three-dimensional data such as a car, terrain, background, etc., each of which consists of vertices) is stored in advance, and this shape data is passed to the geometallizer 110. The geometallizer 110 perspectively transforms the shape data designated by the transformation matrix sent from the CPU 101, and obtains the data transformed from the coordinate system in the three-dimensional virtual space to the visual field coordinate system.

The drawing device 112 puts a texture on the converted shape data of the visual field coordinate system and adds it to the frame buffer 1.
Output to 15. In order to paste this texture, the drawing device 112 is connected to the texture data ROM 113 and the texture map RAM 114 as well as to the frame buffer 115. In addition,
The polygon data refers to a data group of relative or absolute coordinates of each vertex of a polygon (polygon: mainly a triangle or a quadrangle) composed of a set of a plurality of vertices. The terrain data ROM 109 stores polygon data set relatively coarsely, which is sufficient for executing collision determination between the vehicle and the terrain. On the other hand, the shape data ROM 11
1 stores the data of polygons that are more precisely set with respect to the shape of the screen such as the car and the background.

The scroll data arithmetic unit 107 calculates the data of the scroll screen such as characters, and the arithmetic unit 107 and the frame buffer 115 pass through the image synthesizing unit 116 and the D / A converter 117. To reach the TV monitor 13. As a result, a polygon screen (simulation result) such as a car or terrain (background) temporarily stored in the frame buffer 115 and a scroll screen for character information such as speed value and lap time are combined according to the designated priority, and finally Frame image data is generated. This image data is the D / A converter 1
At 17, the analog signal is converted and sent to the TV monitor 13, and the image of the driving game is displayed in real time.

Next, the operation of this game device will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5 show the CPU 1
The processing for calculating the behavior of the vehicle and the scaling value of sand smoke as a special effect executed by 01 are shown. In addition, in calculating the behavior of the vehicle, determination of the landing and the degree of collision of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as “hit determination”), behavior calculation of the four-wheel suspension, and determination of collision between vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “collision determination”). ")) Is included.

When the game device is activated, the CPU 101 starts the process shown in FIG. 2 by, for example, a timer interrupt process at constant time intervals t. First, the player operates the input device 11 to read operation information related to driving of a vehicle, for example, a steering angle (steering angle) of a steering wheel, an accelerator opening, etc. as a digital amount through the input / output interface 106 (step 201). ).

Then, the CPU 101 proceeds to step 202.
Then, a simulation of the movement of the vehicle (simulated driving) is executed based on the operation information. In order to make this simulation more realistic (in other words, to approximate the actual behavior of the vehicle), the CPU 101
Calculates the forces acting on the four-wheel tires individually (Fig. 3
(See FIG. 4).

First, the processing of FIG. 3 for performing hit determination, four-wheel suspension behavior calculation, and angular velocity calculation will be described. A three-dimensional coordinate system of the X, Y, and Z axes passing through the center of gravity of the vehicle is defined as shown in FIG. 6, and the longitudinal rotation around the X axis is pitched, and the rotational movement around the Y axis is yawed. , Z
The lateral rotation about the axis is defined as roll motion. The position coordinate of the center of gravity is (Px, Py, Pz), the velocity in each direction at the position of the center of gravity is Vx, Vy, Vz, the pitch angle is Rx, the pitch angular velocity is Wx, the yaw angle is Ry, and the yaw angular velocity is W.
y, the roll angle is Rz, and the roll angular velocity is Wz.

First, in step 202 ₁ of FIG. 3, the CPU
101 is a behavior data including the velocity v and the angular velocity W (Wx, Wy, Wz) obtained by the previous (latest) behavior calculation.
The new position and angle of the car C are calculated from the data (see FIG. 7). Then, in step _2022, the position of the newly operational vehicle C, and added the length of each suspension angles each tire Tn: position Pn (n =. 1 to the (n = 1 to 4 4-wheel)
4: 4 wheels) is calculated (see FIG. 8).

Furthermore, in step _2023, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the distance between the point corresponding to the lower end Pn line X and the tire Tn corresponding to the ground dn: the (n = 1 to 4 4-wheel) When calculated, this distance dn becomes the depth of the tire Tn that dives under the ground. Actually, the tire Tn is pushed back from the ground by this distance dn. That is, stress is applied to the virtual suspension according to this distance dn.

[0037] Therefore, the process proceeds to step 202 _4, calculates a force F applied to the virtual suspension of each wheel. When the ground pushes the tire Tn back by dn, the suspension is compressed by dn and becomes the length Sn to Sn ′ (= Sn−dn) as shown in FIG. 9, so the spring constant of the suspension is set to K. Then, the force F applied to the suspension is F = dn · K. Further, since the force F is damped in accordance with the contracting speed so that the spring SP of the suspension does not vibrate, if the damping constant is C, the force F applied to each suspension will be F = dn.K-{( Sn-dn) · C}.

[0038] In addition, CPU101 step 202 ₅
At, the calculated force F is decomposed into the X, Y, and Z axis components of the ground normal line N. From the laws of action and reaction, each of these components becomes a force applied to the tire Tn in each axial direction. In step 202 _6, using, for example, force applied to each tire Tn, X, Y, moment force Jx about the Z axis, Jy, Jz
Is calculated. Further, in step 202 ₇ , W _{x + 1} = W _x + Jx / Ix W _{y + 1} = W _y + Jy / Iy W _{z + 1} = W _z + Jz /, where Ix, Iy, and Iz are the moments of inertia around each axis. Iz is calculated to obtain new angular velocities W _{x + 1} , W _{y + 1} , W _{z + 1} . Also, the moment force Jx about the X, Y, and Z axes,
Using Jy and Jz, data required for other simulations is also obtained. Then, in step 202 ₈ , 4
It is determined whether or not the process has been completed for the wheel, and if NO, the process returns to step 202 ₂ and the above-described process is repeated.

Next, the collision determination between vehicles (collision determination) shown in FIG. 4 will be described. When designing a collision determination model between the own vehicle and another vehicle or another fixed object, assuming that the vehicle is a spherical body, it is
When the ratio of width and height is different, for example, if the diameter of the sphere is matched to the direction of travel of the car, the collision determination line on the side of the car will be set beyond the side of the car, and it will be perpendicular to the direction of travel of the car. When the collision determination line is set in the direction, the collision determination line in the traveling direction of the vehicle is set inside the vehicle, and the collision determination result is unnatural.

Therefore, since the length, width, and height of the vehicle body are usually different from each other, it is preferable to approximate the vehicle C with a rectangular parallelepiped as shown in FIG. But,
In the rectangular parallelepiped, the distances to the edges and the corners are different depending on the sides and corners, that is, the peripheral portion (boundary) of the rectangular parallelepiped is defined by a plurality of functions that require case classification. As shown, the motion of the vehicle is determined by collision blocks (models approximated for collision calculation) C ₁ , C ₂
The calculation becomes complicated when the rotation of is required.
Therefore, in this embodiment, the collision blocks are elliptical spheres EL ₁ and EL ₂ having radii corresponding to the length, width and height of the vehicle.
(See FIG. 12 (1)). The three-dimensional position data of the surfaces (peripheries or boundaries) of the ellipsoids EL ₁ and EL ₂ are given as single functions F ₁ and F ₂ around the center points 0 ₁ and 0 ₂ , respectively.

Firstly, upon collision determination, in step 202 ₁₁ of FIG. 4, ellipsoidal EL _1, EL ₂ to each other contact (collision point) is assumed to be in the respective center points O _1, on a straight line connecting the O ₂ And the unit vector n of the line is the function F
Calculate using ₁ (F ₂ ). Next, at step 202 ₁₂ calculates the inverse matrix of the auto rotation, multiplied by the unit vector in the inverse matrix in step 202 _13, a new vector n '
(See FIG. 13). Here, the inverse matrix is calculated in order to return the three-dimensional rotations of the ellipsoids EL ₁ and EL ₂ corresponding to the steering wheel angle, velocity, etc. to the initial (reference) position of the coordinate system in the calculation.

Then, in step 202 ₁₄ , x, y, z
The inner product of the coordinates on the axis and the vector n'is calculated to obtain the vector P from the car centers O ₁ and O ₂ to the surface of the collision ellipsoid. In the actual calculation, since the vector n'is a unit vector, the point (a, a on the x, y, z axes determined by the function F ₁ (F ₂ ) is
b, each component of c) and _{n '(n x, n y} , if Jozure a n _z) (multiply any) good. That is, P = (a * _nx , b * _ny , c * _nz ). Note that the point C on the z-axis is not shown in FIG. The processing of the steps 202 ₁ to 202 _14, the oval sphere E that is the collision determination target
This is performed for each of L ₁ and ellipsoid EL ₂ .

[0043] Then, in step 202 _15, the respective collision oval sphere (ellipsoid) EL _1, EL radius r ₁ is the absolute value of the vector P of _2, r ₂ (FIG. 12 (1) see) added value of Is determined to be in a collision state depending on whether it is longer or shorter than the distance L connecting the respective center points O ₁ and O ₂ . That is, when L> r ₁ + r ₂ , it is determined that EL ₁ and EL ₂ are not in a collision state, and when L ≦ r ₁ + r ₂ ,
It is determined that a collision state has occurred between EL ₁ and EL ₂ .

Assuming that a state where EL ₁ and EL ₂ are in contact with each other at a point X occurs as shown in FIG. 12 (1), in this state, L> r ₁ + r ₂ and the _two still collide. It is judged that it is not in a state. The movement of the vehicle further progresses from the state of FIG. 12 (1), and EL ₁ and EL ₂ are changed to those of FIG.
When the state of (2) is reached, that is, EL ₁ and EL ₂
When the contact point (Y) with and reaches the straight line connecting the central points O ₁ and O ₂ , L = r ₁ + r ₂ and EL ₁ and EL ₂
It is determined that and collided. Based on this judgment, EL
Collision processing is performed such that two cars modeled by ₁ and EL ₂ are flipped away from each other, or kickback caused by a collision is given to the steering wheel.

As shown in FIG. 12A, EL ₁ and EL ₂
Even if and are initially contacted at the contact point X, it is not determined that there is a collision, and it is determined that the two vehicles have collided when the movement of the vehicles further progresses to the state of FIG. 12 (2). The speed of the car is usually fast, so the player may not feel or feel that the collision has been delayed, or the risk may be extremely low. In addition,
FIG. 12C shows an example in which it is determined that EL ₁ and EL ₂ have collided at the initial contact point X (L = r ₁
+ R ₂ ).

Let X be all parameters of the vehicle reflecting the angular velocities around each axis based on the four wheels (wheels) thus obtained and collision judgment by ellipsoidal approximation, and let Xt be the parameter at time t. The parameters at t + 1 are expressed as follows (step 202 in FIG. 2).

X _{t + 1} = F (X _t ) Here, the function F is a simulation showing a change in unit time.

By repeating and displaying the processing of steps 201 and 202, a car simulation can be performed according to the operation of the player, but as described above,
If the parameters as simulated are used, the behavior of the car becomes too sensitive, and if it is provided to the game device as it is, the steering becomes difficult. Therefore, the CPU 101 of this embodiment
Then, the processing of steps 203 to 205 is performed (a virtual attenuator for calculation is configured by these processings), and the parameter X which is the simulation result is appropriately corrected. The behavior of the vehicle in the game device,
Since it is considered that one of the important things is the yaw motion in constructing the behavior of the vehicle applied to the game device by mitigating or buffering the movement of the actual vehicle while approximating the behavior of the actual vehicle, this embodiment Then, the yaw characteristic is corrected. As a result, the behavior of the vehicle in the yaw direction is alleviated, so that the turning performance of the vehicle is more easily controlled.

First, the process of step 203 is a correction process for the yaw angular velocity itself. As shown in FIG. 14, a virtual attenuator (calculated attenuator) fixed to a virtual point in the lateral direction of the vehicle and generating a reaction force proportional to the yaw angular velocity Wy is attached. This attenuator gives the vehicle C a moment I ₁ in the opposite direction around the center of gravity. When this moment I ₁ is generated, the angular momentum changes and the angular velocity also changes.
Assuming that the parameter of the attenuation amount at this time is C ₁ , the variation amount ΔW _y1 of the yaw angular velocity is calculated by ΔW _y1 = C ₁ W _y . That is, at step 203, the yaw angular velocity change amount ΔW _y1 is obtained using the appropriate appropriate damping parameter C ₁ .

The process of step 204 is a process of correcting the yaw angular velocity based on the slip angle. As shown in FIG. 15, consider an angle formed by the traveling direction of the vehicle and the direction of the vehicle, that is, a slip angle Sy. The slip angle Sy is obtained from the center-of-gravity velocity V and the yaw angle Ry. As shown in the figure, when a virtual attenuator that is fixed at a virtual point in the vehicle traveling direction and generates a reaction force proportional to the time change of the slip angle Sy is attached, this attenuator also changes the yaw angular velocity. . When the attenuation amount parameter is C ₂ , the change amount ΔW _y2 of the yaw angular velocity due to the slip angle Sy is calculated by ΔW _y2 = C ₂ ΔSy. In step 204, the change amount ΔW _y2 of the yaw angular velocity is obtained by using an appropriate damping parameter C2 set in advance.

Therefore, the CPU 101 shifts the subsequent processing to step 205, calculates W _y '= W _y + ΔW _y1 + ΔW _y2 , corrects the yaw angular velocity Wy up to then, and corrects the new yaw angular velocity W. Calculate _y '.

Further, the CPU 101 creates a perspective transformation matrix for perspective transformation of each three-dimensional shape data into the visual field coordinate system, and this matrix is R together with the shape data.
It is designated to the aforementioned geometallizer 110 via the AM 103 (steps 206 and 207).

Further, in the driving game of this embodiment, sand smoke is generated as a special effect, but the scaling value is calculated and output to the geometallizer 110 (steps 208, 209). The control of the sand smoke will be described with reference to FIGS. 5, 16 and 17.

First, it is assumed that the tire Tn flies fine sand particles (and / or water droplets). Assuming that the height (amount) of flying sand particles is determined by the speed and the load applied to the tire Tn, as shown in FIG. 16, the speed component vh in the direction parallel to the tire Tn and the speed in the vertical direction. Each component vv is obtained (step 208 _{1 in} FIG. 5).

Vh = v · cos θ vv = v · sin θ Here, in order to simplify the calculation, the velocity component v in the parallel direction is
h is the force of bouncing the sand up, and the vertical velocity component v
It is assumed that v is related to the force of laterally splashing the sand fragments. If the load applied to the tire Tn is P,
It is assumed that some of them are involved in the force of bouncing the sand pieces upward, and some of them are in the force of horizontally splashing the sand pieces, and they are Ph and Pv.

Therefore, the initial velocities v ₀ x, v ₀ y given to the sand pieces are given.
Is obtained by the calculation of v ₀ x = a · vv + b · Pv v ₀ y = c · vh + d · Ph (a, b, c and d are constants), so CP
U101 performs this calculation to obtain the initial velocity v ₀ (step 208 ₂ ).

When the initial velocity v ₀ is obtained in this way, the gravitational acceleration is set to g, and the motion trajectory with respect to the time change of the mass of the blown sand fragments is calculated (step 208 ₃ ). An example of this is shown in FIG. At this time, a random value to some extent may be added as an offset to the initial speed.

In order to display the collected dust (spray) on the basis of this motion locus, it is sufficient to assume that all collected dust behaves in the same manner and take the maximum value, and the maximum value is set as the scaling value. It is calculated for each time t (step 208 ₄ ).

This scaling value is obtained in step 20 of FIG.
In step 9, it is sent to the geometallizer 110 via the RAM 103. The geometallizer 110 multiplies the height of one planar polygon by the scaling value, enlarges / reduces the polygon, and pastes a texture representing a previously collected amount of sand smoke. The processing of steps 208 and 209 is executed only when the program determines the behavior amount of the vehicle and determines that dust generation is necessary.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the collision determination between the car and the ground is performed individually for all four wheels. By calculating the force applied to the tires of the four wheels from this hit condition and calculating the expansion and contraction of the suspension of the suspension of each wheel, at least various amounts of pitch movement, yaw movement, and roll movement (moment force received from load movement) , Angular velocity, etc.) is being simulated. For this reason, unlike the conventional model in which the vehicle is captured as a single mass point, the player's steering wheel operation and accelerator operation regarding the vehicle behavior such as roll, pitch, and yaw are reflected in the vehicle behavior in a more detailed manner. Exhibits more maneuverability than reality. Further, it is possible to display a more realistic image by changing the tire display position based on the calculated quantities, for example, according to the roll condition.

However, in the case of the game device, since the virtual object (car) is moved and expressed with a small amount of actual physical information, the motion of the car becomes too sensitive if the simulation is simply made highly accurate. Player
As described above, it is very difficult to perform the operation, that is, the operation while watching the screen.

In order to deal with this, in the present embodiment, a virtual attenuator is installed for both the yaw angular velocity itself and the slip angle, and the yaw motion that is dominant in the hypersensitivity of the vehicle motion is appropriately suppressed (corrected). )are doing. This virtual attenuator is a computational damping force generator that cannot be realized physically, but CPU
By presetting an appropriate attenuation parameter on the above program, it can be realized by a simple process on the game device. With this attenuator, it is possible to suppress irritating fluctuations in the yaw direction as a result while maintaining realistic and fine movements that are highly accurate simulation results. For this reason, the player can obtain stable and comfortable controllability (operational feeling), and the game intentions of the game device creator are subtly reflected (with a slight flavor), and the game characteristics are improved. It is possible to provide a high-performance driving game device.

Further, in the above-mentioned simulation, collision judgment with another vehicle is not made by merely simulating the vehicle body as a sphere, but an elliptical sphere having a longitudinal, lateral, height of the vehicle body as a length, a diameter, etc. Since it is rotated according to the movement of roll, pitch, and yaw, collision judgment can be made with greater accuracy than in the case of a circular sphere, and more realistic vehicle behavior can be determined from this aspect as well. It is possible to avoid the complexity of calculation in the case of making a judgment by imitating the vehicle body as a rectangular parallelepiped, and it is possible to reduce the calculation load to an appropriate value for collision judgment.

Furthermore, the size of sand smoke (spray) as a special effect accompanying the movement of the vehicle can be controlled by diverting the above-mentioned highly accurate simulation result, and the amount of calculation is not increased so much. Moreover, since the amount of sand smoke (the size of the polygon that represents sand smoke) is adjusted according to the speed and the load applied to the tires, unlike the conventional special effect of monotonous control, it is realistic according to the attributes of the road. It is possible to display a powerful image.

In the above embodiment, the virtual attenuator is provided for both the yaw angular velocity and the slip angle, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to such a mode, and any one of them can be used if the yaw motion can be appropriately suppressed. It may be provided only for one of the amounts.

In the above embodiment, the case of controlling sand dust (spray) as a parameter of a special display effect on vehicle behavior has been exemplified, but this parameter can be changed according to the attribute of the traveling road, for example, snow. Snow smoke is the target of control on the road.

As a further development example of the present invention, in addition to the parameters of the special effect of the vehicle as the moving object, the parameters of the special effects of the vehicle are controlled by controlling the sound from the speaker generated along with the game development of the screen. Alternatively, the kickback amount to the handle kickback mechanism as the output device may be controlled.

Further, although the game contents have been described on the premise of the driving game in the above embodiments, the object to be moved may be a two-wheeled motorcycle, a ship, an aircraft, etc., and may be appropriately related to their behavior. Multiple mass points can be defined and applied in the same manner.

[0069]

As described above, in the game device according to the present invention, the simulation device acts on at least two or more positions (for example, the positions of the four wheels of the car) of the object based on the input information from the player. Since the movement of the target object is simulated by adding the interaction force with the environment (for example, the road surface of the car), the behavior of the target object can be expressed more finely than before, and when the target object is, for example, a car, four wheels are used. The force applied to the tire is calculated to make the movement of the object sensitive, for example, the movement of the car in the yaw direction is suppressed by the virtual attenuator, so the player can stably and easily move the object on the screen. It can be moved and has comfortable operability (controllability,
Drivability) can be obtained.

Further, a parameter representing a special effect regarding the behavior of the object, for example, the amount of sand smoke on the screen is calculated and displayed according to the simulation result, so that the reality and power of the driving game and the like are enhanced. Therefore, the added value of the game device can be increased.

Further, in the case where the object is a car, for example, the simulation device imitates a car in a simulated elliptical sphere to determine a collision, so that it can be determined more accurately than before without complicated calculations. It is possible to increase the added value of the game device by displaying a highly realistic image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a game device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart showing overall processing performed by the CPU of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of vehicle behavior calculation including four-wheel hit determination and suspension behavior calculation performed by the CPU of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of collision determination performed by the CPU of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a control example of a scaling value of sand smoke performed by the CPU of the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the behavior of the vehicle about three axes.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a virtual depression of a tire below a road surface.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the amount of tire depression.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a contraction amount of a suspension.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a rectangular parallelepiped imitating a car.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of collision determination between rectangular parallelepipeds.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of collision determination using ellipsoidal spheres.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating rotation of an ellipsoid in collision determination.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a virtual attenuator for yaw angular velocity.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of a virtual attenuator with respect to a slip angle.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating decomposition of velocity at a tire position for calculating a scaling value of sand smoke.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a locus with respect to a time change of the maximum value of sand smoke for the same scaling value calculation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Game Device Main Body 11 Input Device 12 Output Device 13 Display Device 101 CPU (Simulation Device) 102 ROM (Simulation Device) 103 RAM (Simulation Device) 107 Scroll Data Arithmetic Device 109 Terrain Data ROM (Simulation Device) 110 Geometallizer (Simulation device) 111 Shape data ROM (Simulation device) 112 Drawing device (Simulation device) 115 Frame buffer 116 Image composition device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication H04N 7/18 G06F 15/62 350A

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. An interaction between an input device for a player to give information about the movement of an object on a screen and an environment acting on at least two or more positions of the object based on the information given from the input device. A simulation device that simulates the movement of the target object by adding an action force,
A game device provided with a display device for displaying a simulation result of the simulation device on a screen. 2. The game device according to claim 1, wherein the target object is a car in a game program. 3. The game device according to claim 2, wherein the two or more positions are positions of wheels of the vehicle. 4. The suppression unit according to claim 1, further comprising a suppression unit that virtually suppresses the movement of the object simulated by the simulation device until the player can easily operate the object on the screen. Game device. 5. The simulation device comprises a calculation means for calculating a force applied to the wheel, and a simulation means for simulating a motion including a yaw motion of the vehicle according to a calculation result of the calculation means. 4. The game device according to 4. 6. The game device according to claim 5, wherein the suppressing unit includes a virtual attenuator that suppresses the yaw motion. 7. The game device according to claim 6, wherein the simulation means is means for simulating at least one of a yaw angular velocity and a slip angle as an amount related to the yaw motion. 8. The game device according to claim 7, wherein the virtual attenuator is a damper that virtually generates a damping force that suppresses at least one of the yaw angular velocity and the slip angle. 9. The simulation device comprises a calculation means for calculating the amount of a parameter representing a special effect relating to the behavior of the object according to the simulation result, and the display device has the parameter calculated by the calculation means. 2. The game device according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying on the screen together with the simulation result. 10. The game device according to claim 9, wherein the object is a car on a game program. 11. The game device according to claim 10, wherein the parameter is at least one of sand smoke, water spray, and snow smoke representing an attribute of a traveling path on which the vehicle travels. 12. The simulation device has a determination means for determining a collision between the objects on the screen,
3. The game device according to claim 2, wherein the determination means is a means for determining the collision by imitating the vehicle as a pseudo ellipsoid. 13. An interaction device between an input device for a player to give information about the movement of an object on the screen and an environment acting on the object based on the information provided from the input device. A simulation device that simulates the movement of the target object and a display device that displays a simulation result of the simulation device on a screen are provided, and the simulation device has a special effect regarding the behavior of the target object according to the simulation result. The game device is provided with a calculation means for calculating the amount of the parameter indicating, and the display device further has a means for displaying the parameter calculated by the calculation means on the screen together with the simulation result. 14. An input device for a player to give information about the movement of an object on the screen, a simulation device for simulating the movement of the object based on the information given from this input device, and this simulation device. Is a game device provided with a suppression unit that virtually suppresses the movement of the object simulated by the above to a state where the player can appropriately operate on the screen, wherein the object is a programmed vehicle. The simulation device includes a calculation means for calculating a force applied to the wheels of the vehicle, and a simulation means for simulating a motion including a yaw motion of the vehicle according to a calculation result of the calculation means. , Simulating at least one of yaw angular velocity and slip angle as a quantity related to the yaw motion , The suppressing means comprises a virtual attenuator which generates a damping force for restricting at least one of the slip angle the yaw rate virtually, game device.