KR20090013410A - Game method and game system for dynamic difficulty - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a system for offering a game of a difficulty level optimized to a user by dynamically changing the difficulty level according to a level of the user are provided to realize game AI(Artificial Intelligence) for automatic difficulty level balance, increase game balance by considering the level of various users, and increase interest and lifecycle of the users. A game pattern for adjusting a difficulty level is generated by combining a plurality of difficulty levels(S220). User adaptation for the generated game pattern is evaluated(S240). The difficulty level of a game is automatically adjusted depending on the user adaptation to the game pattern(S250).

Description

GAME METHOD AND GAME SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC DIFFICULTY}

The present invention relates to a game system, and more particularly, to a dynamic difficulty game method and system for providing a game at an optimal difficulty level according to various levels of a user.

Games are already on par with or overtake the market size of representative popular art such as TV, movies, and recordings. As evidenced by this, big companies like Microsoft and Sony are investing huge goods in the gaming industry. XBOX360, Playstation3, and Wii are the main players. As such, the influence and potential of games as a next-generation industry is more than drama or film.

Game balance is a concept that represents the balance of power or fairness between different users or strategic choices in game design. The expansion of the concept of this term to adequately provide the difficulty of the game is called the game difficulty balance.

What determines the success or failure of a game depends on how interesting the game is and how important it is to balance the difficulty of the game, ie to give the user the appropriate difficulty.

The difficulty level currently offered in the game is either fixed or very simple. In general, game difficulty is provided in the form of 3 levels or 5 levels of easy, normal and hard.

Providing difficulty in a simple manner is limited in satisfying numerous requirements of various users. The uniform difficulty of the game without considering the diversity of the users makes it difficult for the user to access the game or makes the game feel too easy and consequently boring the game. As a result, games with short life cycles are increasing as compared to game development periods.

For this reason, providing adequate game difficulty must be an important factor in determining the success or failure of a game, and furthermore, it is not independent of the expansion of the base of the game. However, providing adequate difficulty is very difficult.

In order to find the appropriate difficulty, developers often use a number of testers to play the game directly or use the open-data test method that provides the game for free, and find a suitable value based on the result. However, this method not only wastes a lot of time and resources, but also has a high probability of failure.

Game technology to date is not only focused on graphics, but game AI is also focused on the appearance of the game or merely a tool for producing game characters. Therefore, it is necessary to develop AI techniques that are more directly related to the game. .

On the other hand, the present invention provides a dynamic difficulty game method and system for implementing the game artificial intelligence for automatic difficulty balance in order to solve the problem of the existing game difficulty balance.

The present invention provides a dynamic difficulty game method and system for increasing the game balance in consideration of various user levels and increasing the user's interest and life cycle for the game.

The present invention provides a dynamic difficulty game method and system for grasping a user's habits and levels in real time through a game to provide a user with a game configuration having an appropriate difficulty level.

The present invention comprises the steps of generating a game pattern for difficulty control; Evaluating user adaptability to the generated game pattern; And automatically adjusting the game difficulty level according to the user adaptability to the game pattern.

And, the present invention is a pattern generator for generating a game pattern for adjusting the difficulty; An adaptation evaluator for evaluating user adaptability to each of the generated game patterns; And, it provides a dynamic difficulty game system including a difficulty control unit for automatically adjusting the game difficulty provided to the user according to the user adaptability to the game pattern.

The dynamic difficulty game method and system according to the present invention can realize the optimal game difficulty balance by grasping the user's habits and levels in real time and dynamically adjusting the difficulty. Accordingly, there is an advantage that the user of the game can use the game that is more suitable for them and more interesting.

In addition, the present invention can create a high-efficiency game development at a low cost for developers, thereby extending the life cycle of the developed game and has an excellent effect in terms of game maintenance.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a dynamic difficulty game system and a game providing method according to the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, a game system for adjusting the dynamic difficulty of the present invention will be described. 1 is a diagram illustrating a game module configuration of a dynamic difficulty game system according to the present invention.

The game system for providing an online game via the Internet includes a game interface 110 that is a game driving device that connects to a server device (not shown) that provides a game and drives a game desired by a user.

The game system according to the present invention includes a difficulty adjusting module 130 that evaluates a user level of a game in real time and provides a game configuration of a suitable difficulty to a user according to the evaluation result.

Difficulty control module 130 of the present invention comprises a pattern generator 133 for generating a game pattern for difficulty control; An adaptation evaluator 131 for evaluating user adaptability to each of the generated game patterns; And a difficulty adjusting unit 135 for automatically adjusting a game difficulty provided to a user according to the user adaptability to the game pattern.

For automatic game difficulty balancing according to the game system of the present invention, a difficulty adjusting element for adjusting the game difficulty and a user evaluation element for evaluating the game adaptability of the user should be defined.

The difficulty control element refers to a game element that represents a difficulty according to the characteristics and the type of the game, and may use the speed of the game, the number of target agents, the difficulty of a task, and the like.

In addition, the user evaluation element refers to an evaluation element indicating a game result according to the characteristics and types of the game, and may use a score, a game time, a goal achievement time, and a game completion degree of the game.

The difficulty adjusting element and the user evaluation element are both present in a general game system, and each element can be selectively applied according to the type or unique characteristics of the game.

The pattern generator 133 generates a game pattern by using a predetermined difficulty control element.

For example, suppose we use game speed as the difficulty adjusting element and have difficulty levels of 1 to 5 for game speed. The easiest difficulty will be speed 1 and the hardest difficulty will be speed 5.

The game pattern generation in the present invention uses a method (time division difficulty change method) in which time is divided to change the difficulty adjusting element defined above. In other words, the game time is divided into unit time, and the game speed, which is a difficulty control element, is changed every unit time. In this way, the game pattern can be generated in a format such as 1-> 2-> 3-> 4-> 5, 1-> 1-> 1-> 2-> 5.

In order to find a game pattern of difficulty that is suitable for the user, various patterns must be searched. When the number of difficulty levels provided by the game system is N, the pattern generator 133 provides a game pattern in which the difficulty control elements are combined in various forms, and arithmetically, Nn (n is the number of unit times) is different. Create a game pattern of the form.

When game speed is used as the difficulty control element, a set of game patterns may be obtained as a speed change for each unit time by applying a time division difficulty change method to the game speed.

The game pattern generated by the pattern generator 133 is transferred to the game interface 110 to drive a game through the game interface 110. Subsequently, the game interface 110 outputs a game result performed by a user on the game pattern to the adaptation evaluation unit 131.

The adaptation evaluation unit 131 evaluates the user adaptability to the game pattern by calculating a result value corresponding to a user evaluation element from the game result output from the game interface 110. For example, when applying a game score as the user evaluation element, the fitness evaluation unit 131 calculates a game score from a game result for the game pattern and determines the calculated game score as a user fitness value. All.

The user adaptability is later used to lower or raise the difficulty of the game. In other words, the user fitness calculated by the fitness evaluator 131 is used as an input value of the difficulty control unit 135.

The difficulty adjusting unit 135 evaluates the user's level in real time according to the user's degree of adaptation calculated by the adaptation evaluation unit 131 and automatically adjusts the difficulty level of the game based on the evaluation value. The pattern generator 133 serves to create a new game pattern for difficulty control from an existing game pattern according to the user adaptability under the control of the difficulty adjuster 135.

The difficulty adjusting unit 135 reconfigures the game to a new pattern when the user adaptability is out of a threshold based on the result of the adaptation evaluation unit 131 with respect to the existing game pattern. Try to maintain the level of difficulty.

According to the difficulty adjustment module 130 of the above configuration, it is possible to implement an automatic game difficulty balancing system by providing a game of a difficulty level suitable for the user by evaluating the user's level in real time.

Hereinafter, the entire process of the dynamic difficulty game method according to the present invention will be described by taking a Tetris game as an example.

Referring to Figure 2 describes the entire process of the dynamic difficulty game method according to the present invention, with reference to Figures 3 and 4, the game pattern generation process through the Tetris game and the user adaptability evaluation process for the game pattern It explains in detail.

For automatic game difficulty balancing according to the present invention, a difficulty control element for generating a game pattern is defined and a user evaluation element for evaluating user adaptability to the game pattern is defined (S210).

The difficulty control element and the user evaluation element are preferably determined in consideration of the type or unique characteristics of the game.

Tetris game is a puzzle-type game in which four blocks are created by combining different blocks in different shapes and freely dropping the pieces in a predetermined order. It is a game of rules that make a horizontal line without a blank and erase the horizontal line and get a score as a reward.

Since the difficulty of the game is determined according to the order in which the pieces are generated, the tetris game applies the order in which the pieces are generated as the difficulty adjusting element according to the game characteristics. And, for the automatic game difficulty balance for the Tetris game, the game pattern according to the generation order of the pieces is used.

3 and 4 show an example of a game pattern according to the order of occurrence of pieces, which is a difficulty adjusting element, FIG. 3 shows a game pattern of easy difficulty, and FIG. 4 shows a game pattern of difficulty difficulty. .

As shown in Figure 3, four I-shaped pieces (1 ~ 4) comes out and one square piece (5) comes out, the user can easily make two horizontal lines to erase. On the other hand, when the pieces appear in accordance with the pattern of the pieces 1 to 4 as shown in Figure 4 it will be relatively difficult to form a horizontal line. 3 and 4 show an example of the difficulty shown by the pattern of the piece. At this time, the unit time of the time division difficulty change method corresponds to the time taken for one piece to fall.

The user evaluation element uses a change of a blank-block in a tetris workspace.

In the case of easy difficulty game patterns, the number of blank-blocks will be smaller than before the appearance of the pieces, and in the case of difficult difficulty game patterns, the number of blank-blocks will increase. In order to determine the user evaluation element, when the horizontal line is formed, it is deleted from the workspace, so it is necessary to consider the deleted horizontal line.

That is, the user evaluation element for evaluating user adaptability to the game pattern uses the density of blank-blocks up to the last horizontal line in consideration of the erased horizontal line.

A user evaluation factor (Fitness) using the blank-block density may be defined as in Equation 1 below.

Here, B is the number of blank-blocks, C is the number of horizontal lines erased, and L is the total number of horizontal lines in the workspace. In addition, in Equation 1, a constant 12 means a relationship between a horizontal line and a block, and one horizontal line includes 12 blocks and one piece includes 4 blocks. Thus, Equation 1 above represents the blank-block density up to the last horizontal line L including the erased horizontal line C.

As described above, when the difficulty control element and the user evaluation element are determined, a game pattern for difficulty control is generated using the difficulty control element (S220). In other words, when using the order of occurrence of the pieces as the difficulty control element, the game pattern for each difficulty is generated according to the order of occurrence of the pieces.

The game is driven by reflecting the generated game pattern (S230), and a user adaptability value for the generated game pattern is calculated from the result of the driven game (S240). Therefore, the density of the blank-block which is a user evaluation factor (Fitness) is calculated for the game pattern according to the generation order of the pieces.

Subsequently, the difficulty of the game pattern is automatically adjusted by varying the generation order of the pieces as the difficulty adjusting element according to the calculated user adaptation value (S250).

If the user adaptability value is within an adaptation threshold defined by the developer with respect to the generated game pattern, the difficulty of the generated game pattern is maintained to maintain the generation order of the fragments according to the pattern.

On the other hand, if the user adaptability value is out of the adaptation limit range and less than the range, the newly created pattern of difficulty is more difficult than the generated pattern, and if the user adaptability value is out of the adaptation limit range and exceeded the range, it is easier than the generated pattern. Create a new pattern of difficulty. Subsequently, the game driving is performed according to the newly generated pattern, the user adaptation is evaluated from the game result of the user, and the process of adjusting the game difficulty according to the user adaptation is repeated.

Accordingly, the present invention generates a game pattern by changing the difficulty adjusting element, evaluates the user's adaptability to each game pattern in real time, and provides a game of difficulty suitable for the user's adaptability.

The dynamic difficulty game method according to the present invention can be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer means and recorded in a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program instructions recorded on the media may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic disks, such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains various modifications and variations from such descriptions. This is possible.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined not only by the claims below but also by the equivalents of the claims.

1 is a diagram illustrating a game module configuration of a dynamic difficulty game system according to the present invention.

2 is a diagram showing the whole process of the dynamic difficulty game method according to the present invention.

3 and 4 illustrate an example of a Tetris game in order to explain a process of generating a game pattern for adjusting difficulty and evaluating user adaptability to each game pattern.

3 is a view showing a game pattern of easy difficulty,

4 shows a game pattern of difficulty difficulty.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

110: game interface

130: difficulty control module

131: fitness evaluation unit

133: pattern generator

135: difficulty control unit

Claims (12)

Generating a game pattern for adjusting difficulty; Evaluating user adaptability to the generated game pattern; And, Automatically adjusting the game difficulty according to the user adaptability to the game pattern Dynamic difficulty game method including. The method of claim 1, Generating the game pattern, Dynamic difficulty game method characterized in that to generate a game pattern by combining a plurality of difficulty. The method of claim 1, Generating the game pattern, Dynamic difficulty game method, characterized in that for generating a game pattern by a time-division difficulty control method that changes the predetermined difficulty control element every unit time. The method of claim 3, The difficulty adjusting element, A game element that represents a difficulty level according to a characteristic and a type of a game, wherein the game element has any one of a game progress speed, a number of target agents, and a difficulty level of a task. The method of claim 3, Generating the game pattern, And Nn (N: number of difficulty, n: number of unit times) game patterns for the difficulty control element. The method of claim 1, Evaluating the user adaptability, Driving a game according to the generated game pattern; Evaluating a predetermined user evaluation element from the driven game result Dynamic difficulty game method including. The method of claim 6, The user rating factor, An evaluation element representing a game result according to a characteristic and a type of a game, the game having a game difficulty, game duration, goal achievement time, game completion level, characterized in that any one of the game. The method of claim 1, Automatically adjusting the game difficulty according to the user adaptability, Comparing the user adaptability with a threshold of a predefined game result for the game pattern; Automatically adjusting the game difficulty provided to the user according to the comparison result Dynamic difficulty game method including. The method of claim 8, Adjusting the game difficulty of the user according to the comparison result, Maintaining the game difficulty of the game pattern when the user adaptability is within the limit range; Varying the game difficulty of the user if the user adaptability is out of the limit range Dynamic difficulty game method including. The method of claim 9, If the user adaptability is out of the limit range in the step of adjusting the game difficulty of the user according to the comparison result, Creating a new game pattern, Evaluating user adaptability to the generated new game pattern; Adjusting the game difficulty of the user according to the user adaptability to the new game pattern Dynamic difficulty game method characterized in that for repeating. A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 is recorded. A pattern generator for generating a game pattern for adjusting difficulty; An adaptation evaluator for evaluating user adaptability to each of the generated game patterns; And, Difficulty adjusting unit for automatically adjusting the game difficulty provided to the user according to the user adaptation to the game pattern Dynamic difficulty game system that includes.

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