JP3239995B2 - Video game device and recording medium storing program - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique effective when applied to control of conversation between characters in a video game, particularly in an adventure game and a role playing game.

In this type of game, a conversation is displayed by bringing a player character close to a non-player character and pressing a specific operation button.

[0003]

However, in such conversations of adventure games and role-playing games, the contents of the conversation are generally displayed only in characters, and the flow of the game tends to be monotonous. there were.

[0004] When non-player characters are displayed densely on the screen, it is difficult to make contact with each non-player character body and have a conversation.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and changes the expression of conversation between characters in an adventure game and a role-playing game, and easily performs conversation even when a large number of conversation partners are displayed. It is to provide the technology that can be done.

[0006]

A first means of the present invention is as follows.
In a video game device in which a player character and a non-player character are displayed on a display means and have a conversation with each other, a conversation display control means for displaying a conversation sentence of the conversation on the display means, and the conversation display control means. Conversation length counting means for counting the length of the conversation sentence, and sound effect output control means for outputting a sound effect with a melody to the sound output means in accordance with the conversation length counted by the conversation length counting means. It is a video game device provided.

The display means means a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display. The conversation sentence length means the number of characters of the conversation sentence displayed on the display means. The melodic sound effect means a sound effect output in accordance with the display of the conversation sentence so that the conversation sentence is read with the melody attached.
The audio output means refers to a speaker or the like. The number of characters in the above-mentioned conversational sentence is counted, a sound effect is read out using the number of characters as a key, and the sound effect is output to the voice output means in accordance with the display of the conversational sentence.

As described above, it is possible to output a sound effect having a melody corresponding to the length of a conversation sentence of a conversation, thereby increasing the player's interest in the game.

[0009] A second means of the present invention, in the first means, is a character display control means for moving and displaying the player character, and the player character moved and displayed by the character display control means and a plurality of non-player characters. Distance determination means for determining the distance of the non-player character, the conversation display means displays the conversation of the non-player character on the display means in the order of the non-player characters having a shorter distance from the player character determined by the distance determination means. Is displayed on the screen.

That is, the conversation of the non-player character is displayed on the display in the order close to the player character on the display means. This makes it possible to easily display the conversation of dense characters.

[0011] A third means of the present invention is a recording medium storing a program for displaying a player character and a non-player character on a display means and having a conversation with each other, and displaying a conversation sentence of the conversation on the display means. A conversation display control step, a conversation length counting step for counting the length of the conversation sentence displayed in the conversation display control step, and an effect having a melody in accordance with the conversation length counted by the conversation length counting step. A sound effect output control step of outputting a sound to a sound output unit.

As a recording medium, a CD-ROM, a game cartridge, a flexible disk, a magnetic disk,
Any recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk and a memory card can be used. Among them, a CD-ROM and a game cartridge are particularly suitable for a game.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a state in which a video game apparatus according to the present invention is connected to a video display apparatus 4 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "display 4").

The game machine body 1 is connected to a controller 3 as an external input device, and further has a CD-ROM (Co) (not shown) under the cover 2 of the CD-ROM drive.
A compact disc (ROM) is provided to provide game data.

The display 4 is for providing display symbols output from the game machine body 1 as display images, and the speaker 5 is for providing audio symbols to the player as audio. A general household television receiver is used. Can be.

The controller 3 has various operation buttons. A direction key 6 is provided on the left side of the controller 3 when viewed from the plane. On the other hand, on the right side of the controller, a circle button 7, a cross button 8, a square button 9, and a triangle button 10 are arranged. Further, the select button 11 and the start button 1
2 are provided.

FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram mainly showing the game machine 1. CPU for bus 20
(Central Processing Unit)
21, DRAM (Dynamic Random Ac)
cess Memory) 22, MDEC23, GPU
(Graphic Processing Unit)
24 and the like are connected to each other. The CPU 21 has a GTE (Geometric Transfer En).
Gine) 25 is connected.

The MDEC 23 is a processor for reproducing moving images, and develops moving images read from a CD-ROM. The GTE 25 is a processor dedicated to graphics, and is composed of a plurality of arithmetic units that perform parallel processing.
The image data developed by the MDEC 23 is subjected to coordinate conversion, rendering, and the like by parallel processing. In addition, CPU
21 is provided with a clock for generating a clock pulse.

The GPU 24 is a processor dedicated to graphics, like the GTE 25, and is responsible for actual drawing such as shading, texture mapping, and raster processing based on the data subjected to coordinate transformation by the GTE 25. The image data obtained as a result is stored in the VRA as a buffer.
The data is sent to an expansion device 27 via an M (Video RAM) 26. The expansion device 27 expands the image data and performs digital-to-analog conversion. The image signal obtained as a result is output as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) signals, and is input to the NTSC encoder 28 as an NTSC video signal. Is output.

A ROM 29 storing a boot program is connected to the bus 20.
0 is CD-DSP (CD-Digital Signa)
lProcessor) 31, CD-ROM decoder 3
2 are connected.

The CD-DSP 31 performs noise filtering. An SRAM (Static RAM) 33 as a buffer and a mechanical controller 34 are connected to the CD-ROM decoder 32, and the decoded image data is sent to the bus 20 and the audio data is sent to the SP.
U (Sound Processing Unit) 3
5 The SPU 35 is a processor in charge of audio processing, and the DRAM 3 as a connected buffer.
6, the audio data decoded by the CD-ROM decoder 32 is decoded, and the audio data obtained as a result is converted into a DAC (Digital Analog Converter).
ter) 37 to perform digital-to-analog conversion and send it out as audio output.

An SIO (Serial) for enabling data to be transmitted bidirectionally with the controller 3 is provided on the bus 20.
l I / O Interface) 38 is connected.

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the present embodiment. The conversation data reading unit 301 includes the controller 3
By pressing the circle button 7, the conversation data of the non-player character is read from the conversation data recording unit 302, and the conversation length counting unit 303 counts the number of characters in the conversation. The sound effect data reading unit 304 reads melodic sound effect (hereinafter simply referred to as “sound effect”) data from the sound effect data recording unit 305 using the number of characters in the conversation as a key. The conversation display control unit 306 displays the above-described conversation data on the display 4. In addition, the sound effect output unit 307
The sound effect data is output to the speaker 5.

FIG. 5 shows a conversation sentence displayed on the display 4. That is, the conversation sentence 52 of the non-player character 51 is displayed, and a sound effect corresponding to the length of the conversation sentence is output to the speaker.

FIG. 4 (a) shows this in a flow chart.
4 and FIG. That is, when the o button 7 of the controller 3 is pressed (404), the conversation data of the non-player character is read (412), and the number of conversation characters is counted (413). Further, the sound effect data is read using the number of conversation characters as a key (414).

Here, n = 1 is initialized (415), and the nth conversation character is displayed (417). Also, the note of the nth sound effect is output to the speaker 5 (419). Where n
= N + 1 (420), and steps 415 to 419 are repeated until the conversation sentence ends (421).

As described above, according to this embodiment,
The sound effect corresponding to the length of the conversation is output, and the conversation display can be changed.

The output sound effect may be music.

[0030]

[Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, the sound effect is output according to the length of the conversation sentence. However, after the sound effect is output, it becomes unsatisfactory as in a normal conversation display.

In the present embodiment, this is solved by visually displaying the sound effects. That is, in the functional block diagram of FIG. 3, the conversation display control unit 306 displays the note of the sound effect read by the sound effect data reading unit 304 on the display 4 simultaneously with the conversation sentence.

FIG. 6 shows the sound effects displayed on the display 4 simultaneously with the conversation sentence. That is, a note of the sound effect is displayed below the conversation sentence 52 display window to express the rhythm.

This processing can be realized by adding step 418 in the flowchart of FIG. That is,
The nth conversation character is displayed (417), and the nth note is displayed (418). This is repeated until the conversation is completed (421).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the musical notes are displayed, it is possible to interest the conversation display even after outputting the sound effects.

The above-mentioned notes may be displayed on a staff notation to express the melody.

[0036]

Third Embodiment In the second embodiment, the sound effect note is displayed. However, if the display of the note and the output of the sound effect are not synchronized, the player may feel uncomfortable.

In the present embodiment, these are synchronized. This processing can be realized by adding a timer 308 in the functional block diagram of FIG. That is, when the sound effect data reading unit 304 reads the sound effect from the sound effect data recording unit 305, the timer 308 is activated,
The duration of each note of the read sound effect is timed, and the conversation display control unit 306 sets one conversation character in accordance with the time value of each note.
Display for each character. Further, the sound effect output unit 307 outputs a sound effect at the note length of the sound effect data.

This processing can be realized by adding a step 416 in the flowchart of FIG. That is,
The length of the nth note is timed (416), and the nth conversation character is displayed within the timed time (417). This is repeated until the conversation is completed (421).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by synchronizing the display speed of the conversation sentence and the note and the output speed of the sound effect, it is possible to enhance the auditory visual control of the game.

The display speed and the sound effect output speed may be adjustable according to the user's preference.

[0041]

[Embodiment 4] In the above-described embodiment 1, although the user has conversed with the non-player character by pressing the O button 7, it is difficult to determine a conversation partner when the non-player characters are densely arranged on the screen. turn into.

In the present embodiment, this is solved by successively talking with the non-player character. This processing can be realized by adding 309 to 312 to the functional block diagram of FIG. That is, the character display control unit 309 performs movement display of the player character by pressing the direction key 6 of the controller 3. The player character coordinate value detecting section 310 detects the coordinate value of the player character on the display, and detects the non-player character coordinate value detecting section 311.
Detects the coordinate value of the player character on the display. The distance judging unit 312 sequentially calculates the distance between the player character and the non-player character from the coordinate values of the player character and the non-player character by pressing the o button 7 of the controller 3.

The conversation data reading section 301 reads the conversation data of the non-player character from the conversation data recording section 302 in order of decreasing distance to the player character.

The conversation length counting section 303 counts the number of characters in the conversation. Sound effect data reading unit 304
Is the sound effect data recording unit 3 using the number of characters of the conversation as a key.
Read sound effect data from 05. Conversation display control unit 30
6 displays the aforementioned conversation data on the display 4. The sound effect output unit 307 outputs the above-described sound effect data to the speaker 5.

The above processing is performed by the o button 7 of the controller 3.
Pressing is performed for each non-player character in the order closer to the player character.

FIG. 7 shows a conversation when a plurality of non-player characters are displayed. That is, when the o button 7 of the controller 3 is pressed in this state, the conversation sentence 52 of the non-player character 51a closest to the player character 54 is displayed. Here, when the O button 7 is pressed again, the conversation sentence of the next non-player character 51b is similarly displayed. In this way, the conversation sentences of the non-player characters are sequentially displayed.

This processing is performed in accordance with FIGS. 4A and 4B.
In the flow chart of FIG. 7, this can be realized by adding steps 401 to 403, 405 to 411 and 422.

That is, when the direction key 6 of the controller 3 is pressed (step 401), the player character is moved and displayed on the display 4 (402), and the coordinate value on the screen is detected (403).

When the o button 7 of the controller 3 is pressed (404), the coordinate value of the non-player character with the flag OFF is detected (405), and the distance to the player character is calculated (406). The non-player character with the closer distance is provisionally placed (407, 408), and the process is repeated for all the non-player characters with the flag OFF (409), thereby selecting the non-player character with the flag closest to the player character.

Turn on the flag of the non-player character
Then, the conversation data of the non-player character is read (412), and the number of conversation characters is counted (413). Further, the sound effect data is read using the number of conversation characters as a key (414).

Here, n = 1 is initialized (415), and the nth conversation character is displayed (417). Also, the note of the nth sound effect is output to the speaker 5 (419). Where n
= N + 1 (420), and steps 416 to 420 are repeated until the conversation sentence ends (421).

The processing from steps 404 to 421 is
The processing is repeated until the non-player character with the flag OFF disappears (422).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the conversation and the sound effect of the non-player character close to the player character are sequentially displayed and output by pressing the o button 7, thereby facilitating the conversation on the screen where the characters are dense. Now you can do it.

Note that, similarly to the second embodiment, the note of the sound effect may be displayed simultaneously with the output of the sound effect.

[0055]

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a technique that can change the expression of conversation between characters in the adventure game and the role playing game, and can easily communicate even when a large number of conversation partners are displayed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a video game device of the present invention is connected to a video display device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration centered on a game machine main body.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram for explaining the embodiment;

FIG. 4A is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment.

FIG. 4B is a flowchart for explaining the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conversation display.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conversation display accompanied by a note display of a sound effect.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conversation display with a plurality of characters.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Game machine main body 2 CD-ROM drive cover 3 Controller 4 Display 5 Speaker 6 Direction key group 7 ○ button 8 × button 9 □ button 10 △ button 11 Select button 12 Start button 51 Non-player character 52 Non-player character conversation 53 notes 54 player character

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63F 13/00-13/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A video game device for displaying a player character and a non-player character on a display means and having a conversation with each other, wherein: a conversation display control means for displaying a conversation sentence of the conversation on the display means; A conversation length counting means for counting the length of the conversation sentence displayed by the control means; and a sound effect for outputting a sound effect having a melody to the voice output means in accordance with the conversation length counted by the conversation length counting means A video game device comprising output control means. 2. A conversation comprising: character display control means for moving and displaying the player character; and distance determination means for determining a distance between the player character moved and displayed by the character display control means and a plurality of non-player characters. The display means displays conversational sentences of the non-player character on the display means in the order of the non-player characters that are closer to the player character as determined by the distance determination means.
A video game device as described.