Game system, etc. performing path finding of non-player character on the basis of movement history of player

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018250595-A1
Application number	US-201815969610-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 2, 2018
Priority date	Nov 4, 2015
Publication date	Sep 6, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system according to the present invention includes a server and electronic devices and, in this system, characters operated by players are placed in a common game field and the game progresses. The system determines a movement start position and a movement target position for moving an NPC, determines, on the basis of history information of global movement paths represented by orders of positions of log blocks from the movement start position to the movement target position of a player character that is operated by players, a global movement path having the highest frequency at which the global movement path is selected by the players, determines a path from the determined movement start position or a sub-destination position to a sub-destination position in the next log block or to the determined movement target position on the determined global movement path, and moves the NPC according to the determined path.

First claim

1 . A game system comprising a server and one or more electronic devices connected to the server via a network, wherein characters operated by players of the electronic devices connected to the server are placed in a common game field and a game progresses, the game field being constituted of a plurality of navi blocks that individually define movable positions of the characters and including a plurality of log blocks constituted of the plurality of navi blocks, the server or the electronic devices including:
a movement start determination part that, in order to move a non-player character that is not operated by the players, determines a movement start position and a movement target position of the non-player character; a global movement path determination part that determines, on the basis of history information of global movement paths represented by orders of positions of log blocks from the movement start position to the movement target position of a player character that is operated by one or more players, a global movement path from the determined movement start position to the determined movement target position, the global movement path having the highest frequency with which the global movement path is selected by the one or more players; a local movement path determination part that individually selects, from log blocks constituting the determined global movement path, positions of arbitrary navi blocks in log blocks that do not include the determined movement start position and movement target position as sub-destination positions, and determines a path from the determined movement start position or a sub-destination position to a sub-destination position in the next log block or to the determined movement target position on the determined global movement path; and a movement control part that moves the non-player character according to the determined path.

2 . The game system according to claim 1 , wherein the local movement path determination part selects the sub-destination positions such that a path passing through only adjacent log blocks on the determined global movement path can be secured.

3 . The game system according to claim 1 , wherein the history information is divided into groups according to at least one of the proceedings of the game and attributes of the players, and
the global movement path determination part determines a global movement path having the highest frequency with which the global movement path is selected by one or more players on the basis of the history information of a group corresponding to the players.

4 . The game system according to claim 3 , wherein the attributes of the players include at least one of a skill level, a total play time, a used character, attributes of the used character, a billing amount, nationality, and the number of players playing the game together of each player.

5 . The game system according to claim 1 , wherein the server or the electronic devices further include a movement path learning part, and
wherein the movement path learning part determines a movement start position and a movement target position represented by positions of log blocks on the basis of a time period during which the player character is located at the same log block or the proceedings of the game, and stores global movement paths from the movement start position to the movement target position as the history information.

6 . The game system according to claim 1 , wherein the history information is frequency information calculated for individual combinations of log blocks of the movement start position and log blocks of the movement end position.

7 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for a game played by placing, in a common game field, characters operated by players of one or more electronic devices connected to a server via a network, the game field being constituted of a plurality of navi blocks that individually define movable positions of the characters and including a plurality of log blocks constituted of the plurality of navi blocks, the program causing the server to execute:
a step of determining, in order to move a non-player character that is not operated by the players, a movement start position and a movement target position of the non-player character; a step of determining, on the basis of history information of global movement paths represented by orders of positions of log blocks from the movement start position to the movement target position of a player character that is operated by one or more players, a global movement path from the determined movement start position to the determined movement target position, the global movement path having the highest frequency with which the global movement path is selected by the one or more players; a step of individually selecting, from log blocks constituting the determined global movement path, positions of arbitrary navi blocks in log blocks that do not include the determined movement start position and movement target position as sub-destination positions, and determining a path from the determined movement start position or a sub-destination position to a sub-destination position in the next log block or to the determined movement target position on the determined global movement path; and a step of moving the non-player character according to the determined path.

8 . The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 7 , wherein the program further causes the server to execute
a step of determining a movement start position and a movement target position represented by positions of log blocks on the basis of a time period during which the player character is located at the same log block or the proceedings of the game, and storing global movement paths from the movement start position to the movement target position as the history information.

9 . A server in a game system comprising the server and one or more electronic devices connected to the server via a network, wherein characters operated by players of the electronic devices connected to the server are placed in a common game field and a game progresses, the game field being constituted of a plurality of navi blocks that individually define movable positions of the characters and including a plurality of log blocks constituted of the plurality of navi blocks, the server comprising:
a movement start determination part that, in order to move a non-player character that is not operated by the players, determines a movement start position and a movement target position of the non-player character; a global movement path determination part that determines, on the basis of history information of global movement paths represented by orders of positions of log blocks from the movement start position to the movement target position of a player character that is operated by one or more players, a global movement path from the determined movement start position to the determined movement target position, the global movement path having the highest frequency with which the global movement path is selected by the one or more players; a local movement path determination part that individually selects, from log blocks constituting the determined global movement path, positions of arbitrary navi blocks in log blocks that do not include the determined movement start position and movement target position as sub-destination positions, and determines a path from the determined movement start position or a sub-destination position to a sub-destination position in the next log block or to the determined movement target position on the determined global movement path; and a movement control part that moves the non-player character according to the determined

Assignees

• Cygames Inc

Inventors

• Kurabayashi Shuichi

Classifications

• A63F13/56 Primary

  Computing the motion of game characters with respect to other game characters, game objects or elements of the game scene, e.g. for simulating the behaviour of a group of virtual soldiers or for path finding · CPC title

• A63F13/35

  Details of game servers · CPC title

• A63F13/67

  adaptively or by learning from player actions, e.g. skill level adjustment or by storing successful combat sequences for re-use · CPC title

• A63F13/79

  involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories · CPC title

• A63F13/55

  Controlling game characters or game objects based on the game progress · CPC title