JP4842344B2 - Image processing program and image processing apparatus for moving display area - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing program and an image processing apparatus, and more specifically to an image processing program and an image processing apparatus for moving an area (display area) displayed on a screen among areas of a virtual space.

  Conventionally, there is a technique for displaying an object appearing in a virtual space on a screen in a game device, a game program, or the like. For example, in a game in which an object (character) appears in a three-dimensional virtual game space, there is a game in which a display area is determined so that a plurality of main objects fit within the screen (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). . This game is a fighting game in which a plurality of characters appear, and the player operates one of the plurality of characters. The game device automatically adjusts the position and orientation of the virtual camera so that each character fits within the screen. Then, an image obtained by photographing the game space from the virtual camera is displayed on the screen. Thus, the player can enjoy the game without losing sight of the character operated by the player or the opponent's character.

"Nintendo Official Guide Book Super Smash Bros. DX", Shogakukan Co., Ltd., January 20, 2002, p4

  Here, depending on the content of the game, there are cases where the screen is not necessarily easy to see for the player just by displaying the main objects on the screen. For example, when the player character shoots an arrow or shoots a gun toward a predetermined direction in the game space, the area in the predetermined direction should be displayed widely on the screen. Specifically, when the player character releases an arrow toward the upper right direction of the screen, the player character should be displayed on the lower left side of the screen so that the upper right area of the player character should be displayed widely on the screen. is there. Further, not only when a player character is operated, but when an operation is performed in a predetermined direction starting from a certain point in the game space, it is for the player that the area in the predetermined direction is displayed widely on the screen. preferable.

  However, in the method described in Non-Patent Document 1, the display area is determined based on a plurality of objects in the game space. Therefore, for an area where a specific object does not exist, even if the area is an area that the player wants to see, a game space centered on the area cannot be displayed. For this reason, when the player character as described above shoots an arrow, it is impossible to display a screen that is easy to see for the player.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing program and an image processing apparatus that allow a user to freely set a display area in a virtual space.

  The present invention employs the following configuration in order to solve the above problems. Note that the reference numerals in parentheses and supplementary explanations in this section show the correspondence with the embodiments described later in order to help understanding of the present invention, and do not limit the present invention.

1st invention is provided with the input device (touch panel 15) which can perform the coordinate instruction | indication with respect to the screen of a display apparatus (2nd LCD12), The predetermined | prescribed object of the virtual space where the predetermined object (player character 41) is arrange | positioned An image processing program to be executed by a computer (CPU core 21 or the like) of an image processing device (game device 10) that displays a display area on the screen, and coordinates for determining whether or not a coordinate instruction has been given by the input device When the instruction determination step (S13 and S14) and the coordinate instruction are performed, the display area displayed on the screen in the virtual space is directed from the position of the object to the position of the indicated coordinate. A first display area setting step (S19) in which the direction area is set to be displayed wider than before the coordinate instruction is given. S20), a second display area setting step (S22) for setting a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space based on the position of the object, and the first display area setting step or the first A display control step (S6) for generating an image of the virtual space in accordance with the display area set by the display area setting step 2 and displaying the image on the screen of the display device; and the object can use a predetermined item. A condition determination step (S11) for determining whether or not the object is usable in the condition determination step, and when the object is determined to be usable in the condition determination step, the first display area setting step To set the display area, and the object is determined to be unable to use a given item Setting the display region by said second display area setting step.

In the second invention, the item may be an item that needs to instruct the use direction of the item .

In a third aspect of the invention, the first display area setting step calculates a difference vector having a predetermined reference coordinate on the screen as a start point and an input coordinate by the input device as an end point. (S15) and the display area may be set based on the difference vector .

In a fourth aspect of the invention, the first display area setting step uses the position of the object as a base point and the direction in the virtual space based on the direction of the difference vector and the size of the difference vector. A second calculation step (S19 and S20) for calculating a position determined by the distance in the virtual space may be further included, and the display area may be set based on the position calculated in the second calculation step .

In a fifth aspect, in the first display area setting step, the display area may be set so that the object is not removed from the display area .

In a sixth aspect, the second display area setting step may set the display area so that the object is not removed from the display area .

In a seventh aspect of the invention, the display control step generates an image of the virtual space so as to gradually move toward the display area set by the first display area setting step, and displays the image in the display area. You may display on the screen of an apparatus .

In an eighth aspect of the invention, the display control step generates an image of the virtual space so as to gradually move toward the display region set by the second display region setting step, and the image is displayed. You may display on the screen of an apparatus .

In a ninth invention, the display area is set based on a gazing point set in the virtual space, and the display control step uses a virtual camera whose position is set based on the gazing point. The image of the virtual space may be generated, and the image may be displayed on the screen of the display device .

In a tenth aspect, the display area may be set based on predetermined reference coordinates on the screen .

In an eleventh aspect, the reference coordinates may be center coordinates on the screen .

  In addition, the present invention may be provided in the form of an image processing apparatus having a function equivalent to a function realized by executing the image processing program.

According to the present invention, the display area moves according to the input coordinates instructed by the player. Therefore, the player can move the display area using a pointing device that can detect the input position on the screen. In addition, since the difference vector for determining the amount of movement of the display area is calculated based on the reference coordinates and the input coordinates on the screen, the size thereof is limited. Therefore, the moving range of the display area can be limited to a predetermined range centered on the fixed point, and the display area does not become a position greatly deviated from the fixed point. For example, by setting the fixed point at or near the position of the operation object, the player can freely move the display area within a range centered on the operation object.

According to the present invention, by setting the target point, the display area can be easily moved to a position according to the input by the player regardless of the position of the current display area.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the screen from becoming difficult to see when the display area moves suddenly. Note that when the display area moves suddenly, the image in the virtual space seems to be switched to another image, which may make it difficult for the player to see the image. On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the display area can be gradually moved, an image that is easy to see for the player can be displayed without giving the player the feeling of switching to another screen.

According to the present invention, the operation target object can always be displayed on the screen.

According to the present invention, the player can easily return the display state to the state where the fixed point is displayed at the position of the reference coordinates by stopping the input to the input device. Thereby, the operability of the operation of moving the display area can be improved.

According to this invention, the magnitude | size of the space vector used in order to set a target point is restrict | limited to the value below an upper limit. Therefore, the operation target object can always be displayed on the screen by appropriately setting the upper limit value.

According to the present invention, the space vector can be calculated from the difference vector by a simple method. This eliminates the need for complicated calculations such as converting the coordinate system of the two-dimensional screen into the coordinate system of the three-dimensional virtual space, and thus the position of the target point can be calculated with a small amount of processing.

According to the present invention, the virtual camera is set to have a depression angle of less than 90 ° with respect to the predetermined plane. At this time, if the ratio of the component in the third direction and the component in the fourth direction in the space vector is the same as the ratio of the component in the first direction and the component in the second direction in the difference vector, the player There is a risk of discomfort when moving. That is, the player may feel that the amount of movement of the display area in the first direction on the screen is small. On the other hand, according to the present invention, by correcting the direction of the difference vector or the space vector, it is possible to reduce the uncomfortable feeling that the player has.

1 is an external view of a game device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Internal configuration diagram of game device The figure which shows an example of the game screen in this embodiment The figure which shows the game screen after a display area was moved from the game screen of FIG. A diagram schematically showing a virtual three-dimensional game space The figure which shows the main data memorize | stored in RAM24 of the game device 10 The flowchart which shows the flow of the game process performed in the game device 10 The flowchart which shows the flow of the detailed process of step S5 shown in FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S15 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S16 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S17 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S18 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S19 of FIG. The figure for demonstrating the process of step S23 of FIG. The figure which shows the game screen immediately after a player performs touch input The figure which shows the game screen after a predetermined number of frames pass, without changing an input position from the state shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, an image processing program and an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, a configuration of a portable game device that is an example of an image processing device that executes an image processing program (game program) will be described. FIG. 1 is an external view of a game device. In FIG. 1, the game apparatus 10 includes a first LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 11 and a second LCD 12. The housing 13 includes an upper housing 13a and a lower housing 13b. The first LCD 11 is accommodated in the upper housing 13a, and the second LCD 12 is accommodated in the lower housing 13b. The resolutions of the first LCD 11 and the second LCD 12 are both 256 dots × 192 dots. In the first embodiment, an LCD is used as the display device. However, any other display device such as a display device using EL (Electro Luminescence) can be used. An arbitrary resolution can be used.

  The upper housing 13a is formed with sound release holes 18a and 18b for releasing sound from a pair of speakers (30 in FIG. 2) to be described later.

  The lower housing 13b is provided with a cross switch 14a, start switch 14b, select switch 14c, A button 14d, B button 14e, X button 14f, Y button 14g, L button 14L and R button 14R as input devices. Yes. As a further input device, a touch panel 15 (two-dot chain line shown in FIG. 1) is mounted on the screen of the second LCD 12. In addition, the lower housing 13b is also provided with a power switch 19 and an insertion slot (a chain line shown in FIG. 1) for storing the memory card 17 and the stick 16.

  As the touch panel 15, an arbitrary system such as a resistive film system, an optical system (infrared system), and a capacitive coupling system can be used. The touch panel 15 has a function of outputting coordinate data corresponding to the contact position when the surface of the touch panel 15 is touched with the stick 16. The touch panel 15 detects an input position (input coordinates) by the player at predetermined sampling time intervals, and outputs the coordinate data. In the following description, it is assumed that the player operates the touch panel 15 with the stick 16, but it is of course possible to operate the touch panel 15 with a pen (stylus pen) or a finger instead of the stick 16. In the first embodiment, a touch panel 15 having a resolution (detection accuracy) of 256 dots × 192 dots is used in the same manner as the resolution of the second LCD 12. However, the resolution of the touch panel 15 and the resolution of the second LCD 12 are not necessarily the same.

  The memory card 17 is a recording medium on which a game program is recorded, and is detachably attached to an insertion port provided in the lower housing 13b.

  Next, the internal configuration of the game apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, a CPU core 21 is mounted on the electronic circuit board 20 accommodated in the housing 13. A connector 23 is connected to the CPU core 21 via a bus 22, an input / output interface circuit (referred to as I / F circuit in the drawing) 25, a first GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 26, a second GPU 27, a RAM 24, and An LCD controller 31 is connected. The memory card 17 is detachably connected to the connector 23. The memory card 17 includes a ROM 171 that stores a game program and a RAM 172 that stores backup data in a rewritable manner. The game program stored in the ROM 171 of the memory card 17 is loaded into the RAM 24, and the game program loaded in the RAM 24 is executed by the CPU core 21. In addition to the game program, the RAM 24 stores temporary data obtained by the CPU core 21 executing the game program and data for generating a game image. The I / F circuit 25 is connected to the touch panel 15, the speaker 30, and the operation switch unit 14 including the cross switch 14a and the A button 14d shown in FIG. The speaker 30 is disposed inside the sound release holes 18a and 18b.

  A first VRAM (Video RAM) 28 is connected to the first GPU 26, and a second VRAM 29 is connected to the second GPU 27. In response to an instruction from the CPU core 21, the first GPU 26 generates a first game image based on data for generating a game image stored in the RAM 24, and draws the first game image in the first VRAM 28. Similarly, the second GPU 27 generates a second game image in accordance with an instruction from the CPU core 21 and draws it in the second VRAM 29. The first VRAM 28 and the second VRAM 29 are connected to the LCD controller 31.

  The LCD controller 31 includes a register 32. The register 32 stores a value of 0 or 1 according to an instruction from the CPU core 21. When the value of the register 32 is 0, the LCD controller 31 outputs the first game image drawn in the first VRAM 28 to the first LCD 11 and the second game image drawn in the second VRAM 29 as the second game image. Output to the LCD 12. When the value of the register 32 is 1, the first game image drawn in the first VRAM 28 is output to the second LCD 12, and the second game image drawn in the second VRAM 29 is output to the first LCD 11. To do.

  Note that the configuration of the game device 10 as described above is merely an example, and the present invention can be applied to any computer system having at least one display device. In addition, the game program of the present invention may be supplied not only to the computer system through an external storage medium such as the memory card 17 but also to the computer system through a wired or wireless communication line. May be recorded in advance in the non-volatile storage device.

  Next, an outline of a game performed by executing a game program in the game apparatus 10 will be described. In this game, a player character and an enemy character operated by the player appear in a three-dimensional virtual game space. The player attacks the enemy character by operating the player character, and plays a game for the purpose of defeating the enemy character. Hereinafter, the outline of this game will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a game screen in the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, an image of the game space including the player character 41 is displayed on the second LCD 12. In the present embodiment, the first LCD 11 may not be used, and various parameters indicating the physical strength and ability of the player character and information such as items possessed by the player character are displayed on the first LCD 11. May be.

  In FIG. 3, the player character 41 is displayed at the center of the screen of the second LCD 12. In the present embodiment, the player character 41 is displayed at the center of the screen except when an operation of moving the display area (details will be described later) is performed. The player character 41 can use items (weapons) such as a sword and a bow and arrow, attack an enemy character around the player character 41 with a sword, or attack an enemy character at a position away from the player character 41 with a bow and arrow. You can do it. However, in this game, the number of items that can be used simultaneously by the player character 41 is one, and the player plays the game by appropriately changing the items used by the player character 41. In the present embodiment, when the player character 41 uses a bow and arrow, the player can move the display area by performing an input to the touch panel.

  In FIG. 3, the player character 41 can use a bow and arrow. At this time, the player can move the display area. Specifically, the player designates an arbitrary position on the screen (on the input surface of the touch panel 15) with the stick 16 in order to move the display area. For example, when the player wants to release the bow and arrow toward the lower right of the screen, as shown in FIG. 3, the player places the position of the player character 41 in the lower right direction (the position where the point P1 is displayed in the game space) with the stick 16. Specify with.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the game screen after the display area is moved from the game screen of FIG. When the player makes an input to the touch panel 15, the game apparatus 10 detects coordinates (input coordinates) representing a position (input position) where the player makes an input on the input surface of the touch panel 15. Then, a two-dimensional vector (difference vector, which will be described later) is calculated with a coordinate (reference coordinate) representing a predetermined reference position on the screen as a start point and an input coordinate as an end point. Here, the reference position is the center position of the screen. Although details will be described later, the display area is moved based on this vector. In FIG. 4, the display area is moved so that the point P1 displayed at the position of the end point of the vector in FIG. 3 is displayed at the center of the screen.

  In FIG. 4, the display area has moved in the lower right direction from the state shown in FIG. Thereby, the game space mainly on the lower right side of the player character 41 is displayed on the screen. That is, the area in the lower right direction where the player wants to release the arrow is displayed widely. When the direction in which the arrow is released is widely displayed, the game screen is easy to see for the player. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the player can find an enemy character 42 that could not be found in the state of FIG. 3. As described above, when the player freely moves the display area, the bow and arrow can be attacked more effectively, and the operability of the game can be improved.

  Next, the details of the game process performed in the game apparatus 10 by executing the game program will be described. First, a virtual game space constructed in this game process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a virtual three-dimensional game space. As shown in FIG. 5, a ground 43 on which a player character moves is constructed in a virtual three-dimensional game space. The ground 43 is constructed in parallel with the xz plane of the world coordinate system for representing the position of the game space. Further, the virtual camera for displaying the game space image on the second LCD 12 is set so that the viewing direction (arrow 45 shown in FIG. 5) has a predetermined depression angle with respect to the ground. The depression angle θ is set to be less than 90 °. The visual line direction of the virtual camera is a direction parallel to the z axis when projected onto the xz plane. Accordingly, an area 46 displayed on the screen in the virtual space (in other words, an area photographed by the virtual camera, hereinafter referred to as a display area) 46 is a trapezoid in the case of perspective projection and a rectangle in the case of parallel projection. Become. When an image of the game space photographed by the virtual camera is displayed on the screen, the x-axis direction of the game space is the horizontal direction of the screen (the X-axis direction of the screen coordinate system), and the z-axis direction of the game space is the screen The image is displayed so as to be in the vertical direction of the screen (the Y-axis direction of the screen coordinate system) at the center. The coordinate system of the screen is a coordinate system in which the upper left of the screen is the origin, the lower direction of the screen is the Y axis positive direction, and the right direction of the screen is the X axis positive direction.

  When the operation for moving the display area is not performed, the point of gaze of the virtual camera is set to the position of the player character 41. Therefore, in this case, the player character 41 is displayed at the center of the screen. The position 44 of the virtual camera is determined according to the position of the gazing point. In this embodiment, the position of the virtual camera in the y-axis direction is determined in advance, and the virtual camera moves in parallel to the xz plane without changing the line-of-sight direction as the position of the gazing point moves. Specifically, the movement amount of the gazing point in the x-axis direction and the movement amount of the virtual camera position 44 in the x-axis direction are the same, and the movement amount of the gazing point in the z-axis direction and the virtual camera position 44 are the same. The amount of movement in the z-axis direction is the same.

  Next, main data used in the game process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing main data stored in the RAM 24 of the game apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 6, in the RAM 24, character space coordinate data 50, item data 51, reference coordinate data 52, input coordinate data 53, difference vector data 54, upper limit value data 55, correction data 56, virtual camera data 57, Movement index data 58, movement vector data 59, and the like are stored. In addition to the data shown in FIG. 6, the RAM 24 stores data necessary for the game process, such as data related to the player character (player character image data, position data, etc.) and game space data (terrain data, etc.). The

  The character space coordinate data 50 is data indicating coordinates (character space coordinates) representing the position of the player character in the game space. Specifically, the character space coordinate data 50 is coordinate data of the world coordinate system (three-dimensional coordinate system). The item data 51 is data indicating items that are currently usable by the player character. For example, when the player character can use a bow and arrow, the item data 51 is set to data indicating a bow and arrow.

  The reference coordinate data 52 is data indicating coordinates (screen reference coordinates) representing the reference position on a predetermined screen. Specifically, the reference coordinate data 52 is coordinate data of a screen coordinate system (two-dimensional coordinate system). The reference position is determined in advance in the game program. In the present embodiment, the reference position is the center position of the screen. The reference coordinate data 52 is used to calculate the difference vector.

  The input coordinate data 53 is data indicating coordinates (input coordinates) representing a position on the screen where the touch panel 15 detects an input by the player. Specifically, the input coordinate data 53 is coordinate data represented by a screen coordinate system (two-dimensional coordinate system). The difference vector data 54 is data indicating a two-dimensional vector (difference vector) starting from the position of the screen reference coordinates and ending at the position of the input coordinates.

  The upper limit data 55 is data indicating the size (upper limit value) that the difference vector can take. In this embodiment, when the magnitude of the difference vector calculated from the screen reference coordinates and the input coordinates exceeds the upper limit value, the magnitude of the difference vector is corrected to the upper limit value. The upper limit value is determined in advance in the game program. The correction data 56 is data indicating a magnification for correcting each component (X component and Y component) of the difference vector. The correction data 56 includes data indicating the magnification for correcting the X component (first magnification) and data indicating the magnification for correcting the Y component (second magnification).

  The virtual camera data 57 is data indicating various parameters of the virtual camera. The parameters of the virtual camera include coordinate data representing the position of the virtual camera, coordinate data representing the position of the gazing point, and data indicating the line-of-sight direction.

  The movement index data 58 is data indicating a direction and a movement amount for moving the display area. Specifically, the movement index data 58 is data indicating coordinates (target coordinates) representing the position of the target point (target position) in the game space. The target point is a point that is a target to which the gazing point of the virtual camera should be moved. The movement index data 58 is specifically coordinate data represented in the world coordinate system. Although details will be described later, the movement index data is calculated based on the difference vector. In another embodiment, the movement index data 58 may be vector data indicating the direction and amount of movement of the gazing point, or a vector indicating the direction and amount of movement of the virtual camera position. It may be the data.

  The movement vector data 59 is data indicating a vector (movement vector) indicating a movement direction and a movement amount for moving the gazing point per unit time (for example, per frame). The movement vector is calculated based on a vector from the current position of the gazing point to the target position. The movement vector is a three-dimensional vector. However, when the point of interest is moved only on the ground parallel to the xz plane, the movement vector may be a two-dimensional vector composed of an x component and a z component.

  Next, details of the game processing performed in the game apparatus 10 by executing the game program will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of game processing executed in the game apparatus 10. When the power of the game apparatus 10 is turned on, the CPU core 21 of the game apparatus 10 executes a startup program stored in a boot ROM (not shown), and each unit such as the RAM 24 is initialized. Then, the game program stored in the memory card 17 is read into the RAM 24, and the CPU core 21 starts executing the game program. The flowchart shown in FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a game process performed after the above process is completed. In the flowcharts shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, processing related to an operation for moving the display area is shown in detail in the game processing, and detailed description of other game processing not related to the present invention is omitted.

  In step S1 of FIG. 7, first, a game space is constructed, and player characters and enemy characters are placed at initial positions. Then, a virtual camera is set at a position where the player character and the surrounding game space are photographed, and an image of the game space when viewing the line of sight from the virtual camera is displayed on the second LCD. In the processing after step S2 after step S1, a game operation using a touch panel or the like is accepted, and the game proceeds. Note that the processing loop of steps S2 to S7 is executed once during one frame.

  In step S2, the CPU core 21 acquires operation data indicating whether or not each of the operation switches 14a to 14f, 14R, and 14L has been pressed from the operation switch unit 14. In subsequent step S3, the actions of the player character and the enemy character are controlled. Specifically, the player character's actions (including moving action and attack action) are determined based on the operation data acquired in step S2. When the player character performs a moving action, the contents of the character space coordinate data 50 stored in the RAM 24 are updated to coordinate data indicating the position after the movement. Further, the action of the enemy character is determined according to a predetermined algorithm in the game program.

  In subsequent step S4, an item used by the player character is determined. Here, the player character uses a bow and arrow while the L button 14L is pressed, and uses a sword when the L button 14L is not pressed. That is, the CPU core 21 determines whether or not the L button 14L is pressed based on the operation data acquired in step S2, and determines an item depending on whether or not the L button 14 is pressed. At this time, the content of the item data 51 stored in the RAM 24 is updated to data indicating the item determined in step S4. Following step S4, the process of step S5 is executed.

  In step S5, display area determination processing is executed. The display area determination process is a process of determining a display area in accordance with the player's operation. Hereinafter, the details of the display area determination process will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing flow of step S5 shown in FIG. In the display area determination process, first, in step S11, it is determined whether or not the item used by the player character is a predetermined item (here, a bow and arrow) that is determined in advance. Specifically, the CPU core 21 determines whether or not the item data 51 stored in the RAM 24 indicates the predetermined item. When the item data 51 indicates a predetermined item, the process of step S12 is executed. On the other hand, when the item data 51 indicates an item other than the predetermined item, a process of step S21 described later is executed.

  In step S12, it is determined whether or not there is an input (touch input) to the touch panel 15 by the player. Specifically, the CPU core 21 reads data output from the touch panel 15 and determines whether coordinate data is output from the touch panel 15. If coordinate data is output from the touch panel 15, it is determined that there is a touch input, and the process of step S13 is performed. On the other hand, when data indicating that there is no input is output from the touch panel 15, it is determined that there is no touch input, and the process of step S21 described later is performed.

  In step S13, input coordinates are acquired. That is, the CPU core 21 updates the contents of the input coordinate data 53 stored in the RAM 24 to the coordinate data read from the touch panel 15 in step S12. Note that the coordinate data before the update is stored in the RAM 24 separately. Following step S13, the process of step S14 is executed.

  In step S14, it is determined whether or not the input coordinates acquired in step S13 have changed from the previous time. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the input coordinates indicated by the input coordinate data 53 updated in step S13 have changed before and after the update. If it is determined in step S14 that the input coordinates have changed, the process in step S15 is executed. On the other hand, when it is determined that the input coordinates have not changed, the process of step S24 described later is executed. In other embodiments, when the distance between the input coordinates before update and the input coordinates after update is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, it is assumed that the input coordinates have not changed, and the process of step S24 is executed. You may make it do.

  In step S15, a difference vector is calculated. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the process of step S15 of FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the player character 41 is displayed at the center of the screen. The difference vector is calculated as a vector V1 having the screen reference coordinates (the coordinates of the point P2) as the start point and the input coordinates (the coordinates of the point P3) as the end point. Here, the input coordinates are indicated by the input coordinate data 53 stored in the RAM 24 in step S13. Therefore, the CPU core 21 calculates a difference vector using the reference coordinate data 52 and the input coordinate data 53 stored in the RAM 24. The calculated difference vector data is updated and stored in the RAM 24 as difference vector data 54. Following step S15, the process of step S16 is executed.

  In step S16, it is determined whether or not the magnitude of the difference vector calculated in step S15 is equal to or less than a predetermined upper limit value. The upper limit value is indicated by upper limit value data 55 stored in the RAM 24. The CPU core 21 makes the determination in step S <b> 16 by referring to the difference vector data 54 and the upper limit data 55 stored in the RAM 24. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the process of step S16 of FIG. The case where the magnitude of the difference vector is equal to or smaller than the upper limit value is a case where the position P3 of the end point of the vector V1 shown in FIG. 10 exists in the area 61 shown in FIG. The region 61 is a circular region whose radius is the upper limit value with the position P2 as the center. That is, the determination in step S16 is a process of determining whether or not the input position P3 by the player is included in the circular area 61 centered on the position P2 on the screen. If it is determined in step S16 that the magnitude of the difference vector is larger than the predetermined upper limit value, the process of step S17 is executed. On the other hand, when it is determined that the magnitude of the difference vector is equal to or smaller than the predetermined upper limit value, the process of step S18 is performed.

  In step S17, the magnitude of the difference vector calculated in step S15 is corrected to the upper limit value. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the processing in step S17 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 11, when the end point position P3 of the vector V1 is located outside the region 61, the difference vector is corrected to the vector V2. The vector V2 has the same direction as the vector V1, and is a vector whose end point is the outer periphery of the region 61. At this time, the content of the difference vector data 54 stored in the RAM 24 is updated to the difference vector data after the correction in step S17. Following step S17, the process of step S18 is executed.

  The processes in steps S16 and S17 are processes for limiting the size of the difference vector. Here, if the size of the difference vector is not limited, as a result of moving the display area based on the size and direction of the difference vector, a part of the player character 41 may be off the screen. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the size of the difference vector is limited so that a part of the player character 41 does not deviate from the screen by the processing in steps S16 and S17. In order to always display the entire player character on the screen, the upper limit value is slightly smaller than the shortest length from the center of the screen to the end (the length from the center of the screen to the upper end or the lower end in FIG. 11). Should be set. Specifically, the upper limit value may be a length obtained by subtracting the display width of the player character from the length.

  In step S18, the value of each component (X component and Y component) of the difference vector is corrected. Specifically, the CPU core 21 adds the first magnification to the value of the X component of the difference vector, and adds the second magnification to the value of the Y component of the difference vector. The values of the first and second magnifications can be known by referring to the correction data 56 stored in the RAM 24. The CPU core 21 updates the content of the difference vector data 54 stored in the RAM 24 to the difference vector data after the correction in step S18.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the process of step S18 of FIG. In step S18, the difference vector V2 before correction is corrected to the vector V3. If each component of the difference vector V2 before correction is (LX, LY) and each component of the difference vector V3 after correction is (dX, dY), (dX, dY) is calculated according to the following equation (1). The
dX = A1 × LX
dY = A2 × LY (1)
In Formula (1), A1 is the first magnification, and A2 is the second magnification. In the present embodiment, 0 <A1 <1 and 0 <A2 <1. Further, A1 <A2. Therefore, the vector V3 is corrected so that the ratio of the Y component to the X component is larger than the vector V2. In step S18, only the X component of the vector V2 may be corrected. That is, A2 = 1 may be set.

  The reason why the ratio of the Y component to the X component is corrected so as to be larger than the difference vector before the correction in step S18 is to reduce the uncomfortable feeling that the player feels when the display area moves. Although details will be described later, the direction in which the display area is moved in the game space is determined based on the direction of the difference vector (step S21 described later). At this time, if the process of step S18 is not performed, the player may feel uncomfortable that the amount of movement of the display area is small in the vertical direction (Y-axis direction) of the screen. The process of step S18 is a process for reducing such a sense of incongruity.

  Following step S18, in step S19 and step S20, the position of the target point to which the gazing point should be moved is determined based on the difference vector. Specifically, the position of the target point is determined by the direction in the game space based on the direction of the difference vector and the distance in the game space based on the magnitude of the difference vector.

  In step S19, first, the CPU core 21 converts a difference vector, which is a two-dimensional vector on the screen, into a three-dimensional vector in the game space. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the processing in step S19 of FIG. In FIG. 13, a surface 62 is a projection surface for projecting the game space viewed from the virtual camera onto a two-dimensional plane, and corresponds to a screen on which the game space is displayed. The vector V3 is a difference vector, the vector V3X represents the X component of the difference vector V3, and the vector V3Y represents the Y component of the difference vector V3. The vector v1 is a three-dimensional vector obtained by converting the difference vector V3, the vector v1x represents the x component of the vector v1, and the vector v1y represents the y component of the difference vector v1. Hereinafter, this three-dimensional vector is referred to as a space vector.

The size of the space vector v1 is determined based on the size of the difference vector V3, and the direction of the space vector v1 is determined based on the direction of the difference vector V3. Specifically, the space vector v1 is calculated according to the following equation (2).
v1x = B × V3X
v1y = 0
v1z = B × V3Y (2)
As shown in Expression (2), a value obtained by multiplying the value of the X component of the difference vector by a predetermined adjustment amount B is the value of the x component of the space vector. A value obtained by multiplying the value of the Y component of the difference vector by the adjustment amount B is the value of the z component of the space vector. Note that the value of the y component of the space vector is set to the same value (that is, 0) as the height of the ground. As described above, the difference vector V3 is converted into the space vector v1 parallel to the xz plane of the game space. The horizontal component on the screen corresponds to the component in the x-axis direction (the direction displayed in the horizontal direction on the screen) in the game space. The vertical component on the screen corresponds to the component in the z-axis direction (the direction displayed in the vertical direction at the center of the screen) in the game space. Thus, according to the present embodiment, the space vector can be easily calculated from the difference vector with a small amount of processing.

  In FIG. 13, the starting point of the vector v1 is assumed to be the position of the gazing point, but the starting point of the vector v1 is a position determined by the position of the player character (step S20 described later) and is not necessarily the gazing point. . This is because the gazing point and the position of the player character do not necessarily match after the display area is moved by the touch input by the player.

  Next, in step S20, the position of the target point is determined based on the space vector converted in step S19. Specifically, the position of the target point is a position determined by the direction and size of the space vector with a fixed point in the game space as a base point. Here, the fixed point is a point in the game space determined by the position of the player character. The fixed point means “fixedly set under the condition that the position of the player character is fixed”, and need not always be fixed at a specific point in the game space. If the position of the player character changes, the position of the fixed point also changes. Here, the fixed point is set at the position of the player character. Accordingly, the position of the new target point is the position away from the position of the player character by the size (distance) of the space vector in the direction of the space vector. The CPU core 21 calculates the position coordinates of the target point with reference to the character space coordinate data 50 stored in the RAM 24 and the space vector calculated in step S19. The coordinate data of the target point calculated in step S20 is updated and stored as movement index data 58 stored in the RAM 24. Following step S20, the process of step S23 is executed.

  On the other hand, if the determination result in step S11 or step S12 is negative, the process of step S21 is performed. In step S21, it is determined whether or not the currently set target point is set at the position of the player character in the game space. Specifically, the CPU core 21 refers to the character space coordinate data 50 and the movement index data 58 stored in the RAM 24, and determines the coordinates indicated by the character space coordinate data 50 and the coordinates indicated by the movement index data 58. It is determined whether or not they are the same. If the two coordinates are the same, it is determined that the target point is set at the position of the player character. Conversely, if the two coordinates are not the same, the target point is not set at the position of the player character. Is determined. When it is determined that the target point is set at the position of the player character, the processes of steps S22 and S23 are skipped and the process of step S24 is executed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the target position is not set to the position of the player character, the process of step S22 is executed.

  In step S22, the target point is set to the character position. Specifically, the CPU core 21 updates the contents of the movement index data 58 stored in the RAM 24 to the coordinates indicated by the character space coordinate data 50. Through the above steps S21 and S22, when the player character uses an item that is not a bow or arrow, or when there is no touch input, the position of the player character becomes the target point, so that the player character is displayed at the center of the screen. become. Following step S22, the process of step S23 is executed.

  In step S23, a movement vector is calculated based on the current position of the gazing point and the position of the target point. As described above, the movement vector is a vector indicating a movement direction and a movement amount for moving the gazing point (display area) per unit time (for example, per frame). FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the processing in step S23 of FIG. In FIG. 14, a point p1 indicates the current position of the gazing point, and a point p2 indicates the position of the target point. The vector v1 is the space vector calculated in step S19. In step S23, the CPU core 21 calculates a vector v2 obtained by dividing each component of the vector v1 by a predetermined number (the predetermined number is 3 in FIG. 14). This vector v2 is a movement vector. The CPU core 21 stores the calculated movement vector data in the RAM 24 as movement vector data 59.

  As shown in step S23, in the present embodiment, a vector V5 obtained by dividing the vector v1 by a predetermined number is used as a movement vector, thereby moving the display area to the target position in a plurality of frames (the predetermined number of frames). Will be done over. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the game screen from becoming difficult for the player to see due to a sudden movement of the display area. In another embodiment, the vector v1 may be a movement vector when the magnitude of the vector v1 is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value. In another embodiment, the predetermined number may be 1. Following step S23, the process of step S24 is executed.

  In step S24, the gazing point is moved according to the movement vector calculated in step S23. Specifically, the CPU core 21 updates the content of the data indicating the gazing point included in the virtual camera data 57 stored in the RAM 24 to data indicating the coordinates of the gazing point after movement. Further, the data indicating the position of the virtual camera is updated according to the position of the point of interest after the movement. After step S24, the CPU core 21 ends the display area determination process.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 7, in step S6, a game image is displayed. Specifically, the CPU core 21 generates an image of the game space viewed in the line-of-sight direction from the position of the virtual camera, and displays the generated image on the second LCD 12. Since the parameters of the virtual camera (gaze point position and virtual camera position) are updated in step S24, the display area is moved and displayed. Following step S6, the process of step S7 is executed.

  In step S7, it is determined whether or not to end the game. The determination in step S7 is made based on, for example, whether or not the player character's physical strength has become 0, whether or not the player character has defeated all enemy characters, and the like. If it is determined in step S7 that the game is to be ended, the CPU core 21 ends the game process shown in FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined not to end the game, the process of step S2 is performed, and thereafter, a series of processes of steps S2 to S7 are repeated until it is determined in step S7 that the game is to be ended. This is the end of the detailed description of the game process.

  In the above embodiment, the upper limit value is set for the difference vector in step S17, and the correction process is performed so that the difference vector is within the upper limit value. Here, in another embodiment, an upper limit value may be set for a space vector (vector v1 shown in FIG. 13) obtained by converting the difference vector. In the above embodiment, correction is performed to adjust the proportion of each component size for the difference vector in step S18. However, in other embodiments, the proportion of each component size is adjusted for the space vector. Correction may be performed. Specifically, the x component and the z component of the space vector may be corrected so that the ratio of the z component to the x component of the space vector is increased. That is, the space vector may be calculated so that the ratio of the z-direction component to the x-direction component of the space vector is larger than the ratio of the Y-direction component to the X-direction component of the difference vector.

  In the game process described above, in step S18, each component of the difference vector is corrected so that the ratio of the Y component to the X component of the difference vector is increased. Here, in the present embodiment, when the difference vector is converted into the space vector in the game space in step S19, the adjustment amount when converting the X component of the difference vector into the x component of the space vector, and the Y component of the difference vector. Is the same as the adjustment amount when converting to the z component of the space vector. Therefore, if the process of step S18 is not performed, the ratio between the vertical direction (Y component) and the horizontal direction (X component) in the difference vector is the same as the vertical direction (z component) and the horizontal direction ( x component). However, in this embodiment, the viewing direction of the virtual camera is not perpendicular to the ground, but is tilted in the Y-axis direction of the screen (the viewing direction faces the Y-axis direction of the screen), so the game space is related to the Y-axis direction of the screen. Compressed and displayed. Therefore, even if the display area is moved by the same distance (distance in the game space) in the x-axis direction and the z-axis direction, the amount of movement of the display area is smaller in the z-axis direction on the screen. . Therefore, if the ratio between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction in the difference vector is the ratio between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction of the space vector as it is, the amount of movement in the vertical direction of the display area on the screen is reduced. Therefore, the direction input by the player (that is, the direction of the difference vector) and the direction in which the display area actually moves do not match, and the player may feel uncomfortable.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the component of the difference vector in the Y-axis direction (the direction on the screen corresponding to the viewing direction of the virtual camera) is increased compared to the X-axis direction. As a result, the display area moves at the same ratio as the ratio between the vertical direction and the horizontal direction in the difference vector, so that the player's uncomfortable feeling can be reduced or eliminated.

  15 and 16 are diagrams showing how the display area moves when the player touches the lower right position on the screen. In FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, a reference symbol with a capital “P” is attached to a point representing a position on the screen, and a reference symbol with a small letter “p” is attached to a point representing a position in the game space. In FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, a reference symbol with a capital “V” is attached to a two-dimensional vector on the screen, and a reference symbol with a small letter “v” is attached to a vector in the game space.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a game screen immediately after the player performs touch input. In FIG. 15, the player character 41 is displayed at the center of the screen because it is immediately after the touch input is performed. That is, the position p21 of the player character 41 corresponds to (displays) the reference position P11 on the screen. At this time, when the player touches a position P12 on the screen, a vector V11 from the reference position P11 to the input position P12 is calculated as a difference vector (step S15). Next, the difference vector is corrected to the vector V12 in accordance with the region 61 indicated by the upper limit value (step S17). Further, the vector V12 is corrected to the vector V13 so that the ratio of the Y component to the X component is increased (step S18). Next, the two-dimensional vector V13 on the screen is converted into a space vector v21 in the game space (step S19). The target position p22 in the game space is determined based on the space vector v21 with the position p21 of the player character in the game space as a base point (step S20). As described above, the display area is moved so that the target position p22 is displayed at the center of the screen.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a game screen after a predetermined number of frames have passed without changing the input position from the state shown in FIG. In FIG. 16, the gazing point is located at the target position p22, and the player character 41 is displayed at the upper left of the screen. At this time, since the input position on the screen has not changed from the state shown in FIG. 15, a difference vector V13 similar to the case shown in FIG. 15 is calculated. Further, a space vector v21 similar to that shown in FIG. 15 is calculated from the difference vector V13. Therefore, the target position p22 is the same position as in FIG. 15 (in the game space). Here, in FIG. 16, since the gazing point is already positioned at the target position p22, the display area is not moved.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the difference vector for moving the display area in the game space is determined based on the reference position on the screen and the input position on the screen. Since the difference vector is determined based on the two positions on the screen, the size of the difference vector is necessarily limited. Also, the difference vector is converted into a game space vector, and the display area is moved based on a fixed point in the game space based on the converted vector. Therefore, the display area moves within a predetermined distance centered on the fixed point, and the movement range of the display area is limited. For this reason, by setting the position of the player character as the fixed point, the moving range of the display area is limited to a range centered on the position of the player character, so that the player character can always be displayed on the screen. it can.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the display area can be moved according to the input position by the player, the game screen can be displayed in an easy-to-see display area according to the situation at that time. Further, by limiting the size of the difference vector to the above upper limit value, it is possible to prevent the display area from continuing to move in a certain direction. Furthermore, by changing the ratio between the X component and the Y component of the difference vector, it is possible to reduce the uncomfortable feeling that the player has when the display area moves.

  In the above embodiment, the player character is prevented from moving off the screen by limiting the size of the difference vector to the upper limit value. Here, in another embodiment, before moving the display area, it is determined whether or not the player character is located within the display area, and the display area is moved only when the player character is located within the display area. May be. Specifically, after step S23, a process of determining whether or not the player character is located in the display area after movement is performed. As a result of the determination, if the player character is located in the display area, the process of step S24 is performed. If the player character is not located in the display area, the process of step S24 is skipped. At this time, the processing of steps S16 and S17 is not necessary. In another embodiment, in the process of setting the target position based on the difference vector (step S20), the target position may be set so as to be within a predetermined range from the position of the player character. At this time, the processing of steps S16 and S17 is not necessary.

  In the above embodiment, the position of the virtual camera is moved as a specific method for moving the display area. Here, any method may be used for moving the display area. For example, the position and line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be changed, or only the line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be changed. May be. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the position of the virtual camera was moved only to the x-axis direction and the z-axis direction, you may make it move also to a y-axis direction in other embodiment.

  In the above embodiment, the case where a three-dimensional virtual space is displayed on the screen has been described as an example. However, the virtual space may be two-dimensional. In the case of a two-dimensional virtual space, a target point is set on the virtual space based on the difference vector, and the target point is displayed at a reference position on the screen (for example, the center position on the screen), as in the above embodiment. Move the display area to.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the image processing program is used as a game program has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to a game, and is applied to a technique for moving a display area when a virtual space is displayed on a screen. can do.

  In the above embodiment, the case where a touch panel is used as an input device has been described as an example. However, the input device may be a pointing device that can detect a designated position on a screen, such as a mouse. Anything may be used.

  As described above, the present invention can be used for an image processing program and an image processing apparatus for the purpose of allowing a user to freely set a display area in a virtual space.

10 Game device 11, 12 LCD
21 CPU core 24 RAM
41 player character 42 enemy character V1, V2, V3 difference vector v1 space vector P2 reference position P3 input position p1 fixed point position p2 target position

Claims (14)

An image processing program comprising an input device capable of instructing coordinates on a screen of a display device, and causing a computer of an image processing device to display a predetermined display area of a virtual space in which predetermined objects are arranged on the screen. And
A coordinate instruction determination step of determining whether or not a coordinate instruction has been performed by the input device;
When the coordinate instruction is performed, a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space is an area in a direction from the object position to the specified coordinate position. A first display area setting step for setting the display area wider than before being displayed;
A second display area setting step of setting a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space based on the position of the object;
A display control step of generating an image of a virtual space according to the display region set by the first display region setting step or the second display region setting step, and displaying the image on the screen of the display device;
Causing the computer to execute a condition determination step for determining whether or not the object can use a predetermined item;
In the condition determining step, when it is determined that the object can use the predetermined item, the display area is set by the first display area setting step, and the object determines that the predetermined item cannot be used. An image processing program for setting the display area in the second display area setting step when it is performed.   The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein the item is an item that needs to indicate a use direction of the item. The first display area setting step includes:
A first calculation step of calculating a difference vector having a predetermined reference coordinate on the screen as a start point and an input coordinate by the input device as an end point;
The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein the display area is set based on the difference vector. The first display area setting step includes:
A second calculation step of calculating a position determined by a direction in the virtual space based on the direction of the difference vector and a distance in the virtual space based on the magnitude of the difference vector, using the position of the object as a base point Further including
The image processing program according to claim 3, wherein the display area is set based on the position calculated in the second calculation step.   The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein in the first display area setting step, the display area is set so that the object is not detached from the display area.   The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein in the second display area setting step, the display area is set so that the object is not detached from the display area.   The display control step generates an image of the virtual space so as to gradually move toward the display region set by the first display region setting step, and displays the image on the screen of the display device. The image processing program according to claim 1.   The display control step generates an image of the virtual space so as to gradually move toward the display region set by the second display region setting step, and causes the image to be displayed on the screen of the display device. The image processing program according to claim 1. The display area is set based on a gazing point set in the virtual space,
The said display control step produces | generates the image of the said virtual space using the virtual camera by which the position is set based on the said gaze point, and displays the said image on the screen of the said display apparatus. Image processing program.   The image processing program according to claim 1, wherein the display area is set based on predetermined reference coordinates on the screen.   The image processing program according to claim 10, wherein the reference coordinates are center coordinates on the screen. An image processing apparatus comprising an input device capable of instructing coordinates on a screen of a display device, and displaying a predetermined display area of a virtual space in which a predetermined object is arranged on the screen,
Coordinate instruction determination means for determining whether or not a coordinate instruction has been performed by the input device;
When the coordinate instruction is performed, a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space is an area in a direction from the object position to the specified coordinate position. First display area setting means for setting to be displayed wider than before being displayed,
A second display area setting means for setting a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space based on the position of the object;
Display control means for generating an image of a virtual space in accordance with the display area set by the first display area setting means or the second display area setting means, and displaying the image on the screen of the display device;
It said object is a condition judging means for judging whether it is possible to use a given item,
When the condition determination means determines that the object can use a predetermined item, the display area is set by the first display area setting means,
An image processing apparatus, wherein when the condition determination unit determines that the object cannot use a predetermined item, the display region is set by the second display region setting unit.   An image processing system having an input device capable of specifying coordinates on a screen of a display device, and displaying a predetermined display area of a virtual space in which a predetermined object is arranged on the screen,
  Coordinate instruction determination means for determining whether or not a coordinate instruction has been performed by the input device;
  When the coordinate instruction is performed, a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space is an area in a direction from the object position to the specified coordinate position. First display area setting means for setting to be displayed wider than before being displayed,
  A second display area setting means for setting a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space based on the position of the object;
  Display control means for generating an image of a virtual space in accordance with the display area set by the first display area setting means or the second display area setting means, and displaying the image on the screen of the display device;
  Condition determining means for determining whether or not the object can use a predetermined item,
  When the condition determination means determines that the object can use a predetermined item, the display area is set by the first display area setting means,
  An image processing system in which the condition determining unit sets the display area by the second display area setting unit when the object determines that a predetermined item cannot be used.   An image processing method executed by a computer of an image processing system that has an input device capable of instructing coordinates on a screen of a display device and displays a predetermined display area of a virtual space in which a predetermined object is arranged on the screen Because
  A coordinate instruction determination step of determining whether or not a coordinate instruction has been performed by the input device;
  When the coordinate instruction is performed, a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space is an area in a direction from the object position to the specified coordinate position. A first display area setting step for setting the display area wider than before being displayed;
  A second display area setting step of setting a display area to be displayed on the screen in the virtual space based on the position of the object;
  A display control step of generating an image of a virtual space according to the display region set by the first display region setting step or the second display region setting step, and displaying the image on the screen of the display device;
  Causing the computer to execute a condition determination step for determining whether or not the object can use a predetermined item;
  In the condition determining step, when it is determined that the object can use the predetermined item, the display area is set by the first display area setting step, and the object determines that the predetermined item cannot be used. And an image processing method for setting the display area in the second display area setting step.

Images