Game Apparatus and Game Execution Control Method

Abstract

A game apparatus according to the present invention designed to display a player's character and an opponent character on a monitor 3 in such a manner as to allow the player's character to take an action for a match according to an instruction from the player to thereby obtain a result in accordance with a predetermined rule. The game apparatus comprises a card-mounting section 2 having a mounting surface 20 for mounting thereon an athlete card 9 , an image pickup section 11 adapted to detect a card-mounted position where the card is mounted on the mounting surface, a ROM 3001 adapted to store an action of the player's character, and an attribute defining a mode of this action in a plurality of preset levels, in associated relation, and an action-setting section 305 adapted to set the attribute corresponding to an action of the player's character instructed by the player, at one of the levels, depending on the card-mounted position detected by the image pickup section 11 . The game apparatus of the present invention makes it possible to arbitrarily change a mode of the action of the player's character so as to provide a highly-diverse game.

1 . A game apparatus including image display control means which is adapted to display a player's character and an opponent character on a display unit in such a manner as to allow the player's character to take an action for a match according to an instruction from the player to thereby obtain a result in accordance with a predetermined rule, said game apparatus being characterized by comprising:
 a card-mounting section having a mounting surface for mounting thereon a card with a predetermined shape;   a position detection section adapted to detect a card-mounted position where said card is mounted on said mounting surface;   a storage section adapted to store an action of said player's character, and an attribute defining a mode of said action in a plurality of preset levels, in associated relation; and   action-setting means adapted to set said attribute corresponding to an action of said player's character instructed by said player, at one of said levels, depending on the card-mounted position detected by said position detection section.   
   
   
       2 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising opponent processing means adapted to automatically issue an instruction for an action of said opponent character, said opponent processing means being operable to instruct said opponent character to take a competitive action for a match against said player's character and set a level of an attribute about said competitive action. 
   
   
       3 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a communication section adapted to provide a communication with an additional game apparatus, wherein:
 said opponent character is installed in said additional game apparatus;   said additional game apparatus is adapted to instruct said opponent character to take a competitive action for a match against said player's character and set a level of an attribute about said competitive action; and   said image display control means is operable to instruct said display unit to display an image having a same event as that in a display unit of said additional game apparatus.   
   
   
       4 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein:
 said mounting surface is formed to allow said card to be slidingly moved therealong in at least a primary direction; and   said action-setting means is operable to set said attribute about the action of said player's character at one of said levels depending on a card-slid position where said card is slidingly moved.   
   
   
       5 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 4 , wherein:
 said mounting surface has a reference card-mounting position marked on an approximately central region thereof, said mounting surface being formed to allow said card to be slidingly moved therealong in a reciprocating manner with respect to said primary direction; and   said action-setting means is operable, when said card is mounted at said reference card-mounting position, to set said attribute about the action of said player's character at an intermediate one of said levels.   
   
   
       6 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 4 , wherein said mounting surface is provided with a guide member which protrudes therefrom to assist the sliding movement of said card in at least said primary direction. 
   
   
       7 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 6 , wherein said guide member consists of a pair of convex strip-shaped members extending along said primary direction in spaced-apart relation to each other by a width dimension of said card. 
   
   
       8 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein:
 said card has a position recognition mark which is marked on a specific region of a first one of opposite surfaces thereof;
 said position detection section includes an image sensor adapted to pick up an image of said first surface of said card mounted on said mounting surface, and an image pickup processing section adapted to determine an image pickup position of said position recognition mark, based on said image picked up by said image sensor, and detect the card-mounted position on said mounting surface, based on said determined image pickup position. 
   
   
   
       9 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 8 , wherein:
 said position detection section includes an infrared light-emitting section adapted to emit infrared light onto said first surface of said card mounted on said mounting surface;   said position recognition mark of said card is marked using a material capable of reflecting or absorbing infrared light in a manner opposite to that in the remaining region except said specific region of said first surface; and   said image sensor is provided with a filter adapted to allow said image sensor to be sensible to infrared light or insensible to only infrared light.   
   
   
       10 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , which is designed to configure a game by a series of sequences, and obtain a game result depending on a content of said series of sequences, wherein one instruction for said action given from said action-setting means corresponds one of said sequences during said game. 
   
   
       11 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 10 , wherein:
 said card includes a plurality of cards each having different movement data;   said mounting surface is formed to allow said plurality of cards to be mounted thereon; and   said action-setting means is operable to set a mode of said action to each of said cards in a given sequential order with respect to each of said sequences.   
   
   
       12 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said game is configured to simulate a baseball, and said player's character is configured to simulate a pitcher, wherein:
 said action-setting means is operable, according to the card-mounted position detected by said position detection section, to set a pitched-ball speed of a ball character configured to simulate a ball to be thrown by said player's character, as a level of an attribute representing a pitching power of said player's character.   
   
   
       13 . The game apparatus as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said game is configured to simulate a baseball, and said player's character is configured to simulate a hitter, wherein:
 said action-setting means is operable, according to the card-mounted position detected by said position detection section, to set a swing speed of a bat character configured to simulate a bat to be swung by said player's character, as a level of an attribute representing a swing power of said player's character.   
   
   
       14 . A method for controllably executing a game by a computer of a game apparatus which includes a card-mounting section having a mounting surface for mounting thereon a card with a predetermined shape, and a position detection section adapted to detect a card-mounted position where said card is mounted on said mounting surface, in such a manner as to display a player's character and an opponent character on a display unit, and allow the player's character to take an action for a match according to an instruction from the player based on the mounting of said card relative to said mounting surface, to thereby obtain a result according to a predetermined rule, said method comprising:
 storing, in a storage section, an action of said player's character, and an attribute defining a mode of the action of said player's character in a plurality of preset levels, in associated relation, according to an operation of storage control means; and   setting said attribute corresponding to an action of said player's character instructed by said player, at one of said levels, depending on the card-mounted position detected by said position detection section, according to an operation of action-setting means.