Patent Application
20110009191
This disclosure relates generally to rhythm-based computer games, and specifically, to multi-platform rhythm-based computer games that can be customized by one or more users.
Rhythm-based computer games (also known as music video games, music games or rhythm games) are games in which a user or player attempts to match a song's rhythm using keystrokes from a keypad, game controller or other peripheral device. The song's rhythm is synchronized to graphics such as a colored indicators traveling toward the user along a guitar fret board or “note highway.” The colored indicators correspond to various keys or keystrokes on the game controller. In order to gain points and advance through the game, the user is supposed to coordinate the pressing of keys on the game controller with the displayed colored indicators. Keys must also be pressed to match the rhythm and time of the displayed colored indicators. The complexity and sequence of key pressing increases the longer the user plays the game. This type of game play is also known as “call and response.”
The rhythm game typically uses licensed, authorized musical performances from real-world music artists and music groups. In this manner, the user is provided with an interactive experience designed to simulate a performance with the music artists. In this fashion, the user feels like “part of the band,” or feels that they are performing an accurate rendition of the musical performance. To provide this experience, the game software will include licensed master recordings or re-recordings of the musical performance. In order to upgrade or expand a user's copy of the game to include new musical performances, the user will need to purchase or download expansion packs or other versions of the game.
Because the rhythm game relies on licensed, authorized musical performances, expansion packs and game upgrades are dependent upon the game producer's ability to procure the necessary licenses for the game. If a music artist prefers not to include her music in the rhythm game, then the rhythm game loses the opportunity to attract users who are also fans of that artist's music. If license negotiations become lengthy and protracted, the rhythm game producer may lose market momentum by the delay in bringing new upgrades and features to the marketplace. What is therefore needed is a way to produce rhythm games without requiring extensive music licenses or legal agreements.
A user will typically have varied musical tastes beyond what is available in any one copy or version of the rhythm game. In fact, the user may have a vast personal music library with musical performances from artist's or genres that are not included in any currently available versions of a rhythm game. It is impossible for today's rhythm game producer to capture every music fan, especially since market dynamics will typically force the rhythm game producer to include only pop music, rather than other less popular music genres that may still have a large number of fans. What is therefore needed is a rhythm game that allows a user to include any of the musical performances from his own music library, thereby providing enjoyment of rhythm games without being dependent on any one music genre.
It is not unusual for a user to have multiple storage locations for a music library. For example, a user may store music on a computer, on external storage, as well as on a mobile device such as a smartphone or mp3 music player. What is therefore needed is a way for the user to integrate the rhythm game experience regardless of platform.
A user may only like a few of the songs that may be included in a copy or version of the game. This may ultimately affect whether that user purchases the rhythm game, since the investment of the user's time and money may not be worth the expense of the game. What is therefore needed is a rhythm game that may be customized song by song, such that the user can pick which songs to incorporate in the game, thereby improving game play and promoting user enjoyment.
Rhythm games are usually an individual game such that a user plays as a single player, or if multiple player options are available, then each player must be located in the same physical location as the rhythm game being played. This limits the amount of social networking or community-building that can occur based on the game. What would be beneficial is a rhythm game that enables users to compete with one another regardless of location or platform, and/or that enables users to contribute to the improvement of the game, thereby building a community around the game and promoting social networking.
Disclosed herein is a system and method for creating a rhythm game capable of being played on a variety of computing platforms and capable of being customized by one or more users. As will be discussed further below, an embodiment of this disclosure is directed to a rhythm game that incorporates a user's personal music library, such that any musical performances stored on or accessed by the user's computing device may provide the audio content for the rhythm game. Game play is provided by one or more rhythm game data files that contain information on synchronizing game graphics and game play to the audio content of a particular musical performance. A user selects a rhythm game data file created specifically for a song in the user's music library, and when the user executes a rhythm game application installed on the user's computing device, the rhythm game data file will play synchronously with the audio content of the musical performance from the user's music library, thereby providing the full rhythm game experience.
As referred to herein, the audio content of a music file may be referred to as a song or audio musical performance. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the music file may contain the song, as well as other information about the song, but that “music file” and “song” may be referred to interchangeably without limiting this disclosure to any embodiment.
It should be appreciated that an embodiment can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions or computer program code, or as a computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein.
In the context of this document, a computer usable medium or computer readable medium may be any medium that can contain or store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus or device. For example, the computer readable storage medium or computer usable medium may be, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), or a persistent store, such as a mass storage device, hard drives, CDROM, DVDROM, tape, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), or any magnetic, electromagnetic, infrared, optical, or electrical system, apparatus or device for storing information. Alternatively or additionally, the computer readable storage medium or computer usable medium may be any combination of these devices or even paper or another suitable medium upon which the program code is printed, as the program code can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory.
Applications, software programs or computer readable instructions may be referred to as components or modules. Applications may be hardwired or hard coded in hardware or take the form of software executing on a general purpose computer such that when the software is loaded into and/or executed by the computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing an embodiment. Applications may also be downloaded in whole or in part through the use of a software development kit or toolkit that enables the creation and implementation of an embodiment. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that an embodiment may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of this disclosure.
One more computing devices 111 have access to server 101 using network 121. Computing devices 111 include desktop computers, laptop computers, portable gaming devices, gaming consoles, handheld computers, netbooks, tablet computers, smartphones, cellular telephones, personal data assistants, mobile communication devices and any other device having memory and capable of running software applications of the type described herein. This disclosure is not limited to the use of any one type of computing device, and one having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other types of computing devices may perform embodiments of this disclosure.
In an embodiment, each of the one or more computing devices 111 will have access to or will store at least one music file containing an audio musical performance. For example, a user may store music files on his personal computer in the form of an Apple iTunes® or Windows Media® Player library. Alternatively or additionally, music files may be accessible on a dedicated network storage device, such as a Seagate FreeAgent® Theater™. For purposes of this disclosure, music files may be stored in any format and in any location accessible to a user and his computing device.
In an embodiment of this disclosure, a rhythm game application is installed on each of the computing devices 111. Alternatively or additionally, the rhythm game application may execute on server 101 and be accessible using a web browser; however, music files may remain in the user's music library, rather than being uploaded or transmitted to any other computing device or server. The rhythm game application will enable the synchronization of music files to remotely or locally stored rhythm game data files, thereby rendering the rhythm game experience. In an embodiment, the rhythm game application may provide a way to browse server 101 to search for and select rhythm game data files, to search for and select game upgrades, communicate with other game users, and the like. In an embodiment, the rhythm game application may search the music library on the resident computing device 111, and may store or access a database identifying the songs in the music library. The rhythm game application may transmit a listing of songs in the music library to server 101 for purposes of obtaining matching rhythm game data files. In an embodiment, the rhythm game application or a rhythm game editor application may provide a way for a user to create and/or edit game data files for upload to server 101 for access by other users.
In an embodiment, a rhythm game data file is a text file that includes information identifying the music file to which the data file corresponds, as well as information that provides the rhythm game play for the corresponding music file. Identifying information may include, but is not limited to, the title of the song contained in the music file, the name of the performer of the song, the song's album, a copyright or performance date for the song, and the like. Game play information may include, but is not limited to rhythm timing data for the song, information as to when certain graphics should appear, a proper sequence for key input entry, the level of difficulty for the song, information on how to increase the difficulty of game play for the song, the length of notes played during the song, etc. In this fashion, the rhythm game data file provides sufficient information such that a rhythm game application executing on the computing device 111 or on server 101 will be able to synchronize the data file with the proper music file, and provide the rhythm game play that the user sees and plays on his computing device 111.
The following describes an embodiment in which a user installs and executes the rhythm game application on his computing device.
In block 203 of
In block 213 of
One skilled in the art will appreciate that keystroke entry may differ depending upon the computing device. For example, computing devices with keyboards can incorporate keyboard keys, mouse buttons, joystick buttons, and the like. Gaming consoles can incorporate a controller or a specific peripheral (such as a guitar-like peripheral). Smartphones, mp3 players or other portable gaming devices having a touchscreen may respond to touchscreen or stylus interaction. The actual operation and interaction with the game may vary.
In an embodiment, a fret board 307 or other note highway may be used to indicate upcoming notes 309 as they approach indicators 311. As notes 309 travel toward the user, the user may enter keystrokes to correspond with the notes 309 before the notes 309 overlap indicators 311. Notes 309 may also indicate whether keystrokes should be quickly entered or sustained. For example, sustained notes may have a following line, or “tail” (313 in
Indicators 311 of
Besides indicators 311, a whammy bar 319; may be used to enhance game play. For example, a keystroke corresponding to whammy bar 3193 may be entered in order to sustain notes, alter pitch, or activate other game play features.
As a user correctly enters in the proper sequence of keystrokes, the user may gain points that are displayed in scorebox 315. There may also be opportunities for the user to earn bonus points, which will accrue in bonus box 317. Game play may continue when a user successfully completes a song performance, an album performance, reaches a certain game level, and the like. One will appreciate that there are many ways to conclude a rhythm game without departing from this disclosure.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that there may be many ways to locate rhythm game data files to match music files in a user's music library. In an embodiment, a user can browse or search an online database of rhythm game data files.
Alternatively of additionally, a user may browse a database of artist names, such as the embodiment shown in
Alternatively or additionally, a user may browse a database of music genres, such as the embodiment shown in
Once a user locates a desired rhythm game data file, the user may be presented with a screen similar to that shown in
One will appreciate that in the above examples, the rhythm game application may be locally installed on the user's computing device 111, and the rhythm game application may provide the interface for browsing online databases of rhythm game data files. In an embodiment, the rhythm game application may be hosted on a web server, and the user may use a web browser to select the rhythm game data file that corresponds to a music file on in the user's music library. After selection, the user may be presented with a screen similar to
In an embodiment, a user may create rhythm game data files using a song from his personal music library.
To ensure that during game play, notes 309 and indicators 311 synchronize properly and for the appropriate duration, the user may play the selected music file (block 809). Note selector buttons numbered one (1) through (5) may be selected during the playing of the music file, and a corresponding note may be placed on an appropriate location for display on a fret board (block 811) or note highway. A screenshot of the editor application appears in
The tempo, beats per minute or “BPM” may also be adjusted in the editor application (block 813 of
Once a user is satisfied with the game play for a music file, the rhythm game data file may be saved (block 815 of
One will appreciate that individual users are not the only possible providers of rhythm game data files. In an embodiment, sponsors, advertisers or other entities may use the rhythm game application and rhythm game editor application to design custom rhythm games for promotional purposes. For example, in
A discussed above, an embodiment of this disclosure provides one or users to create, edit and provide rhythm game data files that can be uploaded to server 101 and shared amongst other users. In this fashion, a virtual community or social network is created among music fans and game players. In addition to providing and downloading rhythm game data files, information about users, such as music preferences, high scores and other profile information can be stored and/or accessed by server 101. An embodiment of this disclosure includes integration with existing social networks online, such as Facebook®, MySpace®, hi5™, Bebo®, Twitter®, and the like.
An embodiment of this disclosure includes integration with other features in order to enhance the rhythm game experience amongst groups of users. For example, even though users store music files on their respective computers, if users have common music files, then an embodiment of this disclosure contemplates multi-user game play, such as users playing individual instruments in a “band setting,” or playing against other user in a “battle of the bands” or “battle of the musicians” or “duel” scenario.
When users enter a particular room, they may be asked to load the music file that corresponds to the selected rhythm game data file. Once the music file is loaded for a user, that user's status may show that he is ready to participate in the battle. When all users in the room have loaded the appropriate music file, the room creator may allow the battle to begin. During the rhythm game battle, special bars or other graphic elements may indicate the progress of each user (based on how their current scores). In an embodiment, the user with the highest score is the winner. After the battle has concluded, the users may repeat the rhythm game without “leaving” the room or restarting the rhythm game application.
In an embodiment, two users may participate in a duel. In a duel, both users select a rhythm game data file. In this fashion, each user must not only successfully complete a rhythm game for his chosen song, but for the opponent's song as well.
In order to enhance multi-user participation, various features such as instant messaging, wall posts, or other electronic communication methods can be included. Users may send notifications and invitations to other users to join into group game play.
In the description above and throughout, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of an embodiment of this disclosure. It will be evident, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art, that an embodiment may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to facilitate explanation. The description of the preferred embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims appended hereto. Further, in the methods disclosed herein, various steps are disclosed illustrating some of the functions of an embodiment. One will appreciate that these steps are merely exemplary and are not meant to be limiting in any way.
Other steps and functions may be contemplated without departing from this disclosure or the scope of an embodiment.
This application is a nonprovisional patent application of U.S. Patent App. No. 61/223,996, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-MEDIA GAME,” filed on Jul. 8, 2009 and incorporated in full herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61223996 | Jul 2009 | US |
