Patent Application
20140149867
The various embodiments discussed herein relate generally to network-based interactive experiences, the providing of interactive experiences, such as an interactive game, advertisement, program or other rich media content, over a network by utilizing one or more video components or other forms of audio, video or data content or applications.
The various embodiments discussed herein are directed to apparatus, systems, and methods for creating interactive experiences.
In at least one embodiment, an apparatus provides a tool for editing an interactive experience. The apparatus includes a processor and a machine-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor. The machine-readable storage medium is configured to store a first computer-executable code that, when executed by the processor, instructs the apparatus to output, for display on a computing device, m an interactive experience editing tool. The processor also instructs the apparatus to receive one or more inputs from an input device communicatively coupled to the processor. The one or more inputs select one or more features of the editing tool, wherein the one or more features edit content for presentation to a participant during an interactive experience.
In another embodiment, a machine readable storage medium is provided for storing a first computer-executable code that, when executed by a processor, instructs an apparatus to present as a computer image renderable on a display device, a content selection pane. The code also instructs the apparatus to present on the display device, an editing canvas and further provides that upon a selection and dragging of a first content segment and at least one second content segment, wherein each of the first content segment and the at least one second content segment are identified on and selected from the content selection pane, and the selected segments are dragged onto the editing canvas, a plot structure diagram for an interactive experience is generated.
In another embodiment, a computer implemented method for creating an interactive experience is provided and includes the operations of populating, using a computer based tool, a plot for an interactive experience onto a digital canvas, wherein the digital canvas is generated by the editing tool and the plot includes at least one first node and at least one second node. The operations performed using the computer based tool may also include identifying a first content segment and a second content segment, populating the first node with the first content segment; populating the second node with the second content segment; and establishing a linkage between the first node and the second node.
In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method for an interactive experience is provided and may include the operations providing, to a computing device, at least one content segment, wherein the content segment relates to a storyline branch for an interactive experience. Additional operations may include receiving an input from the participant selecting a storyline branch and providing to the participant the content segments that correspond to the selected storyline branch.
In another embodiment, a computer implemented method for analyzing a progression by one or more participants through an interactive experience is provided. This embodiment may include the operations of presenting, on a computer display device, a plot structure diagram for an interactive experience. Additionally, the operations may include presenting, with respect to the plot structure diagram, a first progression through the interactive experience for a first participant selected from a group of two or more participants; and based upon the first progressions, associating a first user profile with the first participant.
In another embodiment, an apparatus for analyzing an interactive experience through which a participant progressed may be provided. Such an apparatus may include a local processor and a network interface in communication with the local processor. The network interface may be configured to establish a communications link with a remote processor hosting an interactive experience analytics tool residing as an application program on a machine readable storage medium accessible to the remote processor. When the communications link is established between the local processor and the remote processor, this embodiment may provide remote access to the interactive experience analytics tool such that a progression by the participant through the interactive experience can be analyzed by a user of the apparatus.
Other embodiments of the inventive concepts are discussed herein wither respect to the drawing figures and/or the detailed description provided below.
One implementation of the present disclosure may take the form of a method and/or system for providing an interactive experience over a network that includes one or more non-interactive and/or interactive audio, video and/or data components, features, applications and/or functions (hereafter, collectively “content”). In one embodiment, the network may be the Internet and the interactive experience may be accessed by one or more users, singularly or collectively, through one or more websites. In certain embodiments, participants may include autonomous and/or semi-autonomous artificial intelligence users, commonly referred to as bots and automatons. Such users, whether human or otherwise, are herein referred to as “participants” but may are also commonly referred to as viewers, gamers, users, audience members, and other descriptors used to associate one or more persons being presented and/or interacting with content. The one or more websites may include a plurality of interactive features to entice and entertain participants in the interactive experience, for example, an interactive game. Such features may include, but are not limited to, intellectual challenges, such as puzzles, quizzes, tests and mindbenders; participatory challenges, such as games, videos and rewards; content related features, such as links to related content, pop-up videos, related audio tracks, graphics, three dimensional (3D) simulations, virtual experiences; and other forms of interactive content. Any form of content may be presented to the participants, for their active or non-active interaction, in accordance with any of the various embodiments discussed herein. The interactive experience may include one or more forms of a/v/d being presented to the participants through which a story including several scenes may be presented. The content may be interactive, as well, such that the participants may interact with the content to select storylines to follow, as if the participants are a part of the story presented. During breaks in the storylines, the interactive experience may also include additional interactivity, such as online forums to discuss the presentation, emails, text messaging or other communications between the participants or others, such as a participant's friends. Scavenger hunts, hints to aid in solving clues, and other forms of content may be presented.
As used herein, a “storyline” is any sequence of content that a participant may experience during one or more interactive experience sessions. A storyline may be pre-determined, controlled dynamic or fully dynamic. When pre-determined, the storyline may be fixed and participant interactivity may be limited to ancillary content, features and/or function relating to a given interactive experience. When controlled dynamic, a storyline may be configured to allow a participant to progress, during an interactive session, along one of many pre-determined and/or predictable paths to a desired given set of results. When fully dynamic, a storyline may enable a participant to progress along any path to any lawful end result; such a progression may involve the interaction of multiple storylines and/or interactive experiences. Thus, it is to be appreciated that the discussion herein of the various embodiments relating to one or more storylines are exemplary only and any such embodiment may be suitably modified, as the case may be, to facilitate interactive experiences with pre-determined, controlled dynamic and/or fully dynamic storylines or segments thereof.
The various embodiments discussed herein may provide several modes of interactivity. For example, in one mode, a participant may have a virtual role of being an investor or subscriber to one or more of the websites associated with a given interactive experience. Such role may also be actual, in that the participant may actually be an investor with respect to a company through which the interactive experience may be provided. As an actual or virtual investor, as provided for any given implementation of an embodiment discussed herein, the participant may not only share in any profitability of the company providing a given interactive experience, but may have access to certain aspects of the interactive experience and related websites that a non-investor cannot access. Similarly, a participant may be a non-investor subscriber that provides some form of consideration (e.g., money or bugs reporting) in order to receive access to features and functions provided by a given interactive experience that a non-subscribing participant does not receive. For example, a participant may provide actual or virtual money to the website to become a subscribing participant, such as by providing a credit card number or an identification of an online payment account. In another example, the participant may exchange points obtained during use of the interactive experience, or other interactive experiences, to achieve subscriber status. As used herein, online payments and points may both be considered “currency” associated with the interactive experience. In general, the host website may accept any type of currency in exchange for providing the user with subscriber status. An interactive experience may provide for different levels of subscriber activity, depending on advancement in the interactive experience or payment for additional access. Participating as a subscriber may provide several additional aspects to the interactive experience, including, but not limited to, additional intellectual challenges, rewards opportunities, access to restricted storylines and content, access to content editing software and additional interactivity with an interactive experience. Similarly, additional and/or other participant roles may be designated in various embodiments, such as an editor, publisher, or other role with respect to some or all of the content involved with the interactive experience. As used herein, such roles, with respect to any given functionality or element of an interactive experience are commonly referred to as “subscribers” and “non-subscribers” with “subscribers” having sufficient permission(s) to access, utilize, receive or otherwise interact with a given functionality or element of an interactive experience and “non-subscribers” not having sufficient permission(s).
Another mode of interactivity may include participating as a group or team in addition to participating as an individual. For example, an interactive experience wherein a group of people are collectively raising money for a charitable cause may result in additional content becoming available to the group participants as particular thresholds are reached.
As mentioned, the interactive experience may be provided to one or more participants, over one or more networks of computing devices. In one particular embodiment, the network may be the Internet such that the participants engage in the interactive experience by accessing one or more websites by utilizing a computing device. However, other types of networks and communications connections may be utilized in addition or exception to the Internet including local area networks, peer-to-point connections, serial participation or “turn-based” participation and other forms of connectivity between two or more participants utilizing one or more computing devices. While the embodiments described herein discuss the Internet, it should be appreciated that one or more aspects of an interactive experience, such as a game, may be provided locally and/or over any network through any number of computing devices. Any form of computing device may be utilized by a participant to access an interactive experience providing content compatible with such computing device. Exemplary computing devices are discussed in more detail below with respect to
To access an interactive experience, such as an interactive game, a participant may, in at least one embodiment, first access a website or an application program associated with the interactive experience. In one embodiment, the participant may access an entry page to the interactive experience, as shown in operation 102 of
Upon accessing the interactive experience home page, a participant may be presented with an introductory multimedia presentation about the interactive experience in operation 106. The multimedia presentation may take any form presentable on a computing device. For example, in an implementation where the interactive experience is a game, the introductory presentation may be a video outlining a game play storyline, a listing of the high scorers of the game, a puzzle that the participant must solve to unlock the website and other forms of interactivity. In general, the introductory presentation may be any form of content presented to a participant. Further, in some embodiments, operation 106 may be bypassed or not implemented such that the participant, upon accessing the interactive experience home page, may proceed directly to being presented with the content. Similarly, in at least one embodiment, a participant may proceed to an inquiry as to whether they are an actual or virtual subscriber in the interactive experience, as per operation 108.
At operation 108, the participant may be prompted as to whether they are or are not a subscriber, or otherwise have a status that designates the participant has having greater or lesser privileges than any other given participant not having that same status. As mentioned, the website may prompt the user for an input to determine if the user is a subscriber. This prompt may take several forms. For example, the participant may select a button on the website that indicates the participant's status. Upon selection, the website may verify the status of the participant indicated by the participant's input by comparing an identifying feature of the participant, such as an Internet protocol (IP) address associated with a computing device utilized by the participant, with a maintained list of investors. In at least one embodiment, the website may identify the participant as a subscriber by prompting the participant to input or otherwise provide a user name and password, which may then be compared to a maintained list of subscriber user names and passwords. In at least one embodiment, an authenticator key may be utilized to assess whether a given participant is a subscriber with respect to one or more features and/or functions of an interactive experience. Any form of authenticator key may be utilized and one in embodiment the authenticator key may be a number provided to the participant at regular intervals based on a known number-generating seed that may be compared to a secured database such that matching numbers may authenticate the identity of the participant providing the key. This key may be provided to the interactive experience automatically, semi-automatically or manually, with the key being provided to the participant through any methodology, device or system, such as through an Internet browser, smart phone application, key chain token device, or other computing device utilized by the participant. In this manner, a computing device may provide an authenticator key to a participant that may be used to identify the status of the participant to the interactive experience, such as a multimedia interactive game, a multimedia advertisement or other form or rich content. In general, any method known or hereafter developed to identify a participant with a website or other source or provider of an interactive experience may be utilized in the embodiments described herein.
If the participant is determined to not be a subscriber, with respect to some, many or all of the features and/or functions of any given interactive experience, the website or other provider of the interactive experience, may prompt the participant to upgrade to investor status in operation 110. For example, the website may direct the participant to another related website that asks the participant for payment information to upgrade the participant's status such that access to desired (and even non-desired) features and/or functions may be provided. In another embodiment, the website may provide a pop-up window on a display device used by the participant, an audible message or any other form of content notifying the participant of the upgrade option and seeking a response thereto. In some embodiments, the prompt for upgrade of operation 110 may be skipped or delayed until a later time during or after the completion of an interactive experience.
If it is determined that the participant is not a subscriber, then the website may direct the participant to a non-investor webpage, herein called a “foyer”, in operation 112. Alternatively and/or additionally, if the participant is determined to be a subscriber (or selects to upgrade in operation 110), then the website may direct the participant to a subscriber foyer in operation 114. In one embodiment, the subscriber foyer and non-subscriber may be separate web pages providing access to separate game content. In another embodiment, the subscriber and non-subscriber foyers may be the same webpage, with access to some content restricted to the non-subscriber. In at least one embodiment, subscribers to the website may be provided additional content, features and/or functions of an interactive experience that are not available to the non-subscriber.
In one embodiment, the subscriber webpage may provide access to an additional webpage, herein called the “subscriber office.” The subscriber office webpage may store information related to the particular subscriber and the subscriber's progress through the interactive experience. For example, in an interactive game implementation, the office may maintain the subscriber's/participant's point total for the game, any items collected during play of the game gathered clues, social network contacts and other game or interactivity related content. In another example for an interactive shopping implementation, the office may maintain the subscriber's/participants points total for shopping discounts, as may arise from a frequent shopper program, any items purchased during the session and/or past sessions, social network contacts, such as friends purchasing similar items and other shopping or interactivity related content. In general, the office may include any content that is particular to that subscriber for one or more interactive experiences. In addition, the subscriber office may be customizable by the participant during the duration of an interactive experience or through multiple iterations of one or more interactive experiences. Thus, some web pages, or “rooms”, within the subscriber office may only become available to the participant upon completion or playing of certain precursor activities, such as the completion of an episode of an interactive game, or upon reaching particular milestones within an interactive experience. In general, the subscriber office may be designed to keep the attention of the subscriber participant during a participant's interactions with one or more episodes of an interactive experience.
From either the subscriber foyer or the non-subscriber foyer, a participant may access the interactive experience in operation 116. In general, the beginning of the interactive experience is illustrated in the flowchart of
At some point, the video may cease playing at a point where the storyline may branch, such as in operation 204. A storyline branch may be a point in the story where an input from a participant may be received to direct the flow of the story in a plurality of paths. For example, the video may proceed to a point where an input on which door to open may be prompted for from the participant. In general, the story presented by the video may halt at the storyline branch until an input is received by the participant, or until the website determines that the story is to continue.
The storyline presented by the content may halt at a branch in several ways. In one example, the content itself may stop and the participant may be directly linked to another website associated with the interactive experience. In another example, the content may continue playing, while the certain aspects are “frozen” or inactivated until any selection or a given selection, as the case may be, is made. For example, characters within a video may halt action until a trigger is activated. Similarly, the content may be presented in a looped fashion (e.g., playing the same video segment in a loop) such that the actors perform the same actions until a selection is made. In yet another example, the characters within the video may themselves prompt the participant for the input to select the next storyline.
In one embodiment (as shown in
In addition, the participant may select a storyline in operation 212 in several manners. For example, the website may provide a pop-up window prompting the participant to provide some input on which storyline is requested, such as by pressing a button or typing in a response. In another example, the participant may provide an input directly into the presented content, such as through a mouse-click on a particular area within a video, a verbal response, a shaking of a device, or other participant input, wherein the desired participant is pre-determined, or real-time determinable by the website. In general, any method by which a participant may provide an input to a source of an interactive experience, such as a website, may be utilized to receive the selection of the storyline in operation 212.
Upon selection of storyline A or storyline B, additional a/v/d content may be provided to or accessible by a participant, as shown in
If storyline C is selected in operation 304, then a storyline C video may be presented in operation 306 until such video ends in operation 310. Similarly, if storyline D is selected in operation 304, then a storyline D video may be presented in operation 308 until such video ends in operation 312. Upon completion, the website may proceed to a bridge for storyline C (operation 314) or a bridge for storyline D (operation 316). The bridge operations are discussed in greater detail below with reference to
Storyline B may also include an a/v/d component displayed to the participant in operation 318. Upon completion of the content for storyline B, the website may then provide a puzzle or other content to the participant in operation 320. For example, the storyline B video may end by showing a door that may be unlocked by solving a puzzle. Thus, the website may then provide the puzzle to the participant to solve before the story may proceed. In general, however, a puzzle or any other content described herein may be presented to the participant at any point. For example, storyline A, storyline C or storyline D may also include a puzzle or other content. The inclusion of the puzzle in storyline B is merely an example of the variety of multimedia content that may be provided to the participant by the website during play of the game. Further, the puzzles may be provided dependent on the status of the participant. For example, the puzzle or additional content may only be provided to subscriber participants that have selected the appropriate storyline. Therefore, in the embodiment shown, a non-subscriber participant may be skipped over operation 320 and directed to operation 322 upon completion of storyline B. Aspects of the puzzle and other interactive experience content are discussed in greater detail below with reference to
Upon completion of the puzzle by the participant, or upon completion of a time-out function of the interactive experience, such time-out being determined, for example, by the website hosting the interactive experience, the interactive experience may continue to operation 322 and present storyline E to the participant until the such video ends in operation 324. Once the video for storyline E ends, the website may then proceed to a bridge for storyline E in operation 326.
In general, the bridge for any storyline may constitute the time between releases of the interactive content, for example, a video, to the game source of the interactive experience, for example, a gaming website. In one embodiment, episodes of the story may be provided to the participants through the website at a rate of one per week. This may allow time for the production of the content associated with a given interactive experience, as well as time to develop the other various related content provided through the website.
To maintain interest in the interactive experience between bridges of the storyline, the source or website may provide several aspects of content to the participants. For example, in
The interstitial content may include any multimedia content that relates to the interactive experience. In one example, the interstitial content may include an email that is sent to the participants that furthers the interactive experience, such as by providing instructions to the participant on where to access additional content or providing a puzzle to the participant that must be solved to continue the interactive experience. In another example, the interstitial information may be recap of the interactive experience up to a given bridge point. This content may be provided directly to the participant through any form of communication, including but not limited to email, phone, letter, text message, postings and other forms of single cast (e.g., person-to-person), simulcast (e.g., a posting only to FACEBOOK “friends”), and/or multi-cast (e.g., a blog posting) communications. Additionally, the content may be available through the host of the interactive experience, such as a gaming host website, in either the subscriber form or non-subscriber foyers.
During the bridge period, additional game content may also be accessed through the home website for the interactive experience, in operation 408. In general, the home website may provide more content for the interactive experience, as well as forums to discuss the interactive experience, additional puzzles, research tools, clues to processing through the interactive experience and other interactive experience related information. Further, as discussed above, this content may be restricted to certain participant status, such as subscriber and non-subscriber content. Such additional content may also be storyline specific such that some content may only be available to those participants that have played a storyline related to the content. In general, the home webpage content available in operation 408 may be configured to retain a participant's interest in the interactive experience during any bridge periods.
At some point after the bridge period, additional episodes of the interactive experience may be released through the source (e.g., a gaming home webpage). Such episodes may include any desired form of content. In the embodiment of
The post-bridge period interactive experience may have a similar structure as described above. An example of the post-bridge period of the game play, in the context of an interactive gaming experience, is shown in
Returning to
An input may be received in operation 520 or 522 by the participant to select between storyline I 508 and storyline J 524. The progression of storyline I is discussed above. In a similar manner, storyline J may proceed to the presentation of a dialogue choice puzzle in operation 526 and then to a continuity bridge 528 that merges storyline J with the common storyline. The dialogue choice puzzle of operation 526 is described in more detail below with reference to
As shown, each storyline may be merged into a single storyline in operation 530, regardless of the storyline paths chosen above. However, this is but one example of how an interactive experience may be structured. It should be appreciated that any number of storylines may be created and merged during an interactive experience as desired by the designers thereof or as dynamically determined based upon participants interactions therewith.
Storyline K may continue in operation 602 of
As mentioned, the operations of the embodiment of
More particularly, the website may determine if the participant has agreed to upgrade to the subscriber status in operation 710. If the website determines that the participant has declined the upgrade offer, the website may then provide a warning message to the participant in operation 718. The warning message may inform the participant that further video content or other game content may be available only to subscribers. The warning message may appear to the participant in several manners. For example, a pop-up window may appear on the participant's display device that includes the warning message. In another example, the website may direct the participant to a secondary website that includes the warning message. In yet another example, the warning message may be provided to the participant through a secondary communication device, such as over email, a text message, a phone call, or by any other desired form of communication. In general, the warning message may be provided to the participant in operation 718 in any manner known or hereafter developed.
Upon providing the warning message, the website may again query the participant for an upgrade to subscriber status in operation 720. In at least one embodiment, this query may be similar to the first prompt asking the participant to upgrade. In other embodiments, this query may be different to the first prompt and may provide additional reasons for why a given participant should consider upgrading to subscriber status, for example, an indication of savings the participant would have realized had they already upgraded to subscriber status. If the website determines in operation 720 that the participant has agreed to achieve subscriber status, the website may direct the participant to operation 712 where the subscriber participant may select between storyline A and storyline B. However, if the website determines that the participant has declined the upgrade and remains a non-subscriber, the website may then direct the participant to a recap in operation 722.
In general, the recap of operation 722 may provide a summary of the storyline or content of one or more interactive experiences that may be presented to subscriber participants but are not available to non-subscriber participants. More particularly, the recap may summarize one of the storylines available and direct that participant to the summarized storyline only. Thus, non-subscribers may not have access to selecting between storylines, thereby rendering inaccessible some interactive content, features and/or functions to non-subscriber participants. Further, the recap may be provided to the non-subscriber participant in any manner described above, including a pop-up window, text message, through the game home website and by other manners of a/v/d notifications.
In addition, the non-subscriber participant may be directed to a particular storyline that is next presented during an interactive experience. For example, as shown in
For subscriber participants, the source or gaming host website may operate in a similar manner as described above. Thus, as subscriber participants select certain storylines to follow, videos and other content may be provided to the subscriber participants. Further, the storylines may proceed to a bridge point, as discussed. As shown in
At some point after the bridge period, additional episodes of content for a given interactive experience may be released through the source, e.g., a game host webpage. For example, in the embodiment of
It should be noted that, because non-subscribers are relegated to storyline E in the embodiment shown, all non-subscriber participants may similarly be relegated to storyline G based on the determination made by the website in operation 910. Thus, in
For subscriber participants, the interactive experience may continue as described above. Thus, the operations shown in
As illustrated above, the interactive experience may include additional content, features and/or functions, other than video clips, to provide an entertaining, informative, productive or otherwise desired experience for the participant. One such additional content may be a puzzle that is presented to the participant during an interactive experience that may be solved prior to continuing the experience. One example of providing a puzzle to a participant is shown in
Beginning in operation 1302, the website may provide the puzzle to one or more participants of the game. The puzzle may be provided within a website associated with the game, may be provided in one or more pop-up windows, may be provided through a secondary communication, may be provided within the video of the interactive game or may otherwise be provided, using any desired form of communication, to one or more participants of the game. In general, the puzzle may be any multimedia interaction provided to a participant of the game through a computing device.
Upon providing the puzzle, the website may begin a timer configured to end when the participant completes the puzzle. After a set time, the website may determine if the participant has solved the puzzle in operation 1304. In general, the website may assign any amount of time as the time limit. In one example, the puzzle may be available for one minute. If the website determines in operation 1304 that the puzzle has not been solved, then the website may provide a button to the participant to skip the puzzle and continue on with the gameplay in operation 1306. Thus, in operation 1308, the website may determine if an input has been received indicating that the participant desires to skip the puzzle. If such an input is received, the website may direct the participant to the next section of the video in operation 1312. However, if the participant does not wish to skip the puzzle, the website may continue the puzzle in operation 1310 before directing the participant to the next section of the video. Additionally, the video components of the interactive game may interact with the participant's choices concerning the puzzle. For example, upon solving the puzzle, the characters within the video component may provide accolades to the participant through a dialogue displayed within the video.
In addition to providing video clips that outline the story, the website may also provide branches within the dialogue of the videos to further provide configurability to the story by the participants. For example,
Additional content may also be provided by the website during one or more interactive experiences. For example, as mentioned above, clues to aid in progressing through an interactive game may be provided to one or more participants during the bridge period between game episodes. These clues may be useful during gameplay, such as when a puzzle is encountered. Further, because some clues are only provided to subscriber participants, the clue payoff may provide an additional incentive to participants to upgrade their status to subscribers.
Other additional content, features and/or functions may also be provided, such as the ability to edit or create videos or dialogue trees related to the interactive experience. In one example, the website may provide editing tools to subscriber or non-subscriber participants. The website may also provide video and/or audio clips related to the gameplay that may be manipulated by the editing tools. For example, the website may incorporate a drag-and-drop feature that allows a participant to select a video scene or audio clip, drag the clip along the interface and drop the clip to create a video sequence. In addition, the editing tool may allow a participant to select portions of the video clips as part of the user-generated scene. Once each of the desired video clips or scenes are assembled, the editing tool may create a single scene from the selected clips that may then be available through the host or source of the interactive experience. In certain embodiments, the host may be the participant's computing device. In this manner, the website may provide the participants with tools to edit video and/or audio clips that may be integrated into the interactive experience, whether for the particular participant that creates the edited clips or for any participant of the interactive experience or subsequent interactive experiences, thereby allowing a participant to create one or more user-created interactive experiences containing any desired content. Aspects of these additional interactive experience creation, editing and/or production functionalities are described in more detail below with reference to
Further still, the interactive experience may provide for a multi-participant version, for example, a multi-participant online game. For such an implementation, the interactive experience may facilitate several participants interacting with the content (in this implementation, a/v/d gaming content) as a group. In general, the game play, storyline and/or interactive experience may be similar to that described above. However, in this example, storyline branches, puzzle solution, dialogue choices and the like may be decided by a group of participants. In one example, the gameplay decisions may be decided through a voting mechanism, such that the choice that receives the most votes from the group of participants is chosen. In this example, the host website may provide a voting mechanism within the website to receive the participant's votes and make the group decision. In another embodiment, the group of participant's may attempt to solve a puzzle within the game through a race feature, wherein the first participant within the group that solves the puzzle receives additional points or bonuses. The group play version of the interactive experience may include subscribers only or subscriber and non-subscriber's alike.
An additional feature of the group interactive experience may involve the team members communicating during the experience. For example, the team members may be connected to a chat feature offered through a source or game host website such that messages may be transmitted between participants. In another example, the team members may communicate through one or more voice communication devices. In other embodiments, video and other forms of communication may be supported. In general, any method by which the team members may communicate through the network may be integrated within an interactive experience and regardless of whether a given interactive experience involves solo or group interaction. Further still, the interactive experience may include one or more bonus episodes, content available to group members only. These episodes, content may be available to subscriber participants only that belong to a group and must be performed by the group. For example, in the case of an interactive shopping experience, group members might receive a larger discount if all the members purchased or otherwise acquire a given product or service. The bonus episodes, content may provide more interactivity with the participants, including additional bonuses, clues, points and entertainment for the group participants. Although providing additional entertainment to the group participants, the bonus episodes, content may end in a similar point in the story as the bridge such that those that have not played the bonus episodes will not be left behind in the progress of a given interactive experience.
Another puzzle that may be provided to the participant during an interactive experience may involve a hidden object game either integrated into one or more of the content components of the game or as a separate puzzle. In general, the hidden object game may include providing a scene or series of scenes to the participant and query the participant to locate one or more objects within the scene. To locate the objects, the participant may use an input device, such as a mouse or stylus, and indicate the object within the scene. Points or rewards may be provided to the participant upon finding the requested items.
In the embodiment where the hidden object game may be integrated into the one or more video components of an interactive game, the game may first instruct the participant to search for objects located within a video clip. At some point during the playing of the video clip, the object may appear within the video. The website may then create a hotspot within the video frame around the object that may receive an input from the participant. Thus, while the participant is viewing the video clip, the object may appear within the hotspot such that selection of the object by the participant with an input device may select, or “find”, the object. In this manner, the hidden object game may be integrated into the video clips associated with the interactive game.
In at least one embodiment, the computer system (system) may include one or more processors 1602-1606. Processors 1602-1606 may include one or more internal levels of cache (not shown) and a bus controller or bus interface unit to direct interaction with the processor bus 1612. System interface 1614 may be connected to the processor bus 1612 to interface other components of the system 1600 with the processor bus 1612. For example, system interface 1614 may include a memory controller 1618 for interfacing a main memory 1616 with the processor bus 1612. The main memory 1616 typically includes one or more memory cards and a control circuit (not shown). System interface 1614 may also include an input/output (I/O) interface 1620 to interface one or more I/O bridges or I/O devices with the processor bus 1612. One or more I/O controllers and/or I/O devices may be connected with the I/O bus 1626, such as I/O controller 1628 and I/O device 1630, as illustrated.
I/O device 1630 may also include an input device (not shown), such as an alphanumeric input device, including alphanumeric and other keys for communicating information and/or command selections to the processors 1602-1606. Another type of user input device includes cursor control, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to the processors 1602-1606 and for controlling cursor movement on the display device. Still another type of input device includes a touch-screen device on the computing device that senses the placement of a user's finger or stylus to detect the location of the input on the screen of the device. Yet another input device may include a remote control utilizing infra-red (IR) technology, such as a remote control of a set-top box. In general, the computing system may include any type of device for providing input to the system known or hereafter developed.
System 1600 may include a dynamic storage device, referred to as main memory 1616, or a random access memory (RAM) or other devices coupled to the processor bus 1612 for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processors 1602-1606. Main memory 1616 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by the processors 1602-1606. System 1600 may include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device coupled to the processor bus 1612 for storing static information and instructions for the processors 1602-1606. The system set forth in
According to one embodiment, the above techniques may be performed by computer system 1600 in response to processor 1604 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 1616 or elsewhere, for example, on the “cloud.” These instructions may be read into main memory 1616 from another machine-readable medium, such as a storage device. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 1616 may cause processors 1602-1606 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with the software instructions. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure may include both hardware and software components.
A machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Such media may take the form of, but is not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 1616. Common forms of machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or other types of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. As discussed above, memory components may be local or remote to a given computing device and may be connected to a computing device or system via one or more network connections.
As mentioned above, one aspect of the web-based interactive experience may provide one or more development, editing and production tools such that one or more users, participants and/or other third parties with respect to one or more interactive experiences may develop a unique experience, portions of an experience, revisions, adaptations and/or derivations of and/or to an experience, additional episodes of an experience, and otherwise create, edit, publish, distribute or otherwise interact with an interactive experience. In general, these tools may be provided through any machine readable medium, such as the type described above and including over the Internet.
For example and in accordance with at least one embodiment of a tool for use with interactive experience,
It should be appreciated that the webpage 1700 of
In one embodiment, a plurality of buttons 1704-1710 may be provided in the webpage 1700, with each button linking to a webpage containing at least a portion of the design tool. In addition, aspects of the design tool may differ between the pluralities of links. For example and as shown in
In addition to the storyline specific buttons 1704-1708, a “General” button 1710 or other separately marked button may also be provided in the webpage 1700. The general (or non-storyline) button 1710 may link to a webpage providing a general content development tool with no specific ties to a particular storyline. Other buttons (not shown) may be provided that link to a design tool for advertisements, multimedia presentations, auditory-related presentations (such as music videos, songs, and other forms of content) or document editing. In general, the webpage 1700 may provide one or more links to one or more design tools for an editor to create any type of multimedia presentation and interactive experience.
The webpage 1800 may be provided to or accessed by an editor, for example, by selecting one of the buttons or links illustrated in the webpage of
In at least one embodiment, the features and functions included in the design tool webpage 1800 may be configured to correspond to a particular storyline, including those, for example but not limited to, provided for buttons 1704-1708 of
In one or more embodiments, the webpage 1800 of
More specifically, the design tool webpage 1800 may include a plot structure diagram 1806 that may provide an outline of the video clips, games, dialogue branches, and other options that may form the content, sequence and/or flow of an interactive experience and/or of one or more episodes associated with a given interactive experience. In general, the presented plot structure may take the same form as described above with reference to
In at least one embodiment, a plot structure design may provide a structure that an editor may use to create one or more episodes. For example, the plot structure design may include one or more shapes that represent a particular portion of the episode. As shown in
Referring again to
Video clips between branching points within an episode may also comprise a plurality of uploaded video clips. Thus, the design tool 1800 may provide an editor with the ability to combine several video clips to create the episode segments. For example, once the beginning and ending points of the first video clip is set by the editor, the first video clip may be dragged (utilizing an input device to the design tool) into the sequence timeline box 1816. A portion of the first video clip may then appear within the sequence timeline box 1816. To add to the video sequence, a second video clip may then be uploaded by the editor into the video clip bar 1810 and edited with the in-point slider 1812 and out-point slider 1814, as described above. Once edited, the second video clip bar may also be dragged into the sequence timeline box 1816 to append the second video clip to the first video clip. Through this process, the editor may utilize the design tool 1800 to combine a plurality of video clips to create one or more portions of an episode.
At any point during the creation of the sequence, the editor may preview the sequence by utilizing the input device to select the “Preview Clip” button 1818. Upon selection, the videos comprising the sequence may be displayed in the video view window 1820. As new video clips are added to the sequence, the editor may keep track of the changes and overall length of the sequence through the use of the “Preview Clip” button 1818 and video view window 1820. In this manner, the editor may utilize the design tool 1800 to create one or more video clips that comprise portions of the interactive game episode.
Further, as described above, the episode may also include one or more dialogue choices to determine the different story branches that the participant may experience. To create these branching dialogue choices, the editor may select one of the circles within the episode plot structure 1806 that represents a branching point. Upon selection, the design tool 1800 may provide a branching interface to the editor through which the user may provide text to be displayed to the participant during play of the game. This text may comprise a question with several options for answers. In addition, the branching interface may allow the editor to determine which branch of the storyline corresponds to which possible answer such that selection of one answer by the participant provides a path through one particular branch of the storyline.
As also described above, the episode may include one or more games or puzzles that the participant may interact with during play to increase the overall experience of the interactive game. For an editor-created episode, these games may be selected from the design tool 1800 and placed within the episode. In one embodiment, the design tool may include a list of possible puzzles 1822 that the editor may select from. For example, the editor may determine, at a point in the plot structure 1806 where a puzzle may be placed, that a sliding lock game should be encountered. To select the sliding lock game, the editor may select the sliding lock box and drag the box to the desired puzzle circle in the episode plot structure 1806. In this manner, the editor of the design tool 1800 may select one or more puzzles to include in the editor-created episode to enhance the experience for a participant of the episode.
In some embodiments, an editor may create and upload a puzzle into the design tool interface 1800. For example, the editor may create a puzzle using a recognized software application. Once created, the editor may utilize the design tool 1800 to upload the puzzle in a similar manner as uploading a video clip. Once uploaded or otherwise made available to the design tool 1800, the created puzzle may be added to the list of available puzzles 1822 for selection by the editor and inclusion in the episode. In addition, the puzzles may be customizable by the editor prior to inclusion into the editor-created episode. In one embodiment, the design tool 1800 may include a list of puzzle skins 1824 that may be selected to configure a selected puzzle. For example, the list of puzzle skins 1824 may include a list of themes that correspond to possible storylines. Thus, an “Ancient Peru” skin to the puzzle may be provided that corresponds to the Peruvian Gold storyline. To add the custom puzzle skin to the puzzle, the editor may drag, or otherwise select, the corresponding box from the puzzle skin list 1824 into the desired puzzle box in the puzzle list 1822. Once combined, the editor may drag the puzzle into the plot structure 1806 as described above. In this manner, the editor may customize the puzzles included in the editor-created episode to better match the theme and storyline of the episode. In at least one embodiment, dependencies between puzzles, skins, video clips and/or other content may be specified by an editor of an episode and/or a provider of the design tool 1800. For example and not by way of limitation, in at least one embodiment, the selection of a particular puzzle necessarily includes a selection of a corresponding video clip, and vice versa, such that upon placement of the puzzle in the plot structure, the corresponding video clip is suitably placed also in the plot structure. In this manner, related content can be grouped and/or otherwise associated to expedite the creation of an episode and also to provide consistency in the interactive experience presented by an episode.
At any time during the population of the plot structure 1806 for the editor-created episode with video segments, branching points, dialogue choices, puzzles and other content the episode may be previewed by the editor by selecting the “Preview Game” button 1826. As with the “Preview Clip” button 1818, an editor may utilize the “Preview Game” button to keep track of the changes and overall length of any given episode.
At any point during the episode creating process, including but not limited to when the editor has completed editing, for example, by populating the entirety or a desired portion of an episode plot structure, the interactive experience may be published for participants to experiencing. In at least one embodiment, publishing may occur by the editor selecting the “Finish & Publish” button 1828. Upon selection of button 1828, the completed episode may be uploaded, or otherwise made available, to a server that may be accessed by one or more participants in or to the interactive experience, for example participants of an interactive game. In some embodiments, the episode may be stored on a server hosted by a third party or otherwise. For example, a corporation may utilize the design tool 1800 to create an episode that includes advertisements for the corporation. Upon completion, the episode may be stored by the corporation on their server and/or website for play by a potential consumer. In another example, the creator of the episode may upload, store or otherwise make available the episode to a website, or other computer addressable location, hosted by a publisher of the design tool 1800, the editor or any other person or entity, such storage location may utilize one or more local or remote servers. Similarly, the episode may be provided to the general public from an editor's or publisher's homepage. In general, upon completion, the episode may be accessible by the general public or, in another embodiment, to a limited subset of the public from a computing device connected to a network.
In at least one embodiment, the design toolset may be configured to provide linking between several episodes to create a series of editor-created episodes. Such series may be posted by a publisher or other person having access and permission to each of the episodes, as one or more episodes in a series may not be created by the same editor. For example, an editor may create three episodes that depend upon and continue an already developed and created storyline. Thus, the editor may utilize the design tool to link the previously created episodes to the new episodes created by that editor and thereby create a series. In general, any number of episodes may be linked together to create a storyline series. In addition, other options typical of a series for providing an interactive experience to one more participants may be provided through the design tool. For example, when a series is created, the design tool may be configured to send emails, text messages or other forms of communications, including but not limited to in-game messages, to one or more participants, similar to those messages described above. In one or more embodiments, only subscriber participants may receive such messages and any ability to edit or create one or more existing or new episodes, as the case may be. Such messages may include further clues to progress the storyline through the series and increase one or more desired aspect of the interactive experience for the participants receiving and/or responding to such messages.
In at least one embodiment, a rating or voting system may be associated with one or more editor-created episodes. For example, participants of an episode may be provided with an option to score or rate one or more editor-created episode, series, or other segments, content, features and/or functions of an interactive experience. Such rating may, for example, provide an indication as to the level of enjoyment one or more participants experienced with respect to an episode. Content controls and other functions intended to ensure a given level of decency and/or participant enjoyment in an interactive experience may also be provided in one or more embodiments. More specifically, an editor-created episodes may be flagged or otherwise identified for inappropriate, indecent or otherwise undesirable content such that other participants, editors, publishers and others involved with an episode, a series of episodes or a catalog or collection of multiple series can self-police the content created by other editors and others and thereby discourage and/or prevent inappropriate content from entering into an offering of one or more interactive experiences, such as an interactive gaming system.
With reference to
More specifically and as shown in
As shown in
Upon a first time editor registering with the provider of the tool, if required for any given embodiment, or upon a repeat editor accessing the tool, the editor may be presented with the option of creating one or more projects or accessing previously created projects via a project dashboard.
Referring now to
As shown in
In one embodiment, one or more fields, such content selection field 2114, may be provided by which content, features and functions may be made available for incorporation into an interactive experience by the common drag and drop user interface technique. Other techniques for identifying content/features and/or functions available for incorporation into an interactive experience may be utilized, as desired.
Upon the uploading of content into the content selection pane 2102, for example, as shown in
Referring again to
As discussed above with respect to
In at least one embodiment, each node on the editing canvas 2116 may be populated with content selected from the content selection pane 2102. When a story line or plot is pre-populated, as shown for example in
The editing canvas 2116 also may include one or more user interface controls that enable an editor to see an interactive experience at any desired level of detail or reference point. As shown in
One embodiment by which an editor may edit content presented in a node on the editing canvas 2116 is shown in
As further shown in
As further shown in the embodiment of
The zooming in and magnification type editing discussed above with respect to
As further shown in
In at least one embodiment, an editor may specify when a given linkage is available for selection by a participant during the presentation of content associated with a given node. For example and as shown in
In at least one embodiment, when a node is serially connected to a subsequent node, such as occurs for node 2118 with node 2120, descriptor tags may populate so as to provide an appearance of participant controlled branching, when no such participant control may actually exist, with respect to the content associated with node then being processed. In at least one embodiment, each control element includes a destination designation, as shown in
One or more control check boxes, such as check boxes 2188, may be associated with each control element. In one exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Referring again to
To view the functionality to be presented to one or more participants for a given interactive experience, project dashboard tool 2100 may include a preview pane, such as preview pane 2190. Preview pane 2190 may enable an editor to view the content populated into one or more nodes, including branching to and from nodes, prior to publication. In at least one embodiment, an editor may select any node containing content on the editing canvas, and then select preview button 2192, to initiate a presentation of the interactive experience from the selected node and thereon. By selecting upon a start or first node, such as node 2118 in
In certain embodiments, an editor may preview the experience using the same type of devices as which a participant may desirably access a given interactive experience. For example, one embodiment of an interactive experience may include a presentation video in node 2118 of a multi-person discounted virtual or actual shopping experience. Node 2118 may create a link, when the participant is so interested, in identifying friends and others that may also be interested in participating in the shopping experience, such identification may be provided by including in node 2120, for example, an content element that includes a linkage to one or more social media sites. Upon presenting to the participant (demo editor) which friends are interested in the shopping experience, node 2120 may present the participant (demo editor) with an option, a descriptor tag to shop actually, versus on-line. Assuming the participant selects such actual shopping tag, the interactive experience proceeds to node 2122 and provides the participant (demo editor) with actual driving or other directions to a store providing the discounted goods/services, such directions may be provided by accessing at node 2122 at content piece which may launch or access a mapping application. Such mapping application may then provide an actual directions from the participant's (demo editor's) present location to the nearest store providing the discounted goods/services. When an actual store is not convenient or the participant (demo editor) does not desire to travel, node 2120 may present a descriptor tag enabling the participant (demo editor) to shop virtually/on-line. When presenting a virtual shopping experience, node 2120 may actually link to or otherwise access an on-line shopping experience provided by the merchant/retailer associated with the discounted shopping experience. Finally, the interactive experience may conclude, for example upon the participant (demo editor) buying, actually or virtually, the discounted goods/services at which instance a feedback, survey or other messaging may be presented via content presented in node 2126.
Referring again to
As shown in
It is to be appreciated that a mapping of user profiles to a plot structure, as shown in
As shown by the various tabs 2200, in at least one embodiment, user profiles may be filtered and/or presented to an interested person based upon one or more filters, demographics or other criteria. In at least one exemplary embodiment, user profiles and the flows associated therewith may be filtered based upon such criteria as location (e.g., countries and cities), gender, visitors (e.g., all, few, time of day), systems (e.g., tablet computer user versus mobile phone user), referrers (e.g., whether a user was referred to the experience by another, for example, via a social media site), decisions and other criteria. As such, it is to be appreciated that any given implementation of an analytics tool may filter and/or present one or more user profiles based upon any given criteria.
Several revenue generating possibilities may be provided through one or more of the embodiments described above. For example, the storyline created by the user through the use of the design toolset or other editor interface may include one or more particular content, paths, episodes or other form of an interactive experience that may be experienced by a participant for free while the other content, features, paths etc. may only be open to subscriber level participants, or through micro-transactions, for example by paying per path. In at least one embodiment, to experience all of the content of the editor-created storyline, a participant may be required to provide some compensation to attain subscriber-status, as described above. In addition, any proceeds received for a particular editor-created interactive experience may be shared between the creator and a hosting entity (such as a hosting server or the developer of the design toolset). In at least one embodiment, the revenue generated from an editor-created episode or series may be split evenly with the hosting entity.
In those embodiments where the design tool may be used to create advertisements, personal videos and other multimedia experiences, a sliding fee scale may be utilized to obtain some form of revenue. For example, a large corporation may use the design tool to create one or more advertisements that may be accessed over the web or from a dedicated in-store kiosk. The corporation may be charged a large fee to use the design tool to create such advertisements. Alternatively, for editors that may use the tool to edit personal videos, a simple fee may be charged. In general, any size of a fee may be charged for use of the design tool, depending on several factors, such as the type of user, the multimedia content created through use of the design tool and any partnership agreements between the user and the design tool creator or publisher.
Referring now to
Upon accessing the editing tool, the editor may select to edit an existing published or unpublished interactive experience (a “project”) or create a new project, as per operation 2302. If a new project is to be created, next, a project title is created, as operation 2304.
The editor may be queried as to whether to use a new or an existing plot, as per operation 2306. As discussed above, in one or more embodiments, a publisher may specify the plot an editor is to use for any given interactive experience. In other embodiments, an editor may be able to select from a catalog of existing plots. As per operation 2308 and without regard to whether a plot is specified or selected, the desired plot is populated onto the editing canvas, such as editing canvas 2116 of
Referring again to Operation 2306, when an editor is able to elect to create a new plot versus using an existing plot, and so elects to create the new plot, the process continues, in operation 2310, with a determination as to whether the plot is to be created free form, i.e., as content is selected, populated onto the canvas and links therebetween established, or in advance (i.e., wherein the plot structure is created with multiple nodes and linkages therebetween and content is subsequently populated into each node).
When the “In Advance” option is specified, the process proceeds with Operation 2312 with the plot being created on the editing canvas. Further, operation 2312 may also be invoked when with respect to an unpublished or published project; one or more changes to a plot are desired. As shown, for a published project selected for editing, the process may proceed with un-publishing the project, as per operation 2314, and then determining whether a modification to the plot is desired, as per operation 2316. Similarly, for an un-published project selected for further editing, a determination may be made as to whether to modify the existing plot, as per operation 2316. Thus, it is to be appreciated that the process may enable an editor to create and/or modify an existing plot structure for a project by placing multiple nodes onto a canvas and establishing linkages therebetween, as may occur for example per operation 2312.
Once the plot structure is created, or when implementing a “free form” plot creation approach, the process continues with identifying and/or uploading content that is to be made available to the editor for including, as desired, into the interactive experience, as per operation 2318. In at least one embodiment, such content may be identified and/or made available utilizing, for example, a content selection pane, such as content selection pane 2110 of
In operation 2320, content is associated with one or more nodes. In the case of a published or unpublished project containing multiple existing nodes that are already populated with content, operation 2320 may entail nothing more than an editor verifying the content in a given node is the desired content. In other instances, the editor may desire to substitute existing content with new or different content. With respect to a new project having a plot created “in advance,” or with respect to a pre-existing published or unpublished projected having one or more newly added nodes, as per operation 2312, operation 2320 may suitably include population of every such new or empty node with content. The population of content into nodes suitably continues until every node is populated with content, as desired.
As shown by operations 2322, 2324, 2326, and 2328, one process embodiment for ensuring each node is populated with content is to provide one or more manual or automatic checks as to whether all nodes are populated with content, as per operation 2322, and if not querying whether additional content is needed, as per operation 2324, if additional content is needed , a check is made as to whether “free form” editing is being accomplished, as per operation 2326, and a query may be made as to whether an additional node is needed, as per operation 2328. When no “free form” editing is occurring and additional content and/or node(s) are needed, the process may include providing one or more instructions, prompts or other indicators to the editor to input such node and/or as to a source of such content and uploading a link or the content itself into the editor, as per operation 2318.
For previously published, unpublished, new “in advance” and “free form” projects, the process of operations 2318, 2320, 2322, 2324, 2326, and 2328 continue until all nodes have been populated with content. It is to be appreciated that for at least one embodiment, a “free form” manner of editing may be used with respect to previously published and unpublished projects and/or “in advance” projects whenever an editor decides to position content on a canvas at a location not already containing a node connected to one other node. For “free form” projects, wherein the plot is created on without pre-existing node connections being specified, it is to be appreciated that a node may be automatically populated by the mere placement of the content (or a link thereto) onto the canvas. Once all nodes have been populated with content, the process may continue, via the “A” indicator with operation 2330, as shown on
While in at least one embodiment it may be desirable for all nodes to be linked, it is to be appreciated that an interactive experience may be presented to a participant as a selection of multiple parallel flows of content between which no branching occurs and at least one of such multiple parallel flows may include no branching within the flow, as may exist for example, for a piece of promotional or demonstration content with respect to which no interactivity is provided. As such it is to be appreciated that the exemplary process of
As shown in
A button added to a node that may be configured to include one or more cues, such as a cue-in and a cue-out, wherein a cue specified during a portion of the content presented by a precursor node, when a tag or associated interactive function is available for participant selection and/or use, as per operation 2238. As per tags, the adding of one or more cues to a button is not required for all embodiments of the process of
A button added to a node may be configured to include at least one destination, as per operation 2340, wherein a destination identifies a node to which a participant may branch from the present, precursor node. It is to be appreciated, that in a looping presentation of content a node may be both a precursor to and subservient to another node. Also, it is to be appreciated that the designation of a destination nodes is not required for all embodiments of the process of
Referring again to operation 2330, the embodiment of the process shown in
Once a connection is established between a precursor node and a subservient node, the process may continue with determining whether the connection is cued, or un-cued, as per operation 2346. If the connection is not cued, and a cueing is desired, the process continues with operation 2348, by which an editor may specify when, and where in the content's elements, the precursor content and/or the subservient content are to begin and/or end, as described above for example with respect to the embodiment depicted in
Referring again to operation 2346, if the operation is already cued, as may occur when the subservient node is to merely be presented upon the completion of the entirety of the precursor node, the process may continue with a determination as to whether any additional linking or tuning is to be performed by the editor, as per operation 2342.
Referring again to operation 2330, when there are no unlinked nodes, or linked nodes that an editor desires to unlink or link differently, the process continues with operation 2346 and determining whether a cued connection is desired, as discussed above.
As such, the process of
Referring again to the embodiment shown in
In the present disclosure, the methods disclosed may be implemented as sets of instructions or software readable by a computing device. Further, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed are examples of sample approaches. In other embodiments, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the method can be rearranged while remaining within the disclosed subject matter. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not necessarily meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
The described disclosure may be provided as a computer program product, or software, that may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer system (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the present disclosure. A non-transitory machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The non-transitory machine-readable medium may take the form of, but is not limited to: a magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette, video cassette, and so on); optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; and so on.
The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the present invention. From the above description and drawings, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particular embodiments shown and described are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. References to details of particular embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/274,224 filed on Oct. 14, 2011, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/393,038 filed on 14 Oct. 2010 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/436,478, filed on 26 Jan. 2011, all of which were filed in the name of inventors Erika Trautman McCaddon and Cameron Joel McCaddon and are commonly entitled “Web Based Interactive Game Utilizing Video Components,” the contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The present application is also related to Patent Cooperation Treaty Application Serial Number PCT/US2011/056453 filed on Oct. 14, 2011, in the name of inventors Erika Trautman McCaddon and Cameron Joel McCaddon, entitled “System and Method for Creating and Analyzing Interactive Experiences,” the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61436478 | Jan 2011 | US | |
| 61393038 | Oct 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13274224 | Oct 2011 | US |
| Child | 14167570 | US |
