KR20090014610A - NPC conversation system and method in online game - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an NPC dialogue system and method therefor in an online game, and more particularly, to a game operation unit for generating an operation command for manipulating a player character in an online game; And a manipulation processor configured to provide the generated manipulation instruction to a game server. And an NPC processor that processes at least one NPC in the online game. An NPC integrated DB storing progress information provided to the player character by the at least one NPC; And a dialogue processing unit configured to process progress information about a quest or an event being performed by the player character as an ambassador of the NPC during a conversation between the player character and an NPC not related to game progression. It features.

Description

NPC conversation system in online game and method thereof {IMPROVED NPC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM IN ON-LINE GAME AND METHOD THEREOF}

The present invention relates to an NPC dialogue system and method for an online game, and more particularly, to an NPC dialogue system and an online game for enabling a game to proceed by enabling a dialogue with an NPC through voice in an MMORPG. It is about.

In recent years, the Internet infrastructure has been evolving rapidly, and online games have evolved in various forms. In particular, the classical form of RPG (Role Playing Game) has evolved into MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) has enjoyed great popularity in Korea.

The MMORPG selects a player character and moves through various places on the map to perform a quest or participate in an event, where a non-player character in an online game is played. In the following, it is common to obtain information necessary for the progress of the game by interaction such as NPC) and dialogue. Therefore, in online games, especially MMORPGs, the dialogue between the player character and the NPC becomes a very important factor in the progress of the game.

On the other hand, in the conventional MMORPG, in order to obtain the desired progress information from the NPC, the NPC set to provide the progress information should be moved to a location where the desired progress information must be obtained only by interaction such as dialogue with the NPC. Could.

Looking at the dialogue process with the NPC in the MMOPRG according to the prior art, when the player character approaches the NPC and attempts to communicate, the dialogue part of the NPC is displayed in a text form on the game screen or a pre-recorded wave file is played. Treated with. In addition, the dialogue part of the player character was processed by input through an interface such as a keyboard or a method of selecting from some predetermined dialogues.

That is, according to the prior art as described above, when the player character wants to obtain desired progress information through dialogue with the NPC in an online game, the player character moves to a location on the map where a specific NPC is set to provide the progress information. The conversation had to be carried out, and in the course of the conversation there was no choice but to enter the dialogue directly on the keyboard or to select at least one of the predetermined dialogues. However, this method of communication has a limitation that decreases the immersion in the game due to the lack of various means for gamers to enter the dialogue freely.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, which allows the player character from any NPC in the online game to obtain the progress information necessary for the progress of the game, as well as non-character based It is an object of the present invention to provide an NPC dialogue system and method therefor in an online game that enables a dialogue with an NPC on a voice basis.

In order to achieve the above object, the NPC dialogue system in the online game according to the present invention, the game operation unit for generating an operation command for controlling the player character in the online game; And a manipulation processor configured to provide the generated manipulation instruction to a game server. And an NPC processor that processes at least one NPC in the online game. An NPC integrated DB storing progress information provided to the player character by the at least one NPC; And a dialogue processing unit configured to process progress information about a quest or an event being performed by the player character as an ambassador of the NPC during a conversation between the player character and an NPC not related to game progression. It features.

On the other hand, NPC dialog system in the online game according to an embodiment of the present invention is a microphone; A voice pattern DB that stores voice patterns for a plurality of commands for manipulating a player character in an online game; And a manipulation processor configured to output a command corresponding to the matched voice pattern to a game server when there is a match between the voice input into the microphone and the voice pattern stored in the voice pattern DB. And an NPC processor that processes at least one NPC in the online game. An NPC integrated DB storing progress information provided to the player character by the at least one NPC; And a dialogue processing unit configured to process progress information about a quest or an event being performed by the player character as an ambassador of the NPC during a conversation between the player character and an NPC not related to game progression. It is done.

On the other hand, the NPC conversation method in the online game according to the present invention comprises a tenth step of detecting a voice input from the gamer in the game client; Analyzing a pattern of the input voice to determine whether there is a match among pre-recorded voice patterns; A thirtieth step, if there is a matching voice pattern, outputting a command corresponding to the matching voice pattern to a game server; A 40th step of determining whether a dialogue between the player character and the NPC in progress in the online game is in progress; And a fifty step of determining whether the player character in dialogue with the NPC is in progress of a quest or event and processing progress information related to the quest or event as an ambassador of the NPC.

As a result, the present invention can obtain the progress information necessary for the progress of the game from any NPC in the online game, and also enables the dialogue with the NPC through text-based and voice-based. There is an effect that the immersion into the game is increased, and the online game provider can contribute to sales growth by providing a new MMOPRG voice-based conversation interface.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the NPC dialog system and method in an online game including MMPRPG according to the present invention.

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of an NPC dialogue system in an online game according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the game client 100 includes a game operating unit 110 and an operation processing unit 140, and the game server 200 includes an NPC processing unit 210, an NPC integrated DB 220, and a conversation processing unit ( 230). The game client 100 and the game server 200 are connected through a network.

The game client 100 may mainly be a personal computer or a portable game terminal, and may be any kind of thing as long as it can be connected to the game server 200 through a network such as the Internet or a mobile communication network. The game client 100 includes a game program for performing an online game in cooperation with the game server 200.

The game client 100 according to the present invention proceeds with an online game by connecting to the game server 200 through a network as in the conventional game client. The game client 100 allows the gamer to freely manipulate the player character of his choice within the online game to perform various interactions such as transactions, conversations or battles with various NPCs.

The game operation unit 110 is provided in the game client 100 and recognizes an operation of an interface such as a keypad, a keyboard, and a mouse by a gamer to generate an operation command for controlling a player character in an online game. At this time, controlling the player character is not limited to a few commands such as moving the player character on the screen, talking or attacking, but includes all functions provided for gamers to manipulate through the game interface.

The operation processing unit 140 provides the operation command generated by the game operation unit 110 to the connected game server 200 to control the player character by the gamers, and to control the player character and the player of various NPCs or other gamers. Allow interaction with the character.

One or more game clients 100 are connected to the game server 200 through a network, and the connected game clients 100 may play online games alone or simultaneously with a plurality of other game clients.

The NPC processor 210 may arrange one or more NPCs at a specific location on a map in the online game to interact with a plurality of player characters. In this case, the NPC may have an NPC that performs a specific function (eg, an item shop or a quest grant) that is necessary for the progress of the game. There may be). The other NPCs are NPCs that are not related to the progress of the game.

The NPC integration DB 220 integrates and stores the progress information 225 to be provided by the plurality of NPCs. In the conventional MMORPG, the progress information 225 is stored for each NPC, but in the NPC integrated DB 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention, by storing and managing each quest or event provided by the game, a specific quest or event is stored. Even if the player character who is performing attempts to talk to the NPC that is not related to the progress of the game, the processing information 225 related to the quest or event may be processed by processing the NPC as an ambassador of the NPC.

In the conventional online game, the progress information 225 can be obtained by searching for a specific NPC arranged at a specific location on the map and performing a conversation in order to perform a specific quest or event. However, the NPC integrated DB 220 as described above is used. By integrating and managing the progress information 225, the player character does not necessarily have to visit a specific NPC in order to obtain the desired progress information 225.

When the player character attempts a conversation with an NPC that is not related to the progress of the game, the conversation processor 230 determines whether the player character is currently performing a quest or an event, and thus the corresponding quest or event from the NPC integration DB 220. The progress information 225 related to the information is extracted and processed in the form of NPC dialogue to the player character. In this case, the provided progress information 225 may be provided as a pre-recorded voice. By providing the progress information 225 by voice, gamers can be more immersed in the game.

On the other hand, the game client 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention further includes a microphone 120 and the voice pattern DB (130). This configuration makes it possible to use a voice input through the game client 100 to control player characters in the game or to conduct a dialogue with the NPC.

The microphone 120 receives a voice from a gamer using the general microcer, the game client 100, converts the voice into an electrical signal, and provides the same to the manipulation processor 140.

The voice pattern DB 130 stores voice patterns (which may be frequency patterns or signal patterns obtained by converting voices by various signal processing methods, etc.) for voices set to select various operation commands for controlling player characters in the game. do.

The operation processor 140 detects a voice input from the microphone 120, and when the pattern of the voice matches the voice pattern previously stored in the voice pattern DB 130, a command corresponding to the matched voice pattern is issued. Output to the game server.

The voice pattern stored in the voice pattern DB 130 may be previously recorded and stored by the gamer, or may be preset by the game provider.

For example, when a player character wants to obtain progress information 225 about a quest when the player character talks with an NPC that is not related to the progress of the game, when the player inputs a voice through the microphone 120 as the "quest", the operation processing unit ( 140 compares the voice pattern "quest" in the voice pattern DB 130, and provides the game server 200 with the same command as when typing "Quest" on the keyboard during the conversation with the NPC to communicate with the NPC. Proceed.

At this time, the conversation processing unit 230 determines from the NPC integration DB 220 whether there is a corresponding response among the progress information 225 related to the quest or event being performed by the player character, and if there is a corresponding response, withdraws it to the NPC. Promote conversation by treating it with metabolism

2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the game system according to the present invention. 2 illustrates, in particular, the operation of performing interaction between the player character and the NPC using voice.

When the online game is executed, the operation processing unit 140 monitors whether a voice is input from the microphone 120, and when a voice is input (S10), analyzes the input voice and stores the pattern in the voice pattern DB 130. It is determined whether a matching voice pattern exists by comparing with the patterns (S20). If it is determined that a matching voice pattern exists, the command is output to the game server 200 (S30).

On the other hand, it is determined whether or not the dialogue between the player character and the NPC unrelated to the progress of the game is in progress (S40), and if the dialogue is in progress, it is determined whether the player character in dialogue with the NPC is in progress quest or event (S50) Alternatively, the dialogue proceeds by extracting the progress information related to the event from the NPC integration DB 220 and processing the metabolism of the NPC (S50).

If the voice pattern coinciding with the voice input from the microphone 120 does not exist in the voice pattern DB 220, the preset guidance may be performed to induce re-input of the voice.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an NPC dialogue system in an online game according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an NPC conversation method in an online game according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (11)

A game operation unit generating an operation command for manipulating a player character in an online game; And a manipulation processor configured to provide the generated manipulation instruction to a game server. And An NPC processor for processing at least one NPC in an online game; An NPC integrated DB storing progress information provided to the player character by the at least one NPC; And a dialogue processor configured to process progress information regarding a quest or an event being performed by the player character as an ambassador of the NPC during a dialogue between the player character and the NPC that is not related to the game progress. NPC dialogue system in online games. The method of claim 1, The NPC integration DB is NPC dialogue system in the online game, characterized in that for storing the progress information for each quest or event provided by the online game. The method according to any one of claims 1 and 2, And wherein at least the dialogue of the NPC is provided by voice. MIC; A voice pattern DB that stores voice patterns for a plurality of commands for manipulating a player character in an online game; And a manipulation processor configured to output a command corresponding to the matched voice pattern to a game server when there is a match between the voice input into the microphone and the voice pattern stored in the voice pattern DB. And An NPC processor for processing at least one NPC in an online game; An NPC integrated DB storing progress information provided to the player character by the at least one NPC; And a dialogue processing unit configured to process progress information about a quest or an event being performed by the player character as an ambassador of the NPC during a conversation between the player character and an NPC not related to game progression. NPC conversation system in online games. The method of claim 4, wherein The NPC integration DB is NPC dialogue system in the online game, characterized in that for storing the progress information for each quest or event provided by the online game. The method of claim 5, The progress information regarding the quest or event processed by the dialogue processing unit as the dialogue of the NPC may correspond to the command as progress information about a quest or event that the player character is performing among progress information stored in the NPC integration DB. NPC conversation system in online games. The method according to any one of claims 4 and 5, The voice pattern for the plurality of commands stored in the voice pattern DB is a voice pattern recorded and stored in advance by a gamer operating the game client. The method according to any one of claims 4 and 5, And wherein at least the dialogue of the NPC is provided by voice. A tenth step of receiving a voice input from the gamer at the game client; Analyzing a pattern of the input voice to determine whether there is a match among pre-recorded voice patterns; A thirtieth step, if there is a matching voice pattern, outputting a command corresponding to the matching voice pattern to a game server; A 40th step of determining whether a dialogue between the player character and the NPC in progress in the online game is in progress; A 50th step of determining whether a player character talking to the NPC is in progress of a quest or event, and processing progress information related to the quest or event as an ambassador of the NPC; . The method of claim 9, In the 50th step, the progress information related to the quest or event processed as the dialogue of the NPC corresponds to the command among the progress information related to the quest or event previously stored in the game server. Way. The method of claim 9, And wherein at least the dialogue of the NPC is provided by voice.

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