Nintendo söker patent för Zelda: Tears of the Kingdoms spelmekaniker

Det är inte ovanligt att spelutvecklare söker - och ibland får igenom - pantent för olika spelmekaniker. Bland de mer kända hör Bandai Namcos patent på minispel under laddningsskärmar, och Warner Bros nemesis-system från Shadow of Mordor-spelen.

I kölvattnet av The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdoms (oerhört välförtjänta) popularitet söker nu Nintendo ett helt gäng patenter på spelets mekaniker, somliga bredare och mer udda än andra. Mellan 10 juli och 4 augusti ansökte Nintendo om 32 patent, varav alla utom ett kunde relateras till Links senaste äventyr. Sidan Automaton har översatt patentansökningarna från japanska, och benat ut vad flera av dem handlar om.

Ett relateras till mekaniken bakom hur Link interagerar med fordon:
"[the] movement of movable dynamic objects placed in the virtual space is controlled by physics calculations, and the movement of the player's character is controlled by user input. When the player's character and a dynamic object come in contact in the downward direction relative to the character (in other words, when the character is on top of an object), the movement of the dynamic object is added to the movement of the player's character.' Put simply, the game judges when Link is making contact with a movable object underneath him, and if the object moves, Link will automatically move in the same way and speed as the object does, without any input being made."

Ett annat handlar om hur Ultrahand funkar när Link står ovanpå ett objekt han interagerar med:
"[The Patent] defines a mechanic that prevents Link from grabbing an object he is on top of using Ultrahand, which also seems rather intuitive. The patent does, however, go into details such as the mechanic also blocking Link from using Ultrahand on objects which have been joined to an object he is on top of."

Det mest intressanta av dem alla handlar dock om att Nintendo söker patent för spelets laddningsskärmar:
"[a] game processing method capable of enriching game presentation during a waiting period in which at least part of the game processing is interrupted' and consists of filling up the loading period that ensues after the user inputs their fast travel destination with a sequence in which an image of the starting point's map transitions into a map of the destination. After this sequence, the character is placed into the virtual space of the destination."

Vad tänker du om dessa patent? Ökar det konkurrensen eller fördärvar det den, tror du?