Methods and systems for providing dynamic weather simulation in a computer gaming environment are disclosed. Weather may be user-specified, computer simulated, or based on periodic updates of real-world weather conditions. To dynamically simulate weather while conserving computer resources, a weathe
Methods and systems for providing dynamic weather simulation in a computer gaming environment are disclosed. Weather may be user-specified, computer simulated, or based on periodic updates of real-world weather conditions. To dynamically simulate weather while conserving computer resources, a weather simulation manager may periodically alter temperature and dew point values and determine whether to render or dissipate clouds based on the current temperature and dew point values. Weather may be morphed back to real-world weather as updated weather is retrieved from a database over the Internet. The weather simulation manager may simulate weather independently for each of a plurality of geographic cells, thus allowing different weather to appear in different directions during game play. Cloud dissipation may be based on increasing a transparency value of sprites located at the outer edges of each cloud, and gradually working towards the center of the cloud until the cloud has disappeared completely.
대표청구항▼
I claim: 1. A method for dynamically simulating weather in a computer game, comprising: starting a game play portion of the computer game; receiving meteorological conditions for a specified geographic area in a simulated environment of the computer game; altering cloud formations based on the rece
I claim: 1. A method for dynamically simulating weather in a computer game, comprising: starting a game play portion of the computer game; receiving meteorological conditions for a specified geographic area in a simulated environment of the computer game; altering cloud formations based on the received meteorological conditions, said altering comprising: determining whether clouds should form and, if so, rendering a layer of clouds, and determining whether clouds should dissipate and, if so, dissipating a layer of rendered clouds; and repeating the receiving and altering steps in intervals during the game play portion of the computer game, wherein said dissipating step further comprises gradually increasing a transparency level at edges of each cloud in the cloud layer, and iteratively increasing a transparency level closer to a center of each cloud as the farther out portions of the cloud fades from view due to its increased transparency level. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interval in which the receiving step is performed is different than the interval in which the altering step is performed. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving temperature data and dew point data for the specified geographic area from a database over the Internet, and wherein the altering step comprises altering cloud formations based on the received temperature data and dew point data. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer game comprises a flight simulation game. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining steps are performed separately for each cell in a geographic grid substantially centered around a current user position. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering a layer of clouds further comprises: determining a cloud coverage; and rendering clouds corresponding to the determined cloud coverage. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified geographic area corresponds to an actual physical location on Earth, and the received meteorological conditions correspond to actual meteorological conditions at the actual physical location on Earth at a contemporaneous time. 8. A computer implemented method for dissipating a rendered cloud in a virtual world simulated in a computer game, comprising: gradually increasing a transparency level at edges of the cloud; and iteratively increasing a transparency level closer to a center of the cloud as farther out portions of the cloud fade from view due to their increased transparency level. 9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the cloud is comprised of sprites, wherein gradually increasing the transparency level at edges of the cloud comprises increasing a transparency level of sprites located at the edges of the cloud, and wherein iteratively increasing the transparency level closer to the center of the cloud as the farther out portions of the cloud fade from view due to its increased transparency level comprises iteratively increasing a transparency of sprites closer to the center of the cloud as sprites located farther from the center of the cloud fade from view. 10. One or more computer readable media storing computer executable instructions for performing a method for dynamically simulating weather in a computer game, said method comprising: starting a game play portion of the computer game; receiving meteorological conditions for a specified geographic area in a simulated environment of the computer game; altering cloud formations based on the received meteorological conditions, said altering comprising: determining whether clouds should form and, if so, rendering a layer of clouds, and determining whether clouds should dissipate and, if so, dissipating a layer of rendered clouds; and repeating the receiving and altering steps in intervals during the game play portion of the computer game, wherein said dissipating step further comprises gradually increasing a transparency level at edges of each cloud in the cloud layer, and iteratively increasing a transparency level closer to a center of each cloud as the farther out portions of the cloud fades from view due to its increased transparency level. 11. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the interval in which the receiving step is performed is different than the interval in which the altering step is performed. 12. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving temperature data and dew point data for the specified geographic area from a database over the Internet, and wherein the altering step comprises altering cloud formations based on the received temperature data and dew point data. 13. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the computer game comprises a flight simulation game. 14. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the determining steps are performed separately for each cell in a geographic grid substantially centered around a current user position. 15. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein rendering a layer of clouds further comprises: determining a cloud coverage; and rendering clouds corresponding to the determined cloud coverage. 16. The computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the specified geographic area corresponds to an actual physical location on Earth, and the received meteorological conditions correspond to actual meteorological conditions at the actual physical location on Earth at a contemporaneous time.
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