If you’ve ever missed out on a location-based event in a game, Colopl Inc., the Japanese game developer known for smartphone games such as Colony Life, Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter, Neko Golf – Anime Golf-, Quiz RPG, Alice Gear Aegis, and Shironeko Project, might have a solution. The company has received a Japanese patent, Japanese Pat. No. 7,671,912, directed to a “replay control means” that can “revive” an event for a specific location.
A Google-translated version of claim 1 reads:
1. [A computing device comprising:]
a replay control means for executing control to revive a specific event associated with a specific position in real space in response to a payment by a user so as to make the specific event replayable after the specific event associated with the specific position in real space has been cleared in a game that utilizes position information indicating a user’s position in real space;
a strengthening means for strengthening the strength of an enemy character when the specific event is revived and played, compared to the strength of the enemy character in a play before the revival ;
when the specific event is revived, an object related to the revived specific event is placed at a position in the virtual space corresponding to the specific position, and the replay control means starts a replay of the specific event based on a predetermined condition related to the object being satisfied.
It’s not surprising that Colopl is exploring innovations in this space: Colopl was founded in 2008 to support its first game, Colony Life, allegedly one of the first location-based games.
