U.S. Patent No. 8,858,328: Storage medium having game program stored therein, hand-held game apparatus, game system, and game method

Issued October 14, 2014, to Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Priority Date June 2, 2010

U.S. Patent No. 8,858,328 (the '328 Patent) describes a game that uses real pictures as the basis for the puzzle. Using the Nintendo DSi, the player takes a picture that the system converts into the puzzle. The system divides the image into sections assigning each section a number. The numbers corresponded to the sections' original location. Once the system determines the starting points, it shuffles the sections. The player must rearrange the picture sections to their original position to complete the puzzle. Players can adjust the difficulty by increasing the number of sections.

An information processing section of a game apparatus executes a program including: a step of setting a puzzle area to be cut from an image taken by an outer camera; a step of setting the division number representing the number of portions into which the puzzle area is divided in accordance with a stage; a step of generating one-dimensional arrangement data representing a state in which puzzle pieces are positioned at random: a step of executing a game process by updating the one-dimensional arrangement data of the puzzle pieces which are selected based on a tilt of the game apparatus; and a step of switching, in accordance with the one-dimensional arrangement data, texture coordinate data of the puzzle pieces calculated based on a tilt of a virtual camera, and displaying an obtained image.

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a game program executed by a computer of a hand-held game apparatus including an imaging device and a display device, the game program causing the computer to perform at least: sequentially acquiring taken-image data representing a plurality of taken-images which are taken by the imaging device; image dividing, into a plurality of small areas, an image of a predetermined area in a taken-image which is one of said plurality of taken-images represented by the acquired taken-image data; positioning, in the predetermined area, the plurality of small areas into which the image of the predetermined area is divided, so as to form an image different from the taken-image which is taken by the imaging device and is one of said plurality of taken-images; retaining a positioning state in which the plurality of small areas are positioned, by using, as an initial value, an obtained positioning state; image changing for sequentially changing, by using the taken-image data having been sequentially acquired, images to be displayed on the plurality of small areas, respectively, of which the positioning state is retained; display control for causing the display device to display images changed by the image changing; changing the positioning state of the plurality of small areas, which is retained, in accordance with an operation performed by a user viewing the images displayed by the display device; determining whether or not the positioning state of the plurality of small areas, which is changed, satisfies a predetermined condition; and a game process for performing a predetermined game process in accordance with a result of a determination of whether or not the positioning state of the plurality of small areas, which is changed, satisfies a predetermined condition.