Patent: Videographer Mode in Online Games
US Patent Number: US11638872B
WHAT IS IT?
Videographer Mode is a synchronous, asymmetrical experience; a mobile-device-based companion mode for video games. It enables a second player (“Videographer”) to join a gameplay session to film a subject or character controlled by a friend (“Primary Player”) in real time using their mobile device as a simulated, hybrid orbit/drone camera.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Videographer Mode places the Videographer in control of an in-game camera that always places its subject in its field of view, by orbiting (360 degree movement with the camera “lens” always facing the subject) and following the subject (analogous to a drone camera). It mimics real-world filming, as though the Videographer and its subject were in the real world, but also freed from some of the restrictions of the physical world.
Using touchscreen UI and device-native gyroscopic controls, the Videographer has the ability to move the in-game camera while the Primary Player concurrently plays the game on their preferred device (ie. Console).
In this way, the Primary Player engages with the game in a typical manner while the Videographer documents the actions of the former directly on their mobile device. The Videographer is virtually alongside the Primary Player but in reality can engage and document action from anywhere.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Using a mobile device, the Videographer has the following camera techniques available to them:
● tilt up and down, using their device’s gyroscopic control;
● pan left and right, using their device’s gyroscopic control;
● orbit around the subject, in 360 degrees, via on-screen UI;
● dolly closer or farther away, via on-screen UI.
