I hate this. Same with WB patenting the Nemesis system then not even bothering to milk it.
GTA 6 has patented a new locomotion system to make "highly dynamic and realistic animations"
Submitted 11 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to games@lemmy.world
Comments
GreenMario@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Grass@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Time to get to work writing the alternative cola recurring enemy system I guess…
MooseBoys@lemmy.world 11 months ago
They’ve built a library of small building blocks for character movements. These blocks can be combined in various ways to create a wide range of animations. … Instead of designing separate animations for each of these situations, they use these building blocks to put together the character’s movements naturally.
This sounds like shape keys, which is a technique already widely used in games and animation today. When you get shot in Battlefield, your character model plays a “getting shot” animation. When your character runs, it plays a “running” animation. When your character gets shot by running, these two animations are combined - it’s not a separate “shot while running” animation.
Would love to know if there’s actually some novel aspect to this “invention” but it seems more likely that this is yet another bullshit patent approved by a clueless clerk who did zero searches for prior art.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Their novel discovery: They figured out nobody had patented this yet
PrefersAwkward@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I think this would make it tough to enforce the patent if it’s actually commonly used. If I were somehow granted a patent on tap dancing, its common usage by others before me would probably cause my patent to be invalidated if I then tried to sue a tap dancer.
Not a patent lawyer, but IIRC, US patent law had some protections for things that are already common practice.
Mchugho@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Novelty is assessed against all publicly disclosed prior art, not just the stuff that has been patented.
If I publish content on a webpage that could be used as prior art later on assessing novelty
Mchugho@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I work in patents. If it wasn’t novel it wouldn’t be granted, believe me.
My experience with clients has led me to never trust lay people’s judgements on what is or is not novel.
Feel free to actually read the examiner’s comments in this patent application for an actually full understanding of he process
HerrLewakaas@feddit.de 11 months ago
Sir you are too level headed for the internet
MooseBoys@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I work in patents. If it wasn’t novel it wouldn’t be granted, believe me.
I work in computer graphics software. My former employer preferred that engineers liberally apply for “defensive” patents because of how often people would get a patent for something we already did and then try to sue us for it. Plus we got a small cash bonus when our patents were approved. Through this process, I was granted six patents for my work there. It would be unwise to put something to text that could be used as evidence to invalidate the patents, so I’ll just say that my opinion on how low the bar is to getting software patents approved is definitely well-informed.
ouch@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Software patents need to die.
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It sounds more like they’re using more fundamental movements than what you’re describing, not running animation+shot animation but more like:
Both reloading a particular weapon and mantling over a walk require you to lift your arms, so the root movement of lifting your arm to reload an LMG is the same one used to grab a ledge overhead, etc.
Basically they’re just categorizing movements based on use case and direction so they can string those individual movements into different and unique patterns for individual actions.
Pressing an elevator button uses the same arm movement as opening a door, which uses the same wrist rotation movement as turning the key in a car, etc. So they just break down individual movements in the same way an LLM breaks down a voice into phonetics to string new words together.
MooseBoys@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s definitely possible they’re doing something novel internally, but the details that would support that interpretation are missing from the filing. One of the requirements for patents is that it “sufficient disclosure of the invention so that it can be reproduced by others”. I would say I qualify as an expert in the domain covered, and I have no idea what they’re actually doing based on the patent alone.
DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Not shape keys, but something more akin to Unity’s animation layers. This kinda stuff has been in games for a decade or so.
ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
This has been done for decades. Anyone that respect this patent is an idiot.
WarmSoda@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Meanwhile at Bethesda:
Hey look, I figured out how to animate them too look at you!superduperenigma@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The modders will figure that part out.
Cosmicomical@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Did they just patent procedural animation?
Tronn4@lemmy.world 11 months ago
We need a video game “taco bell” to take on this stupid “taco John patented taco Tuesday slogan”
lloram239@feddit.de 11 months ago
adrian783@lemmy.world 11 months ago
ues, euphoria was used in gta4 and Jedi unleashed
MJKee9@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The Fromsoft locomotion is already perfect for games. People care about good games, not graphics or realism.
Psythik@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I don’t know how old you are, but I feel like younger people say this more often than older people.
As someone who saw the transition from 8-bit in their childhood, all the way to today, graphics were everything in the 80s all the way until at least the 2000s. Each new generation was leaps and bounds better than the last; I remember the discussions in the playground being centered around graphics every time a new console was announced.
Nowadays we have incremental updates at best, so now people care less and less about graphics like they used to. Not me, though. I’m still a graphics slut and an absolute whore for path traced games. I’ll play a game I don’t enjoy if it has the latest in graphics tech.
Jwmartin0988@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’m old and hold the opposite opinion. Those first few generational leaps were amazing. But I feel like we’ve long reached the point that almost any experience can be conveyed with impact.
I enjoy the new bells and whistles. But these incremental upgrades come coupled with skyrocketing costs, longer development times, and fewer risks. Indie gaming is still innovating of course, but I miss when AAA studios were churning out risky, unique titles.
MJKee9@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I’m likely older than you.
echodot@feddit.uk 11 months ago
Yeah but Rockstar won’t using that they were using just standard animations so it’s fine that they’ve come up with around animation system cuz they use their own engine.
MJKee9@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I understand their reasoning… My point is why patent a locomotion style when no one gives a shit if the game is shit. I don’t a great looking walking animation is going to move there needle as to a game’s sales.
Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 months ago
As long as GTA 6 has male strip clubs I’ll be happy.
lorez@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Who cares? Give me great game mechanics. It will be the dated missions with you being always an inch from failure in an open world. Give me another Zelda pls. Or better yet (since I haven’t played it) Horizon Forbidden West.
echo64@lemmy.world 11 months ago
And in no other games! Patents aee truely wonderful aren’t they.
GreenMario@lemm.ee 11 months ago
We will get like two games out of this before the patent expires cuz Rockstar takes 3 console gens to make 2 games.
echodot@feddit.uk 11 months ago
They made GTA V then GTA V again then GTA V again then GTA V for VR, that’s loads of games.
Rockstar have just innovated by releasing exactly the same game every single generation.
BaroqueInMind@kbin.social 11 months ago
Or you, a gigantic multi million dollar corporation could afford to, you know, pay to license that shit for your own game.
echo64@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Why license endless patents if you can save money by just not doing that
Greedy ceos is a bad justification for software patents
Mchugho@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Patents genuinely are wonderful. The rockstar devs are going to be rewarded for their innovation.
quams69@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Where can I get the crack you’re smoking
Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
Yeah, just like WB did with the Nemesis system, right? Oh wait.
dustyData@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Dude, maybe you do work on patents and know your shit. But boy are you clueless about the video game industry.