GTA 6 has patented a new locomotion system to make "highly dynamic and realistic animations"
GTA 6 has patented a new locomotion system to make "highly dynamic and realistic animations"
I hate this. Same with WB patenting the Nemesis system then not even bothering to milk it.
Time to get to work writing the alternative cola recurring enemy system I guess...
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 while 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.
Edit: Read the patent. Not only does it describe nothing novel, it doesn’t even document what they did. All it says is basically “we created animation blocks and combine them”. The details are just a bunch of bullshit jargon spew:
attributes can include conditions, properties, events, flags, graphs, values, references, and variants
Their novel discovery: They figured out nobody had patented this yet
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 (including non-patented) that are already common practice.
EDIT: Clarity
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.
understanding the law and understanding how to assess novelty in a proper way
I’ll admit I have little understanding of the legal definition of “novel”, but insofar as the intent of the patent system, the current bar is way too low for software patents. Although remedied recently, the plethora of software patents that still exist for “(Something people have done for decades) but do it on a computer” is ridiculous.
Sir you are too level headed for the internet
Software patents need to die.
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.
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.
Not shape keys, but something more akin to Unity's animation layers. This kinda stuff has been in games for a decade or so.
This has been done for decades. Anyone that respects this patent is an idiot.
Did they just patent procedural animation?
We need a video game "taco bell" to take on this stupid "taco John patented taco Tuesday slogan"
ues, euphoria was used in gta4 and Jedi unleashed
The Fromsoft locomotion is already perfect for games. People care about good games, not graphics or realism.
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.
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 think a great looking walking animation is going to move the needle as to a game's sales.
As long as GTA 6 has male strip clubs I'll be happy.
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.
And in no other games! Patents aee truely wonderful aren't they.
We will get like two games out of this before the patent expires cuz Rockstar takes 3 console gens to make 2 games.
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.
Why license endless patents if you can save money by just not doing that
Greedy ceos is a bad justification for software patents
Yeah, just like WB did with the Nemesis system, right? Oh wait.
Where can I get the crack you're smoking
Dude, maybe you do work on patents and know your shit. But boy are you clueless about the video game industry.