Multi-game context for episodic gaming
View Patent ↗This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods for managing multi-game contexts. An apparatus comprises a wagering game unit operable to present a wagering game upon which monetary value can be wagered; and a game context management unit operable to determine a list of installed wagering games on a wagering game machine and to determine one or more relevant rules, wherein a relevant rule is a one that is related to at least one of the installed wagering games, the game context management unit further operable to process each relevant rule to calculate a group of available games; and to present the available games on a primary display.
1. A gaming system configured to present a list of available episodic wagering games of a plurality of episodic wagering games, each episodic wagering game of the plurality comprising at least two logically linked game-play units, wherein successful completion of one of the game-play units is necessary, in accordance with game logic of the respective episodic wagering game, for a player to advance to one or more remaining game-play units of the logically linked game-play units, the gaming system comprising:
a wagering game device configured to present, via one or more display devices, a wagering game to a player;
a game context manager including one or more processors and at least one memory device, the memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the game context manager to operate with the wagering game device and the one or more display devices to:
identify a current player advancement level based on previous game-play of the player in one or more of the game-play units of at least one episodic wagering game of the plurality;
determine a first subset of episodic wagering games of the plurality that can be played on the wagering game device;
determine one or more context rules based on a comparison of respective game-play units of the first subset of episodic wagering games and the current player advancement level of the player;
calculate, by processing the one or more context rules, a second subset of games that are available to the player, the second subset being selected from the first subset; and
display the second subset of available games to the player for selection.
2. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more context rules requires that the game-play units are accessed in accordance with a pre-determined linear progression.
3. The gaming system of claim 2 , wherein the pre-determined linear progression is ordered according to increasing difficulty of the game-play units.
4. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein each game-play unit of the episodic wagering games of the plurality has a serial number corresponding to a comparable advancement level, and wherein processing the one or more context rules includes comparing the serial numbers of the game-play units included in the first subset with the current player advancement level.
5. The gaming system of claim 4 , wherein the second subset includes one or more episodic wagering games in which the game-play units have serial numbers equal to or less than the current player advancement level.
6. The gaming system of claim 4 , wherein the second subset includes one or more episodic wagering games in which the game-play units have serial numbers equal to or less than the current player advancement level plus one higher level.
7. The gaming system of claim 1 , wherein the current player advancement level is based on game-play units the player has attempted to complete as well as on completed game-play units.
8. The gaming system of claim 1 , the instructions further causing the one or more processors to determine an additional context rule based on at least one of a designated period of game availability, a player credit balance, a game-play history, a wager amount, and a player member status.
9. The gaming system of claim 1 , the instructions further causing the gaming context manager to calculate the second subset of game in accordance with a default game context in the absence of sufficient information to determine the one or more context rules.
10. A gaming system operating across a communications network and configured to present a list of available episodic wagering games of a plurality of episodic wagering games, each episodic wagering game of the plurality comprising at least two logically linked game-play units, wherein successful completion of one of the game-play units is necessary, in accordance with game logic of the respective episodic wagering game, for a player to advance to one or more remaining game-play units of the logically linked game-play units, the gaming system comprising:
a wagering game device communicably connected to the network and configured to present, via one or more display devices, a wagering game to a player;
a game context manager residing on a game server on the network, the game context manager including one or more processors and at least one memory device, the memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the game context manager to operate with the wagering game device and the one or more display devices to:
identify a current player advancement level based on previous game-play of the player in one or more of the game-play units of at least one episodic wagering game of the plurality;
determine a first subset of episodic wagering games of the plurality that can be played on the wagering game device;
determine one or more context rules based on a comparison of the respective game-play units of the first subset of episodic wagering games and the current player advancement level of the player;
calculate, by processing the one or more context rules, a second subset of games that are available to the player, the second subset being selected from the first subset; and
display the second subset of available games to the player for selection.
11. The gaming system of claim 9 , wherein, in response to the player selection from the second subset, one or more games of the second subset are downloaded to the wagering game device from the game server.
12. The gaming system of claim 9 , wherein the game server stores at least one of the plurality of episodic wagering games and one or more context rules corresponding to the games of the plurality of episodic wagering games.
13. A computer-implemented method of calculating a subset of a plurality of episodic wagering games available for selection by a player, each episodic wagering game of the plurality comprising at least two logically linked game-play units, wherein successful completion of one of the game-play units is necessary, in accordance with game logic of the respective episodic wagering game, for the player to advance to one or more remaining game-play units of the logically linked game-play units, the method comprising:
identifying, via a game context manager including one or more processors, a current player advancement level based on previous game-play of the player in one or more of the game-play units of at least one episodic wagering game of the plurality;
determining, via the game context manager in conjunction with a wagering game device, a first subset of episodic wagering games of the plurality that can be played on the wagering game device;
determining, via the game context manager, one or more context rules based on a comparison of respective game-play units of the first subset of episodic wagering games and the current player advancement level of the player;
calculate, via the game context manager processing the one or more context rules, a second subset of games available to the player, the second subset being selected from the first subset; and
display, via the wagering game device and one or more display devices, the second subset of available games to the player for selection.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein one of the one or more context rules requires that the game-play units are accessed in accordance with a pre-determined linear progression.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the pre-determined linear progression is ordered according to increasing difficulty of the game-play units.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein each game-play unit of the episodic wagering games of the plurality has a serial number corresponding to a comparable advancement level, and wherein processing the one or more context rules includes comparing the serial numbers of the game-play units included in the first subset with the current player advancement level.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second subset includes one or more episodic wagering games in which the game-play units have serial numbers equal to or less than the current player advancement level plus one higher level.
18. A computer-readable, non-transitory medium storing instructions for calculating a subset of a plurality of episodic wagering games available for selection by a player having a current advancement level of successful completion in an episodic wagering game, each episodic wagering game of the plurality comprising at least two logically linked game-play units, wherein successful completion of one of the game-play units is necessary, in accordance with game logic of the respective episodic wagering game, for a player to advance to one or more remaining game-play units of the logically linked game-play units, the stored instructions, when executed by a gaming system including a game context manager and a wagering game device, causing the gaming system to perform the method comprising:
identifying, via the game context manager including one or more processors, a current player advancement level based on previous game-play of the player in one or more of the game-play units of at least one episodic wagering game of the plurality;
determining, via the game context manager in conjunction with the wagering game device, a first subset of episodic wagering games of the plurality that can be played on the wagering game device;
determining, via the game context manager, one or more context rules based on a comparison of the respective game-play units of the first subset of episodic wagering games and the current player advancement level of the player;
calculate, via the game context manager processing the one or more context rules, a second subset of games available to the player, the second subset being selected from the first subset; and
display, via the wagering game device and one or more display devices, the second subset of available games to the player for selection.
19. The medium of claim 18 , wherein the medium resides on a game server connected to a communication network.
20. The medium of claim 18 , wherein each game-play unit of the episodic wagering games of the plurality has a serial number corresponding to a comparable advancement level, and wherein processing the one or more context rules includes comparing the serial numbers of the game-play units included in the first subset with the current player advancement level.
21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second subset includes one or more episodic wagering games in which the game-play units have serial numbers equal to or less than the current player advancement level plus one higher level.