Wagering game with episodic feature determined by player
View Patent ↗A gaming machine for playing a wagering game includes a game display and a controller. The game display is operable to display a randomly selected outcome of a wagering game in response to receiving a wager from a player. The wagering game has a game-play progression that includes a plurality of game episodes, at least one of the plurality of game episodes having a plurality of episode features. The controller is in communication with the game display and is programmable to cause, in response to a manual selection received from the player, the start of the wagering game from any previously played feature of the plurality of episode features.
1. A gaming machine for playing a wagering game, comprising:
a game display operable to display a randomly selected outcome of a wagering game in response to receiving a wager from a player, the wagering game having a game-play progression that includes a plurality of game episodes, at least one of the plurality of game episodes having a plurality of episode missions; and
a controller in communication with the game display and programmable to cause, in response to a manual selection received from the player, the start of the wagering game from any previously played mission of the plurality of episode missions.
2. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein at least one game episode of the plurality of game episodes includes a bonus episode mission.
3. The gaming machine of claim 2 , wherein the bonus episode mission is available for play after the player has linearly progressed through each episode mission of the at least one game episode.
4. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein a next one of the plurality of game episodes is available for play only after an initial one of the plurality of game episodes has been completed.
5. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein a manual selection option is displayed on the game display and is available to the player at any time during the wagering game.
6. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein a next episode of the plurality of game episodes is available for game play after the player has played a certain percentage of plurality of episode missions of the at least one of the plurality of game episodes.
7. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of episode mission has one or more game-enhancement parameters.
8. The gaming machine of claim 7 , wherein the one or more game-enhancement parameters are known to the player when the player inputs the manual selection to replay a respective episode mission of the plurality of episode missions having a favorite game-enhancement parameter of the one or more game-enhancement parameters.
9. A method of conducting a wagering game, comprising:
receiving a wager input from a player, via an input device, for playing a wagering game having a game-play progression that includes a plurality of game episodes;
selecting, by one or more controllers, at least one randomly selected outcome of a plurality of outcomes in response to the receiving step;
displaying the randomly selected outcome on a game display device;
completing, by at least one of the controllers, a game episode of the plurality of game episodes in response to completing all episode missions of the game episode; and
providing, by at least one of the controllers, the player with a manually selectable start point for playing the wagering game, the start point being selectable from any episode mission of a prior completed game episode of the plurality of game episodes.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising displaying a plurality of selectable start points on the game display device of a gaming machine.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein episode features of at least one of the plurality of game episodes include one or more bonus missions.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the selectable start point is available to the player only when the player has completed an episode mission.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plurality of episode missions has one or more game-enhancement parameters.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising displaying the one or more game-enhancement parameters to the player before the player selects the start point.
15. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for directing a gaming machine perform the method of claim 9 .
16. A method for playing a wagering game, comprising:
using at least one input device to accept a wager input;
in response to receiving the wager input, sending to one or more processors a signal indicative of a wager to play a wagering game having an episodic game-play progression;
using at least one of the processors to execute one or more game programs stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums, the execution of at least one of the game programs initiating the wagering game on a gaming machine;
using at least one of the processors to select at least one randomly selected outcome of a plurality of outcomes;
using at least one of the processors to cause at least one display device to display an initial Basegame Mission and one or more subsequent missions of a game episode;
using the input device to receive player inputs for completing the game episode by playing the one or more subsequent missions of the game episode; and
in response to completing the game episode, using at least one of the processors to provide a player selectable start point selected from any Basegame Mission of the game episode, including the initial Basegame Mission and the one or more subsequent missions.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising using the input device to receive player inputs for playing a bonus round before completing the game episode.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the processors provides the selectable gameplay start point to be selected from an initial Basegame Mission of a next episode.
19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising using at least one of the processors to cause the at least one display device to display the selectable gameplay start point, the selectable gameplay start point being available to the player at any time during a wagering session.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors includes a plurality of processors, a first one of the processors residing inside a housing of the gaming machine and a second one of the processors being located remotely from the gaming machine, the first one of the processors and the second one of the processors being in communication via a network.