Audio and animation blending

1 . A method, executed on a game platform, for providing a smooth animation transition in a game comprising:

(a) providing, during play of the game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, each event marker associated with an animation segment from a plurality of animation segments;

(b) providing a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first animation segment to be displayed on the display at a first time with respect to event timeline and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second animation segment to be displayed on the display at a second time with respect to event timeline;

(c) determining, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determining a set of animation segments to be blended together to provide a smooth transition from the first animation segment to the second animation segment; and

(e) blending among the set of animation segments based on the determination made in step (d).

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the set of animation segments to be blended comprises the first animation segment and the second animation segment and blending comprises blending at least some of the first animation segment with at least some of the second animation segment.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the set of animation segments to be blended comprises the first animation segment, a bridge animation segment, and the second animation segment, and blending comprises blending at least a some of the first animation segment with at least some of the bridge animation segment and blending at least some of the bridge animation segment with at least some of the second animation segment.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

before the first time, judging a first player's performance of the game; and

at and after the second time, judging a second player's performance of the game.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the second animation segment is determined based on a difficulty of the game.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of animation segments to be blended comprises determining if there is a bridge animation segment in a table, where the bridge animation segment is looked up based on the first animation segment and the second animation segment.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first marker and the second marker are associated with the same animation.

8 . A method, executed on a game platform, for providing smooth audio transitions in a song comprising:

(a) providing, during play of a game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, the event timeline associated with an audio track played during play of the game, the audio track comprising a first audio segment and a second audio segment;

(b) providing a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first time associated with the first audio segment and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second time with respect to the event timeline associated with the second audio segment;

(c) determining, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determining a set of audio segments to be blended to transition from the first audio segment to the second audio segment; and

(e) blending among the set of audio segments based on the determination made in step (d).

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the set of audio segments to be blended comprises the first audio segment and the second audio segment.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein blending among the first audio segment and the second audio segment comprises crossfading from at least some of the first audio segment to at least some of the second audio segment.

11 . The method of claim 8 wherein the set of audio segments to be blended comprises the first audio segment, a bridge audio segment, and the second audio segment.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein blending among the first audio segment, the bridge audio segment, and the second audio segment comprises:

crossfading from at least some of the first audio segment to at least some of the bridge audio segment; and

crossfading from at least some of the bridge audio segment to at least some of the second audio segment.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein blending among the first audio segment, the bridge audio segment, and the second audio segment comprises muting at least some of the first audio segment, playing at least some of the bridge audio segment, and muting at least some of the second audio segment.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein muting at least some of the first audio segment, playing at least some of the bridge audio segment, and muting at least some of the second audio segment comprises muting the first audio segment for its final beat, muting the second audio segment for its first two beats, and playing the bridge audio segment for three beats during the muted last beat of the first audio segment and muted first two beats of the muted second audio segment.

15 . The method of claim 9 wherein the first marker and the second marker are associated with the same audio segment.

16 . The method of claim 11 wherein the first marker and the second marker are associated with the same audio segment.

17 . The method of claim 11 wherein determining the set of audio segments to be blended comprises determining if there is a bridge audio segment in a table, where the bridge audio segment is looked up based on the first audio segment and the second audio segment.

18 . A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for providing a smooth animation transition in a game, the computer program product including instructions being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

(a) provide, during play of the game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, each event marker associated with an animation segment from a plurality of animation segments;

(b) provide a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first animation segment to be displayed on the display at a first time with respect to event timeline and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second animation segment to be displayed on the display at a second time with respect to event timeline;

(c) determine, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determine a set of animation segments to be blended together to provide a smooth transition from the first animation segment to the second animation segment; and

(e) blend among the set of animation segments based on the determination made in step (d).

19 . A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, for providing smooth audio transitions in a song, the computer program product including instructions being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

(a) provide, during play of a game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, the event timeline associated with an audio track played during play of the game, the audio track comprising a first audio segment and a second audio segment;

(b) provide a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first time associated with the first audio segment and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second time with respect to the event timeline associated with the second audio segment;

(c) determine, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determine a set of audio segments to be blended to transition from the first audio segment to the second audio segment; and

(e) blend among the set of audio segments based on the determination made in step (d).

20 . An apparatus for providing a smooth animation transition in a game, the apparatus comprising:

(a) means for providing, during play of the game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, each event marker associated with an animation segment from a plurality of animation segments;

(b) means for providing a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first animation segment to be displayed on the display at a first time with respect to event timeline and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second animation segment to be displayed on the display at a second time with respect to event timeline;

(c) means for determining, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) means for determining a set of animation segments to be blended together to provide a smooth transition from the first animation segment to the second animation segment; and

(e) means for blending among the set of animation segments based on the determination made by element (d).

21 . An apparatus for providing smooth audio transitions in a song, the apparatus comprising:

(a) means for providing, during play of a game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, the event timeline associated with an audio track played during play of the game, the audio track comprising a first audio segment and a second audio segment;

(b) means for providing a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first time associated with the first audio segment and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second time with respect to the event timeline associated with the second audio segment;

(c) means for determining, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) means for determining a set of audio segments to be blended to transition from the first audio segment to the second audio segment; and

(e) means for blending among the set of audio segments based on the determination made by element (d).

22 . A system for providing a smooth animation transition in a game, the system comprising:

a display; and

a game platform configured to:

(a) provide, during play of the game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, each event marker associated with an animation segment from a plurality of animation segments;

(b) provide a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first animation segment to be displayed on the display at a first time with respect to event timeline and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second animation segment to be displayed on the display at a second time with respect to event timeline;

(c) determine, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determine a set of animation segments to be blended together to provide a smooth transition from the first animation segment to the second animation segment; and

(e) blend, for display on the display, among the set of animation segments based on the determination made in step (d).

23 . A system for providing smooth audio transitions in a song, the system comprising:

an audio output; and

a game platform configured to:

(a) provide, during play of a game, an event timeline comprising event markers denoting points in time on the event timeline, the event timeline associated with an audio track played during play of the game, the audio track comprising a first audio segment and a second audio segment;

(b) provide a first marker on the event timeline indicating a first time associated with the first audio segment and a second marker on the event timeline indicating a second time with respect to the event timeline associated with the second audio segment;

(c) determine, during play of the game, that the second time is approaching;

(d) determine a set of audio segments to be blended to transition from the first audio segment to the second audio segment; and

(e) blend, for output through the audio output, among the set of audio segments based on the determination made in step (d).