Granted Patent B2

US 12,357,916 · App. 18/418,216 · Granted Jul 15, 2025

Inventor: Shuai Jiang (Shenzhen, CN)

Assignee: TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED

A63F13/63A63F13/42A63F13/533A63F13/56

Abstract

Claims (65)

1. A virtual object control method, applied to a terminal, the method comprising:

selecting one or more candidate virtual objects in a virtual environment based on position information of a first virtual object, the one or more candidate virtual objects being located in a facing-direction region of the first virtual object;

displaying one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects; and

controlling, in response to a trigger operation on a target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow a target virtual object in the virtual environment, the target virtual object being a virtual object corresponding to the target object identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects comprises:

in response to a moving operation on the first virtual object, determining an orientation of the first virtual object based on a moving direction indicated by the moving operation;

determining the facing-direction region based on a position of the first virtual object in the virtual environment and the orientation;

determining the one or more candidate virtual objects from one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining the one or more candidate virtual objects from the one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region comprises:

determining distances between the first virtual object and the one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region; and

determining k virtual objects closest to the first virtual object as the one or more candidate virtual objects, k being a positive integer.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the moving operation comprises a control operation on a virtual joystick in a virtual environment interface; and the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects comprises:

determining display orientations of the one or more candidate object identifiers relative to the virtual joystick based on a moving direction indicated by the control operation, the virtual joystick and the one or more candidate object identifiers being located on a same straight line, and a direction in which the virtual joystick points to the one or more candidate object identifiers being consistent with the moving direction;

determining display positions of the one or more candidate object identifiers at the display orientations based on distances between the first virtual object and the one or more candidate virtual objects, the distances between the first virtual object and the one or more candidate virtual objects having in a positive correlation with distances between the virtual joystick and the one or more candidate object identifiers; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers according to the display positions.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining the facing-direction region based on the position of the first virtual object in the virtual environment and the orientation comprises:

determining an orientation framing region based on the position of the first virtual object and the orientation, the orientation framing region being a rectangular region formed along the orientation, a width of the rectangular region being a preset width, the first virtual object being located at a shorter side of the rectangular region, and a length of a longer side of the rectangular region being a distance from the first virtual object to a virtual environment boundary in a direction of the orientation; and

performing a Boolean operation on the orientation framing region and a virtual environment picture, to obtain the facing-direction region, the facing-direction region being an intersection region of the orientation framing region and the virtual environment picture.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects in the virtual environment further comprises:

determining candidate camps to which the one or more candidate virtual objects belong; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers according to display manners corresponding to the candidate camps, display manners corresponding to different camps being different.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a drag operation on a virtual joystick in an interface of the virtual environment; and

the controlling, in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment comprises:

determining, when the drag operation ends, a candidate object identifier at which a drag end point of the drag operation is located as the target object identifier, and determining that the trigger operation on the target object identifier is received; and

controlling the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein before the controlling, in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment, the method further comprises:

displaying, when a drag position of the drag operation is located at the one or more candidate object identifiers, followable labels at the one or more candidate virtual objects corresponding to the drag position and/or at position identifiers of the one or more candidate virtual objects corresponding to the drag position in a map display control.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein after the controlling, in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment, the method further comprises:

displaying prompt information in the virtual joystick when the first virtual object is in an automatic following state, the prompt information indicating that the first virtual object is in the automatic following state; and

updating a display state of the virtual joystick based on a moving direction of the first virtual object, a joystick direction of the virtual joystick after the display state is updated being consistent with the moving direction.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein after the controlling, in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment, the method further comprises:

displaying, when the first virtual object is in an automatic following state, automatic following connecting lines between the first virtual object and the target virtual object and/or between the first virtual object and a position identifier of the target virtual object in a map display control.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein after the controlling, in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment, the method further comprises:

canceling automatic following of the first virtual object to the target virtual object when the target virtual object leaves a facing-direction region of the first virtual object or in response to an updated moving operation on the first virtual object.

12. A virtual object control apparatus, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one processor being configured to perform:

selecting one or more candidate virtual objects in a virtual environment based on position information of a first virtual object, the one or more candidate virtual objects being located in a facing-direction region of the first virtual object;

displaying one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects; and

controlling, in response to a trigger operation on a target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow a target virtual object in the virtual environment, the target virtual object being a virtual object corresponding to the target object identifier.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects comprises:

in response to a moving operation on the first virtual object, determining an orientation of the first virtual object based on a moving direction indicated by the moving operation;

determining the facing-direction region based on a position of the first virtual object in the virtual environment and the orientation;

determining the one or more candidate virtual objects from one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the determining the one or more candidate virtual objects from the one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region comprises:

determining distances between the first virtual object and the one or more virtual objects in the facing-direction region; and

determining k virtual objects closest to the first virtual object as the one or more candidate virtual objects, k being a positive integer.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the moving operation comprises a control operation on a virtual joystick in a virtual environment interface; and the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects comprises:

determining display orientations of the one or more candidate object identifiers relative to the virtual joystick based on a moving direction indicated by the control operation, the virtual joystick and the one or more candidate object identifiers being located on a same straight line, and a direction in which the virtual joystick points to the one or more candidate object identifiers being consistent with the moving direction;

determining display positions of the one or more candidate object identifiers at the display orientations based on distances between the first virtual object and the one or more candidate virtual objects, the distances between the first virtual object and the one or more candidate virtual objects having in a positive correlation with distances between the virtual joystick and the one or more candidate object identifiers; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers according to the display positions.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the determining the facing-direction region based on the position of the first virtual object in the virtual environment and the orientation comprises:

determining an orientation framing region based on the position of the first virtual object and the orientation, the orientation framing region being a rectangular region formed along the orientation, a width of the rectangular region being a preset width, the first virtual object being located at a shorter side of the rectangular region, and a length of a longer side of the rectangular region being a distance from the first virtual object to a virtual environment boundary in a direction of the orientation; and

performing a Boolean operation on the orientation framing region and a virtual environment picture, to obtain the facing-direction region, the facing-direction region being an intersection region of the orientation framing region and the virtual environment picture.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects in the virtual environment further comprises:

determining candidate camps to which the one or more candidate virtual objects belong; and

displaying the one or more candidate object identifiers according to display manners corresponding to the candidate camps, display manners corresponding to different camps being different.

18. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform: detecting a drag operation on a virtual joystick in an interface of the virtual environment; and

the controlling, in in response to the trigger operation on the target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment comprises:

determining, when the drag operation ends, a candidate object identifier at which a drag end point of the drag operation is located as the target object identifier, and determining that the trigger operation on the target object identifier is received; and

controlling the first virtual object to automatically follow the target virtual object in the virtual environment.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing at least one computer program, the computer program being loaded and executed by at least one processor to implement:

selecting one or more candidate virtual objects in a virtual environment based on position information of a first virtual object, the one or more candidate virtual objects being located in a facing-direction region of the first virtual object;

displaying one or more candidate object identifiers corresponding to the one or more candidate virtual objects; and

controlling, in response to a trigger operation on a target object identifier in the one or more candidate object identifiers, the first virtual object to automatically follow a target virtual object in the virtual environment, the target virtual object being a virtual object corresponding to the target object identifier.

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (35)