Patent ID: 9669310
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: A63F

Claim:
1. A method of assisting a first player of a videogame on a first device, comprising the steps of: making a game state of the first player accessible to a second device of a second player, the game state describing a state of the videogame as played by the first player on the first device, in which making the game state of the first player accessible to the second player comprises providing an especially formatted save game to the second device of the second player; executing, by one or more processors of the second device, the videogame for the second player in accordance with the especially formatted save game, using the game state of the first player to define an initial state of the videogame for the second player, the initial state corresponding to a save point of the game state of the first player, the especially formatted save game including an indicator identifying to the second device that the especially formatted save game is not a conventional save game and does not relate to progress of the second player though the videogame, the especially formatted save game further including data associating the especially formatted save game with the first player; allowing the second player to play the videogame on the second device on behalf of the first player in a game assist mode as if the second player is the first player, based upon the save point of the game state of the first player, until a first predetermined criterion is met; and providing, to a communication unit of the first device of the first player, data for updating the game state of the first player in response to the play of the second player on the second device and in accordance with the data associating the especially formatted save game with the first player.