Patent ID: 8194073

Claim:
An image generation apparatus that sets a virtual camera at a viewpoint position of a player character in a virtual three-dimensional space where at least one object, including the player character, is set and the player character moves in accordance with a user's operation of an inputter, and generates a virtual three-dimensional spatial image viewed from the virtual camera in a predefined direction of a line of sight to display the three-dimensional spatial image on a screen of a touch panel, the image generation apparatus comprising: a touch position detector that detects, with a processor and via an interface, a touched position on the screen of the touch panel per frame; a determiner that determines, with the processor, whether the touched position, detected by the touched position detector, is within a predefined region on the screen of the touch panel; a first controller that moves, by the processor, the virtual camera along the predefined direction of the line of sight in the virtual three-dimensional space when the touched position is determined to be within the predefined region by the determiner; and a second controller that rotates, by the processor, the predefined direction of the line of sight depending on the touched position in the virtual three-dimensional space when the touched position is determined to be outside the predefined region by the determiner, wherein the second controller comprises: a detector that detects, with the processor and via the interface, a distance on the screen of the touch panel from a center point of the predefined region to the touched position detected by the touch position detector; and a rotation angle controller that controls, with the processor, a rotation angle of the virtual camera depending on the distance detected by the detector.