Patent ID: 8602888

Claim:
A video game device, comprising: at least one controller operated by a user; object storing locations for storing a position of each of a plurality of objects including at least one first object present in a 3D virtual game space; and one or more computer processors configured to perform: mask data producing for producing mask data according to a position of the first object in the virtual game space; the video game device further comprising: mask data storing locations for storing the produced mask data; the one or more computer processors further configured to perform: projection for projecting each object present in the virtual game space onto a screen plane based on a viewpoint defined in the virtual game space; game image producing for rendering each object based on a result of the projection produce a game image; and display control for displaying the produced game image on a display device, wherein: the mask data producing produces mask data such that a portion of each object, which portion is in a predetermined masked area centered around a position of the first object in a screen of the display device, is made transparent while a remaining portion of said each object, which remaining portion is outside the masked area, is displayed normally; and the game image producing does not perform a masking process when rendering the first object and performs the masking process using the mask data only when rendering a second object other than the first object present in the virtual game space, wherein the mask data producing produces mask data such that each object is made transparent in a predetermined masked area including a position of the first object in a screen of the display device while each object is displayed normally in a remaining area, with a transparency of each object being gradually varied around a boundary of the masked area, and wherein the transparency of each object takes multiple different values from the center of the first object to the boundary of the masked area.