Patent ID: 8172678

Claim:
An image processing method for executing game image processing using an image processing device, the image processing device including a CPU for executing game application software stored in a memory, and a user information input device, wherein the CPU sets, based on the game application software and information input from a user, a user-operated model operated by the user and an opponent model that is an opponent of the user-operated model, the user-operated model and the opponent model facing each other in virtual space created by the game application software, controls the user-operated model so that it moves in prescribed directions in the virtual space, and displays, in a display device, an image of the virtual space viewed from a virtual viewpoint, the method comprising: a first step of determining, if a level of the user-operated model differs from a position of the opponent model, under the control of the CPU, whether or not a coordinate of the user-operated model needs to be corrected; a second step of determining, under the control of the CPU, whether contact has occurred between the opponent and a ground in the virtual space; a third step of calculating, if the level difference exists in the first step and the contact has occurred in the second step, under the control of the CPU, the level difference between the user-operated model and the opponent model based on elevation of the ground on which the user-operated model and the opponent model stand in the virtual space; and a fourth step of conducting, under the control of the CPU, a calculation for compensating, based on the level difference between the user-operated model and the opponent model, a coordinate of movement of the user-operated model in the virtual space predetermined based on an assumption that no level difference exists between the user-operated model and the opponent model.