Patent ID: 8568229

Claim:
A network game system including a server apparatus, and a plurality of terminal apparatuses connected to the server apparatus over a network, wherein each of players who respectively use the terminal apparatuses manipulates a player's own player character to participate in a game provided by the server apparatus, the server apparatus comprising: a receiver that receives character movement information transmitted from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses; a processor that determines whether a presence of a player character showing a special movement state is received by the receiver from each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses; an interface that, when the processor determines that there is the player character showing the special movement state, transmits special character information for displaying a screen basing on the player character showing the special movement state to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses; the processor that further moves the player character corresponding to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses according to the character movement information received by the receiver to progress with the game; and the interface that further transmits game progress information indicating a progress state of the game progressed by the processor to each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses, each terminal apparatus of the plurality of terminal apparatuses comprising: a receiver that receives the game progress information transmitted from the interface of the server apparatus; a graphics processor that generates the screen according to the game progress information received by the receiver of the terminal apparatus, and displays the screen on a display device equipped in the terminal apparatus; a processor that, as the player who uses the terminal apparatus performs a predetermined operation on an input device equipped in the terminal apparatus, inputs a movement instruction for moving the player's own player character; the receiver that further receives the special character information transmitted from the interface of the server apparatus; and an interface that generates movement information according to the movement instruction input from the processor, and transmits the movement information to the server apparatus to be received by the receiver of the server apparatus, the game screen display including: a normal-mode screen display that generates the screen according to the game progress information basing on the player character of the player using the terminal apparatus when the special character information is not received by the receiver of the terminal apparatus; and a special-mode screen display that generates the screen according to the game progress information basing on the player character showing the special movement state according to the special character information when the special character information is received by the receiver of the terminal apparatus.