Patent ID: 7843455

Claim:
A method for providing an interactive animation environment including at least one user-controlled object, the method comprising: storing a set of predetermined animations of the user-controlled object in a storage device; after the storing, determining with a controller a position of the user-controlled object; defining with the controller a plurality of regions about said position; with the controller, detecting a user input via a user input device to move the position of the user-controlled object; associating with the controller the detected user input to move the position of the user-controlled object with a region in the direction of movement; selecting with the controller a subset of the stored animations from the storage device for the user-controlled object based on the region; and with the controller, providing an animation of the user-controlled object associated with the region using the selected subset of the stored animations for display on a monitor of the video game device, wherein the interactive animation environment further includes an active element with which the user-controlled object may interact in the region in the direction of movement, the step of providing animation comprising providing an animation of the user-controlled object and the active element and wherein the selected subset of the stored animations is dependent upon a relative height of the user-controlled object compared with the active element in the region.