Randy's Games on Paper 4 Kids (C) Copyright 1994 by John Randy Feeney 10731 Haledon Ave. Downey, Calif 90241 Introduction Hi, I'm John Randy Feeney a software engineer. My friends call me Randy. I have created a series of games that I believe are lots of fun for kids. Some of the games can be educational or develop good mental skills. They can be used at home or in school. Most of the ideas are drawn from my own childhood. Some of my fondest memories were with friends and a small scrap of paper (this was before high tech, Nintendo, Sega, etc..). For example football, paper airplanes thrown from a high location, or paper boats in the storm channel on a rainy day. When young kids have their imagination sparked, anything can become a valued toy. When I was laid off, I decided to try and create my own source of income by developing a new program. I decided to design a program that would create all those "Paper and Pencil" games I loved as a child. During this time I talked with colleagues to find the best way to release my software. I explained the idea to established software houses, they had some interest but no takers. The popular consensus was, I needed a market study. Since I do not have the resources for a formal study, I am releasing a small version of some of the games that will appear in the final version. This is where I need your help. There are two small activities that I need you to perform. The first is some sort of feedback. This comes from printing the questionnaire (see Registration) and answering the questions and mailing it in. The constructive feedback can help me create a better program. I can also use it as a crude marketing study to show to prospective distribution companies. The second item is registration. This gives me some financial help and shows me your committed interest in this program. Because of this, I will also give one upgrade (the version of your choice, see Upgrades). And I will also use this group of registered users to draw names for sending evaluation versions for more comments. As an added extra, a colleague and I are designing a new program and we will draw from this group of registered users to test our new ideas. Actively supporting shareware can empower you to affect the software market in three ways. By your support of Shareware, it gives Software Authors like myself an arena to correctly identify what is needed in the marketplace. And when we start out on a wing and a prayer, this is a low cost alternative to the bigger company's marketing analysis. It also gives you, the consumer, a more active role in saying what should be on the market. If you register the action and violence games, then that is what will be on the shelves. If you always say, "they should make something like...", then you can support it here. It also gives you more direct contact with the developers. I will personally read all of the questionnaires that you return to me; I have to, my success depends on it. Your constructive comments will be sorted on order of their merit and evaluated as time permits. These ideas can then be used to make a better product. A large company can afford to disregard the comments of most users in favor of a market study. If the trend shows a certain type of software as the most popular, then the market becomes saturated with that type of programming. Small guys like myself are looking for areas where we do not have to compete with the big guys. So take an active role in shareware and keep it alive. To help support my project, please register. If you cannot afford to do this, a least fill out the questionnaire and send it in. I may take the ones with the most constructive ideas and make them eligible for evaluation copies of this and future work. Thank you very much for your time. Have Fun! Randy Randy's Games on paper 4 Kids Welcome to Randy's Games. To start the program type "Games ". This command will start the program and bring up the main game selection window. Any of the desired games can be accessed here. Each window also has a "Help" function on the menu and context sensitive help from the key. The games created by this program are designed for children ages 5..?, although some children may be ready at an earlier age. And some adults still love to play these kinds of games. Hopefully you and your kids will have as much fun with this program as I did writing it. To Choose a game, just click on an icon with a picture of the game you wish to create. This action will bring up the window for those game parameters. Note: It is important to select your printer driver from the printer selection in the main window menu. You can Save the printer selection defaults with the menu option. If your printer is not listed try and find a compatible one. If none of this works, see Upgrades. Use the mouse to select an item from the main menu or hold the key and press the first letter of the menu item. Pressing at any time will display a general help screen and pressing will display context sensitive help (if available). To exit at any time press . The Maze Module This module is designed to create mazes of varying degrees of difficulty. The maze algorithm is a function of steps in random directions. The parameters that affect the difficulty of the maze generated are: 1. Grid Size - The Grid width and height specify an integer for the numbers of steps across or down(respectively). The maze algorithm creates steps in random directions inside of the maze grid. 2. Max Backtracking - This integer specifies the maximum number of steps that may be taken on any given trail before randomly starting or continuing another trail. Any one of these trails may lead to the finish. Setting this to a small number will make the puzzle easier. Setting this number to a large number can sometimes allow the algorithm to create one long trail to the finish. If the Grid Sizes are small and the Max Backtracking large, the algorithm can create puzzles of this type. The Print parameters affect the position of the game on the page and the size of the puzzle. The Print Size width and height parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 Inch, see Dimension Codes). These parameters affect the actual printed size of the puzzle. If the Print width is set to "3 in" and Print height is set to "4 in" the puzzle will print three inches wide and 4 inches high regardless of Grid Size. The Print Position left and top parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 inch, see Dimension Codes). These parameters affect the actual position of the printed puzzle. If the Print Left is set to "3 cm" and Print Top is set to "5 cm" the puzzle will print three centimeters from the left margin and five centimeters from the top margin. The Word Search Module This module is designed to create letter arrays with a random appearance. Inside this array are words positioned horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Along with these random directions the words can also be in reverse, if allowed. The words are supplied by the user in the Words List. The parameters that affect the printed Word Search array are: 1. Array Size - the width and height parameters are specified as integers. They define the maximum number of letters wide and letters high for the puzzle array. 2. Horizontal and Vertical leading - The Horizontal and Vertical parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 inch, see Dimension Codes). The leading is the amount of space to place between array characters. Horizontal leading is the amount of space between characters on a line. Vertical leading is the amount of space between character lines. Not all printers can handle small increments and this program will round off to the nearest space size. 3. Forward Only and Allow Reverse - These radio buttons let the user tell the algorithm if words should be randomly reversed. The dot inside the circle shows the selected option. The Tab Length parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 inch, see Dimension Codes). This parameter specifies the length between tab stops. The Tab Stops are used when printing the Word List. The Print Position left and top parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 inch, see Dimension Codes). These parameters affect the actual position of the printed puzzle. If the Print Left is set to "3 cm" and Print Top is set to "5 cm" the puzzle will print three centimeters from the left margin and five centimeters from the top margin. The Notes are supplied by the user and are printed on the puzzle sheet. The Word List is supplied by the user. The words supplied in this list are used in the puzzle array and printed in columns at the bottom of the puzzle sheet. A word is defined by the puzzle as any group of non-space characters separated by spaces. The Cross Word Module This module is designed to create Cross Word puzzles based on the - pairs input by the user (see Word & Description below). The algorithm tries many of the word crossing combinations, depending on the Cluster Size. The parameters that affect the puzzle and solution are: 1. Max Width and Height - These parameters define the maximum Grid size for the Cross Word puzzle. The actual Cross Word puzzle can be smaller, depending on the finished puzzle. The printing algorithm finds the limits of the puzzle and uses these as the actual Width and Height. 2. Cluster Size - This parameter defines the number of words to use when trying to find the optimal word crossing configuration. If this parameter is equal to the number of words in the puzzle, then the solution will be the optimal configuration for that list of words. Setting the parameter equal to the number of words will also take longer to search for a solution. This is a time saving feature that allows the user to trade an optimal solution for speed. 3. - - This is a list of words and corresponding descriptions. The format for each is "-", where is the word in the puzzle and is the hint or description of the word that is printed below the puzzle. The Ink Saver and Ink Fill mode selectors are to let the user select how the puzzle will be printed. In Ink Saver mode, just the letter boxes and Down and Across numbering is printed. In the Ink Fill mode all of the unused letter boxes in the puzzle Grid are filled and the puzzle has the traditional square shape. The Print Size width and height parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 Inch, see Dimension Codes). These parameters affect the actual printed size of the puzzle. If the Print width is set to "3 in" and Print height is set to "4 in" the puzzle will print three inches wide and 4 inches high regardless of Grid Size. The Print Position left and top parameters are units of measure combined with dimension codes (eg. "1 in" is 1 inch, see Dimension Codes). These parameters affect the actual position of the printed puzzle. If the Print Left is set to "3 cm" and Print Top is set to "5 cm" the puzzle will print three centimeters from the left margin and five centimeters from the top margin. Keyboard movement The following movement is defined for the keyboard: Begin field Copy Cut Delete character Delete line Delete prev char Delete temp window Delete window or Delete word End field End line Exit , , or Left word or Mark Maximize or Menu control or Minimize or Move window Next field , , or Next window Paste Previous field , , or Refresh Restore size Right word or Select Size window System button or Toggle Mouse movement The following movement is defined for the mouse: Choose Copy Cut Mark Paste Select Dimension Codes Dimension Codes are used to define a unit of measurement. The form used is " " where is any real number(eg. 1, 1.2, 1.0, etc..) and is any code found on the left side of the table below. Code Function ==== ======== cc Cicero (1 cc = 12 dd) dd Didot point (1157 dd = 1238 pt) mm Millimeter (10 mm = 1 cm) cm Centimeter(2.45 cm = 1 in) bp Big Point (72 bp = 1 in) in Inch (1 in = 72.27 pt) pc Pica (1 pc = 12 pt) pt Point Examples: "2.45 cm" is 2.45 Centimeters also equal to 1 inch. "6.0225 pc" is 6.0225 Pica also approx 1 inch. Upgrades The Initial release of "Randy's Games on Paper 4 kids" is shareware version (1.0). This version contains the games described above (Maze, Word Search, Cross Words). This Version includes printer drivers for a few of the most popular printers. Printer drivers for other printers not on the list can be obtained with your upgrade or a specific one at the time of your registration. The finished version (4.0) to be released in stores will contain approximately 30 modules (more are on the drawing board). These Modules will cover Spelling (eg. Word Search, Cross Words), Math, Art, and Miscellaneous games (eg. the Maze Module). The test Versions will be created in three distinct phases. The first phase will be Version 2.0. In Version 2.0 we will add three Miscellaneous, four Spelling, two Art, and one Math module to the existing modules in Version 1.0. The second phase (Version 3.0) will add Six Art modules to the existing modules in Version 2.0. The third phase (Version 4.0) will add three Spelling, one Math (we are designing more), and three miscellaneous modules to the existing modules in Version 3.0. During the total development phase the existing modules will have enhancements added. For example, the option to use pictures in place of words. A librarian has also been developed and is in the final testing phases. While most of the game creation algorithms make use of a randomizing function, the librarian will give users the option of saving game parameters. We will be testing these and other enhancements on Versions after 2.0. Registration I am working hard to provide a good product for a fair price. All of the future modules of this product will of equal or greater value. This is my promise to all who register. For your convenience, the order form below appears by itself in the REGISTER.FRM file. When you select the upgrade version you want, you will receive that version when it becomes available. Or you will receive the most recent version, which ever is the most current. The system questions are so that we may determine what systems future upgrades and other products should run on. The Printer is very important so that we can determine what printers are the most important to support. Due to space limits, only an short list of printers are sent with the shareware version. The full list of printers are sent with your upgrade. The registration fee is only $15 U.S. (U.S. FUNDS ONLY OR CHECK DRAWN ON U.S. BANK). Register with: $15 (U.S.)Registration Fee included < > John Randy Feeney 10731 Haledon Ave. Downey, Calif 90241 Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________ City: ______________________ State: _____________ Zip:________ Country: ___________________ Phone: ___________________________ ================================================================ Hardware CPU type < >8086 < >80286 < >80386 < >80486 < >Pentium Clock Speed _____Mhz < >Math co-Processor Display type < >CGA < >EGA < >VGA < >Super VGA Extended Memory ________________MB Hard Disk Storage ______________MB % of unused disk__________MB Sound Card ______________ CD-ROM _________________ < >Mouse Printer ___________________ Printer compatibility _______________ ================================================================ Operating System < > MS-DOS Ver ____ < > O/S 2 < > other _____________________ ================================================================ Extras < > MS-Windows < > Himem.sys < > other Memory Mgr. ________ < > MS-WindowsNT < > Disk cache __________ ================================================================ How much disk storage would be acceptable to dedicate for the described product (Version 4.0)? We are asking for approx 6MB. _______________ MB ==========================================[ check one only ]==== Version 2.0 < > 3.0 < > 4.0 < > Pre Release Beta copy (on-line manual only) < > ================================================================ Comments :