Windows Word Search Rampage Index

General Topics

  Creating Puzzles

  Deleting Puzzles

  Editing Puzzles

  Playing Puzzles

     Options

  Printing Puzzles

Window Screens

  Main Window

    Menu Commands

    Puzzle Selection Box

    Open Button

    Random Button

    Close Button

  Play Window

     Play Options

  Create Puzzle Window

     Topic

     Title

     Dimensions

     Words

     Diagonals

     Complexity

     Create Puzzle Button

     Random Word Generation

     Import Words


Create Puzzle Window

The Create Puzzle Window allows you to create your own puzzles.   Here you may enter a Topic, Title, List of Words, Dimensions and specify some puzzle building options such as the use of diagonal words and the complexity of the puzzle.

You may optionally build your list of words by using the Random Words Button or the Import Words Button.

Once all the information about the puzzle has been specified, you may select the Create Puzzle Button to build the puzzle.  The puzzle will be built and will be displayed along with the status of each word.  You may then elect to save the puzzle as is or to cancel and make modifications to the puzzle data.  Puzzles are generated in a random order.  Therefore, you may create the puzzle, cancel it, and then recreate it without changing any of the puzzle information and the generated puzzle will be different.


Topic

This is the general Topic of the Puzzle.  You may leave it empty, but a warning will be displayed at the time of puzzle creation.


Title

This is the Title that you desire to give the puzzle.  You may leave it blank, but a warning will be displayed at the time of puzzle creation.


Dimensions

This is where you specify the size or dimensions of the puzzle.  The maximum width is 15 characters and the maximum height is 15 characters.  Puzzle generation works from Left to Right and Top to Bottom.  Therefore, if a puzzle can be generated that does not use the total height of the puzzle as specified, the height of the puzzle will automatically be adjusted to that portion which is used.


Words

These are the words to be searched for in the puzzle.  You may enter up to 40 words of up to 15 characters each.  You may place spaces in the words (for phrases) and the word list will show the spaces, but the puzzle will not.  If no words are entered, then an error will be displayed if you try to generate the puzzle.


Diagonals

This lets you specify the relative number of diagonal words to be found in the puzzle.  You may elect to have no diagonal words in the puzzle.  Or you may specify to have less, more or an average amount of diagonal words.  Please note that the creation of the puzzle as well as the direction of words is completely random.  Therefore, it is possible (although highly unlikely) that a puzzle could end up with all diagonals even if you select the option of having "less" diagonals.  Selecting the "less" or "more" simply skews the randomness one direction or the other.  It does not eliminate it.


Complexity

The complexity controls how well all the words fit together in the puzzle.  Three levels of complexity are offered.

Level 0

A complexity level of  0 simply places the word in the first available spot in the puzzle where it will fit.

Level 1

A complexity level of 1 attempts to first place a word in the puzzle that intersects at least 1 letter of an existing word.  If this fails, then the word is placed anywhere there is space.

Level 2

A complexity level of 2 attempts to first place a word in the puzzle that intersects at least 2 letters of existing words.  If this fails, then an attempt is made to intersect at least one letter of an existing word.  And if this fails, then the word is placed anywhere there is space.

The higher the level, the tighter the puzzle will be.  Level 1 and Level 2 generated puzzles do produce quite impressive results in regards to intersected words.


Create Puzzle Button

This will generate the puzzle.  A new window appears which displays the puzzle and the list of words.  The words will be automatically sorted and the first letter of each word will be capitalized.  In front of each word will be a + (plus) or a - (minus) to indicate the status of the word.  A plus indicates that the word is in the puzzle.  A minus indicates that the word could not be put in the puzzle.  If a minus appears, the word will also be highlighted in red and will have the phrase "no room" following it.  It will be apparent that the word does not fit.

Two buttons appear on the new screen.  One is the save button and the other is the cancel button.  Press the save button and the puzzle will be saved to disk and can be retrieved later at any time.  Press the cancel button and the puzzle will not be saved.  You may want to do this if not all your words fit in the puzzle or you simply want to adjust the words, dimensions, title, etc.

If a word does not fit, you may take several actions to try to make it fit.  First press the cancel button.  Now check for the following:  Can the dimensions be increased?  Can the complexity level be adjusted upward (level 2 creates the most compact puzzles)?  If everything is maxed out then you have only 2 options left.  You can simply recreate the puzzle again and hope that all the words fit--the new random generation may produce a better fit.  The other option is to face the reality that all the words you have specified just won't fit.  You may remove some words or shorten some.


Deleting Puzzles

You may delete user generated puzzles.  Puzzles which come with the software cannot be deleted.  To delete a puzzle, you will need to highlight the desired puzzle in the puzzle list box.  Next, select File from the Menu and select the delete command.  You will be prompted to make sure that you want to delete the puzzle before deletion takes place.


Editing Puzzles

You may edit user created puzzles.  Puzzles that come with the software cannot be edited.  However, you can create similar puzzles by using many of the same words.  To edit a puzzle, you will need to highlight the desired puzzle in the puzzle list box.  Next, select File from the Menu and select the edit command.  This will take you to the same input window as the create puzzle.  However, all the puzzle information will be present--ready for you to modify.


Play Window

The play window consists of the puzzle, list of words, menu options, close button and an optional timer.

Puzzle

The puzzle appears on the left side of the screen.  You may visually scan the puzzle for words.  Once you have located a word, simply click and hold the left mouse button down on the first letter of the word.  Drag the mouse to the last letter of the word.  You will notice a line being drawn through the letters as you drag the mouse.  Once on the last letter of the word, release the left mouse button.  If you have found a word, you will know!  The word will be temporarily highlighted and a congratulatory audio clip will be heard.  The word in the puzzle will be turned to gray as to indicate that the word has been found.

List of Words

A list of words appears on the right side of the screen.  These are the words to be found in the puzzle.  As words are found, the color of the word changes as to indicate which words have been found and which ones still need to be found.

Menu Options

A list of menu options are available to allow you to print the puzzle or to select different puzzle playing options.  These options include turning the sound off or on, using a timer, using a puzzle highlight mode and using a hint mode.

Close Button

This allows you to exit the puzzle playing at any time desired.

Optional Timer

If the optional timer is active, then a timer appears on the screen that indicates how long it takes you to complete the puzzle.  You may wish to use this to see how fast you can complete puzzles or to compete against a friend or family member.


Printing Puzzles

You are given the option to print out any puzzle.  The puzzle print option can be found in the File Menu Command of the Play Window.  Selecting the print option from the menu will display a new window entitled Print Options.   Several Options are given for the printing of puzzles.  These options are listed below.  Once all the options have been selected, pressing the View/Print button will allow you to view the puzzle with all of your selected options.   You may then optionally print or abandon the puzzle.  You may also choose your printer settings at this time via the Setup option.

Options

Entire Page

This instructs the Word Search Puzzle and words to fill the entire printed page.

1/2 Page Left Side

This instructs the Word Search Puzzle and words to fill half a page.  The half of page will be on the left side of the page running top to bottom.

1/2 Page Top Side

This instructs the Word Search Puzzle and words to fill half a page.  The half of page will be the top of the page and will run form left to right.

2 Copies Side by Side

This instructs the Word Search Puzzle and words to be printed twice on the same page side by side (left and right).  The words will be under each puzzle.  This allows you to produce twice as many puzzles with the same sheet of paper.

2 Copies Up and Down

This instructs the Word Search Puzzle and words to be printed twice on the same page one right below the other.  The words will be to the right of each puzzle.  This allows you to produce twice as many puzzles with the same sheet of paper.

Lower case letters

This instructs the the letters in the Word Search Puzzle to be in lower case.

Draw Grid

This instructs the puzzle to be drawn with a grid around all the letters.  This may be helpful in giving better clarity in the lining up of letters.


Play Options

There are six different playing options that can be toggled off and on in the Options Menu Command in the Play Window plus one option to configure window colors.  They are as follows:

Sound

When a word is found, a congratulatory audio clip is heard.  Likewise, when the puzzle is completed an audio clip is heard.  If you do not wish to hear these, then you may toggle the sound off.

Timer

You may optionally have a timer displayed on the puzzle playing screen.  It shows the minutes and seconds that have elapsed since starting play.  You may want to use the timer for your own satisfaction of seeing how quick you can do a puzzle or to compete against a friend or family member.

Highlight Mode

This allows you to see which letters in the puzzle have been already used by a word.  This can be helpful in trying to spot new words as many times they will be located where the letters have not been used yet.

Hint Mode

If you are sure that a word does not exist in a puzzle, then you will want to activate the hint mode.  With hint mode on, simply double click with the left mouse button on one of the words in the word list and the word will be briefly highlighted in the puzzle.

Upper Case

You may have the puzzle displayed in upper or lower case letters by using this option.  This also affects the case of the letters when a puzzle is printed out.

Grid On

You may enable a grid that appears around each of the letters in the puzzle.  This can be helpful for knowing where you can tag letters and for seeing in diagonal directions.

Colors

You may configure the colors of the game playing window.  You may change the colors for the following elements of the screen:

1. Background -- Background color for the whole window.

2. Unfound Words -- Words that have not yet been found in the Word List.

3. Found Words -- Words which have been found in the Word List.

4. Puzzle Letters - The letters in the puzzle when in their normal state.

5. Highlight Letters -- The letters in the puzzle which are located in a word which has been found.  (only applies if the highlight mode is active).

6. Hint Mode Letters -- The letters in the puzzle which are contained in the word that the "hint" is being given for.

7. Titles -- Text titles on the window.

8. Timer -- Color used for the timer.


Main Window

The Main Window consists of a Puzzle Selection List Box, Menu Commands, and the following buttons: Open, Random and Close.  It is here that you may select a puzzle to play or go and create your own puzzle.


Puzzle Selection Box

This is where all the puzzles are listed that are available for play.  Double clicking with the left mouse button on a particular puzzle will invoke the puzzle play mode on the particular puzzle.  Other action to be taken on a puzzle (such as the open button) will take place on the puzzle which is currently highlighted in the list box.


Open Button

Pressing the open button will take you to the Play Window and allow you to play the puzzle that is currently highlighted in the puzzle selection list box.


Close Button

The close button is simply an easy access exit button.  It exits the Word Search program.


Random Button

Pressing the random button will take you to the Play Window where you can play a puzzle.  The puzzle to play will be chosen at random from all the available puzzles.


Menu Commands

There are three main menu commands available.  This are File, Options and Help.

File

The File command consists of 4 options.  They are Create, Delete, Edit and Exit.  Create allows you to create a puzzle.  Delete allows you to remove puzzles and Edit allows you to make changes to an existing puzzle.

Options

You may change the puzzle playing options from the main menu.  These same options are available on the Play Screen.

Help

This consists of two options--Contents and About.  Contents invokes the Help System and brings up the Index.  About simply displays program information.


Random Word Generation

You may optionally have the program randomly select words from a dictionary to be placed in your word search puzzle.  This is done by pressing the Random Words button.  Pressing this button brings up a new window which contains the following fields:

Number of Words

This allows you to specify the number of words you would like to place into the puzzle.  The maximum is 40 with the default of 30 showing when you enter the new window.

Minimum Word Length

This specifies the smallest word length that is to be acceptable for the list of words to be generated.

Ok Button

This opens the dictionary and randomly pulls out the number of words specified and places them in the word edit boxes of the puzzle creation window.

Cancel Button

This simply allows you to back out of the random word selection process if you decide not to use it.


Import Words

If you wish to create your word lists independently of the word search program, you may do so.  Using your favorite text editor, you may create a list of words.  When inside the create puzzle window, press the Import Words button.  This will bring up a new window with the following features.

Open File Button

This brings up the common file dialog that will allow you to select your text file that contains the words you have already created.  Simply select the file, and the words are loading into a list box.

List Box

This displays all of the words which have been loaded in from the text file.  Clicking on a word will select it to be used in the puzzle.  Clicking on the word a second time will deselect the word.

Select All Button

This chooses all words in the list to be selected.  If your text file contains the exact words you want to appear in the puzzle, then you should use this button to choose them all.

Clear Button

This deselects all the words in the list box.  Use this button if you wish to start over in choosing the words you wish to use.

Ok Button

This takes all the selected words in the list box and places them in the word edit boxes of the puzzle creation window.

Cancel Button

This simply allows you to back out of the import word process if you decide not to use it.


Support

Support

Insight Software Solutions offers a three month period during which any reported major problems with the software will be updated for free.  If a major problem cannot be resolved, then a refund of money will be made.  Support is offered throught the following channels:

Mail:

       Insight Software Solutions

       P.O. Box 354

       Bountiful, UT  84011-0354

Phone:  801 295-1890

Fax:  801 299-1781

CIS:  [71672,3464]  (Compuserve)

BBS: 801 963-8721  (Rocky Mountain Software BBS)

Note: CIS & BBS are usually monitored daily.