============================================================================ CNet Searcher (Word Search) Game, v1.20 by Dotoran of Frontiers BBS! ============================================================================ Hello, and welcome to yet another little game by me(now over 30 games!) To Install: ~~~~~~~~~~~ Copy the included "CNetSearcher/" directory somewhere on your system. It doesn't matter WHERE you store this directory, so long as you keep ALL files found WITHIN this directory inside the "CNetSearcher/" directory. This file was written and tested under CNet Amiga, v4.22, however it should ALSO function perfectly using the 3.05c versions too! You should now add the "CNetSearcher/Searcher" program as an ARexx Door file. You can opt to use the "AL" command to add it to one of your list areas, or you can opt to add it as a command in CNet's BBSMENU file. To do this, add the following line to the end of Menu # 2, the Available Everywhere menu: WS, WordSearch | {#0CNetSearcher/Searcher} NOTE: Where "" is the location you copied the "CNetSearcher/" directory to. That's It! To Play the Game! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is another one of those fairly self explanatory games, where the available keys will be shown to you at the start of the game. Each puzzle has the ability of maintaining a "champs" file, which will list the last 15 players who successfully COMPLETED the puzzle. The data found in these files is formatted this way: handle (?? wide ?? tall ?? dirs) in ?? hrs, ?? mins, ?? secs. The only piece of info here that might need further explanation is the "dirs" value. This reflects the total number of directions that COULD have been used to hide words, however it does NOT necessarily mean that ALL these directions were used. Generally, the more directions the program can choose to hide words from, the harder the game. When a user opts to QUIT the game, they'll be asked if they wish to SAVE the game, so that they can choose to CONTINUE the game at a future date and time. If a user CONTINUES a saved game, then SOLVES the game, the saved game file will be deleted from the disk. A file "_searcher" will be created in the user's mail directory which stores this saved game data. Known Bugs / Quirks? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new "SAVE GAME" feature does not take into consideration the length of time it took the user to SOLVE the puzzle. Because of this, a check is made to insure the user solved the puzzle in one sitting before being added to the CHAMPS file. I had considered saving the "elapsed time so far" to the saved game data file, but then considered the fact that the user could get a hard copy of the screen, save the game, find all the words, then resume the game only to blitzingly fast find all the words, so I opted to NOT allow this to happen. If a user opts to quit the game before completing the entire word list, they'll simply exit the game. NO ENTRY will be made to the "champs" file. In the future... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometime in the future, I'd like to do the following: - I'd also like to incorporate some form of POINT SCORE, based on WHICH directions were used, how many directions were used, whether HINTS were used, which ones, and how often, etc. This POINT SCORE would then appear in the Champs File(s) along with the other data. - Perhaps the ability to let the USER enter a list of words personally, to which the program would generate a puzzle from. - To enhance the above, also have the ability to create the puzzle in a "file format" (complete with answer key) that the user could then download at their leisure. - Using the same puzzle coding, have it opt to create a word grid puzzle, instead of a word search puzzle, where it would hide the words, then show you markers where letters of words are found and it would be up to the user to figure out which words went where, etc. And from you... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you find any fault with this program, or have an idea NOT listed above that you'd like to see implemented, please send them to me whenever you get the chance. Creating Your Own Puzzles... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To create additional puzzles for use with Searcher, follow these steps: 1. Load the "!Puzzles" file, located inside the "CNetSearcher/Puzzles/" directory into a text editor. To the BOTTOM of the list, add your entry. The line should START with the next numeric value, followed by a space, then up to 30 characters for use as a TITLE for this puzzle. SAVE this file, then proceed. 2. Using the same NUMBER you STARTED your line with above, create a text file(also located INSIDE the Puzzles/ directory) called "Puz#", where the # is the number you started with. This file should contain the word list you'd like to use, one word per line, each word appearing ALL IN UPPERCASE LETTERS. You should have NO BLANK LINES anywhere in this file. Save this file and you're done. 3. The next time you use Searcher, you'll see your word list appearing on the initial listing. In time, you'll see a "Puz#.champs" file created for your puzzle too, as soon as someone COMPLETES the puzzle for the first time. ============================================================================ Frontiers BBS (716)/823-9892! ============================================================================