Sounds Like A... Copyright (c) 1992 PractiComp Vicki Watson 6490 Dubois Rd. Delaware, OH 43015-8931 614-548-5043 Compuserve 71043,3706 "Sounds Like A..." is a unique and entertaining game for children ranging in age from 1 1/2 to 7 years of age. The program uses colorful graphics and a variety of high-quality sounds ranging from a clock "ticking" to a dog "barking". In the first of two games, the child must find the picture which matches a sound. Your child may hear, for example, a cow "mooing". He/she will then click on a square containing the picture of a cow. A game consists of 12 sound/picture pairs. As each picture is matched with the accompanying sound, parts of a larger underlying picture are revealed. The second game is a matching or memory game with a slight twist. The child must match a picture with the appropriate sound. For example, if the child clicks on a block revealing a picture of a donkey, he must find the block which contains the "Hee Haw" sound in order to make a match. The program does not require any keyboard input - all activities may be performed entirely with a mouse. No additional speech cards are necessary. The program uses the speaker already located in each personal computer. "Sounds Like A..." was developed with the help of my two daughters - Lisa (age 6) and Kristy (age 3). I hope your children enjoy our program as much as we have. Your registration fee makes it possible for us to continue producing programs such as SLA. If you continue to use this program, I hope you will decide to become a registered user by sending in the following registration form. Shareware Registration Form - SLA 1.0 The registration fee for "Sounds Like A..." is $10.00. Please include $2.50 shipping for orders outside the U.S. or Canada. [] $3.00 "Preschool Pack" trial disk (see description at the end of this file. Please indicate disk size desired below. 5 1/4" disks will be sent unless otherwise indicated. Benefits Of Registering: All registered users receive 15 extra picture/sound pairs and additional background files. You will also receive the most current version at the time of registration, support via phone or mail, and notification of and substantial discounts on program upgrades. The initial shareware screen is removed from the registered version. Please send your check or money order to: PractiComp 6490 Dubois Rd. Delaware, OH 43015-8931 Name: _________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Phone: ________________________ Disk Size: [ ] 5 1/4" [ ] 3 1/2" I received the shareware disk from: ________________________ Comments or suggestions: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ DISTRIBUTION BBS Name: SLA10A.ZIP SLA10B.ZIP (disks 1 & 2) "Sounds Like A..." is a shareware product and may be freely copied and shared with other computer users. Continued use beyond a reasonable evaluation period requires registration. SLA may be copied and distributed by shareware distributors or posted to Bulletin Board systems. Distributors, please include all files listed below when distributing this product. DISTRIBUTION FILES SLA may be distributed on a single 720K disk, or two 360K disks. *** Disk1 HELPME.BAT * help batch file READ.ME * installation instructions SLA.DOC * program documentation INSTALL.BAT * batch file for installation INSTALL.OVL * secondary batch installation file BROWSE.EXE * file viewer SLA10.001 * archived program, graphics, and sound libraries *** Disk2 SLA10.002 * archived program, graphics, and sound libraries PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS "Sounds Like A..." requires 640K RAM, a hard drive, an EGA or VGA color monitor, and a mouse. SLA produces speech via digitized voice files. Because the speech is produced through the PC's internal speaker, no additional sound cards are necessary. *** The speech routines are not compatible with Microsoft Windows. The program must be run strictly from DOS. INSTALLATION The SLA program files are compressed into the two files SLA10.001 and SLA10.002. These files will be found on 2 disks in the 5 1/4" version, or may be on a single disk if using 3 1/2" disks. You MUST run the INSTALL.BAT file in order to install SLA correctly! At the DOS prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command. The information in ()'s should not be typed. MD \SLA (any directory name) CD \SLA A: (change to floppy disk) (Insert disk1) INSTALL A C (do not add : ) For the last command, you may replace the A, C, with any appropriate drives. The first drive should be the source drive, the second drive should be the destination, i.e. the above command would install from a floppy in drive A to the hard drive C. The INSTALL batch file will prompt you to insert DISK 2. If you are installing from a single disk, leave the same disk in and press ENTER. Once installed, you should have the following files: SLA.EXE * executable program SLA.DOC * documentation file SLA.GXL * graphics library SOUNDS1.VOI * sound library file SOUNDS1.DVX * sound index file RUNNING "SOUNDS LIKE A..." Change to the "Sounds Like A..." directory and type SLA. CD \SLA SLA "SOUNDS LIKE A..." INSTRUCTIONS The sounds are produced using the PC's internal speaker, therefore it is not possible to adjust the volume. The volume level of the sounds will depend upon the quality of your PC's internal speaker. Click on STOP, or press ESC, to exit a screen or the program. Graphics/Sounds Used in "Sounds Like A...": Shareware Version: Available By Registering: ------------------ ------------------------- violin rooster bee saw hammer donkey elephant whistle dog baby bell pig horse cow police car bird frog cat owl scissors clock phone circus sheep horn train motorcycle guitar duck drill GAME 1 - SOUND LOTTO This is the simplest of the two games included in SLA and will appeal most to the younger children. You will see 12 pictures on the screen. When you hear a sound, click on the picture which matches the sound. For example, if you hear a cow "moo", you would click on the picture of a cow. As you click on each correct picture, a portion of the larger, background image will be revealed. If you are not sure which picture matches the sound, you have two options. You may click on the lips to repeat the last sound. You may also click on the Question Mark in the rabbit's hat for help. This will display an arrow pointing to the correct block. You must then click on the correct block in order to go on to the next sound. When a game is completed, a new game will be set up. You may continue playing Game 1 repeatedly or you may: Click on STOP to exit to DOS. Click on the yellow/green squares to go to game 2. GAME 2 - SOUND MATCHING The second game is an interesting variation of the "memory" or "concentration" game. In this game you must match a picture to its corresponding sound. Half of the 12 blocks in each game will contain pictures, half will contain sounds. For example your first click may reveal a picture of a rooster. Your next click should try to locate the block containing the sound of the rooster crowing. Clicking on a sound block will play the sound, but will not reveal a picture, unless a match is made. If a match is made the two blocks will display the same picture. A count of the number of blocks clicked will be displayed on the left side of the screen, the goal being to find all matches with the fewest number of clicks. There is a help option available in this game also. Help is available only when you have clicked on the first block (of a possible pair) and are ready to click on the second. At this point you may click on the Question Mark, and an arrow will point to the matching block. Two points will be added for clicking the Question Mark. You must then click on the block to which the arrow is pointing. Therefore the use of the help option will result in a total of 3 points added to the score. Since no picture is displayed initially, if a sound block is clicked, the triangular halves of a square are displayed at the left of the screen as a reminder of which block of a pair you are working on. After clicking on the first block the red triangle will be displayed. When a game is completed, a new game will be set up. You may continue playing Game 2 repeatedly or you may: Click on STOP to exit to DOS. Click on the yellow/green squares to go back to game 1. ========================================================================= P R E S C H O O L P A C K "Preschool Pack" is another shareware program for preschoolers available from PractiComp. A description of this program follows. You may receive a trial disk containing "Preschool Pack" by including an additional $3.00 with your registration of SLA. ========================================================================= The colorful graphics, songs, and speech of Preschool Pack will be sure to capture the attention of your preschooler. From the main menu screen, which contains a cat which meows and winks when clicked, to the bee which frowns when a mistake is made in the matching game, you and your preschooler will appreciate the careful design and attention to detail of Preschool Pack. The program does not require any keyboard input - all activities may be performed entirely with a mouse. Through five different and entertaining activities your preschooler will learn about counting, number recognition, the alphabet, colors, matching, and classifying. Activities include: "Animal Homes", where animals must be placed in their appropriate homes - either farm, forest, or circus; "Balloons", where the user must click on a color block matching the color of a rising balloon before it pops; "Matching", a memory game with an animated bee rewarding the user who locates all matches; "Counting", where the user counts along with the computer as a variety of colorful images, from dinosaurs to dolls, are displayed; and "ABC's" where the user must find all letters which match a displayed letter. "ABC's" uses speech to pronounce each letter as it is selected. All activities are reinforced with cheerful music and animation sequences.