PicCross v1.0 Copyright © 1995 Michael Nelson All Rights Reserved The puzzles in 'PicCross' are a unique blend of logic and art. Try to decode a hidden picture by using numeric clues to determine the positions of the picture elements. It seems impossible at first, but it isn't! Start with the easy puzzles first or else you won't have a hope. How To Play ~~~~~~~~~~~ The puzzles are composed of three areas, two clue grids and the picture grid; _______________ | | |2|3|5|6| | | |-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-| The two clue grids are the areas at the |1|2|3|3|2|1|1|2| top and left side of the puzzle that contain +-+-+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=| numbers. The other area is where you try and | |1| | | | | | | | | complete the puzzle. The "#" are blue squares |-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-| which are drawn using the left mouse button. |3|2| | |#|#|#| | | | You attempt to create a picture using these |-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-| blue squares. The x's are drawn using the |1|4| | | |#|#|x|x| | right mouse button and are only used to assist |-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-| you in solving the puzzle by marking off | |3| | | | | |x|x| | squares which you know cannot contain part |-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-| of the picture. | |2| | | | | | | | | ------------------- The numbers on the left of each row and top of each column tell you how many groups of blue squares there are in that line and, in order, how many consecutive blue squares there are in each group. For example 4 5 3 1 tells you that there will be four groups which contain, in order, four, five, three and one blue squares. The fact that the numbers are are separated tells you that there is at least one empty square between them. (There may also be empty squares at the ends of lines). The trick is to figure out how many empty squares come between the blue ones. As you complete the puzzle the clues will change color from white to yellow indicating when a group contains the right number of squares. The puzzle is complete when ALL the clue colors in the top and left clue areas, have changed to yellow. The blue squares will also begin flashing when you have won and they continue to do so until you select a new puzzle. Remember that even though a clue color appears in yellow, it does NOT necessarily mean that you have the group in the right position, it just indicates that the number of consecutive squares in the group is correct. See "Solving tips" if your having trouble getting things going, also take a look at the IFF file, PicCrossHelp.pic, which shows the first puzzle and how to start it. Using the program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Start the program from the workbench by clicking on the PicCross icon or start it from a CLI by typing PicCross. The program will start off by displaying the first puzzle. If you wish to play a different puzzle go into the "puzzles" menu and select puzzle 1 through 5 (the current puzzle will have a checkmark next to it in the menu). You can exit the program by selecting "Quit" from the Project menu or by hitting the "Q" key. You can see some info about the program by selecting "About" from the project menu or by hitting the "A" key. The left mouse button will either draw or remove the blue squares If you click on an empty square then it will be filled with a blue square and as long as you hold the left mouse button down, then all other squares you move into will also be filled with blue squares. The right mouse button does the same thing drawing x's (except you cannot draw an 'x' on a blue square). Solving tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. If a row (or col) has greater than half of the number of possible spaces you can fill the squares which MUST be set in order to complete a row; Example (a row of 10) Clue ___________________ 8 | | | | | | | | | | | Counting from the left; ___________________ |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8| | | Counting from the right; ___________________ | | |8|7|6|5|4|3|2|1| See that squares 3 to 8 are shared in both directions, therefore you can fill these 6 squares in; ___________________ |?|?|#|#|#|#|#|#|?|?| The ?'s are left blank because we don't know yet which side will be filled (it may be one from each). 2. Like Clue 1 you may have a column which has two clues which when added togther (include the 1 space needed inbetween) total more than half of the possible number of spaces; Example; Clue ___________________ 2,6 | | | | | | | | | | | Counting from the left; ___________________ |1|2|-|1|2|3|4|5|6| | Counting leaving a blank first ___________________ | |1|2|-|1|2|3|4|5|6| You can also get something like this; ___________________ |1|2|-|-|1|2|3|4|5|6| We see that some squares will be filled regardless of how we fill in the squares like this; ___________________ |?|#|?|?|#|#|#|#|#|?| 3. Continue doing 1 & 2 until the puzzle squares start getting filled... slowly the picture will be revealed a bit at a time. 4. Guess. See something that looks like it needs to be filled in order to create a picture? Something probably goes there! If a "blob" of squares appear in one part and you have the option of putting a square within the blob someplace or outside of the blob all by itself then it probably does in the blob (although though, tougher puzzles may fool you on this, the easy ones usually dont') The Future ~~~~~~~~~~ Hey, I like puzzles! I like the type of puzzles contained in this program, but I realize it is VERY possible that I am the only Amiga owner who does, therefore I didn't spend very much time developing the program. Sure, it could use a prettier interface, and it definitely needs to be able to load puzzle files rather than having a handful of built-in puzzles. I settled on five puzzles because it currently is a pain in the *** to create puzzles without a puzzle editor and I got sick of it at this point. A puzzle editor may also be something that nobody is interested in (assuming some people like solving the puzzles, but could care less about creating them?) so I didn't bother wasting time on it. So if you like these puzzles and would like to see some more, then all I ask is that you send me a email message or mail a postcard/letter telling me so, I don't see much point in spending any more time on a program which may have a very small audience (ie just me). :-) If you do like this program, then you might just be the second Amiga owning person (remember, I'm the first) who does. Well, then at least I'd have someone to trade puzzles back and forth with (not much fun solving your own puzzles). Don't just love negative software marketing "This may suck, but let us know if you think it doesn't"? ;-) Contacting the author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: M.NELSON34@GENIE.GEIS.COM Snail mail: M.NELSON P.O. BOX 53 Sarnia, Ontario CANADA N7T 7H8 Distribution ~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have my permission to upload this archive to any file network (ADS, SAN or whatever) as well as to aminet. I currently do not have access to aminet, so I would really appreciate it if someone would upload it there. Acknowledgements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Games Magazine for first introducing me to this type of puzzle and to Non Ishida for coming up with the puzzle idea in the first place. I borrowed the name of this program from a GameBoy title. I think it has the same type of puzzle as this program but I'm not sure (the same except for having "Super Mario" or "Yoshi" running around in it someplace ).