Easy Memory

User manual

Update on 6 october 2000

1. Presentation
2. How to play
     2.1 Alone
     2.2 With friends
3. The options
     3.1. Change player name
     3.2. Sound^Update
     3.3. Number of players
     3.4. Preview
     3.5. Difficulties
     3.6. Size
     3.7. Sets
4. Score

5. How to add sets of pictures
     5.1. Pictures of cards^Update
     5.2. Picture on the backs of the cards
     5.3. Background of the game
     5.4. Sounds^Update
     5.5. Descriptive text file^Update
     5.6. Descriptive image file^New
6. The author, the authors and the distribution
     6.1. The author
     6.2. The authors^Update
     6.3. The distribution^Update
7. New in this version^New

1. Presentation

Find pairs, or groups of three or more identical cards. Play alone, with friends or even your youngest kids. Play with animal cards, large Disney cards or lots of other cards. Improve your memory by playing with your favourite friends and pictures. You can play from the age of 3 to 103.

This game is distributed as a freeware. This means you can use it and copy it for free. You can copy it as you like and distribute it for free to your friends.

The author of the game has created the set provided with the game and the first sets on the website. You can send him your own sets by email. After checking it the set will be added on the Easy Memory website. (Refer to ºHow to add sets of pictures and ºThe author, the authors and the distribution)

Note : At present (and for a short time I hope) the operations below in this version do not function :

Time management
Sounds
Hi score
Update of player name
Preview of cards
bevel and background for cards
tags Help and Specialization

2. How to play

2.1. Alone

At first, so that you understand the game, you will play with the default number of cards. All you have to do is to choose New in the menu Game. (You can also use the key CTRL-N).

Click on the back of a card, turn it over, memorize the picture and try again with another card. If you are lucky, the two cards are identical and the picture will remain visible. Good, you have finished your first pair.

If the cards aren't identical, click on a third one. The first 2 cards are turned back over and hidden again. The third one is turned over. Memorize this picture and try to remember where the other card is to make the pair and then turn this one over.

If not, try again until you succeed in getting your first pair.

When you have your first pair, try to match more pairs of cards as you turn over each new card.

And so on, and so on, and so on... until you find all the pairs.

At this moment, your score will be displayed. (look at ºScore for more details)

You have just finished your first game, try again with different options for a more interesting game. Change the number of cards for example (menu Options / Size)

2.2. With friends

For the first game, begin in solo mode so that you understand the game. The next thing you can do is play with more people : see menu Options / Players to change the number of players.

In a multi-player game the first player is chosen at random. He appears with a red color. Look carefully at the name of the first player. The next player will be the player on the right (on the screen of course) and so on.

Each player turns over two cards. If they are identical he plays again, if not the next player plays.

The winner is the player who finds the most pairs.

3. The options

3.1 Change player name

You can change the name of a player with a double-click on his name. A dialog box appear. You have to change the name of the player in the text area. Then you have to validate with the button OK.

3.2. Sound^Update

There are three kinds of sounds:

Good try: you will hear it each time you succeed in getting a group of identical cards.
Bad try: you will hear it each time you complete a group with non identical cards.
End game: you will hear it when you have find all groups of identical cards.

You can choose what sounds you want to hear by checking and unchecking items of the Sounds menu. For example if you wish hearing nothing when you make a mistake, unchecked the Bad try item in the Sounds menu.

3.3. Number of players

3.3.1. Alone

In alone mode (option 1 player in the menu) you play against yourself.

3.3.2. Multi Player

In multi-player mode, you play against your friends. The winner is the player who finds the highest number of pairs.

Between each round look carefully at the player name in red and give him the mouse.

3.4. Preview

not implemented yet

3.5. Difficulties

Making pairs is really easy, everybody can do it. But finding a group of 3 or 4 identical cards is not so easy. And finding a group of 5 identical cards in 150 cards is very, very hard.

But your score will be better, if you complete the game of course !

With 2 cards, even with a random way of playing it's possible to finish a game. With a difficulty of 5 identical cards and a size of 150 cards, it's impossible to complete a game without good training and a lot of concentration. It is more difficult with a higher set specialization. It becomes very difficult when all the cards are very similar (eg military planes).

3.6. Size

When starting, Easy Memory chooses a size of 6 or 8 cards. So you can understand quickly the rules of the game.

But if you want an interesting game, you have to quickly change the number of cards. Of course, your score will be better with a higher size.

3.7. Sets

It's not really pleasant to play all the time with the same pictures. So you can find new sets on the Easy Memory website. Every month you can find new sets on this site.

The more pictures that there are in a set, the less chance there will be to have the same picture in 2 consecutive games.

A set is a group of pictures with one special picture. This special picture is on the backs of the cards.

A set can also have a parameter file. (look at How to add sets of pictures)

To change the set you have to click on the name of this set in the menu Options / Sets.

Otherwise, choose thr name of a set at random by selecting Random in this menu. Then when you start a new game, Easy Memory will choose a set at random. The nearest possible size to the previous game will automatically be selected.

This option enables you to play games without having to manually change the set between each game. It's easier to play 2 games with 2 different sets to avoid confusion.

4. Score

Your score is computed using a complex formula with these parameters : number of cards, difficulty, number of tries and the card size.

5. How to add sets of pictures

A set is a folder with pictures and a descriptive text file.

Nota : The compressed folder must be lower than 1 Mo. This is a restriction of my provider.

5.1. Pictures of cards^Update

In order to create a set you have to collect a lot of pictures with the same or similar size. You can create a set of completely different pictures (a house, a plane, a boat...) or use a theme (coutry flags, celebrities, famous paintings...).

You should have enough pictures to allow players to play with a lot of cards on the screen even in high resolution (1024*768 or higher) and to play different games without find the same pictures too often.

Correct format for pictures is jpg or gif (with uses of transparency)

Tip: Choose a high size for cards (eg. 140*200 or 200*200). Then it's easy to resize them in one shot with a freeware. So probably, in future it will be possible to publish sets in different sizes.

5.2. Picture on the backs of the cards

You have to create the picture for the back of your cards :

with the same size as the biggest of your pictures
use the gif format
the name is : z_dos.gif

5.3. Background of the game

not implemented yet

5.4. Sounds^Update

You can add specific sounds for your set. Players will hear your sounds and not the default sounds when they will play with your set. You can add the 3 sounds or only 1 or 2.

The 3 possible sounds are:

Good try (SonOK): you will hear it each time you succeed in getting a group of identical cards.
Bad try (SonBad): you will hear it each time you complete a group with non identical cards.
End game (SonEnd): you will hear it when you have find all groups of identical cards.

To add a sound, find or create it in .au format (8khz), put the .au file in the folder of the set. Add the property in the descriptive file (planche.pla see below) with the filename of the sound. eg:

SonOK=OK.au

5.5. Descriptive text file^Update

This file can contain different data. This file is a text file (created with notepad for example). Each line contains a data in 3 parts :

name of the data
sign =
value of the data

There should not be any space between these 3 parts. The name of this file is Planche.pla

You can use these tags :

TitreFR(Title) : French title of the set
TitreUS(Title) : English title of the set
BulleFR(Help) : Specify if the filename or the french name of the pictures must appear in the status message at the end of the game. (see below: Descriptive image file)
Value is O for Yes or N for No. Default is N.
BulleUS(Help) : like BulleFR for english name of the pictures.
SonOK(Sound Good try) : filename of the sound you will hear each time you succeed in getting a group of identical cards (eg OK.au)
SonBad(Sound Bad try) : filename of the sound you will hear each time you complete a group with non identical cards (eg Bad.au)
SonEnd(Sound End game) : filename of the sound you will hear when you have find all groups of identical cards (eg End.au)
Specialisation(Specialization) : Number between 1 and 5 to specify the specialization of your set. Look below.
Auteur(Author) : Your name, it will appear in the About this set window
Email : Your email address, so the users of your set can email you (About this set window)
Website : Your website url, so the users of your set can visit your homepage (About this set window)
Version : Version number of your set, you can also add the date

Specialization :
This is to indicate if your set is a very dedicated set (value 5) or a general set (value 1).
A set with very different pictures (tree, animal, house...) will be very general and take the value 1.
A set with very similar pictures (like differents persian cats) will be very specialized and take the value 5.

File planche.pla structure: Note : You should respect the case for the name of tag.

Example of descriptive text file for Cats (portrait) set :

          TitreFR=Felins (portraits)
          TitreUS=Cats (portrait)
          BulleFR=O
          BulleUS=N
          Specialisation=5
          SonBad=Bad.au
          Auteur=Bruno Berenguer
          Version=v1.12 Aout 2000
          Email=Bruno.Berenguer@Bigfoot.com
          Website=http://easymemory.forez.com

5.6. Descriptive image file^New

This file can contain title for each picture. This file is a text file (created with notepad for example). Each line contains a data in 5 parts :

filename of the picture
sign /
french title
sign /
english title

There should not be any space between these 5 parts. The name of this file is Images.lst

You can let some title blank, but you must list all the pictures if you create the Images.lst file. This is not a mandatory file. If this file doesn't exist, all the pictures of the folder will be used and french and english title for the pictures will be the filename.

This file allow you to choose short filename (multi OS) for the pictures and to have a long title which can be different in french and english.

Example of descriptive image file for Color set :

          Bleu.jpg/Bleu/Blue
          Gris.jpg/Gris/Grey
          Rouge.jpg/Rouge/Red
          Cyan.jpg/Cyan/Cyan
          Noir.jpg/Noir/Black
          Rose.jpg/Rose/Rose
          Jaune.jpg/Jaune/Yellow
          Vert.jpg/Vert/Green

6. The author, the authors and the distribution

6.1. The author

Bruno Berenguer,

I like computers, games and I distribute Easy Memory as a Freeware. If you have any questions, you can send me an email : Bruno.Berenguer@Bigfoot.com

6.2. The authors^Update

If you like the game, you can create some sets for your own pleasure, but also if you want, for the pleasure of all the players in the world. (look below to know the distribution mode)

These sets will remain your own intellectual property and will be distributed as a Freeware.

It is possible to indicate for each set the name, the email and the homepage of the author.

6.3. The distribution^Update

Easy Memory is distributed as a Freeware. This means that you can make a copy of this game for all of your friends whatever the support (CD, internet, disk...) but there are 4 conditions :

You have to distribute all files without any modifications.
You are allow to distribute the game for a private use only.
You can't sell it. It must remain a Freeware.
For a commercial uses or a 'online' uses on an other site, thanks to contact me.

If you want the latest version, download it from the website.

You can also contact me if you have any suggestions to improve this game.

7. New in this version^New

You can play with sounds ! There are default sounds and you can add yourself sounds to yours sets.
Sets can have a french and an english title instead of using folder name.
Cards can have a french and an english description instead of using picture filename.
Now there is a unique html startup to play offline : GO.htm. Once you start this page you can play in french or in english and access all help documents.
In Help menu a dialog box give you browser and java information. It's very useful if you have a problem.
In Help menu, dialog box About and About this set... had been completed.
Online game is now more faster.