Monster Media 1994 #1

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Ms. Piggy Bank 1.0 Copyright (c) 1994 KidStuff Software Vicki Watson 6490 Dubois Rd. Delaware, OH 43015-8931 614-548-5043 Compuserve 71043,3706 Ms. Piggy Bank provides an effective and entertaining way for children ages 6 to 10 to learn about money. Ms. Piggy Bank offers 6 different money activities, all using high quality speech and graphics, with full mouse support. The simplest activity teaches the names and values of coins and bills up to twenty dollars. Your child will quickly learn the value of each coin as they try to maneuver a piggy bank to catch falling coins. Your child will learn, for example, that two quarters are equal to a half dollar in the Money Equivalents activity. In the Total Money activity your child will enter the total of the displayed coins and/or bills on a cash register. The Select Money activity displays a total and your child selects the coins and/or bills which add up to that total. An entertaining board game for 1 or 2 players allows your child to put his newly acquired skills to work, earning money and an opportunity to visit the Toy Store where he can practice making a purchase and counting out the amount of change received. The program is easily configurable for children of various ages and skill levels. Shareware Registration Form - MSPIG 1.0 [ ] $15.00 Registration fee for "Ms. Piggy Bank" [ ] $2.50 shipping for orders outside the U.S. or Canada only. (Shareware versions of the following programs are available. See descriptions of these programs at the end of this file.) [ ] $3.00 "Sounds Like A..." [ ] $3.00 "Talking Number Machine" [ ] $3.00 "Preschool Pack" [ ] $3.00 "Masterpiece Menu" [ ] $3.00 "Talking Time Tutor" *** Please indicate disk size and Sound Blaster or Speaker version. Disk Size: [ ] 3 1/2" [ ] 5 1/4" [ ] Sound Blaster/Adlib Version [ ] PC Speaker Version Benefits Of Registering: The registered version of Ms. Piggy Bank allows the use of $5, $10, and $20 bills in activities 1 & 4, a total of 19 coins or bills in activity 1, and totals up to $134.00 in activity 2. Selection of the Sound Blaster, Adlib or compatible sound card is enabled, The shareware screens are removed. 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 or new software from KidStuff. Please send your check or money order (checks must be for U.S. funds on a U.S. bank!) to: KidStuff Software 6490 Dubois Rd. Delaware, OH 43015-8931 Name: _________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Phone: ________________________ I received the shareware disk from: ________________________ Comments or suggestions: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS Ms. Piggy Bank (MSPIG) requires a 286 12Mhz or faster computer, 640K RAM, a hard drive, VGA color monitor, and a mouse. The speech works with either the speaker or Sound Blaster, Adlib, or compatible sound cards. Sound Blaster and Adlib support provided to registered users only. MSPIG is not compatible with Microsoft Windows and must be run strictly from DOS. INSTALLATION Insert disk 1 and type A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL). After installation you should have the following files: MSPIG.EXE MSPIG.CRD MSPIG.GXL MSPIG.DOC MSPIG.RSC Once installed, change to the MSPIG directory and type MSPIG to run the program. From the main menu screen you may press F10 to set the program options. MS. PIGGY BANK INSTRUCTIONS MAIN MENU OPTIONS - Pig's Tail: exit MSPIG and return to DOS. You may also press ESC to exit the program. - Pig's head: the pig will oink and wink. - 6 activity icons: begin one of the 6 activities. There are five square activity icons at the top of the screen. The sixth activity (coin catch) is activated by clicking the area of the coins falling into the slot of the piggy bank. The activities may also be activated by pressing the function keys F1-F6. - F8: Show the activity scoreboard. - F10: Set the program options. PROGRAM OPTIONS: Press F10 from the menu screen for the Program Options window. Use the ENTER key to move to the next field, or the Up or Down arrow keys to move to the previous or next field. Press ESC when you have entered all desired information. The options are saved to disk. These options may be modified at any time. Options for Activity 1: Total Money You may select individually whether each of the coins or bills will be used in this activity. For younger users, you may choose to start by using only 1 or 2 types of coins. Enter 'Y' for each of the coins or bills you would like to use, 'N' for those you do not want to use. [The $5, $10, and $20 bills are available only in the registered version of the program]. You can control the total number of bills and/or coins displayed in activity 1 by setting the Minimum and Maximum Number of Coins/Bills fields. The minimum is 1 and the maximum is [10 for the shareware version, or 19 for the registered version]. For example - if you would like at least 5 coins/bills to be displayed, but not more than 10. Enter 5 in the minimum field and 10 in the maximum. If you enter the same number in the minimum and maximum fields, the same number of coins/bills will be displayed each time. Options for Activity 2: Select Money In activity 2 a random total is displayed at the bottom of the screen. You may set the Maximum Dollar Amount used for this total by entering a number from 0 to [10 for the shareware version, or 134 for the registered version]. If you want only totals less than one dollar to be displayed, enter a 0 in the Maximum Dollar Amount, and a value from 25 to 99 in the Maximum Cents Amount field. The value in this field is ignored unless the Max. Dollar Amt. is set to 0. The Show a Running Total? (Y/N) field controls whether the total is updated and displayed each time a coin or bill is clicked. Enter 'Y' to show the running total, 'N' otherwise. Options for Activity 4: Money Equivalents You may select individually whether each of the coins or bills will be used in this activity. Enter 'Y' for each of the coins or bills you would like to use, 'N' for those you do not want to use. [The $5, $10, and $20 bills are available only in the registered version of the program]. The Show a Running Total? (Y/N) field controls whether the total is updated and displayed each time a coin or bill is clicked. Enter 'Y' to show the running total, 'N' otherwise. Options for Activity 5: Board Game The option for activity 5 controls how the change is counted when making change for the purchased toy. Enter an 'F' or a 'B' for forward or backward. Assume you paid $5.00 for a toy that cost $3.32. If this option is set to 'B', the change will be counted back as: 3 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 dime, 2 quarters, and 1 dollar. If 'F' is selected the change will be counted back as: 1 dollar, 2 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 3 pennies. Options for Activity 6: Coin Catch The option for this activity controls the speed of the falling coin. This value can be set from 1 to 50, with 1 being the fastest and 50 the slowest. Experiment with this value based on the speed of your computer and the skill of the user. Other Options: Show Activity Instructions? (Y/N) A 'Y' in this field will display an instruction window each time an activity is entered. After reading the instructions, click or press a key to remove the instruction window. After you are familiar with each of the activities, you can turn this feature off, by entering 'N' here. Sound On? (Y/N) A 'Y' here enables speech and sound effects. 'N' turns them off. Speaker (1) or Sound Blaster (2) Ms. Piggy Bank provides support for either the PC speaker or Sound Blaster, Adlib or compatible sound cards. Enter a '1' to use the speaker, or '2' if you have a compatible sound card. [Sound card support is enabled only in the registered version]. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES: There are 6 different money activities. The icons representing them are found on the main menu. The squares at the top of the menu screen are the icons for activities 1-5 (left to right). The 6th activity (coin catch) is activated by clicking on the coins falling into the slot of the piggy bank. The activities may also be activated by pressing the function keys F1-F6. See the program options section for information on how to control the skill levels for activities 1, 2, 4, and 6. Most of the activities will provide the icons listed below. Their general function is described here. Specific details may be found in the section describing each activity. Icon Key Operation ------ ----- -------------------------------- Lips S Say the value of the money Eraser DEL Erase money or total ? ? H Show the answer to the problem Coins SPACE Display a new problem Clicking the lips icon will say the value and display the value in words. Click or press a key to remove the displayed value. Help is activated by clicking the question mark icon or by pressing either the question mark key (you do not have to use the shift key), or the letter H. When help is used, the same problem will remain on the screen. The user can erase the answer and then try to answer the same problem on their own. The number of correct answers for each activity is maintained and will be displayed after each correct answer. If your answer is correct, click or press a key to remove the displayed score. Activity 1: Total Money Click - Icon 1: Cash Register Key: F1 In this activity a number of coins and/or bills will be displayed on the screen. Add up the total value of the money shown. Enter this total on the cash register by clicking on the numbers of the cash register, or by typing the numbers at the keyboard. When the total is entered, click either the red open button on the cash register or the calculator icon. You may also press the ENTER key. If your total is correct, the cash drawer will pop open. Activity 1 Icons Icon Key Operation ------ ----- -------------------------------- Lips S Say the value of the coins/bills Eraser DEL Erase the value on the register ? ? H Show the answer on the register Coins SPACE Display a new problem Activity 2: Select Money Click - Icon 2 Key: F2 In this activity a total will be displayed at the bottom of the screen (for example: $17.43). You will click on the icons representing the bills and/or coins which will add up to the displayed total. In this case you would click on $10, $5, $1 twice, quarter, dime, nickel, and the penny three times. As you click on the coin/bill icons, the coin or bill will be displayed. If you have turned the running total option on, your total will also be displayed as you select items. If running total is not on, you can click the calculator icon at any time to display your total. Clicking the eraser icon with the left button will erase your coins. Clicking it with the right button will erase your bills. Activity 2 Icons Icon Key Operation ------ ----- -------------------------------- Calculator ENTER Total the displayed coins/bills Lips S Say the total of the displayed coins/bills Eraser DEL Left button - erase coins Right button - erase bills DEL - erases both ? ? H Show the answer by displaying the correct coins/bills Coins SPACE Display a new problem Activity 3: Money Names and Values Click - Icon 3 Key: F3 This activity simply says and displays the names and values of each coin and bill. Click on a coin or bill to see and hear its name and value. Activity 4: Money Equivalents Click - Icon 4 Key: F4 In this activity a coin or bill will be displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. Another coin or bill will be displayed just to the left of it. You will determine how many of the rightmost coin/bill are required to equal the value of the coin/bill to its left. Click the rightmost coin/bill that number of times. For example a half dollar might be displayed, and a nickel to the right of it. You want to show how many nickels are required to equal the value of the half dollar. You would click the nickel 10 times. Each time you click, a nickel will be displayed. If you have turned the running total option on, your total will also be displayed as you click. If running total is not on, you can click the calculator icon at any time to display your total. Activity 4 Icons Icon Key Operation ---------- ----- -------------------------------- Calculator ENTER Total the displayed coins/bills Lips S Say the value of the displayed coins/bills Eraser DEL Erase the displayed coins/bills ? ? H Show the answer by displaying the correct coins/bills Coins SPACE Display a new problem Activity 5: Board Game Click - Icon 5 Key: F5 This activity is a board game for 1 or 2 players. When this activity is selected you will see a square in which you will enter the player name(s) and the number of the playing piece for each player. If there will only be one player, leave the information for player 2 blank. Press ENTER or the down arrow to move to the next field, or the up arrow to move to the previous field. The next screen will display the playing board. The name and current amount of money for each of the players will be displayed in the upper left corner. Each player begins the game with $5.00. You may exit the game at any time by clicking the Stop sign or pressing ESC. Player Moves: If there are 2 players, an arrow will point to the name of the player whose turn it is. Click on the spinner to show the number of squares to move. Click the square that your playing piece will land on. Your playing piece will then be moved to that location. If you will land on a square that moves you forward or backward, click on the square with those directions. The computer will then automatically move you forward or backward the indicated amount. Income or Expense Cards: If you land on a square with a STAR, a card will be drawn from the deck of Income or Expense cards. The text of the card will be displayed indicating whether the current player has earned or spent money. After reading the card, click, and the indicated amount will be added to, or subtracted from that player's total. A player's total will never go below 0. Money Activities: Squares with a dollar sign will enter into one of four money activities. The current player will be given one problem in that activity. Click the calculator or press ENTER when the activity is completed. If the problem is answered correctly, $2.00 will be added to your total. These activities are identical to activities 1, 2, 4, and 6 from the main menu. The only difference being that you are given only one chance to answer a single problem. Winning the Game: The player reaching the last square first is the winner and will be allowed to make a trip to the Toy Store where one toy may be purchased. The lowest price for a toy is $.50. If the winner does not have at least that amount the Toy Store will not be entered. Selecting a Toy: A picture of the outside of the toy store will be displayed. Click or press a key to go into the store. The next screen will display a variety of toys. The amount of money you have earned is displayed at the top of the screen. Click on a toy to display a price tag. If you would like to purchase that toy, click the [Buy] button on the price tag, otherwise click anywhere outside the price tag and it will disappear. If you click [Buy], but do not have enough money for that toy, you will see a message indicating so. Click to erase the message. When you have selected a toy to buy, you must pay for the toy. Paying for the Toy: The toy you have selected will be displayed in the upper left corner along with its price. The money you have earned will be displayed in bills/coins on the screen. Click the bills or coins you would like to use to purchase your toy. As you click, the total will be displayed on the cash register. When you have selected enough money to cover the cost of the toy, you will hear a beep. You may continue to click additional coins or bills after that if desired. When you have selected the amount desired for your payment, click the [Open] button on the cash register or the calculator icon, or press ENTER. Payment Screen Icons Icon Key Operation ---------- ----- ----------------------------------- Calculator ENTER Payment entered Eraser DEL Erase payment and start over ? ? H Show the answer by displaying the coins/bills for the payment Counting out the Change: In the next screen coins and bills will be displayed in a cash register drawer. You will have a chance to count out the change from your purchase based on the price of the toy, and the amount of money you have paid. Your change will be counted back either forward or backward as set in the program options. Forward being the highest bill or coin amount to the lowest, and backward being the lowest coin or bill amount to the highest. The change must be counted back exactly in order. Assume you have paid $5.00 for a toy that cost $3.32, and you have set the Change Counting order to backward. You would click on 3 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 dime, 2 quarters, and 1 dollar. As you click on the coins or bills your change is totaled and the amount displayed at the top of the screen. If backward order is selected, the "count back" total is also displayed at the bottom of the screen, (ie. 3.33, 3.34, 3.35, 3.40, etc.) If forward order is selected the change will be counted back in the opposite order, the change total will be displayed, but there will be no "count back" total. The help icon in this screen will display a single coin or bill at a time. Click it repeatedly to display all of the change. After your entire change amount is displayed, a piggy bank will be displayed, coins will drop into it, and the pig will wiggle its ears and tails. Click, or press any key at that point to return to the menu screen. If the change amount is zero, the pig will be displayed, but no coins will appear. Activity 6: Coin Catch Click - Coins falling into bank Key: F6 In this activity a coin will appear at the top of the screen and begin falling toward the bottom of the screen. Click the icon on the right side of the screen which matches the value of the displayed coin. When the correct value is clicked, a piggy bank will appear at the bottom of the screen. Move the piggy bank using the left or right mouse buttons, or the left or right arrow keys. Position the piggy bank under the falling coin and the coin will drop into the bank. The speed of the falling coin may be set in the program options window. TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE: Ms. Piggy Bank will not run under Microsoft Windows. The speech will not work on a system slower than 12 Mhz. Programs using graphics and sound require large quantities of memory. If you are having trouble with the program, please free up all available memory. If you have any TSR's or memory resident programs loaded, they should be removed from memory. MSPIG will access expanded memory if available. MSPIG requires a color VGA monitor/video card. A mouse driver must be loaded via your config.sys or autoexec.bat file before using MSPIG. See the documentation that came with your mouse. Sound Blaster/Adlib or compatible versions of each of these programs area available to registered users. ========================================================================= P R E S C H O O L P A C K ========================================================================= 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. Through six different and entertaining activities your preschooler will learn about counting, number recognition, the alphabet, colors, matching, classifying, and memorizing his name, address, and telephone number. The activities include: "Animal Homes", where animals must be placed in their appropriate homes - either farm, forest, or circus. Most of the animals have an accompanying animation and animal sound! "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. In the last activity the child will learn to spell his name, as well as learning his address and phone number. All activities are reinforced with cheerful music and animation sequences. ========================================================================= S O U N D S L I K E A . . . ========================================================================= "Sounds Like A..." is a unique and entertaining game for children ranging in age from approximately 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. *** An enhanced version of Sounds Like A... is available for Sound Blaster or Adlib systems that provides 36 MIDI songs in addition to the sounds of the standard program. Your child will hear a song and match that song to its corresponding picture. There are 12 children's songs, 12 Bible songs, and 12 Christmas songs. Also included in this version is a "tape player" where your child can play any of the sounds or songs in the program. ========================================================================= T A L K I N G T I M E T U T O R ========================================================================= "Talking Time Tutor" will have your child telling time in no time! Your child will hear the time spoken using high quality digitized speech. TTIME provides a variety of different time activities each with three skill levels. Activities include setting the analog clock to match the digital clock, setting the digital clock to match the analog clock, setting the analog clock to the spoken or written time, and setting the analog clock to a future or past time. Additional features are provided to entertain your child as he/she learns. Each of 6 analog clocks has its own animation routine. Pocket Watch Display minute count by fives. Owl Eyes move left to right. Bear Honey bee flies around. Santa Christmas tree with blinking lights. Cat Eyes move up and down. Dinosaur Munches on grass. Cuckoo Clock Cuckoos The colors of the band on the digital wrist watch may be changed. A bear on the screen tells time-related jokes or asks your child questions about time. Isn't it about time you invested in "Talking Time Tutor" for your child? ========================================================================= T A L K I N G N U M B E R M A C H I N E ========================================================================= The inspiration for "Talking Number Machine" (TNUM) came from my daughter Lisa, age 7. From the time she learned to read, she was continually asking me, "Mom, what's this number?". At the time she could not recognize numbers over about 999. After working with the "Talking Number Machine" she is comfortable with numbers up to the trillions. TNUM is designed to help children recognize, say, and write numbers from 1 to 9,999,999,999,999. TNUM uses high quality digitized speech to say the numbers which appear on the screen. Mouse and/or keyboard commands may be used. The program includes the following activities: Number Machine - Click on the Number Machine and the machine will produce an interesting fact containing a large number. The fact will be displayed in a frame, with the number highlighted, along with an accompanying picture. For example - "Americans eat 50,000,000 hot dogs a day." They may then choose to have the computer say the highlighted number, or have the computer display that number in words. The user may also choose to write the number in words by selecting from a list of number words (no typing is required). Help is available to display the next word if the user gets stuck. The registered version of the program contains 175 number facts. Enter any Number - The user may enter (calculator style) any number up to 13 digits. They may then choose to have the computer say that number or have the computer display that number in words. The user may also choose to write the number in words by selecting from a list of number words (no typing is required). Enter the Written Number - The computer will "think" of a large number and display that number in words, for example - nine million two hundred fifty one thousand three hundred seventy two. The user must enter the digits to make that number. Help is available to display the next digit if the user gets stuck. Count By - TNUM can also help your child learn to count (by increments of 1 to 10). If the user selects 2 the program will begin counting by 2's - 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. until you decide to stop. A utility program is included with TNUM which allows you to enter your own number facts for use in the program. ========================================================================= M A S T E R P I E C E M E N U ========================================================================= Masterpiece Menu is a menu program designed specifically for children. Even the youngest children will be able to run their own software using Masterpiece Menu. The painter "paints" each program icon on the easel. Click the easel or press ENTER to run the displayed program. The large, colorful program icons are standard PCX files. Setup is a breeze, simply press F10 to enter your child's program information. You can even set up separate configurations so each child can have his/her own menu. Masterpiece Menu runs in EGA or VGA mode and includes a "screen saver", calendar, and animated clock.