Copyright: Ultra Logic, Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Vitaly Livshits


Help Topics


New Features in Version 1.1

•	Configuration is now automatically saved to a file

•	Ultra Logic ensures that the user did not leave any blank pieces

•	An installation program has been added

•	The help window is automatically closed when Ultra Logic is closed

•	The user interface has been redesigned, making it easier to use

•	The background music has been changed

•	A new game statistics section added to the About box

•	Dynamic board implemented. Now you can re-size the board to any size!

•	Three different game levels added: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert

•	The time indicator has been changed and now looks like a real timer


New Features in Version 1.2

•	Added graphical, easy to use tutorial

•	A selection of four background songs has been added

•	Added a Win 95 style tips dialog with helpful game tips

•	A minor uninstallation problem has been fixed

•	Fixed some problems related to the printing of the registration form

•	Fixed a few minor menu related bugs in the registered version

•	Ultra Logic now makes full use of the Win 95/NT Registry

•	Fixed 2-pixel board resizing bug

•	The game now loads more than three times faster

•	Many other minor improvements


New Features in Version 1.3

•	This is a bug-fix release, please see New Features in v1.2 for new features

•	Fixed dialog resizing bug that caused some dialogs to be displayed incorrectly

•	Several minor improvements to the registration form

•	You can now click the addresses in the help file to connect to the Internet


New Features in Version 1.4

•	Added various sound effects

•	Our e-mail and web contact addresses have changed

•	Numerous improvements to the tutorial and user interface


New Features in Version 2.0

•	Added various board and peg styles

•	After a game is over, it's not erased automatically, allowing you to examine it and see where you went wrong

•	Added a link to Ultra Logic Web site to the help menu

•	Better mouse cursors added

•	Fixed a randomness bug that  caused the first game to be the same on some systems

•	Improved statistics section - it now includes a Reset button and separate 3D charts for different game levels

•	Changed background music due to possible copyright issues

•	Added an easy to use registration wizard was added which takes you step by step through the registration process

•	A few new game tips added

•	Increased registration fee to $20 to cover credit card handling expenses


Contact Information

You can contact the author at the following addresses:

•	Internet e-mail:

ultralogic@poboxes.com

•	Postal mail:

Vitaly Livshits
605 Finch Ave. West, Apt 517
North York, Ontario
M2R 1P1
Canada

•	Suggestions and bug reports as well as general comments are always welcome.


Getting the Newest Version

•	Our Web page always contains updated pointers to new versions of Ultra Logic as well as other game related info. The address is: http://ultralogic.home.ml.org

•	If you wish to be notified when a new version comes out, please send e-mail to ultralogic@poboxes.com.


Registering Ultra Logic

Ultra logic is being distributed by the shareware concept. If you have been using Ultra Logic for more than 21 days you must register. Registration is very easy and fully automated. There are two ways to register: with a credit card or with a check/money order. Simply run the Registration Wizard (under Register|Wizard menu) and follow the instructions.

After the author receives your registration you will be sent a special registration code which you can enter into the program (under the Help|Registration Code menu). Ultra Logic will verify the code, register itself and all the features would be fully enabled. The same registration code can also be used in all future versions which can be downloaded from the Internet. If you do not have Internet access and wish to receive a new version, please contact the author.


Disclaimer

Users of Ultra Logic ("program") must accept this disclaimer of warranty: The program is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the program.


License Agreement

Ultra Logic ("program") is a shareware program and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for the programmers to continue to develop new products.  If you find this program useful and find that you are using the program and continue to use the program after the evaluation period (21 days), you must make a registration payment of $20 US to the author. The $20 US registration fee will license one copy of the program for use on any one computer at any one time.


Definitions


Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register.


A special number you receive after the registration. This number is unique to each user and is calculated based on the user’s name.


General


Closes this dialog and saves any changes you’ve made.


Closes this dialog without saving any changes you’ve made.


Properties Dialog


Enables or disables the background music (MIDI) during the game.


The background song to be played during the game.


Enables/disables sound effects during the game.


Smart Hint is a special type of online help that is displayed when the player leaves the mouse over an icon in the toolbar for a few seconds.


If selected then the checking of the current row is performed automatically after filling in all the spaces. If not selected then the check will be done after pressing the check button.


Registration Form


The name of the person registering Ultra Logic. This name will be used by the author to calculate the registration number.


Your e-mail address or your postal address will be used for sending you the registration key.


Your postal address or your e-mail address will be used for sending you the registration key.


The registration number can be delivered to you by e-mail or physical mail. Please select the preferred method.


Number of copies of Ultra Logic you wish to order.


Prints the registration form. You will be able to change printer properties later.


Main Form


The computer displays the results of your move on this board. It places a black peg for each peg you guessed correctly and a white peg for each peg that is on the board, but isn’t not in the correct position.


This timer displays the number of seconds since the beginning of the game.


These are the possible colors that are used in the combination that the computer chose. To place them on the board simply drag and drop them.


Custom Form


Use this track bar to set the number of columns on the board.


Use this track bar to set the number of rows on the board.


These dimensions of the board will be set after you click OK.


This grid is the preview of the board that will be set with the current dimensions.


Tutorial


Tutorial - Introduction

Introduction  Game Rules  Levels  Additional Features

Welcome to Ultra Logic tutorial!

This tutorial is divided into several parts, each describing a specific part of the game. Based on your level of experience with the game, you may want to skip some of the sections. For example, if you are familiar with Master Mind but never played Ultra Logic before, it would make sense to skip the game rules part.

Even if you decide to browse through the whole tutorial, it should take you no more than 15 minutes.

After this, you would be ready to play Ultra Logic!


Tutorial - Game Rules

Introduction  Game Rules  Levels  Additional Features

Ultra Logic is the digital version of the classical Master Mind board game. It's based on simple rules, but playing it well requires sophisticated strategy. In addition to all the features of Master Mind, Ultra Logic also adds a few original properties to the game which make it even more challenging and fun to play. Now, you will first go over the basic rules and then learn about the more advanced features.

The goal of the game is to guess a combination consisting of a variable number of pegs, from one to ten. This secret combination is created at the beginning of each game and is completely random. The  number of turns given to guess this combination is limited and after each turn you are given a hint as to how close your combination was to the actual one. The game field is divided into two separate parts, the player's board at the left and the computer's board at the right. You drag the pegs from the peg-box, drop them into the left board and the computer shows the hints on the right board.

By now, you may be thinking that guessing the combination would be an easy task. Well, it's not!

The problem is that the hints given by the computer are not straightforward - they don't tell you exactly what's wrong with the combination you proposed. Instead, the computer compares each peg in your combination to the secret combination and responds with a black peg, a white peg or no peg at all. A black is displayed when you guessed both the color and the location of the peg correctly. A white peg is shown when you only guessed the color right (the position of the peg is different). For example:

From these two lines, it's possible to extract quite a lot of information.

•	There is exactly one red peg

•	There is one yellow peg

•	The yellow peg is located in one of the two rightmost squares

•	The red peg is located in one of the three leftmost squares

This is pretty much all you need to understand about the rules of the game to start playing. You win when you discover the secret combination - all the computer's pegs are black.


Tutorial - Levels

Introduction  Game Rules  Levels  Additional Features

As you learned in the previous section of the tutorial, the rules of the game are very simple. The thing that makes Ultra Logic interesting to play for a very long time is its concept of game levels. The current version includes four pre-set levels and one other level, called Custom, which you can customize to be anything you want.

The levels vary by several parameters: board size, peg repetition and blind mode. The parameters for the current level are always displayed in the status bar at the bottom part of the screen.

Here is a brief description of each feature and how it's represented in the status bar:

•	Board size. The size of the playing field. The number of pegs per guess is written first, followed by the number of turns allowed to guess the combination. Increasing the number of pegs per guess makes the game more difficult, while increasing the number of turns makes it simpler.

•	Peg repetition. When peg repetition is enabled, there can be several pegs that are the same in a secret combination. If it's disabled, then same pegs cannot occur several times. If repetition is enabled, then three green pegs are shown in the status bar, if disabled, then only one peg is shown. Of course, disabling peg repetition makes he game easier to play.

•	Blind mode. This feature is unique to Ultra Logic. When enabled, it hides your previous guesses, so that you can see the last guess only. Instead of the pegs you placed, a [image] "question mark" peg is shown. To make the game even harder, you can also hide computer's responses. The status bar shows a normal eye when it's disabled completely, a crossed eye when only your attempts are hidden and a double crossed eye when both your guesses and computer's responses are hidden. Naturally, this makes it much harder to play, as you need to remember what you did before.

Here is a quick summary of which options are enabled for each of the pre-set game levels:

•	Beginner:

•	Intermediate:

•	Advanced:

•	Expert:  (Registered version only)

Oh, and the yellow face is there simply to inform you about the current game situation. Usually it looks OK, which means that you are playing a game right now. If you manage to win, it looks happy. If you loose or give up, then it looks sad...


Tutorial - Additional Features

Introduction  Game Rules  Levels  Additional Features

At this time you are already familiar with the most important features of Ultra Logic and are ready to start playing! However, if you want to know a little bit more, keep reading.

Ultra Logic includes many features that make playing even more fun. Here are the main ones:

•	Game statistics. Check this out to see colorful graphs, which represent the games you won, lost or did not finish. Move a mouse on top of any of the chart to see the numbers used to plot them. These can be accessed by selecting "Statistics" from the "Game" menu.

•	Automatic checking. This option is enabled by default. If you turn it off, you would have to press the arrow button in the left part of the screen at the end of each turn. Some players find it convenient, because they like to change the combination often, even after they finished dropping all the pegs. In order to change it, go to the "Preferences" menu and click on "Interface ".

•	Board and peg styles. This does not change any functionality, but it does change the look of the game quite a bit. For example, you can select numbers to be used instead of the traditional colors as the pegs. Future versions will add more styles, such as shapes and letters! Customize Ultra Logic to your liking by accessing this option in the Interface Preferences dialog.

•	Background music and sound effects. Again, this changes no functionality, but it sure adds more fun! If you are annoyed by either the music or the SFX, you can switch it off by selecting the appropriate item from the "Interface" menu.

•	Popup menu. A useful timesaver included with Ultra Logic is the pop-up menu, accessed by clicking the right mouse button over the player's board. This shows a menu with the following options: Repeat, Clear and Clear Row. "Repeat" would place a peg from the previous guess into the current attempt. "Clear" and "Clear Row" erases a peg from the square under the cursor and the whole row respectively.

There are many more cool things built into Ultra Logic that are not described here. You would discover them as you are playing. Enjoy!