Copyright ｩ 1995 Paul Ferguson,Sarah Smiles Software
About BabyTime
BabyTime is a small application I wrote for my daughter, who is now seven months old. I figured why not get her used to the computer from birth? She loves to play it, it amuses her for hours on end. In fact, she cries whenever she sees me on the computer now.
It basically allows the child to type (or pound) on the keyboard while displaying random shapes and pictures on the screen, and playing random sounds.
BabyTime requires System 7.0 or later and at least 256 colors. It requires a memory partition of at least 1.2 Megabytes.
The file "Resources" must be in the same folder as BabyTime and must not be renamed.
If you are not a previous user of BabyTime and have not downloaded the Resources file, you must do so
and put it in the BabyTime folder.
If you are a previous user, you may use your old Resources file by moving it to the BabyTime 1.1 folder.
The new Resources file does have some new resources in it.
Using BabyTime
This one shouldn't be too hard to figure out, I'm sure your child will have the hang of it in no time.
Actions menu:
Shapes -
Letters - All named resources in the "Resources" file will appear in these menu items
Pictures - Use these to select the particular item you want
Sounds -
Rainbow -
Clear Screen - clears the screen
Invert Screen - Inverts the screen
Quit - quits BabyTime
Settings menu:
Volume - adjust the volume level 0-7
Speed - can be used to slow things down a bit
Preferences dialog:
･ Mode
Simple mode displays shapes only
Intermediate mode displays shapes, icons, letters, and pictures
Advanced mode adds shapes filled with patterns
･ Color
Black, White, Red - Small infants are said to prefer these colors, so this mode draws in black white and red only.
This works best if the mode is set to Simple.
Simple colors - Draws in the eight basic QuickDraw colors.
RGB colors - uses random colors across the entire spectrum.
Animated - produces an amimated color effect.
･ Background
Solid color - choose a background color from the color picker.
Random patterns - picks a random pattern for the background.
Color ramp - works best with animated colors on.
･ Clear screen - check this if you want the screen to be cleared and how often
･ Automatic - have the shapes and sounds appear without touching the keyboard
･ Sound - turns sound on/off
･ Hide other apps - covers up the desktop and any other apps running so they cannot accidentally be clicked on.
･ Hide menubar - Hides the menubar so your child cant get at it. The only way to get out of this of course is to type
a key combination. I tried to pick one that hopefully won't be too easy for a child to press.
Type command-shift-delete to restore the menubar.
If you select this option, it will also select the hide other apps option.
･ Scribbling - Allows the child to scribble on the screen by moving the mouse.
None - turns scribbling off
Lines - scribble with lines
Circles - scribble with circles
Squares - scribble with squares
Icons - scribble with icons
Only When Button Down - Select this to scribble only when the mouse button is held down
Customization
BabyTime also allows you to install your favorite sounds, pictures, color icons and patterns into the game.
It uses resources of types 'PICT', 'snd ', 'cicn' and 'ppat'. To do this, open the "Resources" file with ResEdit, a free resource-editing tool from Apple.
Open up the file containg the resources you would like to use and simply copy and paste them into "Resources".
The only requirement is that the resources be numbered starting from 128. This is important, BabyTime will only find resources with these numbers. To renumber a resource, choose Get Resource Info from the Resource menu and type in the new ID number.
If you have any problems e-mail me and I will give more detailed instructions.
Shareware Fee
BabyTime is being released as shareware. If you like it, send me $5. If you don't, send me suggestions on how to make
□it better. If you don't have $5, send me anything you like.
Anything, even an e-mail, will always be appreciated.
Also, if you have any resources, i.e. sounds, pictures, that you would like to see included, feel free to send them to me.
Registered users of any version of BabyTime may upgrade to any future version free of charge.
My current address is:
ﾊﾊﾊﾊﾊPaul Ferguson
PO Box 160
Geneva FL 32732
Send any comments, bug reports or suggestions to:
AOL: TheVM
Compuserve: 70116,1612
Version history:
1.0 - August 1995
Original version
1.1 - January 1996
Fixed all bugs I was aware of. Added color cursors, new scribbling modes, patterns in background window.
Added Actions menu, cleaned up preferences dialog.
Pictures now draw faster.
Added support for Speech Manager.
Now released as two files so users don't have to download the larger Resources file.
Some other minor details.
Distribution & Disclaimer
BabyTime is not in the Public Domain; it is Copyright ｩ 1995 by Paul Ferguson, Sarah Smiles Software.
You may freely copy and distribute this software, providing that the only charges levied are reasonable distribution costs. This software may not be included in any commercial software collection sold for profit, nor may it be bundled with any commercial software, books, CD-ROMs, or other media without the prior consent of the author. When redistributing this software, this documentation must accompany the software in its original form.
By using this software, you agree to absolve Paul Ferguson and Sarah Smiles Software from any liability to data loss or other problems caused directly or indirectly by any part of this software. If you can not agree, don't use it.
