home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Games All
/
Games All - Over 500 Value - All Copyrighted Games - No Registration Fees (Affiliated Software Distribution)(1993).bin
/
docs
/
wordbird.doc
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-02-22
|
26KB
|
613 lines
WordBird version 1.4 rf
copyright 1990,1992,1993 Diana Gruber
all rights reserved.
Greetings and welcome to the documentation for WordBird version
1.4. I hope you will spend many happy hours enjoying this program.
Hardware Requirements
_____________________
Here is what you need to play WordBird: You need some kind of a DOS
compatible machine (XT, AT, 80386, etc) with an EGA or VGA card and
an EGA, VGA or multisync monitor. This program will not run on most
Tandy 1000 series computers. It will not run on a PS/2 model 30 or
below. It will not run on a system with CGA or monochrome graphics.
It will not run on an AT&T EGA system. It will only run on a
computer that is fully compatible with the IBM EGA standard.
Optional Hardware
_________________
WordBird was designed to work with a mouse, and it works best with a
mouse. A keyboard-only mode is also supported.
Important note: In most cases, pressing the RIGHT mouse button behaves
the same as pressing <Enter>.
Memory Requirements
___________________
If you use the default dictionary, WordBird should run without
problems in 512k. If you use a larger dictionary, you may see a
message: "Unable to allocate memory". If this happens, check that
you don't have any TSR's loaded. If you try to run WordBird from
a shell-type menu program, you may experience memory problems. You
may also have problems if you have one of those programs that
simultaneously runs a clock, calendar, appointment book, note pad
and screen saver. If you have any memory problems with WordBird,
try turning off all that stuff.
If WordBird runs out of near memory during a game, it may write a
message to a file called "errmsg.txt". This should never happen. But
it might. If it does, delete that file and try again without any TSR's
loaded.
Installing WordBird
___________________
In general, to install WordBird, all you have to do is copy all the
files into the directory of your choice.
Files Included in the Distribution
__________________________________
WORDBIRD.DOC -- This file.
WORDBIRD.EXE -- The program file.
BIRD.DCT -- The default dictionary.
(In the French version of WordBird this file will
be named "FRANCAIS.DCT")
WORDBIRD.PBM -- All the artwork: the board, the tiles, etc.
(In the French version of WordBird this file will
be named "BIRDF.PBM")
FONT.BIN -- Font graphics.
ENDICT.EXE -- This program allows you to encode a dictionary.
ENDICT.DOC -- Description of dictionary encoding.
DEDICT.EXE -- This program allows you to decode a dictionary.
DEDICT.DOC -- Description of dictionary decoding.
Revision History
________________
Version 1.0 11/1/90 first release.
Version 1.1 4/1/91 fixed some bugs.
Version 1.2 7/13/91 one more itty-bitty bug
Version 1.4 2/23/93 renamed from "Scramble" to "Wordbird"
Starting WordBird
_________________
There are two ways you can start playing WordBird. The recommended
method is to stop reading this documentation and start up the game
and figure it out by trial and error. For those of you who prefer
to read about a game before playing it, I will try to describe
everything that happens in detail.
Start up the game by typing:
C:\>WordBird
After pressing return, wait patiently for a moment or two. WordBird
is loading the dictionary from disk. This takes a while because it
is a pretty big dictionary.
When the dictionary is finally loaded, WordBird will present an
exciting and tasteful intro screen with colorful animated tiles.
Whatever you do, don't press a key while this intro screen is in
progress! Pressing a key during the intro screen will interrupt
the display and put you immediately into the WordBird game. You
won't want to miss any of this exciting intro stuff, so resist
the temptation to press a key! Just wait patiently until the intro
is finished.
Following the spectacular intro screen, the WordBird board will
miraculously appear on the screen, and then it is immediately hidden
by a popup window. There is an important question in this window.
See Figure 1.
┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Who wants to play WordBird? │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │ 1 │ │ 2 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ Player │ │ Players │ │
│ └───────────┘ └───────────┘ │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │ 3 │ │ 4 │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ Players │ │ Players │ │
│ └───────────┘ └───────────┘ │
│ │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘
Figure 1.
It asks "Who wants to play WordBird?" What it means is, how many
players are going to play WordBird? It is up to you to decide how
many players are going to play. If you want to play solitaire
WordBird, select one player. If you want to play against your
younger brother, select 2 players. If you want to play against
the computer, you also select 2 players. If you want to watch the
computer play against itself, select any number of players, but make
them all computer players.
Now you are probably asking yourself "huh? How do I make them all
computer players?" Here is the answer: The next popup window lets
you decide! See Figure 2.
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Agreed. 2 players. Like this? │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────┐ │
│ │ Player 1 │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ OK │ │
│ │ Human │ │ │ │
│ └──────────┘ └─────────┘ │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Player 2 │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Computer │ │
│ └──────────┘ │
│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘
Figure 2.
At this point, you can use the mouse or the number keys to change
any player from a human player to a computer player, or vice versa.
For example, Player 1 always starts out as a human player. To make
Player 1 a computer player, press the "1" key or move the mouse cursor
to the Player 1 box and press the left button.
When everything in this box is to your satisfaction, press <Enter>
or click your mouse on the "OK" box.
You are now ready to play WordBird.
Playing WordBird
________________
To play WordBird, you must choose letters from your tray and put them
on the board to make a valid word. There is a cursor that looks like
a little hand on the board. Use the mouse or the arrow keys to move
the hand cursor around. To choose a letter from the tray, press that
letter on the keyboard, or choose the letter with the mouse. Or you
can use the number keys to choose the tile: 1 is the first tile, 2 is
the second letter, etc. If you choose the blank tile, WordBird will
prompt you to tell it what letter the blank tile is supposed to
represent.
If you press a letter key that isn't in your rack, and you have a
blank tile in your rack, WordBird will assume you want the blank tile
to represent that letter.
You can unselect letters as easily as you selected them.
When you have selected a position and a tile, press <Enter> to put
the tile in the position. Pressing <Enter> without selecting a tile
means you have come to the end of your word.
Note: Pressing the right mouse button behaves the same as pressing
<Enter>.
Alternatively, you can select the tile first, then point to a square
on the board with your mouse cursor and press the left mouse button.
This will put the letter on the board without pressing <Enter>.
After you have put a tile on the board, the hand cursor will try to
move to another convenient spot.
There is more than one way to get letters from the tray to the board,
and I suggest you experiment until you find the method you are most
comfortable with.
WordBird Rules
______________
Each player in turn must create one or more words consisting of 2 or
more letters. The first word must intersect the center of the board,
which is the square with the star in it. All other words must be
created so that at least one tile is placed adjacent to a tile
already on the board. All tiles must be placed in a straight line,
either horizontally or vertically, and when added to tiles already on
the board must form one complete word in this direction. Any
perpendicular words formed by adjacent tiles must be complete and
legal words. Blanks may be used as any letter, but once played their
value can not be changed. Blanks are not worth any points.
If you can't make a word, you have the option of exchanging some or
all of your letters. If you choose to do this, you will get no
points for your turn, and play will pass to the next player.
The game is over when all the tiles have been exhausted, and at least
one player has an empty rack, or no more words can be made, and each
player passes his turn. Any tiles remaining in the rack will be
counted against the player. The winner is the player with the highest
score.
WordBird will determine the point value for words played and keep
track of the score. A tile on a bonus square will result in a bonus
of two or three times the value of the letter, or two or three times
the value of the word.
Using all 7 tiles in one turn earns a 50 point bonus.
The Computer Player
___________________
You can choose to have one to 4 computer players. If all the players
are computer players, WordBird will play the whole game by itself.
After the game is over, you can look at the board or the stats to see
what happened.
The computer player looks at each row and each column on the board
and tries to make a legal move. It scans the entire dictionary once
for each column and each row. It does this as fast as it can. If
the computer player has a blank in the rack, it will take a little
longer to look at each row and column.
Skill Level
___________
The computer player has two skill levels: easy and hard. The easy
skill level player has access to fewer words and makes slightly faster
moves and usually generates lower scores. To change the skill level,
select "F5 - Skill Level" from the main menu. See figure 3.
┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Player 1 skill level is hard. │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ Easy │ │ Hard │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ └───────────┘ └───────────┘ │
│ │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘
Figure 3.
Press "e" for easy, or click on the Easy box with your mouse cursor
for the easy skill level. Press "h" or click the mouse on the Hard
box for the hard skill level. The default skill level is hard.
If all the players are computer players, WordBird will prompt you
for their skill levels at the beginning of the game. If at least
one player is human, you can change any computer player skill level
at any time during the game.
Undo
____
WordBird has an infinite Undo feature. You can undo every turn, all
the way back to the first turn, including turns where you didn't make
a word but you exchanged letters. If you accidently put a letter in
the wrong square, you can use Undo to correct your mistakes.
If you are playing against the computer, and you select Undo,
WordBird will undo 2 or more moves, depending on how many computer
players there are. Otherwise, you would only undo the computer
player's turn and not your own turn. And then the computer player
would take a turn and you would be right back where you were.
WordBird Tiles
______________
Select WordBird Tiles (F6) to move the tiles around in your rack.
Some people find this helps them think of words. If you have some
tiles on the board when you select WordBird Tiles, they will go
back in the rack.
If you want to organize the tiles on the board to try to find words,
go ahead and do that. You can rearrange the letters, then press
"Undo" or "WordBird Tiles" to put them back in the rack. There is
no penalty for experimenting and changing your mind.
The Score Board
_______________
The score board is located in the lower right corner of the board.
The value of the last word made is listed to the right of the player
who made it. The players are color coded and the total score of
each player is listed on the line below the player's name.
View Stats
__________
Use the mouse or the function key to select "View Stats" and you will
see game statistics, including what tiles have been played so far,
what words were made, and how many points each turn was worth. The
number of tiles remaining is also displayed. You can view the stats
at any time during your turn without interrupting the progress of the
game. See figure 4.
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Player Letters Word Points │
│ │
│ 1 doG doG 10 │
│ 2 one gone 3 │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ │
│ │ Scroll │ │ Scroll │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ Okay │ │
│ │ Up │ │ Down │ │ │ │
│ └────────┘ └────────┘ └────────┘ │
│ │
│ Tiles left: 80 │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘
Figure 4.
Notice that blank letters are displayed in upper case. In this
example, Player 1 made the word "dog" using the blank letter to
represent a "g". Since this was the first word of the game, he
got double word points for a total of 10. His opponent then built
on this word using the letters o,n, and e to form the word "gone".
To scroll the list up and down, use the arrow keys or click the mouse
on the "scroll up" and "scroll down" boxes. Press the down arrow
to scroll up, and press the up arrow to scroll down. Press <Enter>
or click the mouse on "Okay" when you are done looking at the stats.
The Dictionary
______________
The default dictionary contains approximately 33,000 words. When you
make a word, WordBird will look in the dictionary to see if your word
is in there. If it doesn't find your word in there, it will ask you
if it is a real word, and if you say it is a real word, WordBird will
believe you. You also have the option at this point of adding your
word to your personal dictionary, called "persdict.txt".
When WordBird makes a word, it consults the bird dictionary and
tries to find a good word to put on the board.
If you don't like the contents of the dictionary, you are free to
change it. Use the program dedict to decode the default dictionary,
and endict to re-encode it. The process is described in the files
dedict.doc and endict.doc. It is really quite simple to do, kind of
like zipping and unzipping a file. The compressed file is called
bird.dct. The uncompressed file can be called anything you want,
I recommend you call it bird.txt.
Sound Effects
_____________
In general, I don't like noisy programs, but I added one sound effect
because one of my beta testers asked for it. If you want to hear a
little "ding-a-ling" noise after the computer player finishes making
a word, you can turn this feature on by turning on your CapsLock.
If your CapsLock is off (like it should be!) then there are no sound
effects.
Questions and Hints
___________________
The following are the most commonly asked WordBird questions:
Q. When I use a word not in the dictionary, WordBird asks me if I
want to add it, and I respond "yes" and then I use the word again
later, and it asks me the same question. Does it add the word to
the dictionary or doesn't it?
A. No, it does not add the word to the dictionary. It adds the word
to the file "persdict.txt". You can look at that file with any text
editor. If you want to add those words to the dictionary, you can
decode the default dictionary, add the words manually, and then
re-encode the dictionary. It is quite simple to do, if your editor
can handle a file that large. See the documentation for the programs
Dedict and Endict.
---
Q. Don't you think you should have included a utility program to do
that automatically?
A. I probably should have, but I didn't. Maybe it will be included
in a future version of WordBird, if there is a future version of
WordBird.
---
Q. Wouldn't it be better to have a really big dictionary?
A. That is a matter of personal preference. A big dictionary will
slow the program down, and it will make the game harder to beat. But
if you have a fast machine, and you prefer a more challenging WordBird
partner, then you may want to install a bigger dictionary.
---
Q. Does the computer player ever exchange letters?
A. Yes. If WordBird can't make a word, it will exchange between
3 and 7 tiles.
---
Q. How does it decide which tiles to exchange?
A. It's random.
---
Q. After I make a turn, that little hand moves around on the board
above and below the word, and to the left and right. What is it
doing?
A. It is calculating cross checks and cross points, in preparation
for the next word. It may seem a little slow, but it actually speeds
up the program.
---
Q. Sometimes the computer player comes up with a word right away, and
sometimes it takes a long time. Why?
A. There is probably a blank in your computer's rack. If there is
a blank, it takes a little longer to choose a word. Also, as the
board gets fuller, there are more positions to consider, so it takes
longer.
---
Q. WordBird thinks "aa" is a word. I never heard of an aa. What is
it?
A. According to my dictionary, aa is rough, cindery lava. Ai is a
three-toed sloth and xu is a monetary unit of Viet Nam. I never heard
of those words before either.
---
Q. But WordBird made a word that I can't find in any dictionary!
That's cheating! Why did it do that?
A. Oops! Really? Oh, dear. That sounds like a bug to me. Sorry!
You can edit that word out of the dictionary (see endict.doc and
dedict.doc).
---
Q. Are my moves timed?
A. Not in this version of WordBird. I was intending to put in a
cute little hourglass timer, but I just didn't get it done in time.
Maybe in the next version.
---
Q. Are there any other features you are planning to put in the next
version?
A. I have had many suggestions on ways to improve WordBird. The
single most popular request is a save and restore game feature. A
high scores feature would be nice. A boss key, better utilities to
edit the dictionary, better "hand" movement, practice mode, and a
reformatted stats screen are all excellent suggestions. I will see
what I can do, but I am not making any promises. Even the easiest of
those features will take time to implement, and time is something I
am short of right now.
---
Q. Does WordBird take factors into consideration when choosing a
word other than the point value of the word, such as defensive
strategy, preserving good letters for future moves, and using all
the letters at the end of the game?
A. Not in this version.
---
Q. I made a word that isn't a real word, and WordBird challenged me
on it, and when I admitted it wasn't a real word, it put all my
letters back in the rack. Then it gave me another chance to make a
word. Aren't I supposed to lose my turn if I get challenged?
A. WordBird knows you didn't really mean to put those tiles where
you put them, and it gives you another chance to put them where you
meant to put them. If you think you deserve to lose your turn for
getting challenged, I suggest you select "F2 - Pass" and voluntarily
give up your turn.
---
Q. I don't like these colors. How can I change them?
A. You can't. I am sorry you don't like them.
---
Q. Why does this program run so slow?
A. It runs fast enough on my '386! Seriously, when you design a
program like this, you have to make trade-offs. There is a faster
crossword algorithm, which was described the May 1988 issue of
Communications of the ACM. I chose not to use this algorithm
because it uses too much memory. The algorithm I developed is
slower, but it has advantages: WordBird will run in less than 512k,
it will not conflict with TSR's (in most cases) and it is quite simple
to encode and decode the dictionary, thus making user-installed
dictionaries possible.
You can make WordBird run faster by selecting the "Easy" skill
level, or by installing a smaller dictionary.
---
Q. How come I can see my opponent's rack? Shouldn't it be hidden?
A. You must be thinking of some other crossword game. This is
WordBird. In WordBird, you get to see your opponent's rack.
---
Q. Why does this document look so funny when I print it out on my
printer?
A. I don't know. Maybe your printer doesn't support the extended
character set. Check your printer manual.
---
WordBird was written by Diana Gruber. You can contact the author
at the following address:
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Diana Gruber │
│ Ted Gruber Software │
│ P.O. Box 13408 │
│ Las Vegas, NV 89112 │
│ USA │
│ │
│ voice: (702) 735-1980 │
│ bbs: (702) 796-7134 │
│ fax: (702) 735-4603 │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────┘
This program may be used by one person at a time and may not be
distributed without permission. For distribution information,
contact:
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Dave Snyder │
│ MVP Software │
│ 1035 Dallas SE │
│ Grand Rapids, MI 49507-1407 │
│ USA │
│ │
│ (616) 245-8376 │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────┘
