Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/apps/educatin/e_spell/spelhunt.asc

Text File | 1992-09-29 | 8KB | 178 lines

Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt

(c)1992 Baggetta_Ware

"Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" is offered as a
shareware product by Baggetta_Ware.

    "Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" is a low resolution game for
young children of elementary school age.  It is a fun game to
play, but at the same time it reenforces some basic skill
children should be encouraged to develope.

    The object of the game is simple.  Eliemouse must travel
through his five-room playhouse and find the letters of a secret
word.  These letters have been placed on colorful playing blocks.
Only by picking up the letter blocks and placing them all in one
room will he, and the player, be able to spell the mystery world
correctly.

    One of the skills emphasized in this game and all Eliemouse
products is color recognition.  Once young children learn to
recognize different colors, they love to see these colors used as
part of their lives.  What better place for a youngster to find
colors than on lettered playing blocks.     Fortunately, the Atari
line of ST computers offer a rainbow of colors to use and play
with.  And "Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" uses color to its fullest.

    Young children also need to develope their sense of
direction.  Many children never really learn until much later in
their lives exactly what is meant by the terms North, South, East
and West.  Their first encounters with this usually comes in the
form of a map, and this is how "Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt"
introduces the concept of direction.

    "Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" also encourages children to use
simple logic to solve a problem.  The program asks the child,
what is the quickest way to collect the letters of the secret
word before the time runs out?  If too many mistakes are made the
puzzle cannot be solved.  If wrong decisions are made in
selecting the deposit room, the puzzle cannot be solved.  Even it
the puzzle cannot be solved the game must be completed in order
to try again.  In other words, if you start something, you must
finish it, even though you might not get some personal gain out
of the result.

    All this said, "Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" is still a fun
game to play.  It has the magnetic draw of the text adventure
game, many adults still play on computers.  There is also lots of
color graphic effects, sound effects and music to keep children
entranced as they try to solve the mystery word.


Step Through

    Let's take a journey through the opening screens of the game
and find out about the commands needed to play the game.

    Put our disk with SPELHUNT.PRG and EHEAD1.PI1 in the A drive
and boot your Atari ST computer.  (You must have a color
monitor.)  Double click on SPELHUNT.PRG from directory of disk A.
(If you are unsure of how to do this, check with your computer
manual.)  The program SPELHUNT.PRG can be copied to a hard drive
to run faster.  Be sure that all files are with it in the same
directory.

    After a few moments you will see the advertisement screen.
Sorry about this, but I do have to earn a small fee to keep
programing.  Believe me I am not getting rich.  This opening
screen tells about two other commercial Eliemouse products that
are available from Baggetta_Ware.  If you have young children
around, you will want these as soon as possible.  The ordering
address is on the next screen.  (See information about the
shareware fee for this program at the end of this documentation.)

    Press a key and you have the address screen.  Press a key
again.

    This is the title screen for the "Eliemouse's Spelling
Hunt."  You will hear a short tune (Pop Goes the Weasel) and then
you are asked to press a key again -- lots of key pressing going
on in this game.

    The next few screens are instructional for young children --
for the most part they will only be visible every time you play
the game from start.  This first screen tells about North, South,
East and West.  It also explains about Eliemouse's playhouse.
Press a key when you are through reading.

    This screen produces a map of Eliemouse's playhouse.  There
are five rooms, each a different color, and each has a letter
block already placed in it -- for use in the game coming up.  The
directional icon in the lower right corner of room five is also
introduced.  Parents might want to show their children similar
icons as they appear on real maps in atlases and travel books.
This screen will be accessible as a command while playing the
game.  Simply press the M key and the map will appear.  Press a
key.

    The next screen explains about the doorways between each
room.  Some rooms have more than one door, but this is a very
simple room plan.  Press a key.

    This next screen is a quiz screen.  The child is asked to
determine the direction to exit a room.  The room is different
every time the game is started over.  Use the first letter of the
direction to answer the prompt, N for North, E for East, etc.  If
the answer is incorrect, the computer will beep at you.  If your
answer is correct you will be patted on the head and allowed to♪go on.  You do not need to press another key here to get the next
screen.

    The next screen, before we finally get to play, is the HELP
screen.  This reviews the directional commands and gives a couple
of others that will be used in the game:

        N    =    NORTH
        S    =    SOUTH
        E    =    EAST
        W    =    WEST
        G    =    GET (used to pick up a block letter)
        P    =    PUT (used to put the letter down)
        M    =    MAP (take a look at the map)
        H    =    HELP(to see this screen for directions)

    After playing the game a few times, you will find yourself
ignoring the HELP screen very often.  Press a key to move on.

    Finally!!! This is the playing screen and here is what you
should see:

    At the top is the title: SPELLING HUNT with Eliemouse
looking in from the left of the screen.

    Under the title bar is the secret five-letter word, already
scrambled up.  By the way, the present version of the game has
100 five-letter words to solve.  To the right of the word is
another version of the directional icon.  You can use this to
know which direction you will be heading on command.

    The lower half of the screen is filled by a colorfully
bordered window where you will get information and give commands.
Beneath the window, for the player's convenience, there is a list
of the commands that can be used in the game, as explained above.

    In the command window, simply tap the first letter of the
command you wish to execute and the computer will respond in one
of several ways.  If the key does not represent one of the
commands, nothing will happen.

    Use G and P to Get and Put blocks, but remember that you can
only carry one block at a time.  In order to pick up another
block to transport, you will have to drop the block you are
carrying.

    In the command window you will see assorted responses by the
computer and you will also see the word building in the room of
your choice, as you deposit letter blocks there.

    When you have collected all of the blocks in one room, you
will be "pat" on the head and allowed to play or end the game.
If you should run out of moves, you must complete the game
anyway, if you want the chance to play again.

    Ok, kids, strap on your "thinking caps", boot up your Atari
and join Eliemouse in his spelling hunt today.


"Eliemouse's Spelling Hunt" if offered as shareware.  If you play
this game and would like to see more Eliemouse software come
forth, please send a registration fee of $5.00 to the following
address.

Baggetta_Ware
P.O. Box 759
Agawam, MA  01001-0759

GENIE:  BAGET
DELPHI: ALBERT