Copyright: ® Copyright 1993 REEVEsoft


Contents

Topics

Creating a New Puzzle

Loading an Existing Puzzle

Saving a Puzzle

Playing a Puzzle

Printing a Puzzle

Other Information

Menu Options

Letters Toolbox

Word Lists


Menu Options

File

New...

Open...

Save

Save As...

Print Puzzle...

Print Solution...

Quit

Puzzle

ReName...

ReSize...

Edit Wordlist...

Type

Color...

Font...

Generate...

Tools

Spellchecker

Random Fill

Play

Start

Stop

Timer

Help

Help

About


New
New...

Selecting the New menu item from the file menu allows you to create a new puzzle starting from scratch. You will be asked for a puzzle name, and the width and height of the puzzle. The new puzzle will then be displayed.

A puzzle's name can be up to twenty characters in length and the width or height of a puzzle can be no greater than fifty.

Note: Word Hunter can only have one active puzzle at a time so only use this option if the puzzle in memory has been saved to disk or you do not wish to keep the puzzle in memory.


Open
Open...

Selecting the Open menu item from the File menu allow you to load an existing puzzle from disk so that it can be edited or played. Word Hunter includes many pregenerated puzzles that can be access this way.

Once Open... has been selected the file selection dialog box will appear so that you can find the puzzle you want to play. Select it and press OK and the puzzle will load into memory.


Save

Selecting the Save menu item from the File menu will save the puzzle in memory to disk using the currently selected filename. This option is not available unless a filename has already been selected. Once a filename has been selected via the Save As... menu item you can save by selecting this item and skip the file selection dialog box.


Save As
Save As...

Selecting the Save As... menu item from the File menu will save the puzzle in memory to disk. It differs from the Save option in that it allows you to give the puzzle a new filename. Save As... MUST be selected when you first save your puzzle (so that a filename can be assigned), but after that you can just select Save UNLESS you want to give the puzzle a new filename.


Print Puzzle
Print Puzzle...

Selecting the Print Puzzle menu item from the File menu allows you to print the puzzle in memory on paper. This is ideal for a variety of situations such as for friends, classrooms, puzzle books, etc...

See Also...

Print Solution...


Print Solution
Print Solution...

Selecting the Print Solution menu item from the file menu allows you to print out a puzzle key. All words in the puzzle will be followed by their location within the puzzle in the form of (X, Y, D) where X is the X offset and Y is the Y offset into the puzzle (with 1,1 being the upper left corner of the puzzle) and D being the direction in which the word has been placed.

See Also...

Print Puzzle...


Quit

Selection the Quit menu item from the File menu will terminate Word Hunter.


ReName

Selecting the ReName menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to rename a puzzle. A puzzle can be given a name of up to twenty characters in length. This name is not to be confused with a puzzle's filename (used when saving and retrieving the puzzle to and from disk). A name is first assigned when a New puzzle is created, but should you wish to changed the name just select this menu item.


ReSize

Selecting the ReSize menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to give the puzzle a new size. When a puzzle is first created a width and a height must be supplied, however it may be desirable to add/delete rows and columns from the puzzle. If a row or column is added then that row/column will be blank. If a row or column is deleted then that row/column's contents will be lost.


Edit Wordlist
Edit Wordlist...

Selecting the Edit Wordlist menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to update the list of words contained within the puzzle. Word Hunter needs to know what words are hidden within a puzzle for both playing and printing a puzzle. Also, using the word list makes placement of words much quicker!


Type

Selecting the Type Menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to select the type of the puzzle being created. Word Hunter supports three puzzle types:

Plain - There is no hidden word contained within the puzzle.

Hidden - There is a hidden word contained within the puzzle. Once all words have been found you can read the remaining letters from left to right, top to bottom to discover what it is.

Scrambled - There is a hidden word contained within the puzzle. Reading off the letters from left to right, top to bottom will yield the letters comprising this word...you must now unscramble the letters into the correct order to find the word and complete the puzzle.


Color

Selecting the Color menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to assign a color to the puzzle.


Font

Selecting the Font menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to select a new font for the letters in the puzzle.


Generate

Selecting the Generate menu item from the Puzzle menu allows you to randomly generate a Word Hunter puzzle.


Spellchecker

Selecting the Spellchecker menu item from the Tools menu allow you to spell check the words in your word list. Word Hunter includes a 70,000 word dictionary. We recommend performing such a spell check on your word list after editing it.


Random Fill

Selecting the Random Fill menu item from the Tools menu provides a quick and easy way to fill in remaining blank spaces in a puzzle.


Start

Selecting the Start menu item from the Play menu will commence playing the current puzzle. Word Hunter will first validate it to verify that all words are contained within the puzzle exactly once, and that all puzzle spaces are occupied by either a letter or the null-space character.

See Also...

Stop


Stop

Selecting the Stop menu item from the Play menu will end the play of a Word Hunter puzzle.

See Also...

Start


Timer

Selecting the Timer menu item from the Play menu will toggle the Word Hunter timer on and off. If the timer is on a check will appear next to this item, otherwise it is off. When playing a puzzle it may be useful to know how much time has been consumed so that you can play the puzzle against the clock. If the timer is on then Word Hunter displays the time as you work on solving the puzzle, otherwise you will only see the time after the puzzle has been completed.


Help

Selecting the Help menu item from the Help menu activates this help system.


About

Selecting the About menu item from the Help menu displays version information for Word Hunter, our dictionary software, and our company's information.


Letters Toolbox

The letters toolbox list all twenty-six letters from the alphabet along with the blank space character and the null-space character which is listed as an asterisk in the toolbox. The letters toolbox is used to select a letter to be placed in the puzzle. To do so click on the desired letter in the letters toolbox and then click anywhere in the puzzle to place that letter. The letter may be placed repeatedly until you either select a different letter or select a word from the word list for placement.


Word Lists

Word Hunter needs to know the words contained in a puzzle so that the puzzle can be played. Word Hunter keeps these words in a word list which can be edited from the Edit Wordlist menu item. The current puzzle's word list is displayed to the right of the puzzle. This word list also allows you to quickly place words in the puzzle. To do so just select a word from the word list, select a starting position in the puzzle by moving the mouse to the appropriate space in the puzzle and holding the mouse button down, and then drag the mouse in the direction you wish the word to be placed. Release the mouse button and the word will be placed in the puzzle unless it will not fit at the selected location in which case an error message will appear.


Creating a New Puzzle

Creating a new puzzle entails first selecting the New menu item from the File menu to select a puzzle name and size. Next you will enter a word list for your puzzle, fill in your puzzle with words and letters, and select a puzzle type (if you wish for the puzzle to contain a hidden or scrambled word).

See Also...

Editing a Puzzle's Word List

Adding Letters to a Puzzle

Selecting a Puzzle Type


Adding Letters to a Puzzle

Word Hunter allows you to add letters to a puzzle in three ways:

I. You can select a letter from the Letters Toolbox and then click on spaces in the puzzle in which you wish to place the letter.

II. You can select a word from the puzzle's word list and place the entire word in the puzzle.

III. You can type letters on the keyboard and have them added to the next blank space going from left to right, top to bottom (this is useful when you're typing in puzzles that have already been created) in the puzzle.


Playing a Puzzle

When you're ready to play a puzzle that has been loaded into memory (or newly created) select the Start menu item from the Play menu to play the puzzle. The letters toolbox will disappear, and if you have the timer on then the current amount of time consumed will be displayed in the Word Hunter title bar.