Conundrum Red Manual File (C)opyright 1996, Joshua Seales All Rights Reserved Table of Contents ----------------- 1. Instructions for playing the game 2. Installing Conundrum Red 3. Features of Conundrum Red (listed by menu item) 4. Registering 5. Uninstalling Conundrum Red 6. Notes 1. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING CONUNDRUM RED Conundrum Red is a simple yet addictive game of logic. Each puzzle piece is represented by a large square the is divided into quarters. Each quarter is either red or yellow. The object of the game is to place pieces next to each other so the color of their sides match. A red quarter next to a red quarter and a yellow quarter next to a yellow quarter. Colors on the outside of the puzzle do not matter. Example: Scrambled Puzzle: Solved Puzzle: +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ |R|Y| |Y|Y| |R|R| |R|Y| +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ |R|R| |R|Y| |R|Y| |Y|R| +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ (1) (2) (1) (3) +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ |Y|R| |Y|R| |R|Y| |Y|R| +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ |R|Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y| |Y|Y| +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ +-+-+ (3) (4) (2) (4) *R denotes that quarter of the puzzle piece is red. *Y denotes that quarter of the puzzle piece is yellow. There are more than one way to solve this puzzle but this is how I chose to solve it: First: I rotated piece 1 to the right once. Second: I swapped pieces 2 and 3. Third: I rotated piece 3 to the right once. Fourth: I rotated piece 2 to the right once. Look at the solved puzzle above, this puzzle is solved because: The right side of piece 1 matches the left side of piece 3. The bottom size of piece 3 matches the top side of piece 4. The left side of piece 4 matches the right side of piece 2. Finally, the top of piece 2 matches the bottom of piece 1. Pressing the left mouse button on a puzzle piece will rotate the piece clockwise in ninety degree increments (counter-clockwise if the control key is held down). A piece can be selected by pressing the right mouse button on it. A rectangle will appear around the piece selected indicating that piece has been selected. Then selecting another puzzle piece, using either mouse button, will swap (exchange) the two pieces. There is an information box in the upper right side of the window that displays the current level, number of moves remaining, difficulty level and the time in seconds since the game was started. By rotating and swapping puzzle pieces, every puzzle can be solved. The trick is to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible without exceeding the given number of moves. There are only a certain amount of moves allowed for each puzzle (a move is defined as swapping puzzle pieces). In other words, puzzle pieces can only be swapped the given number of times. There is no penalty for rotating pieces however. Each puzzle has a difficulty rating. This is based on the number of pieces in the puzzle, the amount of moves allowed and the types of pieces in the puzzle. (Certain pieces are considered more difficult to work with than others.) There are twenty-one levels in the game. In levels one through seven, the number of moves allowed are the number of pieces in the puzzle multiplied by two. In levels eight through fourteen, the number of moves allowed are the number of pieces in the puzzle. In levels fifteen through twenty-one, the number of moves allowed are the number of pieces in the puzzle divided by two. (These can be extremely difficult.) There is also a timer that displays the number of seconds that have elapsed since starting the puzzle. The quicker the time the better. Each puzzle is limited to ten thousand seconds (almost three hours). Three hours is plenty of time for any level. After solving a puzzle, a dialog box displays your statistics for the puzzle you just solved as well as the current champion for that level. This includes the level number, the number of moves remaining, the level of difficulty and the time it took to solve the puzzle. There is also a password for the next level. Write each password down. When you want to play a certain level, choose "Select Level" from the "Game" menu and enter the password for the level you wish to play. Determining the champion for each level is based on several factors. Basically it is desirable to have the greatest amount of moves remaining. This is how the score is calculated: (1) The champion's difficulty level is compared to the player's difficulty level. The two difficulty levels are subtracted and divided by two. The person (champion or player) with the higher difficulty level has the points added to their moves remaining total. In other words, for every two difficulty points a player has over the other, that person has one move remaining added to their total number of moves remaining. (2) The champion's and the player's time to solve the puzzles are compared. The two time are subtracted and divided by four. The person (champion or player) with the lower time has the points added to their moves remaining total. In other words, for every four seconds quicker a player is than the other, that person has one move remaining added to their total number of moves remaining. (3) The champion's total moves remaining are compared to the player's total moves remaining. The higher moves remaining total wins. If the player has a higher total than the champion, the player becomes the new champion. Scoring example: The player solves a level one puzzle and has the following statistics: Player #1 | Level #1 Champion --------------------+-------------------- Moves Remaining: 6 | 8 :Moves Remaining Difficulty Level: 3 | 6 :Difficulty Level Time: 3 | 19:Time --------------------+-------------------- Difficulty Level Points = 6 - 3 = 3 / 2 = 1 point Time Points = 19 - 3 = 16 / 4 = 4 points The champion had the more difficulty puzzle and is awarded the 1 difficulty point. The player had the quicker time and was awarded the 4 time points. Player moves remaining = 6 + 4 time points = 10 moves remaining. Champion moves remaining = 8 + 1 difficulty point = 9 moves remaining. The winner and new level champion is ... player #1. A game can be paused at any time by simply minimizing the window. This does not allow the user to study the puzzle while the clock is stopped. (Note: The clock does not start until the first puzzle piece is selected or rotated so the puzzle can be studied before started.) 2. INSTALLING CONUNDRUM RED Installing Conundrum Red is simple. After unzipping the ConRed.zip file, double click the Install.exe file. Then just click the install button at the bottom of the window. The source and destination directories can be changed if desired, although it is not necessary. When Install.exe is complete, it will display a message explaining whether Conundrum Red was installed correctly or not. Then to play Conundrum Red, click on the Conundrum Red.exe item in the Conundrum Red folder off the Windows 95 'Start' button. Install.exe will copy the game and text files to the game directory, copy one uninstall file to your windows directory, and create a Conundrum Red group off the Windows 95 'Start' button. 3. FEATURES OF CONUNDRUM RED (listed by menu item) Game Menu - "Replay Current Level": Starts a new game on the current level. Resets the time and returns a new puzzle. Game Menu - "Select Level": Presents a dialog box calling for a level password to be entered. Enter the password for the desired level and a new game will start on that level (i.e. the password 'Iguana' starts a new game on level one). Game Menu - "Shuffle Puzzle Pieces": Shuffles the puzzle pieces. It does NOT start a new game. The clock keeps running. The puzzle pieces can be shuffled as many times as desired during a game. Game Menu - "Clear Champion List": Clears the high scores. Game Menu - "View Champion List": Displays the best player's information for each level (level champions). Game Menu - "End Game": Ends the current game. A dialog box is then displayed with three options ... REPLAY, SOLUTION, DONE. 'Replay' simply starts the level over with a different puzzle. 'Solution' displays the solution for the puzzle (Note: There are often more than one solution for each level). 'Done' closes the dialog box. Images Menu - There are eight graphic schemes. These change the appearance of the game pieces. Only two are allowed in the unregistered version. As soon as the program is registered all other schemes are allowed. Sounds Menu - There are eight sound schemes. These change the sounds used throughout the game (i.e. when a puzzle piece is rotated or swapped). Only two are allowed in the unregistered version. As soon as the program is registered all other schemes are allowed. Help Menu - "About": What an 'about' box usually does ... displays information about the game. Help Menu - "Registration Form": Displays the registration form in a dialog box. It can be filled in and the copied (using the right mouse button) to notepad for printing. Help Menu - "Instructions": Displays this text file in a dialog box. Help Menu - "Register Program": This displays the dialog box where the user registration information is entered. Simply enter the user name and number sent to you by e-mail or snail mail and press the 'Register' button. 4. REGISTERING To register Conundrum Red, simply fill out the registration form (RegForm.txt) included with the zip file and send it along with the appropriate amount of money to: Conundrum Red Registration c/o Joshua Seales 4620 Briar Hill Rd Cortland NY 13045 USA If you would like the list containing each level's password please include an additional $2. 5. UNINSTALLING CONUNDRUM RED *Please note that the Conundrum Red UnInstall program will only work correctly if Conundrum Red was installed using the Install.exe included in the ConRed.zip file. One way to uninstall Conundrum Red is to click the UnInstall Conundrum Red.exe item in the Conundrum Red folder off the Windows 95 'Start' button. Then click on the uninstall button. Another way to uninstall Conundrum Red is to use the standard Windows 95 method of clicking on the Add-Remove programs item in the Windows 95 Control Panel. When the list of installed programs is presented, select Conundrum Red and press the Add/Remove button. This will also execute the uninstall program. Finally click on the uninstall button. When uninstalled there will be one file (UnInstallCR.exe) in your windows directory. It is only 21K and can be deleted after the game is uninstalled if desired. 6. NOTES * The password for level one is 'Iguana'. * Remember to delete the UnInstallCR.exe file in your windows directory after uninstalling Conundrum Red. * When playing a game it is possible to pause the game by minimizing the window. This does not allow a player to study the puzzle while time is stopped. * Only use Conundrum Red in a 256 color mode. Do not use the high or true color modes. DISCLAIMER THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.