1st January 2005The "Brainteasers" feature has been mysteriously missing from the EUG magazine for several issues now but that doesn't mean Genevieve Ludinski has been forgotten. Here we present part eleven of this long-running compendium.
WESTERN ADVENTURE GAME
Your rough, tough and ready desperado colleagues have fled into the scrubland, dropping their guns and the loot.
Well, we all know that a man, or a Calamity Jane, has got to do what ever it is. So, you are on your own outside the bank and you have to make it to the horses, which some idiot left on the outskirts of town.
On the way you can collect money and guns with bullets and then decide, if you run into the Sheriff's posse, whether to bribe or blast your way to freedom. Obviously your aim is to reach the horses with some bullets and some money.
We are not advocating that crime pays - that is up to you.
How To Play
Use the arrow keys to make your moves.
Your footsteps will appear on the screen as you move toward the horse in the top left hand corner of the screen.
Your progress will be recorded on the bottom of the screen, and you will, in your progress, be told that you have run into the posse, and you will then be asked if you intend to shoot or bribe your way out.
Key in SHOOT or BRIBE.
Should you run out of bullets I'm afraid that a lynching is your fate as the posse were playing poker when you robbed the bank, and the Sheriff had a Royal Flush.
To exit from the game, press BREAK.
Programming Hints
You can increase the number of events in the adventure by allowing W on line 450, to be larger.
A procedure describing the event, and the effect of it, on the money and bullets can be written.
The new procedures can be listed after line 490.
Remember that BU is the number of bullets, MO is money and X is the random amount to increase/decrease.
WORDSEARCH
This is a brainteaser you have probably come across in puzzle magazines, but that doesn't make it any easier.
The words which are hidden in the screen spaghetti are all four letter - related to food or drink.
How To Play
When you have found one of the twenty words on the screen, key it in and press RETURN.
If your guess is correct your word will be ticked, if wrong it will be crossed. Your score will be displayed to the right of the word keyed in by yourself. After five seconds the word will be erased and your next word must be entered.
The words you have found to date will be blanked out on the screen, which should make it easier for you to spot the others.
To change the screen key in NEXT and press RETURN.
Programming Hints
Two methods are used to reduce the memory required in this program. First, all the numerical arrays are integer arrays, this is shown by putting a % sign after the variable names. Secondly the possible words are stored one after another in a string, instead of an array.
Another change that you could make is to alter the words that can be found. There are 57 of them in order to make the puzzles as random as possible. These words are stored in the variable W$ on line 70. If you can think of other four-letter words to do with food and drink, then just replace some of the words with those you have chosen. If you want to put in words on a different subject, then think of a subject and replace the words in W$ with your words all joined together. Remember there must be 57 of them, and they must all have four letters.
If you wish to use longer of shorter words, all words must still be of the same length as each other. Change the words in W$ so the total number of letters is still the same. Then change ID in line 240 so 4 is replaced by the number of letters in each word, and 57 is replaced by the maximum number of words in W$. The minimum value of ID must be 1 so 3 should be changed accordingly. The 4 in line 280 should also be changed. If the word length is increased more elements of array L$ must be checked to be empty and then assigned a letter in lines 290 to 310. Also the 80 (which is 20 words or 4 letters) and 4 in line 520 should be changed. The 4 in line 530, and the 3 and 4 in line 570 should also be changed.
Special feature
If you want to have a collection of wordsearch puzzles to be completed away from the computer, and you have a 40 column printer, then press CTRL-B then RUN the program and the puzzles will be printed out for you. Press CTRL-C after you have finished.
Genevieve Ludinski, EUG #65
