Copyright: Ultra Logic, Copyright (c) 1996 by ViSoft.


Help Topics


New Features in Version 1.1

  • Configuration is now automatically saved to a file.

  • Ultra Logic ensures that the user did not leave any blank pieces.

  • An installation program has been added.

  • The help window is automatically closed when Ultra Logic is closed.

  • The user interface has been redesigned, making it easier to use.

  • The background music has been changed.

  • A new game statistics section added to the About box.

  • Dynamic board implemented. Now you can resize the board to any size!

  • Three different game levels added: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.

  • The time indicator has been changed and now looks like a real timer.


New Features in Version 1.2

  • Added graphical, easy to use tutorial.

  • A selection of four background songs has been added.

  • Added a Win 95 style tips dialog with helpful game tips.

  • A minor uninstallation problem has been fixed.

  • Fixed some problems related to the printing of the registration form.

  • Fixed a few minor menu related bugs in the registered version.

  • Ultra Logic now makes full use of the Win 95/NT Registry.

  • Fixed 2-pixel board resizing bug.

  • The game now loads more than three times faster.

  • Many other minor improvements.


New Features in Version 1.3

  • Added game statistics dialog with a nice chart.

  • Fixed major dialog resizing bug.

  • Several minor improvements to the registration form.

  • You can now click the addresses in the help file to connect to the Internet.

  • Various cosmetic changes to the help files.


Contact Information

You can contact the author at the following addresses:

Internet email:

 vitaly@idirect.com

Regular mail:

 Vitaly Livshits

 605 Finch Ave. West, Apt 517

 Willowdale, Ontario

 M2R 1P1
 Canada

Suggestions and bug reports as well as general comments are always welcome.


Getting the Newest Version

The following FTP sites always carry the latest version of Ultra Logic:

• ftp.cdrom.com /pub/win95/games/ulogicxx.zip - Walnut Creek CD-ROM Archive

• ftp.winsite.com /pub/pc/win95/games/ulogicxx.zip  - WinSite Archive

xx is the version number, for example 13 for version 1.3

If you wish to be notified when a new version comes out, please send email to vitaly@idirect.com.

You are also invited to visit our WWW page. The address is:

http://www.student.toplinks.com/hp/vitaly/ulogic

The links above are “live”, click them to open your favorite Web browser or Email program.


Registering Ultra Logic

Ultra logic is being distributed using the shareware concept. If you have been using Ultra Logic for more than 21 days you must register. Registration is very easy and fully automated. There are two major ways to register, with a credit card or with a check (or cash). In any case, you will find all required registration information in the Help|Registration menu.

After the author receives your registration you will be sent a special registration number which you can enter into the Registration Number dialog (Help|Registration Number menu). After verifying this code Ultra Logic will register itself and all the features will be fully enabled. The same registration number can also be used in all future versions which can be downloaded for free from the Internet. If you do not have Internet access and wish to receive a new version, please contact the author.


Disclaimer

Users of Ultra Logic (“program”) must accept this disclaimer of warranty: The program is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the program.


License Agreement

Ultra Logic (“program”) is a shareware program and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation.  Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another  system.  The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for the programmers to continue to develop new products.  If you find this program useful and find that you are using the program and continue to use the program after the trial period (21 days), you must make a registration payment of $10 to the author. The $10 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book.  An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time.

You are encouraged to pass a copy of the program along to your friends for evaluation.  Please encourage them to register their copy if they find it useful.


Definitions


Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register.


A special number you receive after the registration. This number is unique to each user and is calculated based on the user’s name.


General


Closes this dialog and saves any changes you’ve made.


Closes this dialog without saving any changes you’ve made.


Properties Dialog


Enables or disables the background music (MIDI) during the game.


The background song to be played during the game.


Smart Hint is a special type of online help that is displayed when the player leaves the mouse over an icon in the toolbar for a few seconds.


If selected then the checking of the current row is performed automatically after filling in all the spaces. If not selected then the check will be done after pressing the check button.


Registration Form


The name of the person registering Ultra Logic. This name will be used by the author to calculate the registration number.


Your e-mail address or your postal address will be used for sending you the registration key.


Your postal address or your e-mail address will be used for sending you the registration key.


The registration number can be delivered to you by email or regular mail. Please select the preferred method.


Number of copies of Ultra Logic you wish to order.


Prints the registration form. You will be able to change printer properties later.


Main Form


The computer displays the results of your move on this board. It places a black peg for each peg you guessed correctly and a white peg for each peg that is on the board, but isn’t not in the correct position.


This timer displays the number of seconds since the beginning of the game.


These are the possible colors that are used in the combination that the computer chose. To place them on the board simply drag and drop them.


Custom Form


Use this track bar to set the number of columns on the board.


Use this track bar to set the number of rows on the board.


These dimensions of the board will be set after you click OK.


This board is the preview of the board that will be set with the current dimensions.


Tutorial


Tutorial - Introduction
Introduction

Welcome to Ultra Logic tutorial!

This tutorial consists of three lessons. In the first lesson you will learn about the goal and the rules of the game. The second and the third lessons will guide you step by step through two sample games. Each lesson in the tutorial takes only about 10 minutes to complete.

Click on the links below to go to any lesson:

Lesson 1 - Understanding the game

Lesson 2 - Sample Game 1, beginner level

Lesson 3 - Sample Game 2, intermediate level


Lesson 1 - Understanding the game


The Role of the Computer

In the beginning of the game, the computer picks a set of several color pegs. The number of pegs the computer chooses is always the same as the number of columns on the board. The color of the pegs is selected randomly and several pegs can be have the same color. The maximum number of colors the computer can use is 8.


The Goal

The goal of you, the player, is to guess the combination of pegs the computer had chosen. The number of turns in which you have to do it is limited and is represented by the number of rows on the board (1 to 15). If you guess the combination in the specified number of turns you win, otherwise, you loose.


Making the Move

You make a move by dragging a colored peg from the top of the of the screen and dropping it on the left board:


Computer's Response
Computer’s Response

After you fill all the spaces in one row with colored pegs the computer responds by placing pegs on the right board. The computer can place either a black peg, a white peg or nothing for each peg you put on the left board.

A black peg is displayed when you correctly guessed both the color AND the placement of the peg. A white peg is displayed when you guessed only the color of the peg correctly (even thought it’s in the wrong place).

For example, consider the following situation:

From this situation we can see that:

•	There are no black pegs.

•	There is one lime peg and it’s positioned in one of the three rightmost places.

Another example:

From this example we can see that:

•	There are no red pegs.

•	There are no yellow pegs.

•	One (and only) blue peg is positioned in the 2nd or 3rd position from the left.


Suggested Tactics

There is no definite set of rules you can follow to win every single game. However, like in most games, there are some things that you should do and some that you should not.

•	Don’t introduce many new colors in one turn. For example, the following situation wouldn’t  give you any useful information:

•	Once you’ve found the correct position of a peg, don’t move it to another place in the middle of the game.

This concludes the first lesson. Don’t forget to check the other two lessons for two real game examples. Good luck!


Lesson 2 - Sample Game #1


Sample Game 1 , Turn 1/7

Welcome to the second lesson in the tutorial! This lesson will present you with an explanation of one game (beginner level).

It’s always best to use a combination of two or three different colors during the first turn. In this case we chose one red peg and two yellow pegs. From the response we can see that there are no red or yellow pegs.


Sample Game 1, Turn 2/7

Since no red or yellow pegs are present we use an approach similar to that used on the first turn. This time we use two lime pegs and one black peg. One white peg is displayed on the right board. This means that there is only one lime peg or one black peg present. Since the computer displayed a white peg, we did not guess the position correctly.


Sample Game 1, Turn 3/7

Our goal now is to find whether the white peg on the right board in row 2 was displayed for a lime peg or a black peg. To accomplish this goal we fill the third row with black pegs only. From computer response we can conclude that there are no lime pegs present. Therefore, one black peg must be at the 1st or 2nd position from the left.


Sample Game 1, Turn 4/7

The purpose of the 4th turn is to determine where the single black peg is positioned. In order to do this we place one black peg at the leftmost position and introduce two new blue pegs. Computer’s response means that there are no blue pegs and that the single black peg is positioned at the leftmost place. At this point we already know the location of one peg for sure. 1/3 of the game is now complete!


Sample Game 1, Turn 5/7

Since we already know one place for sure, it’s time to introduce one new color (green). From the response we can see that there is one green peg and it’s either in the 2nd or 3rd position from the left.


Sample Game 1, Turn 6/7

In the 6th turn we need to find out where the green peg is positioned. To do this we leave one green peg on the board and introduce one new color (pink) . The computer’s response means that there are no pink pegs and that the green peg is positioned at the 3rd place from the left. 2/3 of the game is now complete!


Sample Game 1, Turn 7/7

Since we already know the position of two pegs for sure and we checked 7 colors out of 8 possible, there is only one combination left to try. We place a gray peg in the middle position. Obviously, we get three black pegs in response. This means that we won!

This concludes the second lesson of the tutorial. Good luck!


Lesson 3 - Sample Game #2


Sample Game 2, Turn 1/8

As was noted in the first sample game, in the beginning it’s always best to use two or three different colors. In this case we use blue and green. From computer’s response we can conclude that there are:

•	Two blue pegs, or

•	Two green pegs, or

•	One blue peg and one green peg

Also, we can see that one peg is in the correct position, while the other one is not.


Sample Game 2, Turn 2/8

Now we need to check whether there are any green/blue pegs on the board. In order to accomplish this, we place only green pegs. Nothing is displayed as a response, therefore there are no green pegs. At this time we know that there are two blue pegs on the board. We also know that one of these blue pegs is in either the leftmost position or in the 2nd position form the left.


Sample Game 2, Turn 3/8

The purpose of this move is to find out the position of one blue peg. From the response we can see that the blue peg is in the leftmost position. We can also see that there are no yellow pegs at all.


Sample Game 2, Turn 4/8

At this point the position of one blue peg is known for sure (it’s at the leftmost position). Now we need to find the position of the other blue peg. In order to do this we introduce a new color, lime. From the response we can see that there is one lime peg on the board. Also, we can see that the blue peg is not in the correct position.


Sample Game 2, Turn 5/8

Since we know that there are two possible positions left for the 2nd blue peg (the rightmost and the 2nd from the right) we try one of them. We also introduce one new color, black. Computer responds by placing two white pegs and one black peg, which means that there are no black pegs on the board. It also means that the blue peg is at not at the 2nd position from the right. Therefore, it’s at the rightmost position.


Sample Game 2, Turn 6/8

From this point on, everything is easy. We place the 2nd blue peg at the rightmost position, the only position left. Based on the computer’s response from rows 4 and 5 we can conclude that the lime peg is at the 2nd position from the right. At this point we already know the position of three pegs for sure. We introduce a new color, pink. From the response we can see that there is only one pink peg.


Sample Game 2, Turn 7/8

We place the pink peg at one of the possible positions and introduce a new color, red. Computer’s response means that we already have all the correct pegs on board and that only two of them are not in the correct position. Since we know that two blue pegs and one lime peg are placed correctly, there is only one combination left to try.


Sample Game 2, Turn 8/8

Now we try the only remaining combination and, of course, it’s correct.

This concludes the third lesson of the tutorial. Good luck!