CD Direkt 1995 #6

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Text File | 1994-11-04 | 12.0 KB | 262 lines

Crypto! (TM) 1.5 Copyright 1994 KMR Consulting All rights reserved. Internet: kar@cs.rit.edu SHAREWARE VERSION TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1. WHAT IS Crypto! 2. REGISTERING Crypto! 3. DISCLAIMER 4. INSTALLING Crypto! 5. WHAT IS A CRYPTOGRAM? 6. PLAYING Crypto! 6.1. Object of the Game 6.2. The Crypto! Screen 6.3. Making a Guess 6.4. Erasing Mistakes 6.5. Using the Keyboard 6.6. Using Hints 6.7. Winning 7. STRATEGY 8. CHANGING SCREEN COLORS 9. CHANGING THE FONT 1. WHAT IS Crypto! ------------------ Crypto! is a Windows version of the popular cryptogram puzzles often found in puzzle books or the Sunday paper. Crypto! selects a quote or phrase from its library, encrypts it, and presents it to you to solve. With its library of 250 quotes and phrases, you'll have many hours of fun, and you will read a lot of interesting, thought-provoking, and sometimes downright funny quotes of famous, not-so-famous, and wishing-they-hadn't-been-quoted people. 2. REGISTERING Crypto! ---------------------- Crypto! is copyrighted software. It is not in the public domain, nor is it distributed for free. The author retains all rights to this software. Crypto! is distributed as Shareware so you can try it out without risk to see if you like it. Play it for a month. If you don't like it, simply delete it and owe nothing. If you continue to use Crypto! after the trial period, you must register your copy. To do this, fill out the form in the file REGISTER.TXT, and send it with your check to: KMR Consulting 3090 Griffin Rd Churchville, NY USA 14428-9512 The registered version of Crypto! includes over 10,000 quotes and phrases, for years of cryptographic fun! Registered users of Crypto! will automatically receive and be registered for the next major revision of the program free of charge. Registered users may also call or write for information on the latest revision, to report bugs, and make suggestions or other comments about Crypto!. I am particularly interested in your ideas for making Crypto! a better game. The shareware version of Crypto! may be freely copied and distributed provided that it is distributed intact and without any modification. 3. DISCLAIMER ------------- Crypto! is supplied as is. The author disclaims any and all warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchant- ability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liabilities for any damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Crypto!. (For heaven's sake, it's only a game!) 4. INSTALLING Crypto! --------------------- Installation is easy. First, you must unpack the archive file containing the distribution (if you're reading this, you have done that already). You should have the following files: crypto.exe executable Windows program crypto.qot quote/phrase file crypto.txt the file you are reading now register.txt registration form bwcc.dll Borland C++ support routines Copy the files "crypto.exe" and "crypto.qot" to any directory you wish; they must reside in the same directory. Bwcc.dll may be put in this same directory or the windows\system directory. To start Crypto!, open the File Manager, display the directory containing "crypto.exe". Now double-click your mouse on "crypto.exe", or use File|Run and enter the command "crypto". Should you decide to register Crypto!, you may wish to add it to one of the groups in the Program Manager. Here is how that is done: 1) Open the group to which you have chosen to add Crypto!. 2) Select File|New from the Program Manager. 3) Verify that the box which appears says "New Program Item", and click OK. 4) Enter the following values: Description: Crypto! Command Line: crypto.exe Working Directory: (the directory where you put crypto.exe and crypto.qot) 5) Click the OK button. Now Crypto! can be started merely by double-clicking its icon in the group to which you added it. 5. WHAT IS A CRYPTOGRAM? ------------------------ A cryptogram is an ordinary phrase or quote. What makes it interesting is that it has been disguised by changing its letters. For example, all of the A's may have been changed to Q's, all of the B's to W's, etc. Text that has been disguised in this manner is called "ciphertext." The original text of the phrase is called "plaintext." 6. PLAYING Crypto! ------------------ The following sections describe how to play Crypto! Read them carefully to get the most enjoyment out of the game. 6.1. Object of the Game ----------------------- A cryptogram is solved by guessing which plaintext character each cipher- text character stands for. When you have gotten them all, you will see the original phrase. 6.2 The Crypto! Screen ---------------------- When Crypto! is running the screen is divided into two windows. The left window contains the ciphertext; this is shown in red.** The right window shows two things: first is a list of the plaintext letters that have not yet been chosen, shown in blue. The right window also shows the number of times each ciphertext character appears. ** Note: these are the default colors. You can change to other colors if you prefer. See below for details. 6.3. Making a Guess ------------------- To make a guess, point to a ciphertext (red) character with the mouse and click the left mouse button. (You can point to a ciphertext character in either window.) The character you have chosen will turn black everywhere it appears in the phrase. Now point to the plaintext (blue) character you think it stands for and click the left mouse button again. This plaintext character is now shown over every occurrance of the ciphertext character in the cryptogram. If you wish, you can select the plaintext character first, then the ciphertext character. 6.4. Erasing Mistakes --------------------- As you guess more and more plaintext characters, you should begin to be able to read the quote; if what you see doesn't make any sense, then you may have made some wrong guesses. If you wish to undo a guess, simply point the mouse at the ciphertext or plaintext character you wish to undo and click the right mouse button. Also, if you have selected the wrong plaintext character (or the wrong ciphertext character, if you select that one first), clicking the right mouse button will erase it. 6.5. Using the Keyboard ----------------------- If you prefer, you may use the keyboard instead of the mouse. To make a guess, first type a ciphertext character, then type the plaintext character you want to assign to it. If you find that you have entered the wrong ciphertext character, press Backspace to clear it. To undo a guess, press and hold the Shift key while you type the ciphertext character you wish to undo. If you enter an illegal key, it will beep at you. 6.6. Using Hints ---------------- If you can't get started, try getting a hint from the Hint menu. Hint|Big tells you the plaintext letter for the most often used ciphertext char- acter. The next big hint exposes the next most often used ciphertext, and so on. Little hints expose the least often used ciphertext. At any time during the game, Hint|Confirm can be used to verify whether or not your guesses so far are correct. Hint|Undo Error will identify and undo one incorrect guess, or tell you if there are none. Finally, Hint|Solve Puzzle does just that. 6.7. Winning ------------ For all practical purposes, the game is over when you can read the quote or phrase. Technically, though, you haven't won until you finish it on the screen, so Crypto! won't admit that you have won until you actually mark all of the plaintext characters correctly. In fact, placing the last letters on the screen will sometimes show that the quote was not quite what you thought it was. Casual or beginning users will use hints to solve the cryptogram. Purists will refuse to use any of the hints, and will consider a game lost if they have to undo any guesses. You should play Crypto! in whatever manner you enjoy the most. 7. STRATEGY ----------- The letter frequencies are one key to solving cryptograms. While different authorities will list them in slightly different orders, the most commonly used letters in ordinary English text are E, T, O, A, N, I, R, S, and H. It is likely, then, that the ciphertext letters which appear most often stand for these letters, but there is no guarantee: try them in various orders and see what you get. Letter frequencies are not the only thing, however: you can also look at the ciphertext for clues. For example, there are only two English words that are one letter long, "a" and "I." If you see a one letter word in the ciphertext, it must be one of these. If it is not capitalized, it must be an "a." Contractions, three letter words which appear over and over (e.g. "the", "and") and punctuation also provide clues. But watch out for abbreviations and other unusual text. After selecting a plaintext letter, look throughout the phrase and see if it makes sense everywhere it appears. For example, if you find that your selection has created a two-letter word in which both letters are vowels, something is obviously wrong. 8. CHANGING SCREEN COLORS ------------------------- To customize the colors to your liking, choose the Game|Change Colors menu entry. You will be shown a menu of six different things whose colors can be changed. Select one of them and click OK, then select the desired color. Note that only solid colors (not the dithered representations) may be chosen; for reference, the "Custom Colors" section shows all the valid solid colors. Then click OK. The menu of things to change will reappear; you can select another one, or click CANCEL when you are satisfied with the colors. Your colors will be saved and continue to be used when you run Crypto! in the future. 9. CHANGING THE FONT -------------------- If you don't like the default font that Crypto! uses for its characters, you can select a different font or size with the Game|Change Font menu entry. When you select this, you will be shown a list of font names and sizes. Only the fixed-width fonts installed on your system will be shown; Crypto! uses fixed-width fonts so that the letters of the ciphertext and the plaintext letters can be printed above one another correctly. Select a font name from the list, and select a size with the mouse. You will be shown a sample of text in that font and size, and may choose again if you don't like what you see. If you want a size other than the ones shown in the list, type it into the box above the list of sizes and press the TAB key: you will be shown a sample. Note that not all sizes are available, but you should be able to find something that you like. When you do, click the OK button and Crypto! will change to that font and size, resizing the windows as needed. You may change fonts as many times as you wish, but the next time you run Crypto! it will start with the last font and size you selected. We recommend that you avoid TrueType fonts. At some sizes, the characters of some TrueType fonts spill into one another's space. Ordinarily this is good, as it makes text written in that font more pleasant to read. But when you select a character with the mouse, Crypto! must rewrite it in a different color; if either of the adjacent characters spills over into this one's space, this will erase a little bit of the edge of the adjacent character. This causes no harm, but can be unplesant to look at. In addition, using a TrueType font can cause the screen to flicker, especially on machines without graphics accelerators when using more than the usual 16 colors or a higher than normal resolution. Again, this causes no harm, but you may find it distracting. Thank you for trying out Crypto!, and I hope you enjoy it. Remember to register the program if you wish to use it past the trial period! K. Reek, 11/3/94