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README

 

KP Typing Game
version 2.0 B
http://www.fonlow.com/zijianhuang/kp/ 
Email: kpsupport  @  ihug.com.au

 

KP Typing Game is a standalone typing game apart from the KP Typing Tutor. The game was originally designed for improving typing speed.

 

Some teachers found innovative ways of using the tutor. They have been using the typing game as an aid for teaching spelling, since the practice content of the typing game could be customized. In addition, the game with contents of special wordlists could be a good tool helping dyslexic students. Teachers may use KP International Companion to generate wordlists.

 

Please note, the text files and media files are provided as examples. You are encouraged to change them to meet your students' needs, since KP Typing Game could be considered as a platform of teaching typing and spelling.

 

File List
=========

kpgame.exe Main executable
kpgame.ini Configuration file
readme.txt This file
license.txt License agreement
\gametext\*.txt Practice contents of the game
\media\*.wav some multimedia effects

Note:
If you are a teacher, you might be interested in customizing the typing game. Please change the settings in the INI file. Some settings are shown on the main window.

 

Installation
============

Run the setup program in file 'kpgame.zip'. 

 

Falling Words Game
==================

Airborne words are falling from the sky to strike the city blocks on the ground. The player has to hurry up to type the words in order to hit them, or they will hit the city blocks.

 

The interfaces of the main window was mainly designed for settings of the game. You may choose a text file as the content of the game, and change the font and background color etc.

 

You as a teacher might need to modify some settings through file "kpgame.ini".

 

Word Bin Game
=============

This game will help you to recall the spellings of words. By default, after you type the second letter of a word, the example word will disappear. If you misspell a word, the word will be thrown into the right bin. Next game will reuse the words in the right bin. 

 

Each time you load a text file, lines of words will be loaded into a pool, so you may load many text files before or after starting the game.

 

Customizing the Falling Word Game
=================================

Both games use text files. Please open those text files in folder "\gametext" under the program folder to get impression of how they support the games.

 

To get better effects, the words are grouped by initial letters. The game will scan the groups of words and minimize the chances of presenting words with the same initial letter at the same time. 

 

Each session of the game will pick up only a portion of the text file. The game generally will finish in about 5 minutes.

 

You may use KP International Companion to create text files for the game.

 

Customizing the Word Bin Game
=============================

The game will scan a line of text for form a session of the game. The content of next game will be next line of text plus words you misspelled. It is suggested that you use a text editor that can show line breaks.

 

The game used a few image files and sound files to present some multimedia effects. Files like "word_blank.*" will be presented prompting the start of a session of the game, files like "word_ok.*" presenting good result, and files like "word_err" reminding wrong spelling.

 

You may use image files of either format of bmp, jpeg, wmf, and emf. You may choose with format to use through changing INI file "kpgame.ini". 

 

Changing kpgame.ini
===================

Many settings of both games could be modified through the window interfaces. However, to fine-tune the program, you might need to modify the INI file using a text editor.


[General] ; for Falling Word Game
NewWordSpeed=3500 ; initial speed factor of creating new word
NewWordSpeedBy=250 ; speed factor:=NewWordSpeed-difficulty * NewWordSpeedBy
DropSpeed=250 ; Dropdown speed factor
DropSpeedBy=20 ; speed factor:=DropSpeed - difficulty * DropSpeedBy
FunSpeed=1 ; 0: dropdown speeds of all words will be the same; 1: with different speeds

If you want creating new words slower, just increase NewWordSpeed, say 7000. If you want drop down speed slower, increase DropSpeed, say 350.

[Setting] ; for Falling Word Game
SaveSetting=1 ; 1 to save the setting on exit, 0 not to save.
GameFontName=Times New Roman ; Font name of dropping words
GameFontSize=20 ; Font size
GameFontColor=65535 ; Font color
GameBgColor=16711680 ; Background color

 

[WordBin] ; For Word Bin Game
ImageType=jpg ; support wmf, emf, bmp, jpg/jpeg, if you leave it empty like "imageType=", no image will be shown.


Updates
=======

For updated info about KP Typing Game, KP Typing Tutor and KP International Companion, please visit
http://www.fonlow.com/zijianhuang/kp/


Re-distribution
===============

You as a teacher, school or software vendor may re-distribute this software package. KP Typing Game is of freeware. Please read the 'license.txt' for details.


Wish List
=========
* Typing games more spelling oriented. For example, when the students type, they need not to care about 'Caps Lock' or 'Shift'.
* Before or after typing a word, the game may speak the word.
* Double-click the text file to run the game.
* Add a few more delimiters.