Hangman Gold 3.0

"the ultimate hanging experience"

for Windows 95, 98 and NT, FREEWARE!
(c) Roshin Lal R, 1999

Home page : http://members.xoom.com/hangmangold
E-mail : hangmangold@hotmail.com

Hangman Gold 3.0 Readme 8/4/1999

About the Game
Features of Hangman Gold
How to Play
Multiplayer Game
Different Views
Creating & Using Categories
Credits
Uninstalling Hangman Gold
Disclaimer & Distribution

About the Game

Hangman Gold is a computerized version of the classic word game of the same name. The game was originally named Hangman but with version 3.0 the name has been changed to Hangman Gold. Why the name change? Because I've completely rewritten the game and added lots and lots of new features that's guaranteed to give you the ULTIMATE HANGING EXPERIENCE EVER!

Features of Hangman Gold

Thousands of words in many different categories
Mix and play with words from different categories
Clean interface, very easy to use
Can be played with keyboard alone
Different views : Standard, Compact & Minimal
2-person Multiplayer over LAN or Internet
Easy to add new categories and words to the game
Download new categories off the net
Edit categories to suit your needs
Specify minimum word lengths
Play with time limits
Can handle files of up to 2 GB size
Game is completely FREE

How to Play

The interface of Hangman Gold is very intuitive, you can just start up and go! Start a new game by selecting New game option from Game menu. Now you can select the categories with which you want to play, choose as many as you like.

Important Note : Big category files take a long time to load ...

Once a game has started you can use the keyboard or mouse to play. The game will display statistics such as the number of words attempted and percentage of words you got correct.

Multiplayer Game

I believe Hangman Gold is the first Multiplayer Hangman game, Wow!. The game offers a challenging multiplayer play as follows:

Multiplayer Game Rules

The turns alternate between the two players at start of every new word.
A player can keep on guessing letters as long as he gets them right, at each wrong guess, the turn passes to the other player.
If time check is enabled, a separate clock is maintained for each player (sort of like chess).

Scoring:

The player who finishes a word correctly gains a point, if the man gets hanged, the player who had the last turn looses a point.

Starting a Multiplayer Game

** Important Note : You can only start a Multiplayer Game before any Category files has been loaded. Also the only way to continue after a Multiplayer Game is by exiting and restarting.

To start a multiplayer game choose Multiplayer from the Game menu. You'll be asked whether you want to host or join a game. One person will have to host the game while the other person joins the game. The person who hosts the game will be Player 1 and all game options are decided by the host. The other person can connect to the host by entering either the Host Name or the IP Address of the host.

** Important Note : In order to find the name of your computer, go to Control Panel, choose Network and look for the Name field under Identification tab.

Once Player 2 supplies the Host name or IP address and selects Connect, Hangman will establish a connection and you're ready to play.
Now Player 1 can set different setting such as Time Check, Minimum Word Length etc and start a new game by choosing New from Game menu and specifying the categories.

** Important Note : The status bar will show who has the current turn.

** Important Note : To play two player game on a single computer, run two sessions of Hangman Gold and set up one as Host and use the Host name of your computer in the second session to join to the host.

Different Views

Hangman Gold supports three different views - Standard, Compact and Minimal. The last two are great for saving screen real estate. You can play Hangman while working on Word Processor, Spread Sheet etc or even while browsing the net.

** Important Note : While in Compact or Minimal view, a new menu item Next appears which has an equivalent function as that of the Next button. Moreover you can go on to the next word by clicking on the display text.

Creating and Using Categories

** Important Note : See Category File Definition for details on how to create a new category.

To add a category to the game just copy the category file to the Categories folder in the directory where you installed Hangman Gold. (C:\Program Files\Hangman Gold\Categories is the usual...).

Credits

Game Design and Programming : Roshin Lal R

The author wishes to thank the following people for helping immensely with the development of the game:

Alan D Ball - My favorite critic, ardent supporter and beta tester. Most of the features in Hangman Gold are adapted from his suggestions
Aparna Sundaresan - Drew the hanging man for the original Hangman along with Kshama
Deepu Chandy Thomas - VB Guru, supplied some obscure VB details
Devi Mohan - Web help and support
Kshama T N - Drew the hanging man for original Hangman with Aparna
Shaheen Shasa - Beta tester and all round support
Sidharth Narayanan - Expert beta tester, also suggested the different views option

Uninstalling Hangman Gold

Hangman Gold can be uninstalled by using the Add/Remove utility in the Control Panel. However some files and settings may be left behind even after uninstalling. For example if you added more category files after installing Hangman Gold, these files will not be deleted by the uninstall utility and you have to manually delete them.

Hangman Gold stores its configuration settings in the Windows registry and these are not deleted on uninstalling so that if you install it later on, your settings will be restored. However for the likes of you who definitely need to delete all traces, the easiest way to do this is to edit the system registry by doing the following:

Run REGEDIT
Locate the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\Hangman Gold 3.0
Delete the key

This will remove all Hangman Gold configuration settings. The default settings will automatically be restored the next time that you run Hangman Gold.

Warning : Editing the system registry is dangerous if not done properly and only experienced users should attempt this. It is always advisable to make a backup copy of your system registry before attempting any sort of operation on it.

Disclaimer & Distribution

Hangman Gold is provided "AS IS". The author or the other people whose names are mentioned in this document are in no way responsible for any damages arising from the use of Hangman Gold software and makes no warranty or representation, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Hangman Gold is FREEWARE, i.e. you can copy and use the program at will provided no extra cost is charged for its distribution and usage except for the nominal cost of distribution media, packaging, postage etc.

The category files provided with Hangman Gold are copyrighted by its individual authors. The author has no responsibility over them.

** Important Note:

Anyone can create new categories for Hangman Gold and distribute it in any public medium, but the files should not be packaged with Hangman Gold. For example a person can create a new category and put it up on his home page but he should not bundle Hangman Gold and the new category file together (for example in one ZIP file) and distribute it. If anyone wants to distribute a category along with Hangman Gold he can contact the author from the Hangman Gold Home page at http://members.xoom.com/hangmangold or by email at hangmangold@hotmail.com.

You may freely redistribute this package, on the conditions:
   [a] that the whole package is redistributed, AND,
   [b] that NO alteration is made to the package, or to any of the files in it, AND,
   [c] that no charge (other than charges for disk duplication and handling) be made for any redistribution.

Bulletin boards and CD-ROM producers may freely distribute this package, subject to the above conditions.

Use of this product for any period of time constitutes your acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to its contents.

This page and its contents (c) Roshin Lal R, 1999