IMPORTANT: VERSION .99 OF MAZEMAKER INCLUDES ONLY ONE TYPEFACE. THE TYPEFACE INCLUDED IS MADE UP OF BITS AND PIECES WHICH I THOUGHT SUBSTANDARD, BUT IT DOES ALLOW ONE TO GET A COMPLETE PICTURE OF WHAT THE PROGRAM CAN DO. TO GET THE COMPLETE SET OF TYPEFACES THAT I HAVE DEVELOPED FOR THIS PROGRAM, SEND $15 TO:
ROBERT SCHENK
P.O. BOX 404
RENSSELAER, IN 47978
THIS VERSION OF MAZEMAKER MAY BE DISTRIBUTED FREELY, BUT KEEP THIS NOTE WITH IT.
MAZEMAKER AND THE MAZEMAKER FONTS ARE COPYRIGHTED 1991 BY ROBERT SCHENK.
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MazeMaker makes mazes, either automatically or by allowing the user to sketch one. The type of maze can be controlled by in the set-up menu. After a maze is generated, it can be altered by the items in the Tinker menu. For some types of mazes or for some sizes of mazes, one or more of the items in this menu will be inactive.
Mazes can be saved in two forms. Using the SaveEncoded command in the File menu saves the maze in a form so that it can be reopened with MazeMaker and perhaps altered. If one is brave, one can also try to alter these files.
The Save As command in the file menu saves the maze in a form so that it can be opened in a word processor, formatted with one of the maze fonts that come with this program, and printed. Files which are saved in this form cannot be reopened in MazeMaker.
A limitation of this version is that one cannot print mazes directly from MazeMaker. Perhaps this limitation will be overcome in a later version of the program.
One can use MazeMaker to draw mazes, but they are limited in size to 25 rows and 42 columns. This size limitation is in place because larger mazes will not fit well on a small screen of a Mac Plus, SE, or Classic. I could have left it to the users discretion if they wanted to make a mess by trying to construct mazes with five-point type, but decided not to.
The largest maze which can be produced is 190 by 190. I have tried to make mazes larger than this, but the program, for reasons I do not understand, seems to lock up.
Flipping a maze takes the top right corner and places it on the bottom left. The top left and bottom right corners stay where they are. Mazes with triangular cells cannot be flipped.
In mazes with triangular cells, some cells along the top cannot be top exits and some along the bottom cannot be bottom exits. If you try to place an exit in one of these cells, the program moves it to a neighbor cell where such an exit is possible.
If one uses the Change-Exits-Visual command to place an exit on a corner, it will always be a side exit. Also, one cannot place an internal exit along an outside row or column. If you want to do so, you must place the exit with the dialogs in the Change-Exit command.
The Reduce Deadends in the Tinker menu will connect about one-third of the deadends to the rest of the maze. This may make the maze easier by providing more than one solution, or it may make the maze harder by creating long circles. If the command is repeated enough, eventually all internal deadends will be removed. Deadends on the border are not changed.
There are currently 11 different MazeFonts. Most of them will handle all four types of mazes which the program generates. However a few, such as MazeFontPipes and MazeFontTrain, will only print square-celled mazes. Not all typefaces work well in all situations; some only work when printed at relatively large sizes.
I am eager to hear new ideas for both typefaces and for additional capabilites which might be of use in the program. I can be reached at the address below, or electronically at bobs@saintjoe.edu
POWER USER NOTE
Mazes which are saved using the Save As... command are TEXT files, but they are given a signature to make them easier to open with a word processor. The signature is contained in string 7000. Mazemaker comes with value "nX^n" in this string, which is the signature of WriteNow. Hence if you have WriteNow and you double click on a maze saved with the Save As... command, it should open up WriteNow.
If you prefer to have these saved maze files open up a different word processor, determine the signature of the word processor and replace the value in string 7000 with the new signature.
