# The &kmessedwords; Handbook

Whitehawk
Stormchaser

    zerokode@gmx.net

2001
KDE Edutainment team
&FDLNotice;
2002-10-08
2.1

&kmessedwords; is the simple mind-training word game

KDE
kdeedu
KMessedWords
mess
words

## Introduction

&kmessedwords; is the game, that is based on the word/letter puzzles that I have played as a child. It is a very simple constructed game, with 3 dificulty levels of play, and each level deserves it's value. It is fully customizable game, that allows you to write in your own words, and set your own look and feel of the game. It is aimed for children aged 10+, because of the dificulty, but, everyone is welcome to try. A word is picked in random, and displayed out in the messed order, with dificulty dependant on the chosen level. You have unlimited numbers of attempts, and the scores are kept.

## Using &kmessedwords;

Here's a screenshot of &kmessedwords;
&kmessedwords; screenshot

### General usage

A word is displayed in the random order of the letters... You guess the entire word at once. If you missed or guessed, the game will tell you.

Words are case sensitive, so, that michelle is not Michelle

Each time you start the game, the default level is easy.

There are 3 levels: easy, medium and hard.

As of all levels are completely customizable, you can set the level of difficulty of each level by yourself. As the difficulty level of the game is dependant on the length of the word, the defaults are:

Easy

  4 letters, everyday words

Medium

  Special 4 letter words, and longer everyday words, up to 7 letters.

Hard

  Words at least 6 letters long, both everyday words and special words.

After a word is guessed, you are prompted for another word and you can either use the Yes or No.

## Game Reference

Here's a screenshot of &kmessedwords;
&kmessedwords; screenshot

### The main &kmessedwords; window

The button Bye!, or the key combination &Alt;F4, can exit the game at any time.

The Help button will show you this window, containing all of the avaliable help.

Configure button hides 2 options inside: Configuration will popup the main configuration screen to setup the &kmessedwords;, and the Dictionary, where you will be able to write / erase the words.

Scores will show you top 10 scores.

On pushing the button Messup, you will start the game.

The menu labelled Level will set the level that you are playing.

## Configuring &kmessedwords;

Configuration window of &kmessedwords;
&kmessedwords; configuration window

### Changing themes

&kmessedwords; allows you to easily customize how it looks. You can select a theme by clicking on the Configure button, choosing Configuration from the menu, and then choosing the Themes tab in the configuration dialog.

Here you can choose a theme from the list, and also choose if it will be applied to the Button images, just the Background image or both.

By default there is only one theme, named default. We hope there will eventually be many more themes available for download.

### Changing player name

In the configuration window you just select the tab named User, change your name and press Ok.

## Setting word dictionary

Wordlist editor of &kmessedwords;
&kmessedwords; dictionary window

### Changing words in &kmessedwords;

To get to the word-editor, you need to choose Configure Dictionary. For each level there is own list of the words, as for easy, medium and hard. The word editor is just a plain text editor, that you may type words into. The separator is a line divider, or press Enter.

The editor will refuse to read blank lines or lines with equal letters and characters. To save the words, just press OK or Save words. You don't need to be a superuser for the program to change the words, because the dictionary files are saved into local user configuration.

## Previewing scores

&kmessedwords; scores window &kmessedwords; scores window

### Checking scores in &kmessedwords;

To check scores, all you have to do is to click on the button scoring in the non-graphical window or on the 3-1-2 stars in the default theme.

## Developer's Guide to &kmessedwords;

### &kmessedwords; &GUI; - The Graphical User Interface

The &kmessedwords;' core is already built in full, for the reading/storing and messing up the words. Now my goal is to make the most easy to use, good looking graphical front-end for that. I am working on that as much as I can, but everything changes in non-stop action with my spare time. I still have some ideas, but I would really like any other opinions, too.

## Questions and Answers

&reporting.bugs; &updating.documentation;

I have an error message telling me the pictures cannot be found.

If you installed the program from the RPM, then I should be the one, that is supposed to fix that rpm file. But if you compiled the application on your own, note, that there is still something with the default prefix. The default prefix will install the app into the `/usr/local/`, so all you have to do is to change the prefix with ``--prefix=path_to_your_kde_dir``

## Credits and License

&kmessedwords;:

Creator, maintainter and designer:

- Whitehawk Stormchaserzerokode@gmx.net

Contributors:

- Coding help (engine creation): Waldo bastian bastian@kde.org

- Coding help (includemoc and all that stuff...): Daniel Molkentin molkentin@kde.org

- Coding help (helped making the &kmessedwords; workimg properly under KDE2 and KDE3): Haavard Froeiland haavardf@operamail.com

- Moral support: Anne-Marie Mahfouf annma@kde.org

Documentation copyright 2001 Whitehawk Stormchaser and &kde; Edutainment teamzerokode@gmx.net

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &kmessedwords;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

In order to successfully use &kmessedwords;, you need &kde; 3 and &Qt; 3 on your system.

&kmessedwords; can be found on The &kmessedwords; home page.

### Compilation and installation

&install.compile.documentation;

&documentation.index;