Rando Children's Game for Apple II Now Up

Bill Buckels

RANDO(C) Version 2.0
For The Apple II
Copyright 1990-2008 Bill Buckels
All Rights Reserved.

Written in Apple33 Manx Aztec C65 Version 3.2b
Windows XP Cross-development environment for DOS33

Available for Download at:

http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/Rando33.zip

A PDF User's Document (included in the above) complete with screenshots:

http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/Rando33.pdf

Program Description

Very Large Random Letters for the Very Young.
Very Noisy.

Rando is a "Typing Game" and a Random Letters Recognition Game (hence the
name "Rando" which stands for "Random". I just thought that a silly word
like "Rando" would mean more to a 3 year old than a real word like
"Random".)

Rando is a very simple and very noisy game for children of around 3 - 6
years old. Music and Large Letters make Rando interesting even if your child
can't read. (The reading will come soon enough.)

This Version of Rando is more advanced than the original Apple II and MS-DOS
versions. Several activities are organized around a main menu.

This version of Rando is free and you are encouraged to give Rando for the
Apple II away to anyone you please. The more kids that enjoy Rando, the
merrier! See the licence Agreement below for more details.

Rando has no time limits, and is just a noisy and fun way for your child to
learn the alphabet.

I am distributing Rando with complete source code for this release. Read the
licencing section if you are inclined to use source code. All of this will
all be included in the next Aztec-C Website update which may already be done
by the time you read this. Until then you will not be able to build Rando
because the libraries have changed with additional routines that Rando uses.

History

I wrote Rando for my little boy Bill, (who is long past a teenager and no
longer so little). Frankly, he hated it, and also didn't much care for
computers at all when he was that young. However, regardless of my son's
preference at that age, I still think Rando is a fun activity for a young
person who likes to "bang" on the keyboard.

It was for this reason that I decided to write this new version of Rando for
the current generation of little people to enjoy, (or to hate, depending on
their preferences).

I originally wrote Rando on the IBM-PC and the Apple II versions came after
their respective IBM-PC Versions. The only real difference between this
version of Rando and the IBM-PC Version 2.0 released in 1999 besides that
this Apple II version is FreeWare is the absence of colour in Apple II
textmode due to the Apple II's Hardware Limitations.

I also did not add a mouse to Rando for the Apple II (the IBM version has a
mouse). Despite the fact that I have mouse routines for the Apple II, I
revisited this idea and came to the conclusion that Rando is really a
Keyboarding Exercise and the dependency on a mouse is at cross-purposes.

Also I formatted Rando for the Apple II's 40 column x 24 row text display
hoping to run on the oldest Apple II's possible as well as the newer ones.
It was also for this reason that I chose DOS 3.3 for this version. Apple II
Version 1.0 was written for ProDOS and was never publicly released and
vanished from the planet, lost in the sands of time. This version was mostly
written from the ground-up since very little source code could be used
between the IBM-PC and the Apple II.

Some history on the music in Rando is included in the Licence Agreement
below.

Program Details

Rando runs in standard Apple II 40 column Text Mode.

The Interface of Rando 2.0 is modeled after my more recent design for
children's programs, and centers around a Main Menu. Earlier versions of
Rando were not as well organized and I have expanded Rando's activities.

It is not necessary for your child to read in order to use Rando. The Main
Menu is very straight forward and uncluttered.

Getting Started

Commands and Navigation

The arrow keys are used to navigate through Rando. Other keys used are the
[RETURN] and [ESC] keys. A mouse is not used.

The [RETURN] key or [SPACEBAR] keys are always used to "INITIALIZE" an
"Action" at the Main Menu. Only the [ESC] key will take you back to the Main
Menu from the Games or Activities, and the [ESC] key will also exit the
program from the

Main Menu.

[UPARROW] - Go Up One.
[DOWNARROW] - Go Down One.
[LEFTARROW] - Go Left One.
[RIGHTARROW] - Go Right One.

Of course, the keyboard is used at "game" level to type in the letter. This
is the basis for game-play in Rando.

The child needs to type ALPHANUMERIC keys only for game play. Punctuation is
not part of the game so there is no struggling with the keyboard. Caps Lock
can be on or off. It doesn't matter. Rando is not case sensitive.

The Main Menu

The Main Menu has 6-Commands. These commands can be "Arrowed-To", or
selected using keys 1-6, or even "Hot Keyed" by pressing the Letter shown on
the Menu Screen.

1 - N - Number Review (ACTIVITY)
2 - A - Big Letter Review (ACTIVITY)
3 - z - Small Letter Review (ACTIVITY)
4 - M or ? - Mixed Letter Match (GAME)
5 - P - Paired Letter Match (GAME)
6 - X - Exit To DOS/Windows

[ENTER] or [SPACEBAR] - Initializes the Selected Command.
[ESC] - Exits the Current Game and Exits the program from the Main Menu.

Activity Details - Letter and Number Review

The only difference between the letter and number reviews is that during
letter review, only letters may be typed. During number review, only numbers
may be typed. This is to help the child distinguish between letters and
numbers. When a key that is neither a letter or a number is typed, a rude
noise is made. When you are young, this rude noise will probably be fun, but
later will help the child distinguish between a letter or a number which
makes a pleasant noise.

In letter or number review, every time your child types a valid Alpha or
Numeric Key (depending on the type of review), a Large Letter or Number is
displayed. This large letter is made-up of many smaller letters (copies of
itself.) For example, an X would be composed entirely of X's., etc.

Each key in letter or number review has a different note associated with it
and is almost like a "tiny piano" that your child can use to play "Random"
compositions while enjoying the alphabet or large numbers on the screen.

This is a feature that I included just to provide some extra interest for
your child. The letters correspond to their musical notes (A Maps to A, B to
B, C to C, etc.). Only the white keys have been included. Give it a try when
you are typing letters into Rando's Letter Review.

For the Apple II version (this) I have also added a reward to the review for
each 10 keys that are pressed that match the review type. It makes sense to
reward efforts for this accomplishment as well as for recognition in the
Letter Match Games. The downside is that if the piano key feature is used
only 10 notes can be played before a reward. Here's why:

After 10 correct letters are entered, a Large Number "countdown" occurs from
9 to 0 This countdown is quite dramatic and makes progressively higher
musical notes as it proceeds.

When the countdown is finally finished "YAHOO" is displayed, the next song
in the ordered list is played. and then the game resumes. Other versions of
Rando select songs at random but this results in some songs being played
more than others. This version gives equal time to each song and they play
in the order listed below. These are exactly the same songs used in the
IBM-PC Version 2.0.

The idea behind letter and number review is to provide a fun activity to get
your child started. After they practice they will be ready to play the
letter match games.

Game Details - Letter Match

Note: In Paired Letter Match, a Capital Letter and a Small Letter are
displayed in pairs. In Mixed Letter Match, a Single Letter is displayed
which can be either a Capital or a Small letter or a Number. The two games
are identical otherwise, and both games are described in this same section.

A Large Letter is displayed. This large letter is made-up of many smaller
letters (copies of itself.) For example, an X would be composed entirely of
X's., etc.

The child types in a letter from the keyboard. If it matches the large
letter on the screen, a new large letter is presented. Otherwise, a rude
noise is made and the child must try again to enter the same letter.

After 10 correct letters are entered, a Large Number "countdown" occurs from
9 to 0 This countdown is quite dramatic and makes progressively higher
musical notes as it proceeds.

When the countdown is finally finished "YAHOO" is displayed, the next song
in the ordered list is played. and then the game resumes. Other versions of
Rando select songs at random but this results in some songs being played
more than others. This version gives equal time to each song and they play
in the order listed below. These are exactly the same songs used in the
IBM-PC Version 2.0.

The list of songs :

The Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss
Humoresque by Dvorak
Funeral March of a Marionette by Guonod
Mexican Hat Dance
Symphony #40 by Wolfgang Mozart
Yankee Doodle
The Stars and Stripes Forever by John P. Sousa
La Cucaracha (Archie and Mehitabel's lovesong)
Pop-Goes-the-Weasel

The title screen song :

The Habanera Aria from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet

Licence Agreement

Rando(C) Version 2.0 for the Apple II is distributed as FreeWare. No fee
whatsoever may be charged for it or for its distribution. Unlike Rando for
the IBM-PC, Rando for the Apple II is free for anyone to use even in a
commercial setting like a daycare, etc. Rando is (C) Copyright 1990-2008
Bill Buckels. All Rights Reserved.

All my work is copyrighted and belongs to me. This program is not derived
from anything by anyone and is my own work in its entirety.

I herewith grant you a non-exclusive and conditional licence to use this
program and its source code for whatever use you deem fit, provided you do
not take credit for my work, and that you leave my copyright notices intact
in all of it.

If you augment or otherwise use my work you must always also include your
own personal copyright notice but it may never be a GNU public licence or
anything else that resembles fascism or totalitarianism and world-domination
or a commercial or educational licence either. You can use my stuff
commercially or for GNU with my conditions intact if they let you (they
should since copyright is for authors and the public and I belong to both
groups) but you must never copyright my work with any company copyright
whatsoever; just your own personal copyright like mine and leave mine in
place. That is the way copyright is intended to work and that is the way
that it will work with my stuff unless I selectively decide otherwise.

In addition you must agree that I am not liable in any way shape or form for
any damage from the use of any of this in any way whatsoever.

If you do not agree with all of the aforementioned conditions of use or if
your use is not Fair then remove all of this from your computer now.

Bill Buckels
bbuckels@mts.net
May 2008

Those who have been around computing for awhile will remember that with the
exception of Sakura (Japanese Folk Melody) and Scales, that the songs in
Rando are the same songs featured in the IBM Basic Program:

The IBM Personal Computer Music Scroll
Version 1.00 (C)Copyright IBM Corp 1981
Licensed Material - Program Property of IBM

One of my early IBM-PC C programming efforts was to convert music from BASIC
programs with sound or play statements to sound files of my own design. This
old program from IBM is in fact the program that the songs that you will
hear in Rando originated from. After the initial conversion to my own file
format with whatever adjustments that my IBM program made to do so. They
have then gone through my IBM to Apple II conversion utility SND2APP. So I
am duly crediting IBM for the original arrangement of these songs which I
have re-arranged to suit my file formats and playback. For my part, I credit
myself with the performance Copyright of these every time Rando is used and
also my arrangements.

Copyright restrictions for my computer music are the same as for any of
this. You may use any of this only according to the conditions above and
don't take credit for my work.

Bill Buckels
bbuckels@mts.net
May 2008

Redistribution

This program is distributed with source code.

You may distribute this software freely, providing none of the files are
missing, and preferably in their original distribution archive.

Bill Buckels
May 2008

End of Document