Roxie's Reading Fish V1.0 Copyright (C) LatticeWork Software, 1995 REQUIREMENTS Windows 3.1 VGA mouse Windows-supported sound card hard drive INSTALLATION To install Roxie's Reading Fish, from the Windows Program Manager, select "Run..." from the "File" menu. Select "Browse..." Then select the directory or disk where your unzipped program files exist (e.g., if you downloaded this program from CompuServe, select c:\cserve\download, or if the files are on a disk on the a: or b: drive, click on the down arrow next to Drives: and select a: or b: ). Select install.exe, and click on OK. - The program will ask for the destination path. For the default pathname of C:\LATTICE\READFISH, just press . To install the program in a different subdirectory, or on a different drive, type the path name as in the following example: C:\READING - the installation program will then create the directory, and copy files from the floppy disk or directory. NOTE: Install will exit with an ERROR message if any of the necessary files on the installation disk or directory have been erased. - Once the files have been copied, install will create the program group and program item. Double-click on the program item to start the program. INTRODUCTION Roxie's Reading Fish is a very intuitive, and easy-to-use program. Children can, with no help or supervision, learn to play the game just by clicking on various areas on the screen. ROXIE'S HINTS For example, the mouse cursor will change depending on the action which can be taken at that position. When the cursor is over the HELP button, or over Roxie, it changes to a large question mark. Clicking on Roxie will cause Roxie to explain the current game status. Clicking on the HELP button, allow access to on-line help screen, and the order form for Roxie's Reading Fish. When the cursor is over the draw deck in the center of the screen, or over one of the player's cards on the bottom of the screen, it changes to a hand holding a card. And, when the cursor is over the STOP button on the bottom right of the screen, the cursor changes to a STOP sign, showing how to exit the program. Clicking on a word card with the RIGHT mouse button will cause Roxie to say the name of the word on that card. GETTING STARTED After asking for the child's name, the program will display a dialog box asking for the Reading Level. The five levels are: o Pre-First Grade o Early First Grade o Late First Grade o Early Second Grade o Late Second Grade Only the Pre-First Grade Level is available in Roxie's Reading Fish. All levels, however, are available in Roxie's Reading Fish. Choose a level and click on Ok. Next, in Roxie's Reading Fish, the program will display a dialog box asking for the Playing Level. The three levels are: o Easy o Medium o Hard Roxie plays an increasingly better game in the Medium and Hard levels. Choose a level and click on Ok. A NOTE ABOUT THE WORDS There are over two hundred high frequency words available in Roxie's Reading Fish. These words were chosen with the aid of reading specialists in early elementary education. When a Reading level is chosen ONE of a set of twenty-one words is randomly chosen from that Reading level, and those voice files are all read into memory. For each game, seven of those words are randomly chosen for the cards. When subsequent games are played under the same reading level, seven new randomly selected words are chosen from that same list of words. Some may be the same as the ones in the previous games, and some will be different. However, seven words will be chosen from that same list of twenty-one words until either 1) the game is exited, and re-started or 2) a different reading level is chosen from the Help screen. Eventually, over time, all of the words will be used in the game, and learned by the child playing Roxie's Reading Fish. PLAYING THE GAME Your child is ready to play Roxie's Reading Fish. The goal is to get the largest number of books consisting of four of the same card. (Actually the goal is to learn to read the words, but don't tell your child that!) Your child's and Roxie's cards are on the screen, with a draw deck in between them. Roxie will tell your child what the next move is. For example, at the beginning of the game, Roxie says "Your turn." A good reminder to your child will be to tell him or her that if they are stuck, to click on Roxie's face, and Roxie will tell them what's going on. For most children, this is not necessary, because they will be trying different things, clicking on different areas of the screen and discovering what works and what doesn't. That will make the game more fascinating for them since THEY are the ones who are in charge and are running things. A more unusual activity that the child is not likely to just "happen" on is that clicking on a word card with the RIGHT mouse button, will cause Roxie to say the name of that card. Telling them about this can be helpful. At the beginning of every game, the child is first. They will click on a card to ask Roxie if she has any of those words. If so, the cards will be given to the child; otherwise, Roxie will say a variation of "Go Fish!" In this case, the child should click on the draw deck, and a card is placed in their hand. If they drew what they asked for, it is still their turn. If they did not draw what they asked for, it is Roxie's turn, and Roxie will ask for a card. If you child has that card, he or she should click on it. Don't worry, they cannot make a mistake. If the child clicks on the wrong card, or on the draw deck, when they have the card that Roxie wants, Roxie will gently correct them. Play continues until all of the cards in the draw deck are played, and Roxie announces a winner. The child is then asked if she or he wishes to play again. If the child or Roxie completes a book of four cards with the same word, that book is placed onto their respective discard piles on the table. If this causes either player to run out of cards, one is automatically chosen for them and play passes to the other player. CHANGE LEVEL Click on the HELP button, and choose "Change Level" if you wish to change either the reading level or the playing skill level. HELP Click on the "HELP" button for the on-line help, or to order Roxie Reading Fish, or change levels of the Roxie Reading Fish game. ORDER When your child has learned these pre-1st grade words, he or she will want to play the game with higher level sets of words. Roxie's Reading Fish is available with five levels of words for your child to learn. That's over 200 words from the pre-1st grade level up to the end of second grade. All of the words are high frequency ones your child will see often in his or her reading, and were chosen with the help of reading specialists for early elementary education. Also included are three levels of playing skills where Roxie plays increasingly smarter games of Fish! There is also the option to order BOTH Roxie's Reading Fish and Roxie's Math Fish with special savings. Roxie can teach your child two levels each of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. To order Roxie's Reading Fish, click on the HELP button on the bottom left of the screen, choose "Order Roxie's Reading Fish", fill in the dialog box and follow instructions. Or print the file register.wri (using Windows Accessory Write) or print register.txt (using Windows Accessory Notepad, or from DOS), fill in the form and mail to the address on the form: LatticeWork Software P.O. Box 362 Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 USA SOUND NOTE: If you have a microphone hooked up to your computer, you can make the game more exciting by having your children record their own messages. Use the Sound Recorder (a Windows 3.1 Accessory). (See your Windows 3.1 documentation). Open one of the files with a .WAV extension using the Sound Recorder. Play it, and then record your own message, saving it to that same file. WARNING: The file names must remain the same. Be sure to delete any blank space before or after the actual voice message using the Edit commands. Otherwise the program will spend time playing back files containing blank spaces, which may be large. Eliminating blank spaces will also decrease the file size. SUPPORT The following support of Roxie's Reading Fish is provided. LatticeWork Software will answer questions and fix serious bugs during a one-year period after order or registration. For problems involving specific hardware or software environment or feature, LatticeWork Software may choose not to modify the program. In that case, if a problem is reported within three months after order, then LatticeWork Software will refund the user's order price. You may contact LatticeWork Software at the following addresses: 1) LatticeWork Software P.O. Box 362 Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 2) By way of America Online mail to LatticeWrk 3) By way of CompuServe Mail 74453,2112 DISTRIBUTION LICENCE Please see the VENDINFO.DIZ file for further information. ASP OMBUDSMAN STATEMENT This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007, 3536 DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT LIMITED WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE PROVIDED FOR EVALUATION ONLY, ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. LATTICEWORK SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER LATTICEWORK SOFTWARE NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE, EVEN IF LATTICEWORK SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE.