How to create Code Search puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro?
This tutorial explains how to create Code Search puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro. The tutorial applies to:
- Puzzle Maker Pro - Number Search
- Puzzle Maker Pro - Color Code Search
- Puzzle Maker Pro - Image Code Search
- Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Code Search
Introduction Code Search
Code Search is a puzzle where you have to find a list of codes in a randomly filled grid.
The codes can be numbers, letters, a combination of numbers, letters and other characters, Roman numerals, or even colors and images.
When you create these puzzles, you can select which symbols to use, the length of the codes, and even if multiples of the codes can be used. Details for the symbols differ, depending on the symbol type.
Code Search Overview
After selecting "Code Search" in the Puzzle Type menu, you'll see a default preview of a code search puzzle. The actual layout may differ, depending on your current settings in Puzzle Maker Pro. In the screenshot below you'll see both the puzzle preview and the solution preview, because "Both" is selected at the bottom right (5).
If you're familiar with Puzzle Maker Pro, the puzzle layout may seem a bit different, we'll explain this in a minute.
In the screenshot you see:
- The puzzle settings and the symbol settings, by default set to numbers
- A puzzle preview, consisting of the puzzle grid and a list of codes
- A solution preview. The previews are identical to the puzzle and solution files that can be saved as JPG/PNG files
- Create / Next Preview buttons, to generate a new puzzle
- Options to change which preview is shown
Symbol Selection Options
The Symbol Selection dropdown menu has different options: Numbers, Letters, Roman numerals, Colors and Images. These will be discussed in detail on separate pages:
There is a randomization option that works for all symbol options:
- Number of Items for Puzzle - Here you can set how many different numbers, letters, etc can be used in the puzzle. Without randomization, these will always be the first numbers, letters, etc, in the list
- "Draw x Random Values" - This allows you to use different numbers, letters, etc for each puzzle. For example if you use 5 numbers in a puzzle, but the numbers 1 to 9 are selected, it will randomly select 5 of those 9 numbers. It works the same way for letters, Roman numerals, colors and images
- Max Colors / Images: This sets the maximum number of colors or images that can be selected in the color / image grid. It will also apply to the Default number range
In the screenshot you can see that all 9 numbers can be used.
Clue constraints
There are some flexible options to select the clues you want and how they are printed:
- The minimum and maximum length of the clues (1), in the screenshot this is set to create clues with a length ranging from 2 to 5.
- The number of occurences of the clues (2), here this is set to a range of 2 to 5. This setting defines how many times a code must appear in the grid to be added to the list. With a minimum of 2, codes that appear only once will not be shown in the list. For each code in the list, the number of copies is shown after the code, in parentheses.
- Constraints for code placement in the grid (3), see the example below.
- Clues Sort Order (4) - there are four different options: Default / Random, Alphabetic (shown in the screenshot), Length / Short First and Length / Long First. (Alphabetic is not available for Color Code or Image Code puzzles)
To further control the difficulty of the puzzle, there are three more options to set:
- Diagonals - controls whether or not codes can be placed diagonally
- Reversed - controls whether or not codes can be placed reversed (i.e. from bottom to top or from right to left)
- Overlap - controls whether codes can overlap in the grid
The screenshot shows a puzzle with all three options switched off. The solution looks a lot simpler and clear, but of course when you see the puzzle grid and the codes to be placed, it's still complex.
Code Search Output and Export Options
By default all the Puzzle Maker Pro - Code Search variations will save a puzzle and a solution image, just the way they are shown in the screenshots. Additionally you can use the "Export Parts" option:
This will also save separate images (JPG/PNG) for the puzzle grid, the solution grid and the code list, using the Image Size settings from the 'Output Settings' tab. This way you can create these puzzles and manually add the images to your own puzzle or activity books.
Note: At release time there is no SVG export for these puzzles, because using bitmap images (for the Image Code Search) doesn't really result in useful SVG files.
Here's a screen with the parts output for a Number Search puzzle:
Code Search Puzzle Size Options
Code Search uses a slightly different way of sizing than most other puzzle types in Puzzle Maker Pro, because the puzzle grid and the code list are included in a single image. There are two ways to use these puzzles:
- Generate a puzzle book or puzzle pages using Puzzle Maker Pro's Instant Puzzle Books, and
- Generate and save the separate images for the puzzle grid, code list and solution grid, and assemble your books manually (using Powerpoint, InDesign or other software).
The default settings for Code Search are set for Instant Puzzle Books, but this is easy to change.
In recent updates for Puzzle Maker Pro we have introduced a "Dynamic Size" option: This will use the settings for Instant Puzzle Books to calculate the optimal puzzle size. For example:
- Trim Size - for example 8.5" x 11"
- Margins - for example 0.5" on all sized, leaving a printable area of 7.5" x 10"
- Page Layout - Let's say 1 Row and 2 columns, for two puzzles side by side. This would result in 3.75 x 10" for each puzzle. With 1 Row and 1 Column, you would have an area of 7.5" x 10" for the puzzle
The best layout settings depend on your puzzle size (grid size), the number of clues, and a few other settings we'll discuss in the next paragraph.
This Dynamic Size option is the default for Code Search, because in most cases a square image containing both the puzzle and the code list will not result in an attractive layout.
However, you can easily check out the options: Just click Fixed Size, and "Next Preview" to see the result, or click "Dynamic Size" and then change the Page Layout (Instant Puzzle Books -> Page Layout) and generate another preview. Puzzle Maker Pro was made for experimenting to find the best settings for your puzzle books. (There is no "one size fits all" without severely limiting some demanding users of the software).
Code Search Layout Settings
In all the screenshots so far we have used a certain layout setting, with the code list below the puzzle and aligned to the puzzle position. You can change this:
On the Layout tab for Code Search you can:
- Change the position of the symbol grid and the code list
- Set the relative area of the grid size (e.g. 70%), which will automatically adjust the Code List area as well
- Align the grid horizontally and vertically
- Align the code list horizontally and vertically
- Align the code list to the puzzle grid. (In the screenshot this is switched off, so the code list is wider than the grid)
- Set padding between the Grid and the Code List
- Set the number of Code List Columns (by default this is set to 4)
For example, if you would want a layout with two puzzles on a page on top of each other, you could set the page layout to 2 rows and 1 column, and then set the Symbol Grid Position to Left or Right:
