Question 1

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Dice

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Dice Overview

This tutorial applies to Letter Dice

There is one add-on available for Letter Dice: Time Saver for Letter Dice

Letter Dice Explained

Letter Dice is a word puzzle, based on an existing tabletop game where a number of dice is being thrown, and you have to find as many words as possible by combining the letters on adjacent die faces. Usually 16 dice are thrown, which are then sorted in 4 rows of 4 dice.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ebpePeS2Lk/English%204x4.png (Letter Dice - English 4x4)

Example of a Letter Dice puzzle for English words

The Letter Dice module can create these dice throws, and has some additional options:

Dice setups for several languages are provided, including French, Spanish, and German
Variations for 25 or 36 dice for English puzzles are included
You can create your own dice, just by typing the letters for each die on a single row
You can create additional fun innovative games, for example number games - place numbers on the dice, and the goal could be to add/subtract/multiple/divide numbers and get to 24 as many times as possible
You can create die faces with words on them, and create a game to find fun sentences or sentences with as many words as possible

Letter Dice Overview

To use Letter Dice, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Jyo7cLcqHE/Letter%20Dice%20Overview%20with%20Arrows.png (Letter Dice Overview with Arrows)

To create puzzles, you'll need to add the dice setup (as shown in the screenshot), and click Next Preview to generate a puzzle. Each click will result in a different puzzle.

There are no solutions (images or otherwise) for Letter Dice puzzles.

Dice Setup

By default an English set for 4x4 dice will be used. This is a set of dice - regular dice with 6 faces each - that was used for a popular letter dice game the past 30 years.

You can also select several other sets, like 5x5 or 6x6, and some other languages. Please be aware that the 6x6 English set contains some blank die faces, to increase the difficulty of the puzzle. This is not a printing error.

The letters on the die faces have been taken from public sources, however it's very easy to edit the sets yourself.

Set up your own dice

With Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Dice you can completely customize your own letter dice game:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ASJIFRpSYi/Letter%20Dice%20Overview%20Numbered.png (Letter Dice Overview Numbered)

Define the number of dice, printed in rows and columns. When a new puzzle is generated, the dice will be placed in random order, and for each die a random face is selected
Set up the Separator. If you have die faces that contain more than one letter, you need a separator between the letters. By default, the comma is used. You can use a dash or a dot or any other character that is best for you
Set up the Dice. Each die will be created from the letters on a single line. For example the top line in the example "A,A,E,E,G,N" defines a die with six faces. Without the separator you could just type "AAEEGN", but then you wouldn't be able to add "Qu" to a die face.
After editing the dice, click "Verify" to check if you have the right number of dice, and if each die has the same number of faces. (Since this is a computer generated puzzle, each die can have more or less than 6 faces). You don't have to have the same number of faces on each die, but the software will warn you, just to prevent mistakes. Missing dice will result in blanks in the puzzle
Create a new preview from your own dice

Tips and puzzle ideas

Don't forget to add / print puzzle rules in your puzzle book or printable, if you create your own puzzle types.

Word Dice - Create dice with full words on each face, optionally creating separate dice with nouns, verbs and adjectives. Goals could be to create the longest possible (valid) sentence, or to create many sentences
Syllable Dice
Math Dice - Create dice with numbers, e,g, 1 to 10, and operators (+, -). The goal could be to calculate a given number in as many ways as possible.

Font Styling

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/p1tWwFAooq/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Font%20Styling.png (Letter Dice - Font Styling)

You can customize the font by clicking the white panel (or the looking glass icon) in the Font Settings area. You can set both the font and the font color.

Please be aware that the lettercase is by default set to 'Unchanged', to make sure that "Qu" is printed correctly. If you change it to uppercase (the default setting for e.g. Word Search), it would be printed as "QU".

For some other languages, such as Czech and Finnish, you may need to set it to Uppercase, to make the letters print correctly.

Grid Styling

You can customize canvas and die face color, as well as the line color and width:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZvBhFPfq5n/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Grid%20Styling.png (Letter Dice - Grid Styling)

Time Saver for Letter Dice

The Time Saver for Letter Dice has two main functions:

Create a puzzle book from several Letter Dice presets - e.g. you can create presets for English 4x4, English 5x5 and English 6x6, or create Letter Dice, Word Dice and Number Dice presets
Flexible grid layouts for Instant Puzzle Books

Using Letter Dice Presets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gdqTsNoOlo/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Time%20Saver.png (Letter Dice - Time Saver)

First, you have to save your own presets. You can do this on the Puzzle Settings tab.

In the Time Saver, select the presets you want to use from the list on the left. (Click "Refresh List" if your presets are not showing).

Set the quantity for each presets. In the example, we set it to create 10 puzzles with the first preset, and 20 puzzles with the second preset.

Make sure the box "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles is checked, then click the Create / Create (TS) button at the bottom left.

Flexible Grid Layouts

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8sIkbEOyJm/Letter%20Dice%20-%20Time%20Saver%20Page%20Layout.png (Letter Dice - Time Saver Page Layout)

There are several ways to create Letter Dice puzzle books: Some books only have one puzzle per page, and include additional information, such as puzzle rules, score information and lines to write the found words. Other puzzle books have 4 or 6 puzzles on each page, and expect the puzzler to have a notebook available to write the solutions. (Hint: You can publish Letter Dice solution books / journals along with the puzzle books).

Adding Lines for the Words / Solutions

By clicking on the little gray squares in the Puzzle Layout (Instant Puzzle Books -> Page Layout -> General Layouts -> Puzzle Layout) you can also switch off some of the puzzle locations. In the example, only 3 puzzles will be printed per page. (This is a new feature in Puzzle Maker Pro v2022.14).

Puzzle Maker Pro does not print the solution lines for you. However, by switching off some of the puzzle locations, you can easily add lines or other information in Powerpoint or PDF. In Powerpoint you can use the Master Slides to set up the lines and other information just ones, and have it applied to all of the pages automatically.

Question 2

How Can I Change the Page Layout for Puzzle Maker Pro - Jigsaw?

Accepted Answer

This brief tutorial will explain the different layout options Puzzle Maker Pro - JigSaw.

Please be aware that the layout for this module is set up differently than for most other modules in Puzzle Maker Pro. That is because the optimized positioning of the puzzle pieces is dependent on the page size.

Use Default Page Setup Settings

By default, this module will use the Trim Size and Margin settings that you can configure at the "Output Settings / Page Format" tab.

If you use a Trim Size of 8 x 10" and 0.5" Margins on each side, there will be a 'body' area left that is 7 x 9". This will be the size for the Puzzle Pieces:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UbDEDEA56U/Jigsaw%20018%20-%20Page%20Setup%20Default.png (Jigsaw 018 - Page Setup Default.png)

If you change the Page Format and Preview / Create again, you'll get a differently sized image. If you use Time Saver, it will use the current settings when you run the Time Saver (not the settings when the puzzle preset was saved).

However, sometimes you just want the image, and not an entire puzzle book. In that case you can uncheck "Use Default Page Setup Settings" and choose the exact image size that you need (width and height in pixels). The next screenshot shows this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XbNdH6ZCgf/Jigsaw%20019%20-%20Page%20Setup%20Custom.png (Jigsaw 019 - Page Setup Custom.png)

Choosing Different Page Layouts

Puzzle Maker Pro - JigSaw supports three page layouts. These are selected in the "Puzzle Settings" tab, not in the global "Page Layout" tab.

Single Page
Double Page
Pieces Only

These different options have different impact on your book layout, and serve different purposes.

1 Single Page Layout

This style is used for most of the examples and tutorials. It will print the puzzle pieces and the puzzle grid on a single page.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ju1lwUSyqJ/Jigsaw%20020%20-%20Layout%20Single%20Page.png (Jigsaw 020 - Layout Single Page.png)

This format is intended for jigsaw puzzles you can copy/draw, instead of the cut out jigsaw puzzles. If you do want the ability to cut out the pieces, choose to "Add Blank Page after each puzzle", a checkbox that is below the page layouts. This will make sure the back of the page is blank. Additionally this will force the page to be printed on the right page of a spread, which may introduce another blank page before the current page.

2 Double Page Layout

The double page layout is also intended for copy / draw puzzles. In the preview you see the pieces page:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mDi9LsLDpH/Jigsaw%20021%20-%20Layout%20Double%20Page.png (Jigsaw 021 - Layout Double Page.png)

if you check "Preview Solution", it will instead show the layout and size of the puzzle grid (the solution is identical to the puzzle, except for the printed puzzle pieces):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ght8pFkkvu/Jigsaw%20022%20-%20Layout%20Double%20Page%20Puzzle%20Pieces.png (Jigsaw 022 - Layout Double Page Puzzle Pieces.png)

The Double Page layout will force a new spread in your book. The pieces will be printed on the left page of the spread, the puzzle grid will be printed on the right page.

The option to add a blank page will have no effect for this format.

3 Pieces Only Layout

The Pieces Only Layout is for cut out puzzles, the puzzle grid will not be included in the puzzle book. (The layout is identical to the first screenshot show for the Double Page Layout.

Just like the Single Page Layout, "Add Blank Page" will force the pieces to be printed on the right page of a spread, and it will keep the back of the page blank. For this setting, this is optimal, so you don't accidentally cut up other puzzles on the back of the page.

How are Fonts and DPI related to each other?

First, lets discuss font size and DPI.

DPI is an acronym for Dots Per Inch, and for print you’ll need 300 DPI. All Puzzle Maker Pro images are created at 300 DPI (unless you switch to 96DPI). You don’t have to worry about that.

Font size is measured in points, not in dots or pixels: One point is 1/72th of an inch. Large print, 16 points or larger, means 16/72th of an inch, which is 0.222″ (or larger).

Note: Different tools use different units. For example Microsoft Office uses points, while most image editing apps use pixels.

How do I create a puzzle book with Puzzle Maker Pro

Puzzle Maker Pro uses two steps to create puzzle books:

Create the puzzles,
Create the puzzle book from these puzzles.

Find out more about the two-step approach of Puzzle Maker Pro

How can you find out the font size that's used for a puzzle?

The font size that is used in your puzzles depends on the size of your puzzle, the puzzle type and the puzzle settings. Below you can see the method to find out your font size.

How to set the Puzzle Size

In puzzle Maker Pro, you can select how big you want your puzzle images to be. Starting at 300, up to 3000. With 300DPI that’s 1″ up to 10″.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JOPzyUGUxP/PMP%20-%20General%20-%20Puzzle%20Size.png (How to set the puzzle size in Puzzle Maker Pro)

How to calculate the font size for a puzzle type

The size of the characters that are used to print a puzzle, depends on the puzzle size you’ve selected.

Let’s take regular 9×9 sudoku as an example:

The total puzzle size (let’s say 2700 pixels) is split into 9 rows and 9 columns. Each row has a height of 2700/9, and each column has a width of 2700/9, which is 300 pixels. Which is 1″

Puzzle Maker Pro automatically calculates the font size for each square. By default it uses 80% of the height, leaving 10% on top and 10% at the bottom as margins. For some puzzle types you can modify this ratio, resulting in a different font size.

To calculate the font size, take 80% of 300 pixels, this is 240 pixels (numbers are rounded here). This is not yet the font size in points.

To go from pixels to points, we divide by 300 (300 pixels per inch) and multiply with 72 (72 points per inch). 240 / 300 * 72 = 57.6 points.

Summarized: A 9×9 sudoku puzzle, rendered to a jpg of 2700 pixels, will use a font size of 57.6 points.

However…

That only applies if you print the image at it’s actual size.

How does the font size change when creating a puzzle book from your puzzles?

When you create your puzzle book, the puzzle images will be resized, and usually the size will be reduced.

For example, let’s create a 6×9″ book interior with 0.5″ margins left and right. 6″ minus 0.5″ (left margin) minus 0.5″ (right margin) leaves 5″ for the puzzle.

5″ at 300 DPI is 1500 pixels.

Let's say we created a puzzle of 3000 pixels, resulting in a font size of 64 points.

You can easily see that it needs to be reduced by 50% (1500 / 3000). In which case the font also will be 50% smaller. 64 points / 2 = 32 points. Still a lot more than 16.

For the 9×9 sudoku puzzles, you’ll usually be fine, but for other sudoku puzzles, you’ll need to do the math, unfortunately.

What are the steps to determine the font size?

In most cases it's enough to approximate the font size, as long as it's clearly over 16 points.

Here are the steps:

Calculate the page body width, which is the trim size minus the margins.
Divide by the number of puzzles in a row.
Calculate the number of pixels for each square in the puzzle. This depends on the puzzle type.
Calculate the font size in pixels for each square. This is 80% of the square size (with 10% padding).
Calculate the font size in points from the font size in pixels: inches * 72 = points.

For some puzzles, for example Word Search and Bingo, you can further modify the font size for each font. In that case these calculations get a bit more difficult, but the slider for the font size also shows the percentage. You can use this percentage to calculate the resulting point size.

Question 4

How to create a sudoku with custom images

Accepted Answer

This quick tutorial shows you how you can use custom images for your Sudoku puzzles. You will need Sudoku 9x9 creative, or the equivalent for the size of puzzle you are working with.

Adding your custom images

It's actually very easy to add your own images. You do need to make sure you have the appropriate amount of images ready, but adding them is not too difficult.

First, go to the Symbol Options tab in the sudoku.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1Owe7lqUOe/Sudoku%20custom%20images.jpg (Sudoku custom images)

Next, you'll see the Symbol Settings option. You can change between 1-9, A-I, Roman Numerals I-IX, Symbols, or Hexadecimal.

For what we're going to do today, select the Symbols option. Immediately you'll see 9 standard images appear, looking like the side of dice. These are the standard images that come with the software.

If you want your own images here, click on the magnifying glass just below the pictures, and a popup screen will appear.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/hbmpCvVQr7/Sudoku%20Select%20Images.jpg (Sudoku Select Images)

If you click on one of the white squares, windows explorer will open a new window, and you can search for the folder where you keep the images you want to use. Remember that because it's a sudoku, simplistic images work better. You also don't want images that look too similar, as that will cause confusion. You can either manually select each picture by clicking on the next square and selecting a singular image, or you can select multiple images at once.

Now if you click next preview, the sudoku will generate with the images you have selected. Beware that if you have "Show Solution" on, there is no difference between the hints and the solution to show which squares are part of the solution and which ones aren't.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/3ymHfDPyI2/Sudoku%20with%20custom%20images.jpg (Sudoku with custom images)

This same technique will work for several other modules as well.

Solving image sudokus

To solve a sduoku, you need to write the correct symbols in the empty squares. For regular (number) or letter sudokus that's not too hard. For harder sudokus, level 5 and up, it's also common to pencil in the optional values for each square. E.g. if you know that a square can contain only the 3, 5 and 6, you can write these in the square, but very small, as a reminder when solving other squares. (This is the only way to find hidden doubles or triples).

There are two ways to create image sudokus that are still fun to solve:

Choose symbols that are easy to draw / copy, just like the symbols in the example in the previous paragraph. Simple line art or icon style graphics, or images with a single dominant color (e.g. the person with the green hat). Even then, image sudokus with difficulty levels 6 and 7 will be really hard to solve;
Use the image sudokus as attractive magnets on social media. It's best to use the easier variations, circle one of the squares, and add a text like "which color hat has the person in this square?".

Creating a custom background

Another way to add images to your sudoku puzzle is to add a singular image to the background. This could be done as a watermark, or if you have a themed puzzle book, it could be nice to have the theme shine through in the puzzle.

For this option, we go to Output Settings all the way at the top.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8W4RZxWpFi/Background%20image%20sudoku.jpg (Background image sudoku)

Next, select "Background Images".

Turn on the "Use Background Image(s)" checkbox, and select one or more files. Then, generate the next preview, and you'll see the image you used.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZtF66zH7rO/background%20image%20sudoku%20done.jpg (background image sudoku done)

We've also set the transparency on the background image to around 60-70%, because otherwise the black lines will make the numbers of the puzzle invisible.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble

This tutorial applies to Word Scramble

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layout.

Word Scramble Explained

Word Scramble is a word puzzle, where the letters of each words are randomly switched. It's also known as Anagrams.

In Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble, there are some basic rules that are applied for scrambling words and phrases:

Letters in a word are switched, but all the letters will be used. For example: Sudoku may result in UUOKDS,
Each word in a phrase is scrambled separately, the letters of the different words are not mixed,
Spaces, punctuation marks and other special characters are not scrambled,
Currently the module works with the standard English alphabet (A to Z).

Word Scramble Overview

To use Word Scramble, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

Word Scramble Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k7jaTSc3Th/Word%20Scramble%20Overview.png (Word Scramble Overview)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an image using the first word.

In addition to the 'basic' word scramble functionality this module has quite a few options:

Generating Word Scrambles

The total number of Word Scrambles can be set ("Quantity"), or you can use the entire word list ("Entire List").

When generating Word Scrambles, and when generating a new preview (click Next Preview), a meme style image is shown as a preview. You can configure and style these images using the Images/Meme tab.

Hoewever, for Instant Puzzle Books, the images are not used, but instead the text output is used. That means you do not need to create the image output for your Instant Puzzle Books.

The text output consists of a TXT file and a CSV file, see also "Text Output for Word Puzzles". The CSV file can (for example) be used in Canva Pro to quickly generate images (in addition to the built-in Images/Memes option).

A default layout for Instant Puzzle Books will be used (just click "Create" to see this). With the Time Saver add-on, you can adjust the layout, using columns and customize other layout options.

Styling

Styling the puzzles and puzzle books for Word Scramble can be configured in several places:

Font Styling

You can customize the font by clicking the white panel (or the looking glass icon) in the Font Settings area. You can set both the font and the font color.

For the Instant Puzzle Books you can set the exact font size.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/umTwRURKAG/Fixed%20Font%20Size.png (Fixed Font Size)

For Images/Memes the font size is determined automatically, since this will vary depending on the image size (the number of pixels).

What is a Sudoku

Of course, if you're here, you probably already know what a Sudoku is. In case you're not familiar, a standard sudoku is done on a 9x9 grid. The goal is to fill in the numbers 1-9, so they only appear once in each row, column, and 3x3 grid.

Simple, right?

In our Sudoku module, we have different difficulty levels. It goes from level 1, Very Easy, all the way to level 7, Extreme. These are the most commonly used difficulties for sudokus. We also have a separate tutorial explaining how sudoku difficulty levels work.

And, as you could see above, sudokus do exist in different sizes and variations too. Some variations have overlapping sudokus, so you have to solve two or more at the same time. Some are smaller, like our Kids Edition that only uses 4x4 and 6x6 squares.

If that sounds like a lot, don't worry, the software will do most of the work for you. So let's see how the software actually works.

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Sudoku

After you've opened the software and validated your licence, you will see the following screen:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/0i6k678oPL/Sudoku%20Basics.jpg (Sudoku Basics)

Let's go over the options you see here.

The preview window. Here you will always see one preview of a sudoku with the selected settings.
"What to Generate?". Depending on the sudoku modules you own, several options appear here. You can choose the size of the sudoku, from a size as small as 4x4, to the maximum of 25x25. You can select the variation. If you only own the standard sudoku licence, that's all you'll have, but above you can see a list of all the variations we have. You can also select the difficulty, anywhere between level 1 and level 7, and you can select the amount of sudokus that have to be generated.
The Styling options. You can select a font to use, the colour for the solution and the puzzle (as you'll usually print in black and white, both are on a grayscale as standard option), the canvas colours, line width and colour... basically everything you need to make a sudoku look unique to you.
The create button. Press here to generate the sudokus you have set up.

Introduction

Acrostic Column is an acrostic Crossword puzzle where a list of words is printed, and one column contains a secret word.

There are many different types of Acrostic Crossword puzzles. Acrostic Column is the name we give to the type of Acrostic Crossword where a list of words is shown, and a single 'secret' word can be found in one of the columns.

Acrostic Settings

For Acrostic Column puzzles, the "Secret Word" option is always enabled, since this is the main characteristic of the puzzle.

Acrostic Column - Secret Only

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/p0rtkhWXya/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Secret%20Only.png (Acrostic Column - Secret Only)

Additionally, you can add "Alphabet Hints", which will make the puzzle easier to solve:

Acrostic Column - Secret and Alphabet

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ECVWQIVHxx/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Secret%20and%20Alphabet.png (Acrostic Column - Secret and Alphabet)

In this screenshot you see a different puzzle, and all the small numbers in the puzzle. Each number corresponds with a single letter. The numbers are randomly assigned to the letters, so each puzzle will have a different key.

Image Options

When you use the additional image options (for social media images, etc), you can specify which information is used for the image title and description:

Acrostic Column - Image Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/PbMxNm5S64/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Image%20Options.png (Acrostic Column - Image Options)

For both the Title Description you can use the Word Set Title, Word Set Description, Secret Word Description (Clue) or a Custom word or phrase.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Overview

Mazes 2D is the 2022 update of our popular Mazes software (formerly Standard Mazes 2D/ Standard and Shaped Mazes 2D).

This option in Puzzle Maker Pro is the entry point for several current and new puzzle modules:

Standard Mazes 2D / Standard and Shaped Mazes 2D (if you have this module, the Mazes 2D Squares option will be available to you)
Mazes 2D Oblique - a Tangle / Doodle / Yayoi Kusama-style maze
Mazes 2D Other Shapes - Easy Octagons and Small Circles

Additionally there are some Add-Ons available for these mazes

The examples in this tutorial use the Mazes 2D Squares. It should be easy to use these options for the other shapes. For specifics, there are additional tutorials for each maze type.

Getting Started with Mazes 2D

Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TwQWXvoswn/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20Main.png (Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview)

Mazes 2D Squares Main Overview

Select Mazes 2D in the dropdown menu at the top. This will open the puzzle options for Mazes 2D
In the Puzzle Control section you can select the puzzle type, in this case Squares is selected. Here you can also set the number of puzzles (Quantity) and the puzzle size (rows and columns)
There are several tabs for the different maze and customization options. By default the Main tab is selected
On the Main tab you can control the maze generation options, such as the maze / solution complexity and the solution path (where the Start and End points will be chosen)
After changing the settings for the maze, click Next Preview to see a newly generated maze with the changed settings. (This is not done automatically, otherwise you may have to wait after each change)
The preview panel
By default the Solution is shown, use this switch to display the puzzle (without the solution path)

Info Tab

Solution Complexity

You can use the big red slider "Solution Complexity" to control how the maze is generated. There are several built-in algorithms that result in differently shaped mazes. These algorithms set some limits, within these limits the maze generation process is completely random.

To get an idea of the differences, here you see two extreme examples. It's best (and very easy) to experiment with this setting yourself.

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UsISAYEcCc/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Complexity%200.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0)

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 0

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/fCcKZpppAP/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Complexity%20100.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100)

Mazes 2D Squares - Complexity 100

Solution Path

There are several options for the solution path (which is part of the maze generation process:

Default - Top Left to Bottom Right, this may be slightly different for certain maze types
Random - This will set a random starting point on one of the maze edges, and select an end point at an opposite edge
Longest Path - This will choose the longest possible path in a maze. Usually the Start and End points are not on the edges of the maze
Manual - you can manually select the Start and End points. To do this, right-click the preview panel on the maze cell (square/other shape) where you want the Start or End point, and select the appropriate option in the pop-up menu)

Mazes 2D Squares - Path Random

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MbSBiXSzkZ/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Path%20Random.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Path Random)

Mazes 2D Squares - Path Random

Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/b4rBaUYtAq/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Longest%20Path.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path)

Mazes 2D Squares - Longest Path

Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/k1md7DgoHv/Mazes%202D%20Squares%20-%20Manual%20Start.png (Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start)

Mazes 2D Squares - Manual Start

Using the Tile Multiplier for mazes 2D Tiles

The Tile Multiplier Add-On can be used to create extra tiles based on the base tiles you use as input. This add-on only works with Puzzle Maker Pro - Mazes 2D Tiles.

There are two main options:

Complement images if Missing - this is used for square mazes.
Convert Square Images to Isometric format - this is used for isometric mazes.

In addition to that, there's a slider you can use for troubleshooting.

Complement Images if Missing

Tile Multiplier will add tiles for you if you feed it a minimum set of five or six tiles. You don't have to buy Tile Multiplier to use Mazes 2D Tiles, you can also draw each tile yourself, or use options in File Explorer on Windows (or the Mac/Linux equivalent) to copy and rotate the images yourself.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NZYEskvKhJ/Square%20Tile%20Minimum.jpg (Square Tile Minimum)

Minimum tiles required

The minimum set consists of a tile for each of the options above:

1: dead-end
12: top-right corner
13: Tom-bottom straight line
123: Top-right-bottom split
1234: crossing
0: This tile is optional, but would be used for tiles that have no connection at all. Empty tiles in isometric mazes are an optional setting.

Note: Don't forget to create images for the start (code: s-) and end (code: e-) tiles. THese are not processed by Tile Multiplier.

From the minimum tile set it will create a full set of tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6c7sgi35s4/Square%20Tiles%20Tile%20Multiplier.jpg (Square Tiles Tile Multiplier)

It will copy and rotate tile 1, to create tiles 2, 3, and 4. It will do the same with the other tiles that it was given.

Convert Square Images to Isometric Format

The Tile Multiplier can create isometric tiles from your square tiles. It can't create new isometric tiles from other isometric tiles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/INGDEjNHem/tile%20multiplier%20for%20isometric.jpg (tile multiplier for isometric)

An example of the Tile Multiplier to create a full set of isometric tiles from a limited set of square tiles:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/4e6G2BYeBY/tile%20multiplier%20limited%20tile%20set.jpg (tile multiplier limited tile set)

Without the Tile Multiplier, this set of 7 tiles would result in the following maze:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/h8hHMNsNaz/Tile%20multiplier%20missing%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier missing tiles)

The Tile Multiplier can fix this, and add the other tiles, to create the following result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/D9xaTiS1nC/Tile%20multiplier%20fix%20square%20tiles.jpg (Tile multiplier fix square tiles)

Something similar happens if you don't convert your tiles to isometric:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/owXO8fAdXE/isometric%20maze%20using%20square%20tiles.jpg (isometric maze using square tiles)

This maze does not look isometric at all, and the solution path is not connecting to any of the paths. After telling tile multiplier to convert the tiles to isometric, this would be the result:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/GurMzLm7Fw/Tile%20multiplier%20isometric.jpg (Tile multiplier isometric)

This looks a lot better.

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