Math Arithmetic

Math Counting

Manual Contents

• System Requirements (p.2)
• General Game Play Description (p.2)
• Specific Instructions (p.4)
  • New and Autosave Games - Starting (p.5)
    • Base Lesson File (p.5)
  • Difficulty and Speed / Pause Game Settings (p.6)
• Teacher Settings: Teacher Mode (p.7)
• Math Counting (p.8)
  • Spoken Sounds (p.9)
    • creating new sounds and .wav Files (p.10)
    • example (p.9)
• Math Arithmetic (p.10)
  • Configuring Math Arithmetic: Equation Generator (p.10)
    • Addition (p.11)
    • Multiplication Table (p.12)
    • 3 Term Equations - Operator Precedence (p.14)
• Running software over a Network (p.18)
• Screenshots
  • Addition
  • Multiplication
  • 3 Term Equations

Hungry Frog™ Math for Windows

System Requirements

Hungry Frog games require 32 bit Windows 95/98/NT and corresponding Microsoft .dll files which are part of the 32 bit Windows 95/98/NT systems, 16 MB RAM, a Pentium processor and an SVGA video card with 1MB (2MB recommended) of memory capable of displaying 256 colors (1000s recommended).

Playing Hungry Frog Math Games

The following screenshot shows the general Hungry Frog for Windows format. In the screenshot you see the following items important in game play:

The Game World is where the game action takes place. Your Frog Family and Tadpoles inhabit the bottom of the world, and the Bugs pass by above. You help your frog family eat by clicking on a frog to make it Hungry and then clicking again on a bug so that the selected (Hungry) frog will eat the bug. If you have chosen the right bug, then your frog will gobble it up and you gain 5 points. If you have selected an incorrect bug, then you will lose 3 points. You can then choose to eat another bug, or you can click on a different frog to make it Hungry. The frog which is Hungry is always marked by a flashing "Hungry" above it. In v3.0 and higher language games, when you click on a frog the word represented by the frog is "spoken" by the computer (you can easily create any .wav representation or modify the default sound representations for the words or phrases in your dictionary).

The Score Ball in the upper right corner of the Game World tallies your score. You also have a fleeting Time Bonus Score Ball which slowly bounces up and down on the right of the Game World. If you clear the Game World of bugs before the Time Bonus Score Ball disappears, you get that bonus added to your score for that level.

When bugs escape out of the Game World (by flying off the right side of the world view), your score is reduced (points are deducted) and the bugs reappear in the upper left corner of the world view. Some bugs move faster than other bugs, and you will need to keep an eye out so they don't slip past and take points away!

When you have cleared the Game World of Bugs, you get your score tallied for the game level just ended and you advance to the next level of play. If you have eaten bugs correctly one after another, you will have an Accuracy Bonus as well as a Time Bonus added to your score. When you have cleared the board, you have also allowed one of your Tadpoles to become a frog so your total number of tadpoles is reduced by one. Your tadpoles are always swimming around with your frogs in the bottom of the Game World.

When you clear the board of bugs, if you have done well at your current level, you will move to the next level and get a new Frog (up to a maximum of 8). If you had problems at your current level, you will remain at that level. If you had severe difficulty in finishing the current level, then you may be bumped down to a lower level to play it again.

The following screen shot shows the Accuracy Bonus Score Ball and Time Bonus Score Balls being tallied to your Score Ball:

Details of Playing Hungry Frog Games for Windows

Just double click on the application icon to start the game (use Windows Explorer to explore the CD or your hard drive if you copied software to your hard drive). If you have not yet registered the software, you must enter your name before you can start playing. After a second, you will see the restore game dialog from which you can choose to restore an auto-saved game, or start a new game:

To start any auto-saved game in the list, just double click on the game name, single click to select it and click OK, or type the saved game name in the box. If you want to start a brand new game, just type a new game name in the box. Note: You can make a new game or reset any running game to the beginning at any time with the "Reset Game" menu item of the "File Menu". If you choose a saved game, the game will pick up from where you left off the last time you played.

Base Lesson File

The "Base Lesson" file will always be available to you. For language games we recommend that you make all of your modifications to the main dictionary in the "Base Lesson" game so all your changes will be in one place. If you want to create new games based on the Base Lesson game, just open the Base Lesson game and then when it is running choose "Reset Game" from the file menu and enter a new name for that game. The underlying data (dictionary Terms, .wav sound files, lesson word lists, etc.) will be carried over into the new game.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you make a modification to the main dictionary, practice lessons, or equation settings in one game you are playing, the modification will NOT appear in any already saved games. When a game is saved or restored, the game state is saved or restored exactly - without changing other saved games. Changes in one saved game do not have any effect on other saved games. That is why you should make a practice of maintaining the "Base Lesson" game as the game in which you edit or modify the main dictionary in the languge games. You may also want to make a habit of keeping all changes to language practice lessons in the Base Lesson file as well.

Continuing from the above dialog, if you choose to make a new game, the next dialog you see will be the Reset Game dialog in which you set the starting number of frogs, and (if you want) have the option to change your name from the active name:

The game will begin with the number of frogs you choose here.

Difficulty and Speed Settings

From the game Options menu you can change game speed and difficulty at any time during play. Setting the check box for "Play Hard" gives you a more challenging game with more bugs on screen at a time, and changing the slider for game speed makes the bugs move faster or slower. You can always Pause the game at any time if you need to take a break or study the game screen (Pause from Options menu or ctrl-Z).

Teacher Settings: Teacher Mode

You can choose to set the game to "Teacher Mode" if you want students to practice a specific set of problems which the students can not change during the game. To set the game to "Teacher Mode" just enter the password (default is "password") and set the mode on or off from the check box.

When the game is running in Teacher Mode, users must enter the password in order to change the problem types being practiced through the "Edit Bugs" Options Menu item. In Teacher Mode, the auto-save feature of the game is disabled so lessons you define as a teacher will not be overwritten.

Changing the Teacher Password

If you want to change the teacher password from the default "password" password, open the "password.txt" file in the data folder for the application and type over the 8 characters of the word "password" exactly with an 8 character replacement. IMPORTANT: Do not change any other characters in the file. Just select the exact 8 characters of the "password" text in the password.txt file and type in the new 8 characters for your new password. If you ever have a problem with your password.txt file, just delete the file entirely and restart the game. The game will generate a replacement file with the default password "password".

Using Teacher Mode to create Lessons and Tests

To create a series of lessons or tests take the following steps:

1. Make sure "Teacher Mode" is disabled.

2. Create a new game by choosing "Reset Game" from the "File Menu" and choosing a new name and adjusting the starting number of frogs as you wish.

3. Set the "Bug Types" and game Difficulty and Speed settings for the new game.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3. Each game you make will automatically be added to the saved game list.

5. When you are finished, turn on "Teacher Mode".

6. Let your students play, selecting the saved games from the saved game list. With "Teacher Mode" set, students will have to use the lessons as you defined them, and the game auto-save feature will be disabled so the lessons you wrote will not be overwritten.

Hungry Frog Math Counting

Hungry Frog Math Counting teaches basic counting skills to children ages 3 and up (enumeration of objects). In this game, children count spots on bugs - matching them to the corresponding numerals on frogs.

The game automatically tracks the skill level of each individual child (based upon the name they enter at the start of the game) and adjusts game difficulty accordingly.

When a child clicks on a frog to select it (making it display the flashing "Hungry"), the game speaks the number to reinforce learning. You can easily add your own spoken sounds to replace those on the CD if you would like. Please refer to the Hungry Frog Language game manual for detailed information on creating your own spoken language sounds for the Hungry Frog games. Read on for a summary of adding spoken terms in the context of the Math Counting game.

Adding and Editing "Spoken" Numbers to Math Counting

Using the CD for spoken language sounds

By default, the Hungry Frog programs will use the sound files (.wav files) supplied in the corresponding.wav directory on the Hungry Frog CD. For example, Hungry Frog French will look in the CD directory \sound files\french\wav for the .wav sound files for the Hungry Frog French program.

The Hungry Frog CD must be inserted in your CD-ROM drive for the programs to access these .wav sound files on the CD-ROM.

NOTE: You can copy the .wav files from your CD onto your hard drive to make the game run slightly faster. Make sure you copy them into the proper directory for the Hungry Frog program you are playing (see "using your own sound files" below).

Using your own sound files for spoken sounds

IMPORTANT: The Hungry Frog software looks first in the ".wav" directory on your C drive and second in the ".wav" directory on the Hungry Frog sound CD for any .wav file. Therefore, if both these directories have files of the same name (e.g. c:\HungryFrog\Latin\data\wav\acersound.wav and l:\sound files\Latin\wav\acersound.wav), the sound file from your C drive will be played - NOT the file from your CD drive (L in the example).

Therefore, for Math Counting, any .wav files you create must be stored on your C drive in the ".wav" directory (folder) in the "c:\HungryFrog\Counting\data\wav" folder for the Math Counting game.

For example, to replace the spoken "sound" for the number "1" in the Math Counting game:

Example - setting up your own spoken "1" sound:

In Hungry Frog Math Counting, to create a new spoken definition of "1" you would:

1. Create a .wav sound file which speaks the word "1".

2. Save the file as a .wav sound file named "1.wav".

3. Place the "1.wav" sound file in c:\HungryFrog\Counting\data\wav\.

Then, whenever the player selects the "1" frog, the "1.wav" file is "spoken" by the computer - instead of the "1.wav" file on the CD.

Creating new Sounds and .wav Files

You can create or edit the .wav files in the .wav directory (folder) with any sound editor which can save sound files as .wav files. The demo-version of the excellent CoolEdit program is included on your CD. Using CoolEdit makes it easy to edit or create new .wav files. If you use the CoolEdit software regularly, please register your copy with the publisher. Information about the CoolEdit program is included with the software.

(Cool Edit)

Hungry Frog Math Arithmetic

Math Arithmetic: User Settings

In Math Arithmetic, you match frogs to bugs by matching solutions to equations generated by the Equation Generator. The generated equations appear on the bugs in the game display, and corresponding solutions to the equations appear on the frogs in the game display.

The program keeps track of your performance during the game and adjusts game difficulty internally to match your ability. From the Game Options menu you can choose to play with or without sounds, and play an easy or hard game. At any time you can change the equations seen in the game as described below using the Equation Generator.

Math Arithmetic: Equation Generator

In Math Arithmetic you use the Equation Generator to practice a wide variety of arithmetic problems. You can practice addition and subtraction in equations yielding both positive and negative results, multiplication, division and even absolute value equations. You can choose 2 term equations or 3 term equations (including operator precedence rules) simultaneously mixing absolute value into any equations. You choose what numbers to use in your equations, so you can be sure to practice only the problems you want.

The game can be configured to teach an extremely wide variety of math skills. For example, it is easily configured to run as an application dedicated to practice of multiplication tables only. The game may also readily be set up to focus solely on the most basic principles of addition or subtraction. The game only quizzes on the equation sets defined in the equation generator dialog and does NOT presume to know better than you do what problems to present to you (or your child). Equations are only generated within the bounds of the specified parameters. If you feel the equations generated are too simple or too complex, you merely change the parameters to adjust play accordingly.

Simple Addition

In the following example, you have configured the game to teach the most basic arithmetic. You have set the equation generator to create 2 term equations, with the value of the first term 1, 2 or 3 and the value of the second term fixed at 1. The result is the three equations: 1+1, 2+1, 3+1 for the Bugs and the values: 2, 3, 4 for the corresponding Frogs in your Game World. The sample screen shot shows the Game World screen for these "simple addition" equation generator settings.

Multiplication Table Creation

You can very easily set the program to teach standard multiplication tables. In the following example, you have configured the game to teach the "9 times tables". You have set the equation generator to create 2 term equations, with the value of the first term fixed at 9 and the value of the second term ranging from 2 to 6. The result is the "9 times tables" of 9x2 to 9x6. In this example with 5 Frogs at an intermediate level of difficulty, the equations 9x2, 9x3, 9x4, 9x5 and 9x6 may appear on the Bugs. In the screenshot, of the possible Bugs on screen, 9x2 and 9x4 and 9x6 are showing.

Operator Precedence Rules and Complex Equations

You can use the equation generator to create complicated equations as well as very simple ones. In the following example the equation generator is set up to make three term equations using all of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and absolute value.

When the equation generator is set to generate equations of greater complexity, multiple equations are often generated which evaluate to the same result (e.g. 12 - 4, 2 x 4, 32 - 3 x 8). In this case, one Frog will match several Bugs. In fact, as a general rule, whenever the equation generator parameters allow, the equation generator creates many Bugs for each Frog. This screenshot shows a sample Game World resulting from the equation generator settings outlined above.

That's all you need to know to play! We hope you enjoy the game.

Running software over a Network

You may run site licensed software over a network either with or without a CD as the ".wav" sound file source. When you run without a CD, only ".wav" sound files on the C drive are played.

Running with a CD-ROM as the sound file source:

1) Make sure the sound CD is inserted in the server's CD-ROM drive.

2) Make sure the C drive is accessible and there is space (~ 3 MB) for autosave data files (such files exist in the C drive "data" directory for a given game).

e.g. Hungry Frog Latin requires "c:HungryFrog\Latin\data" to be accessible.

3) Run games by either accessing the corresponding .exe application directly from a shared CD via the network, or by first copying the game .exe application to the shared hard drive before running via the network.

Running without using the CD as the sound file source:

1) Make sure the C drive is accessible and there is space (~ 3 MB) for autosave data files (such files exist in the C drive "data" directory for a given game).

e.g. Hungry Frog Latin requires "c:HungryFrog\Latin\data" to be accessible.

2) Copy the game .exe application from your CD to your shared hard drive (you will not be using the CD, so you need a copy of the .exe application on your hard drive).

3a) Copy sound files from the appropriate CD-ROM sound file directory to the corresponding "data\wav" directory on your hard drive (see "Adding and Editing Spoken Term Definitions" above). Ignore any messages (if any) indicating that sound files on the CD are not found. The game will play the ".wav" file copies on the C drive preferentially.

e.g. For Hungry Frog Latin, copy the "sound files\latin\wav" directory contents from your CD to the "c:\HungryFrog\Latin\data\wav" directory on your hard drive.

OR

3b) Copy from the CD to a logical drive accessible to the game .exe application the exact "sound files" directory structure and contents. This must be at the root level (e.g. for a hard drive volume "F" you would copy directory structure and contents to "F:\ sound files\latin\wav" from the CD "\sound files\latin\wav"). At start, the program will poll logical drives for that directory structure at the root level and will use the copy you made in lieu of the absent CD "sound files" directory contents.

4) Run the .exe game application you copied to your shared hard drive by accessing it via the network.

NOTE: Follow CD HTML manual directions for "Adding and Editing Spoken Term Definitions" to add new ".wav" sound files or replace CD-ROM ".wav" sound file resources with your own files.