xyWords

xyWords is a cross-word anagrams game where the object is to use letters in the wheel and find words on the board.

These words can be interconnected like a cross-word or isolated on the board.
You need to find all of the words to complete the board.

Hidden (off board) words can be found for a bonus challenge.

You can even make your own word puzzles using the bundled xyPE application

Written in Quickbasic 4.5 and targeted for MS-DOS based PC's (but should run happily in DOSBOX).
Released as Public Domain / Free.


There are 2 editions of xyWords:

Both editions are designed to work on a wide variety of PCs but if for some reason you encounter a problem please reach out on the vogons thread (Image credit: VileR @ vogons thread)

View the Youtube video for this game


xyWords for CGA - Distributions

To get started simply download one of the distributions:

Full Releasehttps://4am.org/xywords/xywords.zip 3.7mb uncompressed
Contains the base game, all graphics, puzzle editor (xyPE) and full user manual.
Should be run from a hard disk.

Pico Releasehttps://4am.org/xywords/xypico.zip  137kb uncompressed
Contains base game and a small selection of graphics only.
Designed to run from a single floppy disk. 

Special GOTEK Release  - Https://4am.org/xywords/xymini.zip 2.5mb uncompressed
A full release containing base game, all graphics and puzzle editor (xyPE).
Designed to be run on a flash-floppy enabled GOTEK and nFormat utility.

Do you have a composite monitor/TV or B&W mono CGA?
This
patched version (1.0.3a) allows you to disable extended palettes.


How to play

You can play either a single puzzle (FREE PLAY) or a collection of puzzles which will unlock as you progress (COLLECTION)

Each puzzle contains an amount of "puzzle words" which you will need to find to progress.
Some puzzles will have hidden words which you can find as a bonus (not needed to progress).

Fitting the game board, input controls and progress information on a 320x200 pixel screen only using 4 colours is not an easy task.

So here's some paint-brush constructed help to explain :-)


Making your own puzzles?

You can either create them yourself by reading the manual and creating the file(s) 

Included in the full release is xyPE - xyWords Puzzle Editor
It uses the 640x200 CGA High-Res mode to generate and design puzzles.
When saved you can add them to FREE PLAY or make your own COLLECTION

Generate your word list (right hand list) based on your keyword.
Select a word in the list and adjust its parameters.
No validation is included in this editor - so tread carefully or you might break the game.

You can preview the board by pressing T and it will generate a mock graphics board for you.

In this mode you can adjust colors, patterns, palettes and modify how the rack looks. For something fancy you can choose a background picture too!

With this board you can see TICKET and ICE in cross-words and an isolated board word KITE


Looks awesome on original hardware

Only 4 (of 16) CGA colours are used in the "screen shots" below.
Using careful palette and colour choices we can still get a good effect for old school CGA displays!

 

Image credit: VileR @ vogons thread