Name: Hercule
I haven't played any other games since I downloaded Hercule.
In what little free time I have,
I always seem to choose Hercule.
- Linda B., 3 Apr 2002
The main playing field (pictured on the right) displays the twenty board positions, with each tile
possible at each location displayed at each position. Your job is to deduce the location of each
tile based on the clues. The clues include "left-of", "next-to", "between", and "same-column"
information. If you get stuck, you can also ask for a hint by clicking the question mark icon in the
lower right of the display. You can undo mistakes by clicking the undo icon (the circular arrow),
and if you've REALLY messed up, you can restart the puzzle by clicking the "restart" icon (the
arrow-and-bar).
To indicate that a given tile is NOT at a given location on the board, make sure the "eliminate"
icon is selected (the circle with a bar through it, in the lower right) and tap the tile -- it will
be removed from that position. To put it back, simply tap the area where it previously was and it
will be redisplayed. To indicate that a given tile DOES exist at a given location on the board,
select the "assert" icon (the exlamation mark) and tap the tile -- it will be expanded to fill that
grid position. You can quickly swap modes by holding down the 'page-down' key -- if the page-down
key is pressed, then any tap on a tile does the opposite of the current mode.
To make game-play easier, you can hide clues (once they are no longer useful) by tapping them
with the stylus, or move them around. Dragging one clue onto another one causes them to
change places!
You can play any of 100,000 unique puzzle scenarios with Hercule (although the shareware version
limits you to 10). Simply select the number of the puzzle you want with the "New Puzzle" form
(displayed to the left). From this form you can also select a "handicap", which is a number of
tiles that are given away by default. A higher handicap makes the puzzle easier, so if you are
just learning the game it can be quite "handy". With the 100,000 different puzzle scenarios, and
the 10 different handicap levels for each one, there are actually a million different puzzles you
can play!
You can customize the behavior of Hercule by modifying the preferences (shown on the right). The
"Auto Deduce" option simplifies the game a bit by having the game itself deduce certain values.
For instance, if you eliminate all but one of a certain tile in a given row, Hercule will automatically
deduce that the one remaining instance of that tile must be the correct one. Also, if you deduce that
a given tile is the correct one at a given position in the puzzle, Hercule will automatically eliminate
all other instances of that tile from the row.
"Auto Advance" causes the next puzzle (the puzzle with
a number one higher than the current one) to be generated automatically when the current puzzle is
finished.
"Warn on bad assumptions" will cause a message to pop up if you try to eliminate or
assert a tile that is incorrect. It makes the game much easier, and less frustrating! The
warning you see if you make a mistake when this value is set is shown to the left.
Lastly, Hercule supports varying color-depths for those devices that allow it. You can use
either the 1-bit (black-and-white) mode, 2-bit (4-level grayscale) mode, or 4-bit
(16-level grayscale) mode. In addition, Hercule now supports 256 color mode, if you have
a device that supports color! The following screenshots demonstrate each of the four modes:
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| 1-bit mode | 2-bit mode | 4-bit mode | Color! |
When you complete a puzzle and have correctly deduced the locations of all the tiles, you will
see the form shown to the right. It will tell you how many times you were warned about making a
bad assumption, how many times you hit the "undo" button, how many times you asked for a hint,
and how long (in minutes and seconds) it took you to finish the puzzle. Pressing "OK" will
cause the next puzzle to be generated (if "Auto Advance" is on), or will display the "New Puzzle"
dialog (if "Auto Advance" is off).
For those of you who are new to logic puzzles (and Hercule particularly), a seven-part tutorial
is included with the game, explaining in detail what the four different types of clues are and
what can be deduced from them. Tips for beginning players are also included in the tutorial.
So, that was a rather long-winded explanation, but you should now know whether or not you want to
try Hercule out... The shareware version may be downloaded for free, and never expires, but you
are limited to only the first ten puzzles. The registered version allows you to play all 100,000
puzzles! Registration only costs $12.
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