PowerPoint Games

[John Bullington]

I help teachers use technology in the classrrom I have
several games (jeopardy and a puzzle game) that I have
created (variations on similar ones on web). I'd like to
work on hangman and concentration via powerpoint. I can't
figure how to do the following two things.

Hangman - Have it set so rectangles cover letters in word
and a alphabet is below the puzzle. When students select a
correct letter from the alphabet It fades the alphabet
letter and the rectangle revealing the part of the word
(using trigger), however when the students select a wrong
letter I want it to animate the next piece in the hangman
(ie qt head, then body, etc) Obviously I could key a wrong
answer to a particular part of the body, but then the
hangman would be created haphazardlly and would have an
awful lot of body parts. Any way around this problem
(without VB)?

Concentration - again the things to match can be covered by
rectangles. But from there is it possible to do an if then
statement if a=b then fade both, if no then replace
rectangles (you'd have to obviously be able to set a value
for each rectangle), etc.

 

[Bill]

Which version of PowerPoint do you have? PPT 2002 or PPT 2003 utilize
"triggers" that you can assign animations to objects. For example you can
have a hidden rectangle over the correct letters that when you click on a
letter in the alphabet list it could hide a rectangle over the correct
letter in the puzzle. You could also have the body parts listed off to the
side and when you click on the part it appears under the noose!

If you have 97 or 2000 it might require VBA programming. I might try to get
around to putting something together but it wouldn't be until February
because I am booked solid right now. You can check out a couple of samples
I have at the following link (Jeopardy and Family Feud):

http://www.pttinc.com/ppgame.htm#PPGame

If I get around to creating something, I'll put them up on this page. Good
Luck!

Bill Foley
www.pttinc.com

 

[John Bullington]

Already have the correct answers set to triggers, what I'd
like is an incorrect letter selection to automatically add
the next body part (not needing a wrong answer to have
someone click on body part to add it) as well as when the
hangman is complete jumping to end of game slide or end of
game animation, etc) The problem is no matter which
incorrect answer is choosen 1st, I'd like it to add the
head, 2nd incorrect the body, etc

 

[Bill]

Sounds like you will need macro code to do what you want. For example, you
can have a macro that sets the visible property of an object to true, then
checks to see if all objects are true, and if they are, go to a particular
slide, if not, remains on that slide.

Sounds like an interesting challenge for me do put something together, but
as I said, it won't be too soon.

maybe someone else will pop in with another solution.

Bill Foley
www.pttinc.com

 

[Rick Altman]

John, maybe I'm just hopelessly lazy, but it seems to me that you can work
around this technological hazard and make the Hangman game more engaging to
your audience with one change in approach:

Use the Felt Tip Pen during the game
and draw your own hanged man


I'd set up a permanent part of the main slide with the hanging structure all
created. Then just start creating the man -- the more juvenile the drawing
the better, just as if you were to play it on paper.

Your pen drawings will endure as the triggers occur -- they will endure even
if you go to another slide and then return. In '03, you can even save your
hanged man as part of the presentation when you're done.

Or maybe I'm just way too lazy and VBA-phobic... <g>

 

[John Langhans [MSFT]]

[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]

Hello,

PowerPoint doesn't provide the functionality that you are looking for
without resorting to VBA or add-ins.

If you (or anyone else reading this message) think that it's important that
PowerPoint provide this kind of functionality (without having to resort to
VBA or add-ins), don't forget to send your feedback (in YOUR OWN WORDS,
please) to Microsoft at:

http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also WHY it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft receives thousands of product
suggestions every day and we read each one but, in any given product
development cycle, there are only sufficient resources to address the ones
that are most important to our customers so take the extra time to state
your case as clearly and completely as possible.

IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions).

John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows

For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto

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