Site Guide

1st MAY, 2022 20.57

Here is a general overview of how to register and use an account on Puzzlebouts.

Registration

Register for an account with an email address and a password. Your password will need to be sufficiently strong before it will be accepted.

An email will be sent to the email address you registered. Follow the instructions in that email to verify that the email account belongs to you.

Once you have verified your email address, return to the login page and sign in with your details.

Your Profile

On sign in you will be taken to the Tale of the Tape section of the site.

This is your profile page and will contain your playing history and stats.

Your profile picture
Your profile picture

The first thing you have available is the ability to modify your user avatar, user name, and place of origin.

The system will have randomly created a username for you, but you can alter this using the edit profile tool. This can be opened by clicking on the small pencil icon at the top left of your profile image.

You can edit your profile picture
You can edit your profile picture

In the edit profile tool you can change the look of your user avatar by selecting features, amending them and coloring them using the color palette.

Feel free to keep your randomly generated user name if you like it, but you can also change it here in the edit profile tool by overtyping the randomly created one.

If you need to change your country of origin you can either scroll through the country list using the left and right arrows, or search for your country by typing in the search field.

Once you are happy with your player character and details, click the save button for the details to be saved.

Create a Bout

Now that you have your player profile set up, let's create a bout.

A bout is one or more puzzle games stitched together in a set of rounds.

You initially play these boots on your own and they get published so others can challenge you.

To create a bout, click the big "Create Bout" button that is up in the main navigation bar at the top of the screen.

Create a Bout
Create a Bout

The "Create a Puzzle Bout" dialog will appear

* * Special Note **

Whilst in the current beta testing phase the only puzzle available is Mini-Sudoku, more puzzle types will be added as the site matures.

Let's create a 2-round bout.

This is very simple as we only have mini-sudoku available.

Creating a Bout
Creating a Bout

Click the lock icon at the top of the dialog. The lock will turn red indicating that you are happy with what you have selected for that round.

Now click on the right-hand arrow to the side of the ring marker to move to Round 2. Once again, lock the Round by clicking on the lock icon.

A bout will be created using any rounds that you lock.

Just to reiterate, there will soon be more puzzle options to scroll through.

Next, give your bout a name by typing a name for it in the Bout Name box.

Once your bout has a name, click the OK button.

A small summary dialog will appear showing details of the bout to be created.

Confirm you are happy
Confirm you are happy

If you are happy with the structure of this bout, click create. Or click cancel If you want to make some adjustments.

Let's click 'Create'

You will receive a notification with confirm that this bout has been saved and that you should head to the Booth section of the site to play it.

Playing Your Bout

Using the navigation bar at the top of the screen, switch over to the Booth section of the site.

The booth is where your created boots will live. It has two sections. Pending bouts and Active bouts.

The two round bout we just created should be available here in the Pending Bouts section. Any boots you have previously played will appear in the Active Boots section.

The Booth
The Booth

Pending Bouts will show as 'Ready to Play', so lets play the one we just created.

Click the "Play" button for the bout you wish to play. Doing so will launch the game board.

Initially playing a bout on your own is called "seeding" the bout. You are setting it up for others to challenge.

Play the two puzzles that will be presented to you. One round at a time.

You can use the mouse to select the cells or move around the board with the keyboard arrow keys.

Some things to note:

- Your attempt is being recorded. All of the moves that you make are being logged so they can be replayed.

- Your attempt is being timed as you can see in the timer over the board.

- When you enter a value in the final empty cell of a round, that is it, round over, so be careful how you go about completing the puzzle. You cannot further edit your moves once you have completed the final cell.

- Hitting the spacebar on a highlighted cell will remove any previously entered value. Or you can simply type a new value over the previous one.

Each round board completed with be analysed for correctness. Depending on the type of puzzle being played there may be more than one correct answer.

If you have completed the board correctly, it will go green and you will get a green thumbs up together with your completion time in the round summary display.

If you have made a mistake the board will go red with a corresponding red thumbs down in the summary display.

Your accuracy and time will determine where you end up in the leader board and how many points you will score.

Once you have completed seeding the bout you will be presented with the bout published screen.

Your Bout is Published
Your Bout is Published

Your efforts are now published and available for other users to challenge.

You should notice when you click OK on this published message, that the bout you just played has now moved to the Active Bouts list.

At any point over the lifetime of the bout you can check on your standing by selecting the 'Check' button on an active bout and a current leader board will be displayed.

Leader board for a Bout 
Leader board for a Bout 

Taking on Another Player

And now to the main competitive part of the site. Trying to beat another player in a bout they have seeded.

You do this in the Ring, so head on over there.

When you have registered and logged in, you will see, 'A Mini Adventure' in The Challenges section waiting for you.

This bout was created by me and seeded ready for you to challenge. I did this whilst writing these notes.

By the time you have registered, there may be other challenges waiting for you as well.

But have a look for a 'A Mini Adventure' created by Chromatic Ranger (my user name) and challenge me.

Clicking on the "Challenge" button will open the main Ring area.

A Challenge in progress
A Challenge in progress

Two boards will be displayed, together with details of the opponent you are playing. In this case, it is me. As soon as both boards have loaded, the timers will start and it is your job to complete the left-hand board.

The board on the right will auto-play the exact same moves and timing that the bout creator made when originally seeding the bout.

Can you beat me?

Can you beat all of the other players that have also challenge me?

Once you have completed your challenge a results message will be shown indicating where you currently stand in the leader board for that bout.

You will be awarded points on the following basis.

- 10 pts if you beat the creator

- 10 pts If you complete all rounds correctly or

- 2 pts for each correct round, win or lose

These points will be added to your profile.

** Special Note **

Currently all bouts that are created have no time limit, however, once the Beta testing phase of the site is over, bouts will last for a finite amount of time. Probably one week.

Also note: Whilst in this testing phase I reserve the right to delete any bouts that may develop issues and I also may under certain circumstances rest player points.

I will let you know in advance if I plan to do this.

I hope this has given you a good overview of how to play Puzzlebouts.

I look forward to seeing you on the boards.

Kind Regards

Martin. (Chromatic Ranger)

<< Next
Prev >>