Software used for Making and Modifying Puzzles
Many of the puzzles described here can simply be printed and used. To create variations or to personalize the puzzles (and sometimes to solve some of them), you basically need four kinds of software or applications: word-processing software, image processing software, an Acrobat-like program that helps all programs and printers behave properly (!) and a spreadsheet-type program for making calculations easily. Some of these tasks are easier if you have commercially available applications, but virtually everything described here can be done with free versions. Note especially the free cloud-based programs offered by Google, called Docs, Sheets and Photos.
A basic, free set of useful programs could include:
Google Docs
Google Sheets
Google Photos
More detailed info on alternatives:
Word Processing The most widely-used commercial software is Microsoft Word, which is available for both Macs and PCs. A couple free alternatives for PCs are described here. Macs come equipped with an excellent word processing program called Pages. And Google provides a free suite of cloud-based programs, including a word processing program called Docs. Macs come equipped with a very basic word processor called TypeEdit.
Image Processing Occasional lightweight image-editing is all that is needed for almost everything here and can generally be achieved through built-in software on your phone or computer. If you’re interested in more extensive personalization or customization of some of the puzzles, more powerful image-editing software would be needed. Adobe Elements is a slimmed down (and less expensive) version of Photoshop, which is the premier program for manipulating images (photos, illustrations or drawings, and diagrams), but has a steep learning curve. Both Elements and Photoshop are available in Mac and PC versions and Macs come equipped with a very basic word image editor called TypeEdit. Gimp is a very viable free alternative to Photoshop. Additional less-expensive or free Photoshop alternatives can be found here. Google’s Photos has useful image editing abilities, as well as a significant amount of free cloud storage.
Spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel are very powerful, making many complicated or repetitive calculations easy. They greatly simplify the calculations needed for the FIBonacci puzzle, the Car Crash puzzle and for parts of the Dog’s Mead crossnumber puzzle. Apple offers Numbers and Google’s free cloud version is called Sheets.
pdf reader or editor The portable document format (pdf) allows document or images in a wide variety of formats created by diverse programs to be molded into a common format that can be printed easily and, almost invariably, with formatting problems.The Acrobat Reader is a free, bare-bones version that accomplishes this, while Acrobat Pro has more powerful features, but