This Android™ application is a set of game consisting of Sudoku, Crosswords and Word Searches. The idea of the game came from selling a local street paper of Columbus, Ohio named "Street Speech." The local paper had occasionally received puzzles from a person out of the area. With desire to contribute to the local paper a conquest began on how to make puzzles here locally. With knowledge of the GNU GPL a search began for open source and free software as a legal alternative.
The first software program found utilizing a free license (GNU GPLv2) was a Word Search Creator. This was actually very easy to use right from the start. Offering a simple GUI (graphical user interface) with many options. After configuring a few basic settings one can quickly make a word search that can easily be printed or even played right in the GUI.
Additional searches found a Sudoku puzzle generator was initially used as a Portable App, which allowed for use on public computers without the need of an install. As an Ubuntu Linux user, it was found to be more convenient to use GNOME Sudoku which is an open source game included with the Ubuntu operating system. Though the layout was not always print friendly when generating output. Wanting a consistent look while switching between programs a basic Open Office Calc template was created that works with the new utilized office software suite called Libre Office. Both have the same ability to export part of a spread sheet as a PDF (Portable Document Format). This provides a constant look for print.
Software to generate crosswords was not so easily found. Where a word search and Sudoku generator was found with speed and precision, the same could not be said for a crossword generator. The reason was desire to find software that could be used on both a native Linux environment as well as Windows. The immediate solution was found via a website that uses open source software to generate crossword puzzles. In this manner the computer system environment was irrelevant. The puzzles generated had limited connections between the word answers. After examining the software it was found that it was based on a word search generator. Without getting into details, a realization was made that there had to be better resources available. A Linux based crossword generator call Qxw has been settled for immediate use as it could be compiled for a windows environment. Without a windows system to test potential software, it is unknown what a good resource is for generating crosswords. Though EclipseCrossword has perked some curiosity.
You may ask why the concern for an used environment, which is a good question. First, there is no problem to continue making puzzles for "Street Speech." Rather it is the desire to provide an opportunity for another person who may be interested in making puzzles for this local street paper or even other publications but becomes confused or concerned at the mention of Linux.
Android is a trademark of Google Inc.