Press Release
Attn: Media Outlets
High Spec Number Place Puzzle Generator V2.0 Released Via GPL
SHINJUKU, Tokyo--December 18, 2007--Time Intermedia Co. (Shinjuku, Tokyo. CEO: Takayuki Satoh, Operating Funds 130,750,000 yen) is pleased to announce the release of the high spec version 2.0 of its Number Place Puzzle Generator via the GPL open source license. The algorithm used by the generator (patent pending, #2007-197610) can be adapted to a variety of puzzle types.
Time Intermedia Co. was met with acclaim on August 28 of this year when it released version 1.0 of its software under the GPL open source license. The company is currently in the process of adapting the Number Place Puzzle Generator to the Nintendo DS handheld console.
The new, version 2.0 edition of the software maintains the same high-speed puzzle generating abilities of version 1.0 (standard puzzle generation time: 0.05 seconds), but allows for more variability in the puzzles including allowing board sizes from 4x4 to 25x25 squares. In addition, version 2.0 introduces new ways of dividing the game board (jigsaw number place), allows puzzle developers to choose which number place strategies will be required to solve their puzzles, and gives puzzle developers the power to make the most beautiful puzzles possible. With version 2.0 of the Number Place Puzzle Generator even the most novice puzzle fan has the power to easily make puzzles on par or greater than those of a professional puzzle author.
Through collaboration with esteemed puzzle creator Naoki Inaba and top computer programmer Masaya Kiwada (member of the official Japan team for the ACM-ICPC International Collegiate Programming Contest) during the development of Number Place Puzzle Generator, Time Intermedia Co. developed a program so advanced that even professional puzzle makers would want to use it. The generator supports a number of variations that allow it to easily make puzzles that extend past the traditional Number Place concepts of columns and rows.
The Knowledge Engineering Center of Time Intermedia Co. originally pursued the computer algorithm behind the Number Place Puzzle Generator as a research project, and continues researching further into the puzzle generation field. As creating an efficient puzzle generation engine is an extremely difficult exercise, puzzle generation has become a theme around many of the world's college campuses and research centers. Though the current international mania for Sudoku has brought the world a number of automatic puzzle generators, none so far have brought the quality of puzzles that people seek from professional puzzle makers. Time Intermedia Co. saw that rectifying this problem required both high-level programming and high-level puzzle design skills. Time Intermedia Co hopes that by releasing a high-quality program to the world, they further the international interest in automatic puzzle generation and algorithm research.
The algorithm used in the Number Place Puzzle Generator is capable of creating a variety of puzzles. In the future Time Intermedia Co. plans to adapt the algorithm to other puzzles while continuing to release the results as open source programs. Next for the company is "Cross Sum," a game using the additive properties of numbers 1 through 9. As the Knowledge Engineering Center places focus on the algorithm itself, game development companies are responsible for converting the algorithm into a product.
The change from hand-made to automatic creation is one of time, and we anticipate the point when the barriers of hand creation come crashing down as a result of strides made in the IT industry. Time Intermedia Co. hopes that the release of Number Place Generator version 2.0 will be one step towards that future.
Official Site (Puzzle Generator Japan)
Contact Information
Time Intermedia Co. Knowledge Engineering Center Puzzle Project Room
Phone: 03-5362-9009
FAX: 03-5362-9008
Email: puzzle@timedia.co.jp
URL: http://www.timedia.co.jp