The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Mayday]

"Every puzzle SudoKai generates is unique and does have a single solution."

This is what is confusing me. It is not generating a puzzle, it just displays one of the 1001 premade. It is not capable of generating new puzzle that is not already inside those 1001?
For example, if I want to make 11 books with 100 unique different puzzles, I can not? I can only make 10?

Or am I understanding this wrong?

If all puzzles are actually premade files, is it possible to purchase all puzzles and their solutions as the highest possible dimension/resolution PNG files?

I would pay for this.

And I know it is already mentioned on the website but to confirm, I can use them commercially?

[SudoKai]

The Sudoku games you generate using SudoKai can be used commercially.

Every puzzle SudoKai generates is unique and does have a single solution - This should be the case when clicking on the Generate button as well as generating games to file. If that is not the case then it is unfixable as it is.

As for the Pre-generated Sudoku games (png + solutions) request - there is just way to many variants to work with for this to be possible right now.

[Mayday]

The Sudoku games you generate using SudoKai can be used commercially.

Every puzzle SudoKai generates is unique and does have a single solution - This should be the case when clicking on the Generate button as well as generating games to file. If that is not the case then it is unfixable as it is.

As for the Pre-generated Sudoku games (png + solutions) request - there are just way too many variants to work with for this to be possible right now.

Oh, so if I click "LOAD BLANK/Clean" and then click generate it is going to generate a puzzle that is not in the 1001 premade puzzles? Thank you for clearing that up. I thought there are only 1001 premade sudokus, that it doesn't generate new ones.

So to use program to get image of puzzle and solution procedure would be:

a) select variant after program starts
b) Select blank
c) Click on zoom 5 times
d) Click on yingyang generate to file 1
e) Click on export floppy disk, save as png
f) Click on lightning - Unique solution check
g) Click on floppy image export
h) Click on Generate to file repeat d-g

Correct?

Is there a way to center board in the program window? Star sudoku or any irregular shape gets its corners cut in export.

[creint]

Can you provide a sample on what puzzle you want. Maybe I can add a bulk generate to svg feature.

[Mayday]

Can you provide a sample on what puzzle you want. Maybe I can add a bulk generate to svg feature.

CORRECTION *- I thought Sudokai posted that message above, did not notice it was creint. I do not know what puzzles you offer, I can't find their showcase.

****
THANK YOU to the Moon and back if you manage to do it and just for offering as well. SVG puzzles and solutions would be a life saver.

I was just going to "hire" my daughter to export puzzles and solutions this Sunday for me, and bribe her with ice cream and extra allowance.

These would be the main ones:

Spark Pentagram and Hexagram.
Any Tredoku (your choice).
Any Cube (your choice).
****

[SudoKai]

...So to use program to get image of puzzle and solution procedure would be:

a) select variant after program starts
b) Select blank
c) Click on zoom 5 times
d) Click on yingyang generate to file 1
e) Click on export floppy disk, save as png
f) Click on lightning - Unique solution check
g) Click on floppy image export
h) Click on Generate to file repeat d-g

Correct?

Sounds about right.

...Is there a way to center board in the program window? Star sudoku or any irregular shape gets its corners cut in export.

Unfortunately that ability is not currently available in SudoKai.

[Mayday]

...So to use program to get image of puzzle and solution procedure would be:

a) select variant after program starts
b) Select blank
c) Click on zoom 5 times
d) Click on yingyang generate to file 1
e) Click on export floppy disk, save as png
f) Click on lightning - Unique solution check
g) Click on floppy image export
h) Click on Generate to file repeat d-g

Correct?

Sounds about right.

...Is there a way to center board in the program window? Star sudoku or any irregular shape gets its corners cut in export.

Unfortunately that ability is not currently available in SudoKai.

Thank you for replying. How can I send you my contact info in case you want to sell your program code or give access so I could maybe hire a developer to make adjustments, or in case you want to make adjustments but require funding?
It doesn't matter when or if will this ever happen, just want to be notified so I do not miss this opportunity.

Thank you.

[SudoKai]

Thank You for the support. Any major SudoKai announcements will be made in this forum.

[creint]

Spark Pentagram and Hexagram.
Any Tredoku (your choice).
Any Cube (your choice).

Looks like those are simple alldifferent constraint puzzles.
Yes every puzzle you can think of with alldifferent can be generated easily.
Rating can be included.
Design would still be the hardest (one time manual) part. SudoKai has options for that. My solver has currently only squared inputs and display.
If you have an svg templates with the right tags on the cells then it could use that template to overwrite that with the puzzle/solutions. Otherwise you use text output to put into a design program.

Output as plain text is easy, Spark pentagram:

Code: Select all

. . . 8 . . . 4 . . . .
. 3 . . 7 . . . . 6 2 .
. . . . 4 . . . . . . .
. 7 2 . . 5 . 8 1 . . .
. . . . . 4 7 .
. . . . . . 6 .
6 . . . 5 . . .
7 8 . 1 . . . .

5 6 7 8 2 1 3 4 3 5 1 7
2 3 1 4 7 8 5 6 4 6 2 8
8 1 3 5 4 6 7 2 7 2 3 4
4 7 2 6 3 5 1 8 1 8 5 6
1 5 6 2 8 4 7 3
3 4 8 7 2 1 6 5
6 2 4 3 5 7 8 1
7 8 5 1 6 3 4 2

[Mayday]

Spark Pentagram and Hexagram.
Any Tredoku (your choice).
Any Cube (your choice).

Looks like those are simple alldifferent constraint puzzles.
Yes every puzzle you can think of with alldifferent can be generated easily.
Rating can be included.
Design would still be the hardest (one time manual) part. SudoKai has options for that. My solver has currently only squared inputs and display.
If you have an svg templates with the right tags on the cells then it could use that template to overwrite that with the puzzle/solutions. Otherwise you use text output to put into a design program.

I did not know Sudokai generates puzzles, I thought it only gives premade 1001. Now that I know it generates puzzles I generated enough for my books for testing.

I can draw SVG templates but I am not sure which ones are copyrighted.

If you sent me list of which ones are free to use I can draw them. Not sure about the cell tags. I can add so that each cell element is a layered shape with a unique name. You can give me their code names for easier program targeting.

[creint]

Tags in template can be a linear number range 1-80 (for Pentagram) or as points matching the coordinates in my solver. Tag can be the visible part where the number directly can go (replace) is maybe easier to work with. Something like

Code: Select all

<text x="20" y="35" class="specialfont">1 or 1,1</text>

or something like that and otherwise I can edit it to the right number.

I don't know cases that have copyright, sometimes you can get away by using other names for the puzzles.
Probably a few special types have copyright, depending on country. In my opinion nothing with the basic constraints like only alldifferent should be copyrighted. Some were copyrighted but those are now expired.

[denis_berthier]

.
Hi Mayday
You're raising an interesting question about copyright, but I think it's better analysed in terms of intellectual property (IP).
Copyright doesn't prevent you from copying (small) parts of a publication, for discussion, elaboration, ... But IP prevents you from doing if without mentioning the author.

IP starts at the time of publishing (in the most general sense of the word) and is there forever (there's no expiry date). IP violation (plagiarism, IP theft...) is when something is re-published or paraphrased or used with no mention of the original author (and for IP theft, obtained by illegal means).

The case of sudokus or sudoku patterns of cells or puzzles for similar games, whether they are manually created or created by a program, is quite easy to deal with safely:
1) already existing puzzle (e.g. EasterMonster): mention the names of the puzzle and creator: "EasterMonster, by JPF" or "morph of JPF's EasterMonster"
2) puzzle from an already existing list : mention the original list and creator: "puzzle #xxx in mith's list of T&E§(3) min-expand puzzles", "puzzle #xxx in Denis Berthier's list of controlled-bias puzzles", "puzzle #xxx in the top1465 MagicTour list..."
3) puzzle taken from a website: mention the website and all the necessary info to access it: "Kakuro puzzle H1211 on atksolutions.com"
4) puzzle generated by you, using some existing software: mention something like: "puzzle generated using Sudokai, with such and such specific settings" or "puzzle generated by SudokuExplainer, based on XXX's pattern YYYYY"

Those are just examples, but it should be enough to get the idea.
.

[Mayday]

@denis_berthier

Interesting. I was referring to only Tredoku which has TM label and Sujiken® which has R label.
Tredoku trademark is dead (canceled) and Sujiken is alive.

Usually, programs that generate puzzles give full commercial rights (you pay for the usage rights or some programs are free). Full commercial rights mean that there is no need to specify program used to generate puzzles in produced materials. Unless it is specified by the developer in TOS.

I have Luke Bowes PowerPoint Puzzle Generator, Puzzle Maker PRO by Hans Miedema, Crossword Express by John Stevens and Cross+A by Sergey Kutasov and Ilya Morozov.

All these programs do not require you to mention using them to generate puzzles.

I contacted Nikoli and they said I am allowed to use any of their puzzles commercially (meaning any of their puzzles that I create).

I only use puzzles and programs I can use 100% without issues because there are so many copypasting, if I find something on X site it doesn't mean it is original, could be stolen from Y site.

[Mayday]

Just saw the tweet about revitalizing the SudoKai!

Can not wait.

[SudoKai]

Just saw the tweet about revitalizing the SudoKai!

Can not wait.

Thank You.
As mentioned in the tweet - it is going to be a slow grind getting started.