ok, I've got one.
Attached is a program that I think is practical (if you have kids) and fun.
To run it, you would need to download all those files and put them in the same directory, then open the excel file and allow macro's (there is no malicious code in there, I assure you). I tried to run it direct from the web and it seems to get very confused trying to access the wav files.
It is a math game for elementary age kids. It asks math questions (equations) repeatedly and they provide answers. There is a timer displayed which counts down to 0.
Then the results of the game are displayed (LastResults tab), including tabulation of the equations with the wrong answers highlighted and correct answers supplied. The summary is erased/overwritten for every game.
A more permanent summary of the game goes into the TheHistory tab (kind of like high score on a video game), including name of player, number of questions right/wrong etc.
The controls available to change (for example before the game) are:
type of math question (+.-.*,/)
timer setting (how many seconds in a game).
MaxNumber – what is the highest number that you are going to add, subtract, multiply (usually 10 but my 8-year old sets it to 12).
username (for history loggin purposes)
Some feeble attempts at effects:
A wave file plays "yeah" (with clapping) upon entering correct answer (my voice)
A wave file plays a soft "uh-oh" upon incorrect answer (my voice)
A wave file plays trumpet when game is done and summary results displayed.
(by the way, there are three wave files that you need to have available in the same directory).
The timer flashes between purple and white every second during countdown and then red/white during last 15 seconds.
It is almost the same game as described in "Microsoft Excel VBA Programming for the Absolute Beginner" by Duane Birnbaum.
I read his code for ideas, then created my own almost from scratch. I used his code for the timer which is a complicated function to implement (and complicates the logic of the program control since timer essentially runs in parallel with other processes). I added the sounds and the extra sheets for logging LastResults and History.
If you have small kids, I think they'll enjoy it. Although... when I showed it to my daughter today, her excitement lasted only about 10 minutes, then wanted to go on the internet for better games ;( That was a little disheartening considering I spent somewhere between 6-8 hours on this all total. But... I guess I still learned about vba programming, which was my goal.
A few minor puzzles that I still haven't solved:
1 - I wanted to be able to use protection to keep the user limited to the few cells that he needs to change (the operator, the answer, the username, the timersetting, and the maxnumber).
I unlocked these cells as well as the timer and then protected the sheet. This caused a program error whenever the timer tried to change the color of the timer cell (the flashing effect). I'm not sure why this happened because I unlocked that cell. The only way I could get it to work was to turn all protection off.
2 – Is there a way to change the module names to something more descriptive than "module1", "module2" ?
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