These files were created with a C program that read in text and output HTML. One line corresponds to one table in the format.
Regular line:
12-17 x34 *Identify mirror image* 1
A space indicates that you shift to another cell, unless it is between asterisks(i.e. the third cell). Carriage return means a new line.
Letters before numbers determine the font color. A(abort) gives blue. B(begin) gives green. X gives red. R(retry) gives orange. C(cycle) gives purple.
Last line is formatted differently:
121 *The End* !
Note there are two spaces before *The End* leaving an empty column.
On my hard drive these files are stored as *.spy "spy format."
Running these through a C program gives HTML.
A side note for those interested in programming:
The comments at the end are added in another bunch of files *.sum, which is just a chunk of HTML without body/header tags. Eventually it'll be modified so that certain wild-card characters put out a lot of text, i.e. "#1" writes Find the Kirillian. I'll also want to produce "Puzzles:" and so forth automatically. I'm missing some details on string manipulation, though. Time to learn PERL!
The advantage of producing HTML automatically is that it's easier to re-format, and if all pages are wrong, I only have to fix one of them. I don't claim that my code's perfect(in fact, I won't post it until it's less shabby), but it's still a great time-saver, even over cutting and pasting. Hey, this is a high-tech gamebook series. It deserves high-tech treatment!