Meet the new quizmaster: You.

Sure, you can play iQuiz for hours of fun. But you can also become the quizmaster by creating your own custom trivia packs, syncing them from iTunes to your iPod, then sharing them with others.

Question (and answer) everything.

The first step to creating your very own iQuiz pack is downloading iQuiz Maker free from Aspyr. iQuiz Maker lets you write your own True or False and multiple choice questions and choose themes to customize the look of your quiz. Add a new group, add a quiz, type in your questions, select your answers — even write the messages players see when they win or lose. You can have your own quiz up and running in minutes. And when you’re done, you can save your quiz and share it with friends.

Advance to the next round.

If you want to go above and beyond what iQuiz Maker has to offer, you can create your own quizzes using a simple .txt file, game tags, and a set of custom .tga images. See the Quiz Building section below to learn how to create your own iQuiz packs from scratch. Need support for iQuiz Maker? Visit Aspyr’s support site.

Quiz Building

Install the pack.

Find the iPod Games folder inside your iTunes folder. (If you’ve never purchased an iPod game from the iTunes Store, you will not have an iPod Games folder. Create one if you don’t already have one.) On Mac OS X, the iTunes ifolder is stored in /Users/username/Music or /Users/username/Documents. On Microsoft Windows, the iTunes folder is stored in \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\

Drag your trivia pack folders into the iQuiz 1.0 folder. (You’ll only have an iQuiz 1.0 folder if you’ve already purchased iQuiz from the iTunes Store.) The next time you sync your iPod, your trivia pack will appear, ready to play. Send your trivia pack folder to friends and they can sync the same way.

Edit trivia.txt.

To create your own quiz, open a new text file called “trivia.txt” inside your trivia pack folder. (Don't change the filename and make sure the file is UTF-8 encoded.) Just follow the instructions below to add your own questions and answers, program game play, and customize the look of your quiz.

Set your language.

By default, your quiz is written in English. But you can create separate trivia.txt files for any of the following languages simply by adding the correct language tag to the filename:

Japanese: trivia-ja.txt
French: trivia-fr.txt
Italian: trivia-it.txt
Spanish: trivia-es.txt
German: trivia-de.txt
Norwegian: trivia-no.txt
Finnish: trivia-fi.txt
Danish: trivia-da.txt
Dutch: trivia-nl.txt
Swedish: trivia-sv.txt

iQuiz menus are only localized into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish, however.

The language setting of your iPod determines which version of your quiz appears. If a language-specific version is not found, the default trivia.txt file will appear instead. Your iPod will recognize most Roman characters, and you can use Japanese characters in trivia-jp.txt. Any unrecognized character will display as an ‘X’ in the game.

Add game play and setup tags.

Your trivia pack's settings are determined by the tags you add. Tags must be entered exactly, and must be the only thing on a line. Values must occupy the line after the tag, and cannot be more than one line.

TITLE: The title of your custom trivia pack as you want it displayed in the New Game menu of iQuiz. The value can be any single line of text. The default is “Untitled.”
HIDDEN: This tag can be used to hide a pack so that it does not appear in the New Game menu. The value must be either YES or NO. If not specified, the default is NO.
GROUP: This can be used to group related packs in the New Game menu. The value can be any single line of text. It must match exactly with any other packs intended for the group. If not specified, the pack will appear in the base menu.
ASK: Number of questions that will be asked in a single play. The value is a number from 1 to 1000. If not specified, the default is 10 (or the number of questions in the pack, if less).
LOSE: Number of wrong answers that result in a losing the game. The value is a number from 0 to 7. If not specified, the default is 3. Once the player has reached this many wrong answers, the custom quiz ends. If the value is set to zero, then the game continues until the number of questions set in ASK have been asked.
WON MESSAGE: The text that appears on the victory screen. The value can be any single line of text. If not specified, the default is “You won!”
LOST MESSAGE: The text that appears on the lose screen. The value can be any single line of text. If not specified, the default is “You lost!”
VERSION: A version number for the pack. The value can be any positive number (no decimals). If not specified, the default is 0. This is useful during the authoring process if you are also customizing the artwork. Artwork for custom packs is converted only the first time a pack is loaded. If this value has changed since the pack was last loaded, all customized images will be reloaded from the source files. Otherwise, you won’t see any further changes to your artwork, since it has already been converted. (Refer to the section on art customization below for more information.)

Add font color tags

These optional color tags come in handy if your background color is similar to the default text color. Each set of three values represents red, green, and blue, and each value is between 0 and 255. Use three numbers per line, separated by commas.

QUESTION COLOR: Color of the question text. If not specified, the default is black: 0, 0, 0.
ANSWER COLOR: Color of the text on the answer choice buttons. If not specified, the default is black: 0, 0, 0.
EXPLANATION COLOR: Color of the explanation text for True/False questions where the answer is false (see Questions). If not specified, the default is white: 255, 255, 255.
SCORE COLOR: Color of the score numerical text. If not specified, the default is a light grey: 191, 191, 191.
COUNT COLOR: Color of the questions remaining countdown text. If not specified, the default is a light grey: 191, 191, 191.
MENU TITLE COLOR: Color of the title on the pause menu, including statistics and the game over menu. If not specified, the default is a bright blue-green: 50, 225, 255.
MENU BUTTON COLOR: Color of the text on the menu buttons. If not specified, the default is black: 0, 0, 0.
MENU TIME COLOR: Color of the time (clock) text on menus. If not specified, the default is dark grey: 64, 64, 64.
STAT LABEL COLOR: Color of the labels on the statistics graphs and high scores list. If not specified, the default is black: 0, 0, 0.
END MESSAGE COLOR: Color of the labels on the statistics graphs and the high scores list. If not specified, the default is black: 0, 0, 0.

Questions

Add question tags.

Questions must come last in the file, after all other customization tags. You must have at least 1 question, and you may have up to a maximum of 1000. Questions for a game are chosen randomly. The answers always appear in the order listed in the question definition. Try to avoid using very long questions or answers. While the text will scroll if necessary, it is harder to read and can potentially cause slowdown (in extreme cases).

Create True or False questions.

The TF tag designates a true or false question. The line after this tag is the question, which can be any single line of text. After the question, you can add an optional explanation of the true answer in a single line of text. This explanation appears if the correct answer is false. The last line indicates the correct answer. It must be either TRUE or FALSE.

TF
	A true/false question whose answer is true.
	TRUE

TF
	A true/false question whose answer is false.
	An explanation of the true answer.
	FALSE

So, as an example:

TF
	Pigs can fly.
	Only briefly, and not of their own power.
	FALSE

Create multiple-choice questions.

The MC tag designates a multiple-choice question. The line after this tag is the question, which can be any single line of text. The two to four lines following the question are the answer choices, each of which is a single line of text. Finally, the last line is a number indicating the correct answer choice.

MC
	This is a multiple-choice question.
	This is the first answer choice.
	This is the second answer choice.  This one is correct.
	This is the third and final answer choice.
	2

So, as an example:

MC
	Flying pigs were first discovered in Antarctica in:
	1712 AD
	320 BC
	Never: Flying pigs do not exist.
	1976 AD along with several tiny pink elephants.
	3

Customization

Create TGA image files.

You can customize the look of your trivia pack by replacing some or all of the artwork. Just drag your own TGA (TARGA) format image files with the specified file names below into your trivia pack. Feel free to change some, all, or none of the art. Any image without a TGA file in the pack will use the default graphic. TGA files must be 24 or 32 bit, uncompressed. Most images look best at 32 bit, which includes an alpha channel for transparency.

The layout of the game screens cannot be modified. For example, the score text will always be drawn at the same location on the screen. Take this into consideration when creating your own replacement art. It would be easiest to use the included examples as a starting point.

Each piece of art has a limit on the size of the image. Different art pieces have different limits (see below). When creating your own images, it is recommended to keep the dimensions close to those of the examples. If an image is not within its limits, the default art will be displayed instead.

As mentioned previously, art is converted from the TGA files to a more efficient format when a pack is first loaded. This may take some time. If you make subsequent changes to a TGA file, they will not be processed until you change the VERSION number.

Set background images.

Backgrounds are full-screen, so they must be exactly 320x240 pixels. Any alpha channel in the image will be ignored.

pause_background.tga: The background for the pause screen, end of game statistics, and game over menu.
mc_background.tga: The background for multiple choice questions, and for the introduction countdown if the first question is a multiple choice question.
tf_background.tga: The background for true/false questions, and for the introduction countdown if the first question is a true/false question.
won_background.tga: The background for the victory screen. The message will always be displayed at the same location.
lost_background.tga: The background for the lose screen. The message will always be displayed at the same location.

Set interface images.

These will use the alpha channel if present. Maximum sizes are specific to the individual images, and are listed below.

menu_button.tga: Buttons in the pause menu. The unfocused and focused states are stacked vertically with equal heights. The maximum size is 320x60, and the minimum size is 120x40.
game_button.tga: Buttons during the game, for the answer choices. The unfocused and focused states are stacked vertically with equal heights. Maximum size 320x60. Minimum size 120x40.
menu_button_icon.tga: The icon displayed on the left of buttons in menus. The three states of unfocused, gaining focus, and focused are laid out horizontally with equal widths. Maximum size 180x60.
game_button_icon.tga: The icon displayed on the left of buttons during the game. The three states of unfocused, gaining focus, and focused are laid out horizontally with equal widths. Maximum size 180x60.
slider.tga: Slider graphic used for volume and brightness adjustment. It includes both the fill bar and the base component, stacked vertically with equal heights. Maximum size 320x160.
right_answer.tga: Graphic that appears after a question is answered correctly. By default it is a large checkmark. Maximum size 160x160.
wrong_answer.tga: Graphic that appears after a question is answered incorrectly. By default it is a large X. Maximum size 160x160.
count_panel.tga: The panel in the upper left that displays the countdown of the number of questions remaining. Maximum size 80x80.
score_timer_panel.tga: The panel in the lower right that displays the score and timer. Maximum size 320x120.
wrong_panel.tga: The panel in lower right that displays the number of questions answer incorrectly. Maximum size 80x240. You should make sure that all 7 wrong_x graphics fit, with 2 pixels spacing between them. Further, this will be positioned directly above the score_timer_panel, with no pixels in between. It will slide down behind if fewer than 7 wrong answers are allowed.
wrong_x.tga: The graphic used in the wrong_panel to indicate a wrong answer. By default it is a small red X. Maximum size 20x20.
timer_red.tga: The red portion of the timer that rotated into view as the time remaining decreases. Maximum size 80x80.
timer_highlight.tga: A highlight drawn on top of the timer that adds detail. Maximum size 80x80.
timer_arrow.tga: The arrow on the timer that is rotated counter-clockwise as the time remaining decreases. Maximum size 80x80.
question_panel.tga: The panel behind the question text. Maximum size 320x120.
battery.tga: The battery graphic on the pause menu. It contains both the fill portion and the base, stacked vertically with equal heights. Maximum size 40x30.
statistics.tga: The bars used to display the statistics at the end of a game. Oriented vertically, it contains the fill and the base packed horizontally with equal widths. Maximum size 60x240.
arrow.tga: The arrows used on the statistics screen to indicate more screens are available. The image includes the right-pointing inactive and active states, packed horizontally with equal widths. Maximum size 50x25.
3.tga, 2.tga, 1.tga: The spinning/scaling images displayed during the introduction (a countdown with the default art). Each has a maximum size of 160x160.