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CINEMA EMPIRE Manual
Table of Contents:
I. General
o Introduction
o System Requirements
o Installation
o General Controls
II. The Main Menu
o Campaign
o New Game
o Tutorial
o Load Game
o Credits
o Options
o Quit Game
III. The Game
o The Gameplay Screen
o The Cinema
The Office
• Top Lists
• Profit/Loss
• Statistics
• Mission Goal
• Personnel Overview
Movie Screenings
Theater Expansion
Tickets
Snack Bar
o The Film Distributor
o The Advertising Agency
o The Supermarket
Purchase Goods
The Back Room
o The Marketing Agency
o The Employment Center
o The Finance Office
IV. Appendix
o General Tips
o Credits
I. General
Introduction:
Start small, work your way up and end up as the owner of the country’s largest chain of
movie theatres.
To get there you will not only have to keep improving and expanding your movie theatre, but
you will also have to lease new films. You will need to keep a sharp eye on your finances, and
it wouldn’t hurt to have a feel for the next blockbuster, either!
System requirements:
Minimum 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 64 MB 3D graphics card, 250 MB free hard drive
space, DirectX 9, Windows Media Player 9
Installation:
The setup program should start automatically one you insert the CD-ROM into your CDROM drive. If this is not the case, please select your CD-ROM drive and manually start the
setup program using a double-click. The setup program will then lead you step-by-step
through the installation process.
General Controls:
The game is controlled using the mouse. The left mouse button allows you to select from the
different menus. The right mouse button allows you to leave a menu or to back up one step
within a menu. The mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out in the city view.
II. The Game
Main Menu:
The Main Menu lets you access the main game options. Here you can start a new game or
load a previously saved game. Here you can also choose between the Campaign and Tutorial
modes. The Options menu lets you change the game'
s settings.
Campaign:
In the Campaign mode you have to successfully complete ten missions to rise from a
small-time cinema operator to the biggest movie mogul in the country. Are you up to
it?
New Game:
If you prefer to play an unlimited game you can start a new game directly. You can
change the level of difficulty in the Options menu, if you so wish (see Options).
Tutorial:
Newcomers, in particular, should play the Tutorial first. Here the game controls are
explained step-by-step. That way you aren'
t forced to read this entire handbook, but
can learn how to play the game while playing, instead.
Load Game:
Here you can load old gamesaves when you have already played and have saved your
progress. In order to help you keep an overview the gamesaves are stamped with the
date and time.
Credits:
You want to know who'
s responsible for this game? Then just read the Credits. Those
responsible are currently sitting out long sentences in Guantanamo Bay...
Options:
This is where you can enter your player name and adjust the level of difficulty. From
the middle level of difficulty on up the occasional random message appears, designed
to make your life a little more difficult.
This is also where you can adjust the Music and Sound volumes and turn the shadows
on and off. If you want to jump back and forth between locations directly, then enable
the “Go to” bar.
Quit Game:
Go ahead, if you really want to. You can quit the game whenever you want. Still,
you'
ll have to face the consequences all on your own...
III. The Game
The Gameplay Screen:
You can reach all of the locations
in the game using the gameplay
screen and it'
s icon bar. If you
want to jump back and forth between locations directly you can enable the “Go to” bar in the
Options menu.
The Menu displays the current game speed
(slow, medium and fast) on the left. You can
adjust the game speed whenever you wish.
Pressing the Pause button allows you to
pause the game, which you can resume
simply by pressing any mouse button.
Your current account balance and the number
of visitors for each movie screening are also
displayed. The Options menu allows you to save a game or to make other changes (see
Options). You can quit the game at any time by pressing the “Esc” key.
The small security monitor allows you to have a look into
your theater. Here you can see the results of your theater
expansions (added rows of seats, better sound system etc.),
depending on the theater'
s level of development. If your
cinema has more than one theater you can zap through the
different theaters.
A green exclamation mark in the upper right corner
of the screen alerts you to important new
developments or events. Click the exclamation mark with the mouse to view the
complete message.
Tip: Just press and hold the F1 key in the different buildings. This will display all of the available options.
The Cinema:
Your little empire. Even if you do only have
one theater at the start, you can always
improve and expand your cinema as you go
along. Here you can set the prices for tickets
and snack bar refreshments and assign
different films to the appropriate theaters. In
your office you can review a variety of
statistics and manage your personnel.
The Office:
In your office you can review a
variety of statistics, display the
current mission goal and manage
your personnel.
Top Lists:
The Top Lists show you
the current income from
films and your total current income. Snack bar income is also shown here.
Profit/Loss:
Whether your firm is running at a profit, or at a loss, this is where you can see
it all. Here you can compare results on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly
basis.
Statistics:
Statistics are everything to the successful entrepreneur. Here you can access the
number of guests who have come to your cinema and your total profit. You can
also see the total income, movie income and income from your snack bar. All
other income is listed under Other Income.
Mission Goal:
If you are playing a campaign you can display your mission goal whenever you
wish. Your progress within the mission is also shown here.
Personnel Overview:
You will not be able to run your cinema without the right personnel. Here you
will find an overview of your personnel and their skills. This is also where you
can get let your employees go – if necessary...
Movie Screenings:
Obviously, you won'
t attract many visitors to your cinema if you don'
t have films to
show. The Movie Screenings menu lets you assign the rented movies (see Film
Distributor) and the advertisements (see Advertising Agency) to the individual
theaters. As you only have one theater at the start, you can only show one film.
Below the cinema you can
see the films rented and
the advertising agreements
signed. Clicking
“Advertising Archive”
displays the advertising
agreements. “Movie
Archive” displays the
movies currently rented.
Simply drag a film from the list onto the first theater using “Drag & Drop”. The
corresponding film name is now shown for that theater. If you wish to place another
film later, just drag it onto the theater as well. The film'
s title is then shown underneath
the current film.
The number of viewers for the current screening is displayed underneath the film'
s
title. Beside it is the corresponding seating capacity of that particular theater. At the
start your theater can accommodate a maximum of 100 guests. However, you can later
expand seating to a maximum of 500 seats.
Beside the number of guests the time remaining for the current screening can be seen.
In addition, you can also see whether your theater is equipped to show 35mm, 70mm
or digital movies. A number of movies require the appropriate projector – yet here,
too, you can equip your theater with the latest equipment whenever you wish (as long
as you can afford it).
To assign advertisements to the individual theaters simply follow the same procedure
as for the movies. Use the “Drag & Drop” method to drag the appropriate
advertisement onto the corresponding theater. Hold the mouse pointer over the
advertisement for a short period of time in order to display the basic data (premium,
fine, viewers required etc).
Theater Expansion:
As mentioned earlier,
you begin the game
with but a single
theater. After all,
Rome wasn'
t built in a
day, either.
Still, a little filthy
lucre (also known as
money) can
accomplish wonders.
A little cash lets you
improve and expand your cinema however you wish. A new theater or a better sound
system is no problem when the cinema'
s turnover is sufficient.
The Expand Cinema menu lets you upgrade your seats, projector, screen, sound
system, laser show and climate control system as well as allowing you to build new
theaters. Simply select the area you wish to upgrade from the left-hand menu (e.g.
increase theater seating) and then click the corresponding update on the right.
In the lower section you can switch between the different theaters, which allows you
to order the different upgrades to each individual theater or even to order construction
of an entirely new theater.
Tickets:
Inasmuch as your cinema only consists of a single small theater at the beginning your
ticket prices should reflect that fact. Yet as you expand and upgrade your cinema you
can also gradually raise the prices. You can assign different ticket prices for children,
adults and senior citizens.
Snack Bar:
What is a trip to the movies
without popcorn and a soft
drink...?
Your snack bar can provide
cinema customers with all
the food their hearts could
desire. From popcorn to ice
cream and soft drinks, here
they can buy anything. And, just as with tickets prices, you can adjust the prices
whenever you wish. From here you can also keep an eye on your inventory.
The Film Distributor:
The Film Distributor is the first place
any cinema owner goes. After all, your
customers will want to watch more
than just advertisements.
Here you can choose from a wide
selection of movies ranging from
action films and comedies to thrillers
and romantic movies. The Film
Distributor offers a variety of movies
from ten different genres.
On the right-hand side of the menu you
can see the movies currently available.
In the upper right section you can also
see the film’s genre and format: 35mm, 70mm or digital. In addition, the film quality and
duration (or “lifespan”) is also displayed here.
Once you’ve decided on a movie, click the banknote icon. The movie is transferred to the lefthand menu in your archive. Here you can also delete an old movie by clicking the Trashcan
icon.
The Advertising Agency:
No money, no fun. That
goes for cinema owners,
too. And you can’t always
live just from ticket and
snack bar sales alone. You
should therefore visit the
Advertising Agency on a
regular basis.
All of the available advertising agreements are shown on the right-hand side of the menu.
Clicking one of the offers displays an overview of the income generated, the number of
viewers required, the duration and the fines. In the upper right corner you can see how much
long the advertising agreement will be available.
Once you have chosen one or more agreements simply click the Signature icon.
The Supermarket:
Buying goods:
In order to make sure your
snack bar is always stocked
right up you can buy a wide
variety of food and drinks at
the supermarket.
Click the supermarket entrance
and choose the goods you wish
to buy. Then just set the amount to be purchased and click “refill”. And voila, your
stockroom is full again.
The Back Room:
You can upgrade your snacks in the
supermarket’s Back Room. For
example, a hamburger spit increases
income from hamburger sales while
the luxury bar stools keep your
guests in the snack bar longer –
although, naturally, that all has it’s
price!
The Marketing Agency:
Marketing is king. Some advertising and a variety of
events will let you increase the number of visitors to
your cinema enormously. Spread some free tickets
around or take out an ad in a newspaper or an
advertising banner in the Internet. Everything goes and,
as always, it’s simply all a question of your hardearned money...
Just choose one or more marketing activities. The total
daily cost of the campaign in then displayed in the
lower part of the screen.
The Employment Agency:
Twix used to be called
Raider and the employment
agency used to be called the
unemployment bureau, but
times do change.
In the employment agency
you can hire new personnel
or train your current
personnel to improve their
efficiency enormously. Just
choose the desired profession and then click “Hire” if you need new personnel or “Train” if
your current personnel is to be trained.
The position as snack bar manager, whom you must first hire, is particularly interesting.
Depending on his level of training he gradually takes over the automatic restocking of the
snack bar for you. In the beginning he only restocks the popcorn and chocolate bars, but once
he is fully qualified he looks after all of the ordering and restocking on his own, more or less
managing the snack bar independently.
The Finance Office:
Okay, it’s true, Finance Office sounds pretty official, but
that is just what the owner, Don Michele, wants. Probably
because his interest rates are anything but reputable. Still,
what can you do when the cinema is running slow?
Sometimes all that’s left is a trip to the local loan shark.
Stop and think about it before deciding whether or not to
accept the offered loan. As mentioned earlier, the interest
is pretty high. Then again, you can also pay the loan back
whenever you want – if you can...
IV. Appendix
General Tips:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Don’t blow all your money right at the start. Rent an affordable movie instead. A little
affordable marketing can’t hurt at the start, either.
Pay attention to the contract duration and the terms and conditions when signing
advertising agreements. Nothing is worse than not being able to provide the minimum
number of viewers and having to pay a heavy fine.
Start gradually expanding and upgrading your cinema as soon as you have a little
money left over.
Train your personnel. Better qualified personnel bring improved turnover.
Always make sure your snack bar is well supplied. It doesn’t take your customers long
to buy everything up, especially when your theatres are full. Be sure to always have
enough stock on hand to be able to restock.
If you are slowly but surely running out of money you may have no choice but to visit
Don Michele. His interest rates might be sky-high, but you will have to get some
money somewhere...
Credits:
CINEMA EMPIRE produced by
Comport Interactive & Donkey Games
DEVELOPED FOR
Comport Interactive & Donkey Games
PRODUCER
Stefan Marcinek
DEVELOPED BY
Destrax Entertainment Software
TESTER
Thorsten Wächter
Björn Dähn
Joachim Wegmann
Stefan Marcinek
PROGRAMMING
Stefan Pohl
MANUAL
Stefan Marcinek
WEBSITE
www.kinomogul.de
www.comport-interactive.com
ENGLISH MANUAL TRANSLATION
Bill Thomas
2D & 3D GRAPHICS
Christian Pohl
Copyright Comport Interactive & Donkey Games 2006 & 2007. All rights reserved!
Comport Interactive is a registered trademark of Stefan Marcinek.