Welcome to Shopping Centre Tycoon! - In Shopping Centre Tycoon you will build and manage your very own shopping centre in one of three major European cities - London, Paris or Berlin - each of which is beautifully and accurately modelled around your building area. Decide what shops and services go where, hire and fire staff, customize and enhance your site with a multitude of available objects and textures.

This HTML document is designed to aid your understanding and enjoyment of the game. Here we will discuss the various
in-game screens, the panels, the interface and the function and icons displayed upon them.

Installation & Setup
Installation
Place the Shopping Centre Tycoon CD into your CD ROM drive. If autoplay is enabled then the setup screen will appear automatically. If autoplay is disabled, you need to install the game manually. Double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop, double click on the Shopping Centre Tycoon CD ROM icon and then double click on the Install.exe icon. The setup screen will now appear and guide you through installing the game.

Once installed the launch screen should appear, there are four main options on this screen.

Play - Click this to launch the game.
Uninstall - If you wish to remove the game from your computer, click the Uninstall button and follow the instructions.
Manual - Click this button to bring up a manual for the game.
Language - This button takes you to a new screen where you can choose your language.
Quit - Exit back to Windows.
Setting Display Driver - In the top left of the screen is the display driver settings where you can select your display driver and screen resolution. The display driver normally does not need to be altered unless you have more than one video board installed. The screen resolution allows you to choose from a selection of resolutions to play the game in.

Once you have installed Shopping Centre Tycoon it will be added to your Start Programs Menu. Click Start on the Windows Task bar and then select Programs, Shopping Centre Tycoon to start the game.


The Game
Main Menu Screen
The first screen in the game is the main menu screen. There are five buttons. The first three allow you to select whether to build in London, Paris or Berlin. The others take you to the Options screen, bottom right, or to Quit the game, bottom left.

City Screens
Clicking on London (the Houses of Parliament), Paris (the Eiffel Tower) or Berlin (the Brandenburg Gate) will take you to the appropriate city screen.

The screen displays a panel containing information on available scenarios. The first one available is always the game's 'Freeplay Mode'. This allows you to construct your mall without time constraints and with plenty of funds. A good way to familiarise yourself with the game to begin with and a useful way to practice your skills as you attempt to complete more difficult scenarios. The second scenario poses a simple challenge to construct your mall within certain parameters.

Further scenarios become available as you complete preceding ones. The left and right arrows, located centrally below the main panel, allow you to cycle through those available.

Load - Load a previously saved scenario game.
Play - This starts a new game and takes you to the chosen city.
Back - This returns you to Main Selection Screen.
In the Game
Getting Started
The building of your Shopping Centre is done by laying down areas of floor and walls, then filling these with shops, facilities and scenery objects to the best design you can. When building your mall always try to have everything contained within a walled area, otherwise you will end up with isolated shops and areas that shoppers will not be able to reach.


Placement of entrances is also important when building your shopping centre, because without these shoppers will not be able to enter. If you have badly placed entrances shoppers will have trouble finding their way in.

When adding extra floors always try to keep in mind how shoppers are going to reach this new level. Well placed stairs and escalators are essential for a multi-storey shopping centre to be successful. Also there needs to be something on the new floor to attract shoppers. For example a big empty floor with three hardware stores isn't going to attract a broad range of shoppers.

You can move around the 3D world using the mouse. Move the onscreen cursor to the edge of the screen and the view will start to scroll. Move it away from the edge and scrolling will stop. To rotate the view, hold down the mouse wheel or middle mouse button and move the mouse. The view will rotate with the mouse movement. To move view up and down, roll the mouse wheel.
If you do not have a wheel mouse, then holding down Ctrl and moving the mouse will rotate the view, while holding down Shift and moving the mouse will move view up and down.
The Main Interface
At the bottom of the screen is a long bar containing various buttons and panels of information that keep you up to date with progress of your Shopping Centre and allow you to access the various building and management features of the game.
The long thin window, top and centre of the panel, is for the display of text messages, updating you on the status of your shopping centre with important information. The first three main buttons on the left of the panel are : Build, Management and Options. The functions accessible from these buttons are discussed in detail below.

From left to right the other icons on the interfaces are as follows :
  Date - An icon next to the current date. This icon changes, telling you at a glance whether it is spring, summer, autumn or winter.
  Funds - How much cash you have in your coffers.
  Shoppers - How many visitors are currently in your shopping centre.
  Rating - A bar which indicates how well your shopping centre is performing.
  Time Control - The time settings are - pause, play, fast, and fastest.
  Message History - Opens a panel which allows you to review your previous messages.
  Floor - Use the '+' and '-' buttons to change which floor you are currently working on.
Clicking '+' when already on the top floor will give you the option of adding an additional one.
  Demolish - The hammer button allows you to remove shops / objects from your shopping centre.

The Build Menu
This is the section of the interface that is used to create your shopping centre. All the buildings and items that can be used to build your enterprise can be accessed via this submenu.
 
Floors - The floors menu gives you a selection of floor textures that you may choose from when creating your floor. Left click on any texture to select it.

Once you have selected a floor texture, if you move your mouse pointer over the building plot, you will see that the square underneath it is highlighted. The colour of this square will vary depending on whether you are allowed to build there or not. A green square is a legal square to build on, whereas a red square is not. To place your floor blocks you can either click the left mouse button once, which will stamp down a single floor square, or if you hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor you can drag out a large area of squares that will be covered by your chosen floor tiles, when you release the button. Whenever an area of floor tiles is placed, it will automatically be surrounded by a wall, this 'auto wall' feature will help you build a basic shopping centre in very little time.

Note when building floors on higher levels you can only build when there is a floor block or shop unit directly below the area you want to build on. Also you may not delete upper floor blocks if they are directly over a store on the floor below.
Shops - This opens the Shop Category Sub Menu. There are six categories - Fashion, Electronics, Leisure, Home, Health and Food.

Fashion Electronics Leisure Home Health Food

Clicking on a shop category will change the store category sub menu to the store type sub menu. This menu shows all the shops that are currently available within that category. Note that some categories contain more shops than others. Also some shops may be unavailable at the start of the game as they need to be unlocked. Unlocking of unavailable shops occurs as you negotiate higher level contracts with your staff and contractors.

To place a shop, simply left click on its icon in the list. This will become attached to your cursor. Shops can be rotated by clicking the right mouse button. Move the cursor over the desired empty space and click the left mouse button to place it.
Facilities - This opens a sub menu of place-able items of various sizes that your shoppers will be able to interact with in one way or another. These are - Telephones, ATMs, Benches, Toilets, Stairs, Atriums and Entrances. Each of these opens a sub menu with several to choose from.

Placing a facility is done in exactly the same way as placing a shop. Facilities help keep your shoppers happy, thereby improving your overall Shopping Centre Rating. Facilities, however, require Maintenance. See Contractors Info.
Scenery - Another sub menu of place-able items. These serve to enhance your shopping centre. 'Scenery' objects differ from 'Facilities' in so much as your shoppers do not directly interact with them.

Placing scenery objects improves your overall Shopping Centre Rating. Plants, when well tended are of great benefit. If they are neglected they will become unsightly and reduce your Shopping Centre Rating. See Contractors Info.
Back - This icon returns the interface to a previous menu state or collapses the sub menu.
This icon is common to all the sub menus, and need not be described again.

The Management Menu
The management sub menu contains access to the panels that allow you to monitor the financial progress of your mall, manage your staff and set up promotions.
 

Financial Information - This brings up the Financial Information Panel which shows the various incoming money and outgoing costs. The statistics on the panel are as follows.

Income - The green section of the panel (top left), contains information about your shopping centre's income. It shows - Total Income, Income from Shop Rents (total and monthly), Income from Advertising (total and monthly). Also there is a section here pertaining to your existing advertising. It shows their total number. Below is a '+' and '-' toggle for adjusting the cost of advertising.

Expenses - The red section of the panel (top centre) contains your expenses. Below the total, they are listed in both total and monthly columns, in the following order - Maintenance Costs, Staff Salaries, Construction Costs, Contractor Costs and Bank Charges.

Shopping Centre Information - The top right of the panel contains information about the Shopping Centre itself. The date of its construction comes first, followed by the total number of shops therein and a '+' and '-' Base Shop Rent Adjuster, this will adjust the base rent for all shops at once. Below is the total number of shoppers your centre has had. The number of floors and surface area of your Shopping Centre are also displayed here.

A coloured bar denoting Shopping Centre Rating lies below, and beneath that is another bar for Crime Rate. In general, to significantly improve your Shopping Centre Rating you must do all you can to reduce your Crime Rate. A high Shopping Centre Rating is ESSENTIAL if you want to attract shoppers. This can only be achieved through good design, maintenance, upkeep and security.

Shop List - The bottom half of the panel contains a roster of all the shops in your Shopping Centre. Information on each shop is displayed across the panel in columns, thus : Name - Shop Category - Income - Profit - Rent - Maintenance Cost - Shoppers - Rent Adjustment. To change the rent of a particularly successful / unsuccessful shop, click on the '+' and '-' buttons for that row.

The information on each shop can also be accessed by left clicking on a placed shop itself. This opens a pop up panel containing all the shops details.
Shopper Information - This opens the Shopper Information Panel showing the distribution of shopper demographics throughout your Shopping Centre. By keeping a careful watch on this panel you can discover which shoppers are content, which are poorly catered for, and tailor your building strategy accordingly.

The top of the panel shows the total number of shoppers in your Shopping Centre (since its opening date and since last month). It also shows running and monthly totals of shopper spending.

Shopper List - Most of the screen is occupied by a table which displays all the shopper information. The column headings are as follows : Star Sign - Gender - Age - Wealth - Call of Nature (a bar which shows how urgently the shopper needs access to toilet facilities) - Energy (as this bar depletes, the shopper will need to eat or sit down to rest) - Rating (how happy the shopper is with your Shopping Centre) - Mode of Transport - Spending.

The information on each shopper can also be accessed by left clicking on the shopper themselves. This opens a pop up panel containing all the above details.
Staff Information - This opens the Staff Information Panel showing all the information you need to control your employees that work in your Shopping Centre. The level of performance you can expect from your staff is tied to the level of your Contract with the Contractor that supplies them (see below).

The top of the panel shows the total number of staff in your Shopping Centre. It also shows running and monthly totals of staff salaries and completed tasks.

Staff List - The information displayed in the table is as follows :
Job Title - Staff Category - Staff Level (how developed the employees skills are) - Monthly Salary - Completed Tasks - Fire (dismiss that member of staff) - Move (click on the icon in the appropriate row to select a member of staff to be moved).

 Hire Staff - By clicking the 'thumbs up' button in the top right corner of the panel, a sub panel opens displaying a list of staff available for hire. The information presented here is as follows : Job Title - Staff Category - Staff Level - Monthly Salary - Hire (clicking the icon on the appropriate row will hire that member of staff).

The information on each staff member can also be accessed by left clicking on the employee themselves. This opens a pop up panel containing all the above details.
Contractors Information - Finally, this button opens the Contractors Information Panel. Here you upgrade and review your contract arrangements with your Maintenance, Cleaning, Security providers, etc. As a rule of thumb the higher the level the contract, the higher the expense, but the greater the benefit. Don't raise the levels of your contracts too quickly as you will rapidly find you wont be able to afford them and they can not be downgraded. The nature and function of the contractors are as follows :

Cleaning - They pick up the litter left behind by shoppers and vandals. Without them things very quickly become messy and your ratings will fall dramatically.

Maintenance - Your Facilities attract shoppers only when they are in good working order. With time and use, component parts wear out and things break down. Your Engineering Contract provides a Maintenance team of skilled handymen and engineers to fix things when they inevitably break. Leaving a non-functional facility in place will deter shoppers and lower your Shopping Centre Rating.

Gardening - In a similar way, plants need regular care and attention if they are to thrive. Your Gardening Contractor supplies Horticulturists to tend to the flora in your Shopping Centre. Sickly, dying plants and planting beds full of weeds will deter shoppers, while beautiful displays of flowers and well cared for trees will attract them.

Security - Essential. Without a well trained team of security guards, criminals will make your life very difficult. Not only will the criminal element steal from the shops, effecting their performance, they give your Shopping Centre a bad reputation which keeps law-abiding shoppers away. A well paid, well motivated Security Force will catch and deter criminals, lower your Crime Rate, improve your reputation, make your shoppers feel safe, and attract more business.

Designer - The Design Contractor works on ways to improve your Shopping Centre. The more experienced the Designer, the better his / her ideas will be. They will provide, new Facilities, new Scenery, etc.

Marketing - The Marketing Contractor is with a team of third party consultants, including experts in commerce, law and marketing, who will advise and negotiate on your behalf to attract new businesses to your Shopping Centre.

Contractors List - The information on the panel, for each contractor, is as follows - Contractor Type - Contract Level - Cost to Upgrade Contract - Monthly upkeep cost of Contract - Time required to Upgrade Contract (displayed as a coloured bar) - Negotiate Upgrade (click the icon to upgrade that contract to its next level).

Options
This button brings up a sub menu that will allow you to save your game, quit and set various game options.
 
Load - This brings up the load panel allowing you to access a previously saved game.
Save - This brings up the save panel allowing you to save your progress.

Both the load and save panels have the same buttons and layout. The left of the panel has a file list with two arrows for scrolling up and down. Below the file list is an area for you to type in a filename for saving a game. A thumbnail of the saved file is displayed to the right.
Toggle Detail - This toggles the level of detail used in the textures and surrounding landscape to high or low. It also turns the shadows on / off. A useful setting for older, slower machines, especially with video boards with less than 32Mb of RAM.
Sound FX - This toggles sound effects and in-game music on or off.
Quit - Clicking this icon exits the current game and returns you to the main menu screen.