                                Mad TV Manual
                                =============

Translated from German by Todd Hawks. 
Edited by Underdogs Home of the Underdogs, 
http://www.the-underdogs.org/

Index
-----

Welcome to Mad TV
The Beginning
The First Day
Your Own Office
The Broadcasting Schedule
The Control Center
Ratings Graph
The Image
Ratings
The Account Balance
The Map
The Painting - Save Games
The Boss
Betty Botterblom
The Porter
The News Studio
The Movie Agency
The Screenplay Agency
The Advertisement Agency
The Supermarket
The Studios
The Archive
The Real Estate Agency
The Info Board
Categories
Show Production
The Sammy
End Of Game
Controls
Credits

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Welcome to MadTV

First the good news: You have been appointed program director of a leading TV channel. 
Your boss is nice and you work in the same building as Betty Botterblom - the most 
beautiful woman in the city. Now the bad news: Your channel is only leading in the 
category "most often switched off channel in the US," and your boss actually was 
polite the last time when he canceled your predecessor's holiday one day before his 
flight to Hawaii. And in order to be taken seriously by Betty, you evidently at least 
have to be awarded a culture prize....



The Beginning

Before you enter the MadTV skyscraper, you'll go to the startup menu. If you have saved 
a game in an earlier game and you want to continue it, click on LOAD GAME. If you play 
for the first time or want to start a completely new game, chose the TV station you want 
to manage: MadTV, FunTV or SunTV. All stations are completely on an equal footing and the 
ones you don't choose will be managed by the computer. Every station has it's own color 
for better perceptibility. Red=MadTV, green=FunTV and blue= SunTV.

In the line beneath the names of the stations, you can name yourself and the computer-
controlled opponent. We suggest to give your opponents the names of your old math teachers 
or your new boss!

In the line below, you can select the difficulty level of the game. The default is 
"normal". The difficulty level changes the behavior of the computer opponents.

To start a new game, click on "New Game."



The First Day

Every morning you first go to Mr. Raffers office. Mr. Raffer actually is a nice man, but 
he knows how to hide that like no one else does. After the boss gave you his orders for 
the new day, you'll be shoved out of his office and find yourself in front of it. Now we 
can start. As new program director the big, wide world is open to you. But you don't have 
much money.

The first thing you will most likely ask is: "What are those displays at the bottom of the 
screen for?". Well, first of all there is the TV screen on the left side. Here you are able 
to receive the three stations by clicking on the corresponding colored button. By moving 
the mouse over the screen, you'll get information on current television ratings.

The display on the right side is an "inverted" TV: You can watch into a normal living room, 
the one of the Gardener family to be precise. Depending on your program and how good it is, 
more and more members of the family will sit in front of the TV.

The display in the middle of the screen is explained easily as well:
At the top you can see you account balance. The last three digits aren't displayed so you 
have to add a "-thousand" to the number. By moving your mouse over it, you will get 
additional info on your budget.

The second panel shows your current number of viewers in millions, i.e. a 0.9 means 900,000 
viewers, a 4.3 means 4,300,000 viewers and so on. You can get additional information by 
moving your mouse over it.

The bar with the heart on its right side represents Betty's affection towards you. The 
longer the red bar is, the more Betty likes you.

At the bottom, the current time is shown. Every day starts at 17:00 and ends at 01:00. In 
the control center you can change how fast the time passes.




Your Own Office

The most important room (except Betty's of course) is your office. It is from here that 
you lead your station to success.




The Broadcasting Schedule

When you click on the computer, you will be taken to the broadcasting schedule screen. 
It is divided into hours and goes from 18:00 to 00:59 hours. Here you insert your daily 
TV programs and commercials that are to be broadcasted.

The broadcasting schedule looks like this:

18.00 News   18.05 Program block   18.55 Advertisement
19.00 News   19.05 Program block   19.55 Advertisement
20.00 News   20.05 Program block   20.55 Advertisement
21.00 News   21.05 Program block   21.55 Advertisement
22.00 News   22.05 Program block   22.55 Advertisement
23.00 News   23.05 Program block   23.55 Advertisement
00.00 News   00.05 Program block   00.55 Advertisement
00.59 End of day.

The news are broadcasted hourly - they cannot be taken out of the broadcasting schedule.

To choose programs to broadcast during any program block, click on the third icon from 
above on the right side of the screen. You'll see different categories. The squares in 
front of them show you how many transmissions in the corresponding category you own. The 
blacker it is, the more programs you own. Click on a category to view the programs and 
click on one to select it. You can own a maximum of four (4) programs per category. After 
you select a program, place it in the broadcasting schedule by clicking again on the time 
slot you want it to be shown.

You can move the program to a different time slot by clicking on it again and putting it 
down elsewhere. Right click to cancel the selection. Programs that have already been 
broadcasted, or are broadcasted at the moment, are rendered red in the broadcasting 
schedule and can't be changed anymore.

You must carefully consider the fact that viewers demand different kinds of programs 
depending on the time of day. For example, series are great for the early evening. Later 
on you should try to compete with your opponents by broadcasting a better program than 
they do.

After filling in the transmissions you can add the hourly advertisements. Click on the 
second icon to see all advertising contracts you have signed. Choose one and place it in 
the broadcasting schedule. You don't have any contract at the beginning of the game. 
See "Advertising Service" section to learn how to get one.

When there are no empty fields left, you've completed your program for today. With the 
arrows on the left you can switch to the next day and edit the program for tomorrow.




The  Control Center

Click on the first icon in the broadcasting schedule to open the control center. Here you 
can turn on or off the TV screens at the bottom of the screen and the sound.

The car at the bottom represents the speed of the game. The slowest setting is on the left, 
the fastest on the right.




The Ratings Graph

By clicking on the fourth icon in the broadcasting schedule you open a graph that shows 
your ratings. You can view the ratings for the day or for the week.

Click on the different colors to view ratings of the other stations, i.e. your competitors.

The light bars show the ratings for the news, the dark ones for the programs.

For every hour of the game, the station with the highest ratings is calculated and shown 
with an arrow pointing up. The station with lowest ratings gets an arrow pointing down 
and the station in the middle gets nothing.




The Image

Click on the icon 'Image' to see the image values of the three stations. The image, i.e. 
the audience's opinion, is the most important aspect of MadTV. Your goal is it to get a 
higher image while reducing the image of your opponents. The sum of three image values 
always equals 100.

If the image of a station drops below 20, it will be in serious trouble. If that happens, 
actors or advertising companies may no longer want to work with that station.

Redistribution of image points takes place after each broadcasted program block. The 
station with the highest rating in that block gets one image point from the station with 
the lowest rating. Another possibility to get image points is the 'Sammy'. The Sammy 
awarded for the best news is worth eight image points, the Sammy for culture is worth 
four points and the other ones will give you six points each. The points will be subtracted 
from the other players equally.

You don't have to fear any competition as soon as you reach 100 image points. Betty also 
only wants the BEST: Betty's sympathy for you never can be higher than the image of your 
station. Therefore, you have to reach a station image of 100 in order to be able to marry 
Betty and win the game.




Ratings

Two important terms will keep coming back at you while playing MadTV: number of viewers and 
ratings. To be successful, you should know what they mean exactly:

The number of viewers is measured in millions and shows how many viewers have watched a 
program.

The rating takes into account the maximum number of viewers you can reach which depends on 
viewer demographics and the number of broadcasting towers you own. The rating shows, in 
percentage, the proportion of viewers who have actually seen the program out of the total
audience reach. So if you can reach 2 million viewers and 200,000 watch your show, your 
rating is 10%.

The more important factor of the two is often the number of viewers, since that is how you 
really can compare the stations. A small station could get much higher ratings than a big 
station but have a much lower number of viewers. As for advertising contracts, only the 
number of people actually viewing the commercials count. So it is much more important to have 
a higher number of viewers than high ratings. On the other hand, the ratings are the decisive 
factor for the image of your station and that's what will win or lose you the game.




The Account Balance

By clicking on the fifth icon in the broadcasting schedule, you'll get a daily balance as 
well as an overview of your finances. You can also view the balance from the previous day.




The Map

Click on the map on the right in your office to buy and sell broadcasting towers and 
satellites. The different colors on the map represent different population densities. 
Grey=low, red=high. You can place broadcasting towers anywhere you want to on the map. You 
should, however, consider the cost and the population reach. If you have a lot of money, you 
can also buy a satellite for the east and for the west of the USA. You will have to pay 20% 
of the initial cost for maintenance each day, though, so be cautious when buying.




The Painting - Saving And Loading Of Games.

If you want to save or load a game, click on the painting in your office. You can save up 
to 10 games.




The Boss

You may have noticed that Mr. Raffer is no nice guy. He decides about whether you stay in 
your job as well as whether you can get loans. Since you depend on him, you should take his 
moods and feelings seriously. If you just won a Sammy, it will be easier to convince him to 
give you a new loan. The interest rates are very high, though, so only take out a loan if 
you really need it!

As Mr. Raffer's only interest is money, he will leave you alone as long as you do your job 
and don't lose his money.




Betty Botterblom

You may think whatever you want about Betty, but she is the central character for this game. 
You only win the game if you manage to marry her. And that isn't easy to achieve.

You'll only be able to marry her when you got all 100 Betty-sympathy-points, i.e. when the 
bar with the heart next to it is completely red. You can get those points by buying presents 
for her in the supermarket and giving them to her. Betty's sympathy can never be higher than 
the image of your station, so it is useless to buy her tons of presents if you don't heighten 
the image of your station as well.

Another way to increase her sympathy is to broadcast her culture program. You shouldn't 
broadcast it at prime time though, as it will probably kill your ratings.

If Betty likes you enough, she may give you a key for all the rooms in the building (including 
your opponents').

Of course your opponents are equally interested in Betty. You can see whom she likes best by 
looking at the pictures in her office. The more she likes someone, the higher she hangs his 
picture.

In Betty's office you can see the standings for the Sammy as well. Just check the board behind 
her.




The Porter

It's a good idea to visit the porter from time to time. He knows best about who is going to 
visit the building and what they want.




The News Studio

Here the hourly news are selected. You can subscribe to three news agencies: Political News, 
Show Business and Sundry. At the beginning of the game, you've subscribed only to the Political 
News. You can subscribe and unsubscribe to the agencies by clicking on the three symbols to the 
left. You have to pay a daily fee!

To select the news to be broadcasted, click on the black board. You can now choose the news on 
the left and put them on the right (up to three at a time). Price and time of the news are shown 
on the icons. As soon as you leave the studio, the new news will be produced.

Try to always use the latest and most important (=expensive) news, as the ratings of the news 
affect the ratings for the program that is broadcasted after it.




The Movie Agency

Here you get the 'software' for your station. There are two ways to get movies (series, live 
shows and the like will all be called 'movies' here). The easier one is to buy movies directly: 
just select one of the cassettes on the desk. Click on it and click again in your green bag. The 
movies will be brought to your archive and can be broadcasted.

The second possibility is the auction. To see the offers, click on Mr. Jabble sitting at his desk. 
The prices you see are the minimum offers. If you click on a movie, your name will be placed, the 
minimum offer will be raised, and your bid subtracted from your account. Now your opponents may 
do the same, and the station bidding highest at the end of the day will get the movie. Of course 
you will get your money back if you didn't win the auction.

If you want to sell movies, go to your archive and put the movies in your bag first. Then got to 
the movie agency and give the movies to Mr. Jabble. You'll receive the current value of the movie 
immediately.

To help you decide which movie to buy, there's info when you hover your mouse over a movie. Here 
you can see the name of the movie and a little description as well as the price. To help you 
estimate the success of a movie you can also see information like critics' opinion and box office 
gross.

An important bar is the 'current' bat at the bottom. It shows whether the movie has been 
broadcasted recently. Of course viewers don't want to see the same stuff over and over again..

Watch out for X-rated movies. If you broadcast them before 21:00, you may get into trouble with 
the 'Committee for a clean America'.




The Screenplay Agency

Here you can purchase ideas for shows or series that you want to produce. Producing your own 
programs has several  advantages: They often are cheaper than the ones you may buy and they 
will achieve high ratings if they are of a high quality. Of course you may sell them after 
broadcasting them. Choose a folder on the shelf and put it into your bag to buy it. You can 
find more information on this topic in the 'Show production' section of this manual.




The Advertising Agency

Without this office, you'll soon be bankrupt. Here you can sign the contracts for the 
commercials you broadcast every hour. You can view all contracts on the desk. Hover your mouse 
over them to view their terms and conditions.

The following information is available:

- The name of the advertising company.
- The slogan it will use.
- The money that will be paid as soon as the contract is fulfilled ('bonus').
- The penalty you have to pay if you don't fulfill the contract.
- How often the commercial has to be broadcasted.
- The number of viewers watching the commercial needed to fulfill the contract. The number in 
  brackets is the current rating you'd have to get in order to reach that many viewers and is, 
  of course, dependant on the total number of viewers you can reach.
- Often there are other conditions concerning the kind of programs you have to or cannot 
  broadcast, e.g. 'no action movie' or 'love stories only.'

To sign a contract, click on the folder on the desk and put it into your green bag. As soon as 
you leave the office the contracts become effective and you can't cancel them.



The Supermarket

A very important room for you! Here you buy presents for Betty. Click on the guy at the left. 
Now you may buy a present or stuff needed for the production of your shows.



A Present For Betty

You can chose between ten presents. Hover the mouse over the icons to view the price and how often 
someone already bought it for Betty. Of course the effect will be lower if you already bought it 
several times, so try to buy her presents that she never got before.




Purchase For Your Production

Click on the guy to the left and tell him you want to purchase stuff for your production. If you 
have multiple shopping lists, choose one. Now you see a part of your shopping list which you can 
scroll by clicking on the arrows. All the parts you need for your show are displayed as black and 
white icons. Click on them and make your selection for that part. Actors, show masters, guest stars 
and singer have different attributes and different prices.

The quality of your show depends on the quality of the parts you buy. An expensive actor isn't 
necessarily suited for the kind of show you are producing so choose wisely. Also heed the advice 
you get from the accountant.

As soon as you've completed the shopping list, you may go to your studio and start the production. 
Hopefully, your choices are sound!

Read how to get a shopping list in 'Show Production' section below.



The Studios

There are three sizes of studios: Small (size 1),  middle (size 2) and large (size 3). At the 
beginning you own only a small studio. You may rent additional studios at the real estate agency. 
Generally a studio is larger the farther to the right it is located in the building.

Once you bought a screenplay at the screenplay agency, go into a studio of the right size and put 
the screenplay on the table (to the left of your bag). Now click on the director. He will give you 
hints for the production and a shopping list with which you can buy the needed parts at the 
supermarket. After buying them, go back to the studio to start the production. You may ask the 
director what he thinks about the potential success of the production.

Then you only have to wait until you get a notice that the production is finished and the cassette 
is placed in your archive.




The Archive

All movies, shows and series you own are stored here. If you want to sell some of them, go to your 
archive and click on the guy to the right. Choose a category and put the movie you want so sell 
into your bag. Go to the movie agency and sell them there. You can't take movies that are currently 
placed in your broadcasting schedule.




The Real Estate Agency

Click on the board to get information about available rooms. Click on one to rent it. You'll be 
told whether the room can be rented and how much it will cost.

You can only rent free rooms. To 'free' a room, you have to think about something yourself. If you 
can't come up with an idea on your own, read 'The Info Board'.

Every time a room is rented, the real estate manager will raise the rent and asks for a heavy 
provision.




The Info Board

All visitors to the skyscraper will look at the info board near the entrance. If someone messes 
with the signs, that might cause some serious confusion. The computer opponents will use every 
opportunity to send Arab terrorists or other unwelcome guests to your rooms. Of course you may do 
the same to them.

A Tip: You can use these visitors to free rooms for your studios.




Categories

All programs are divided into several categories:

Love stories	classics and new movies loved by nearly everyone.

Action movies	viewed by everyone but watch out for X-rated movies.

Epic movies	"Ben Hur" or "Gone With The Winds",  the viewers want to see those classics from 
		time to time.

Comedies	viewed by every age.

Whodunits	every good program has to have some. Watch out for X-rated material.

Cultural program	nearly no one wants to see it. But it may award you a Sammy and therefore 
			image points.

Live events	will give you dream ratings (especially sports events), but they are expensive and 
		of course have to be broadcasted at the time they happen.

Shows		an essential part of every program. Can be either bought or produced.

Science Fiction		entertainment for everybody.

Sundry		all the stuff that can't be put into any other category.

Series		series can be everything from SF to comedies. You may buy them or produce them 
		yourself. Best broadcasted in the early evening (18:00).




Show Production

The advantage of producing shows and series is that you often have higher ratings and you can sell 
them later. (Although shows can only be broadcasted once, and cannot be sold).

To start a production, you buy a screenplay at the screenplay agency. Go to a studio of appropriate 
size and put the screenplay on the table. Click on the director and ask for a shopping list. Buy 
the needed parts at the supermarket. Go back to the studio and start the production (click on the 
director and tell him to start).

'Trends' is a special kind of show. When you broadcast it, you get information on what your viewer 
want to see today and in the next days. This is basically a way for you to take a survey of your 
audience. You can check the results of the show in your computer.




The 'Sammy'

The Sammy will be awarded from time to time to the station with the best news or cultural program. 
A Sammy gives you a boost of popularity and raises your image up to eight points (see 'The Image' 
for more information). Additionally the Sammy award is one of the few things that make Mr. Raffer 
slightly happier for a day… so go and ask for that loan.

Mr. Raffer will notify you as soon as a new Sammy competition begins. You can see the current 
standings in Betty's Office.




End Of Game

You will win as soon as you marry Betty Botterblom, the beauty on floor 13. That sounds easier 
than it is. She is very picky regarding her presents and then the others want to marry her to. 
Don't forget to buy her a dream voyage as a wedding present.




Controls

The controls in MadTV are simple: In the building, click where you want to go or click at the 
elevator and select the room on the info board that opens as soon as you enter it.

To leave a menu or room, click the right mouse button. Just remember this simple rule: In=left 
button, out=right button.

You can also move the cursor with the arrow keys or the numpad. Enter replaces the left mouse 
button and Esc replaces the right mouse button.




Credits

Project Manager / Idea                  Ralph Stock
Graphics                                Thomas Andrae
Programming / Original PC Version       Stefan Hoffmann
Additional Programming                  Christian Kramer
Programming Amiga Version /ST Version   Heiko Schroder
Sound Amiga Version / ST Version        Rudolf Stember
Sound PC Version                        Jochen Hess
Additional Graphics                     Michael Hoffmann
Testing                                 Bastian Bongertz
                                        Andreas Konigsdorff

** END OF FILE **