SOCCER DIRECTOR SPEC/C64/AMS GTI PROGRAMS WANTED --------------- Have you written a game you consider to be good enough for publication? GTi will make a quick decision and offer excellent royalties for any games released. Send your game or details of it to us at GTi SOFTWARE, NEW PRODUCTS DEPT., 5 NEW BRIDGE STREET, EXETER, EX4, 3JW. Phone 0392 52004. Please include SAE for return or your tape or disk. SOCCER DIRECTOR --------------- LOADING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- Spectrum: 48k owners type LOAD "".(ENTER). 128K owners select 48K basic. Amstrad: 464 hold down CTRL and tap the small ENTER key. 664/6128, type | (shifted @) TAPE (ENTER) then type RUN" (ENTER) C64/128: Hold down SHIFT and tap the RUN/STOP key. 128K owners, ensure that it is in 64K mode. In SOCCER DIRECTOR you play a man with a burning ambition, to own all the top clubs of the country. While yuo realise it's against the rules to own more than one team, you have found a way to buy the shares without anyone realising it is you. Your objective in the game is to own (I.e. own at least 501 shares in) the top ten clubs at the end of the season, but by the end of season 10, at the latest. In order to achieve your ambition, you use the First Divisions clubs to make your money, bying and selling shares as teams succeed and fail. Your capital will increase as share values go up, and you will be paid as weekly dividend by each club you own shares in - IF they make a profit. You can attempt to influence the success of teams by calling shareholders meetings - the more shares you own, the more influence you have on the outcome of any votes. A team's results are based on 3 main characteristics: SKILL, FITNESS and MORALE, each of which can be affected by other factors in the game. It's up to you to find out what you can do to increase (or decrease) a team's chances of winning matches. For example, it is possible to "nobble" a team that is annoying you by winning too many matches, just using the features within the game. It may not be obvious to start with, but is one of the many unusual features of SOCCER DIRECTOR that are there for the cunning strategist to discover. At the beginning of the game, you are presented with 5 options. If you wish to save a game at any time, make sure you have a blank tape ready! The only option that needs explanation here is D (weeks per season). This effectively the difficulty level. You can choose between 10,20,30 & 40 weeks - the longer the season, the more money you start with, and the better the chance you have of achieving your goal! Once you have started a game, you cannot change the number of weeks per season. When you select CONTINUE, you are presented with the main menu. There are 9 options, which are explained overleaf. 1) PLAY SEASON: *************** This starts the results sequence going, and should be the last decision you make each week. However, if you need to get back to the main menu, you have a limited time to return (press M) before the results begin. In the first week of every season, you are offered the choice of AUTO or MANUAL results. Your selection lasts for the whole season and cannot be changed. AUTO lets you sit back and watch the results of the matches and your investments unfold, and will continue to cycle through the various stages until the end of the season, unless interrupted. This can be done on the screen before the results sequence (again by pressing M) as many times during the seasons as you wish. You may want to check your investments, buy ir sell shares, or use any of the other facilities available. MANUAL will pause on every screen, enabling you to spend as much time as you wish studying the information. Pressing the spacebar will move you on the next screen. After the results, you will see how the shares are performing, and then details on the finances of each club you own shares in. 2) BUY/SALE SHARES: ******************* This is the wheeling and dealing screen! It tells you the current market value of each share, how many are available on the open market, and shows if you have a shareholding (by an asterisk if you own 500 or less, or by a hash symbol if you are a majority shareholder). The minimum quantity you can buy or sell at any one time is 10 shares. If a team is successful, more people will be buying their shares, so there will be fewer shares available than for a team that loses every week. There are two things to watch out of on this screen - firstly, the market is liable to close (and not re- open until the following week) at any time, so do your dealing in order of importance! Secondly, if you sell a large number of shares in one club, (we're not telling you how many!), it can cause the market to crash possibly losing your small fortune on your other investments! One small hint here: it's well worth keeping a calculator handy for this part of the game! Please note that you are not allowed to buy shares on this screen if you have a overdraft, or if the purchase would cause you to have one. 3) GAMES OPTIONS: ***************** Takes you back to the first screen, if you want to save the game or just start again! 4)BETTING MENU: *************** Allows you to bet (before beginning of each season only) or League and F.A. up winners, and one team to be relegated. This could a very good way of making some extra crash - if you get it right! 5) SEE FORM TABLE: ****************** This option enables you to see how well (or badly) the teams are doing - although it does not sort the teams into a league table, it does show how many points they have; also the rating for SKILL FITNESS & MORALE. It will give you an idea of which teams are likely to do well in the weeks to come, and which ones need a little encouragement. 6) SEE SHARES OWNED: ******************** Self explanatory. 7) CALL SHARE MEETING: ********************** You are only able to do this once a week, and only fot a club you own shares in. You are invited to propose a motion from the options displayed - the motion is successful either (if you own at least 501 shares in the club (I.e is are a majority shareholder) or if the other shareholders vote with you. IF you are unsuccessful, well - try and see! 8) LOAN: ******** Self explanatory. 9) MAKE SHARE OFFER: ******************** It is unlikely that you will be able to complete the game without using this option at least once. It is only available when the 9 is flashing (so keep your eyes open), but when this happens, you will be allowed to check other screens first without losing the opportunity. This option allows you to attempt to force a purchase of shares (even if non are available) in any one club by making a higher offer than the current market value. The higher you bid, the better the chance of obtaining some shares, but although this is one of the few occasions you are allowed an overdraft facility, be careful, as this could cause you problems (see later). This is an ideal way to become the majority shareholder in a successful team. One other thing to be aware of here is that if you pay too much over the odds, you may never be able to recoup your investment! OVERDRAFTS: *********** If you are overdrawn at the end of a season, the bank will force the sale of some (or all) of your shares, at well below the market value, until the overdraft is repaid. If you don't have enough to repay the overdraft, you are bankrupt, and the game ends. This is a particularly nasty feature, and the only hint we have to offer is: MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT OVERDRAWN AT THE END OF THE SEASON! You will not have a chance to sell shares after the last weeks results, so do the necessary business beforehand. You have been warned! SHARES PRICES: ************** are obviously affected by a number of things; you should be able to predict these when you have played the game a little. PRIZE MONEY: ************ If you are a majority shareholder in a team that wins the league, you win &80 000. If your team wins the cup, you win &100 000. RELEGATION/PROMOTION: ********************* The two bottom teams in the league are relagated, along with them goes any money you have invested, as we are only interested in First Division teams in this game! Two new teams will be promoted into the table for the new season. HINTS: ****** Keep your eyes open for surprise features that may pop up occasionaly. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Watch out for teams that look like they will be relegated-you will lose all your investment in them. Finaly, you don't get any interest on money in the bank! If you need any more help, send S.A.E and cheque /P.O for &1, and we will send you an up-to-date tip sheet on our current realses. Send to GTi (SD tipsheet), 5 New Bridge Street, Exeter, EX4 3JW. (c) GTI SOFTWARE 1990 Written by Steve Bye. Produced by Bernard Gurnard. Also available, CLASSIC PUNTER and CLASSIC TRAINER. Either available direct fro us at only &2.99 (plus 30p p&p if under &5), GTI MAIL ORDER, 5 NEW BRIDGE STREET, EXETER EX4, 3JW. Or phoine 0392 52004 with your Access or Visa number. If you have any comments or suggestions on this, or any other of our fames, please write to us - you may help to make our next games even better! We will give a prize for the most constructive letter we receive each month, so please let us know which computer you have, which of our titles you already own, and where you bought them.