Contents

Everything you need to know about how to use Wannabe a Pop Star is explained in the following Help pages:

Using the Mouse

Moving Around

Options

Narrator

Background Effects

Home Screen	  Audition

Rehearsal	  Recording Studio

Concert	  Top Twenty Charts

Disc	  Chart Challenge


Using The Mouse

Use the mouse to make choices and navigate your way through Wannabe a Pop Star. In general, click once (single-click) with the left-hand mouse button to navigate and click twice (double-click) to select some music, or as a short-cut way of choosing your band members.

When the cursor moves over live objects it changes into a hand symbol. This means that clicking on that object will make something happen. For example, when you move the mouse over the drum kit in the Audition section, the cursor changes into a hand, indicating that if you click on the drum kit you can audition your drummer.

Hire or Fire

You can decide to Hire or Fire a member of your band at any stage in Wannabe a Pop Star, by clicking on that person´s instrument or stand to display the Fire dialog box. If you choose to fire them, you can hire their replacement in the same way as described in the Audition section, by selecting someone from the heads menu.

For information about using the mouse to move from one section of Wannabe a Pop Star to another, see the Moving Around section of this Help file.


Moving Around

To leave one section of Wannabe a Pop Star and go to the next, single-click on the door to the right of every scene. When you move your cursor over the door it changes into a hand symbol pointing to the right, indicating that the area is live and clicking on it will move you on to the next section.

If you move from one section to the next by clicking on the door, a cartoon will play, showing your band moving on to the next section. You can click on the animation at any time to fast-forward to the next section. If you move from one section to another by returning to the Home Screen Map, you will jump directly to that section without running the animation.

Another way of moving between sections is by clicking on the Map icon which represents the Home Screen, and which is in every scene. The Map will highlight when you click on it and, wherever you are in the product, you will be given the chance to save your progress before you leave that section. Once you have saved what you were doing, you will return to the Home Screen, where you can click on one of the buildings to go to that section.

If you choose to return to the Audition section from another section of Wannabe a Pop Star, a dialog box will warn you that the new band you create there will replace any band currently in another section of the game. You should only return to the Audition section if you are happy to replace your current band. Remember that you saved that band when you left the Audition section, so you can always load them back in again from the Options section.

If you want to Hire or Fire musicians from your band, click on that person´s instrument or stand to display the Fire dialog box. Continue hiring and firing in the same way as described in the Audition section.

To find out how to leave Wannabe a Pop Star, go to the Exit section of this Help file.

For further information on using the mouse to move around the game, go to the Using The Mouse section of this Help file.


Options

Click on the Record Shop on the Home Screen to go to the Options section of Wannabe a Pop Star. The menu for this section is displayed on a poster on the shop door.

The icons on the poster represent the following controls:

Load Band:

Click this button to see a list of bands that have already been created in previous games of Wannabe a Pop Star. Follow this procedure to load a band from another location, or to save a band to another location:

Click on the arrow at the top right hand corner of the box. The white file list is replaced by the blue drive list. The drive list contains the names of all the drives connected to your computer, along with the name of the currently selected folder. To choose another drive, for example the 3.5 Floppy (A:), click on the drive name. The drive list is replaced by the file list, which now shows all the bands available on the new drive.

To move down a folder, select the folder name from the files list. To move

up a folder, select the folder name from the drives list. Drives and folders are

displayed in bold type; bands, singles and songs are displayed in normal type.

Click on a band to select it, and then click Yep to load it into the game and to return to the Options screen. Click on the map to return to the Home Screen, from where you can go to the Rehearsal section where the band you have just selected will be waiting for you. You wont be able to go to the Recording Studio or Concert sections yet because you haven´t put a song together or pressed a single, and they will appear greyed-out to show that they are not available.

Load Single:

Follow the same procedure as above to load a single. When you have selected a single, youll return to the Options screen. Click on the map to return to the Home Screen, from where you can go to the Rehearsal, Recording Studio and Concert sections, where the band you have just selected will be waiting for you.

A single is a song that has been mixed and pressed in the Recording Studio, not a song as it appears in the Rehearsal. You are loading in the single that you arranged and pressed in the studio, not the basic song itself. You can load in the song as it sounded when you made it in the Song Box stage by returning to the Rehearsal section of Wannabe a Pop Star.

To copy your single from the Singles folder of your hard drive to a floppy disk, insert the disk in the floppy disk drive. In My Computer or Windows Explorer click the single you want to copy, and on the file menu point to Send To. Then click the drive you want to copy the single to. The floppy drive is usually the (A:) drive.

Volume:

Use the slider to adjust the volume of sound in Wannabe a Pop Star.

Effects On and Off:

You can choose to turn the background noises and comments on or off by clicking on the On and Off buttons next to the picture of the speaker. The effects are On by default.

Music Quality:

If you are running Wannabe a Pop Star on a minimum specification machine, you may find it useful to choose the Low Quality option to improve the performance of your computer when playing music clips.

The minimum specification for running Wannabe a Pop Star is:

* Windows(r) 95 or later

* Processor: Pentium 90 MHz

* Memory: 16 MB Ram

* Free hard disk space, before installation: minimum 10MB

* Display: SVGA 640 x 480 resolution, 256 colours

* CD-ROM drive: quad speed

* Sound card: 16-bit SoundBlaster(tm) compatible

* Mouse: Microsoft(tm), or compatible

* Speakers/headphones

* Keyboard

Narrator:

When you click on the Smiley sticker in each scene, the narrator will give you an overview of what to do in that section of Wannabe a Pop Star. You can turn the Pop Help on or off by clicking on the On and Off buttons on either side of the Pop Help Smiley sticker on the Options menu. Choosing Off will remove the sticker from every scene in the product. As a default the Pop Help is On.

We Did This:

This section lists all those people and organisations who were involved in making Wannabe a Pop Star.

About:

This section contains the technical acknowledgements.

To return to the Home Screen, click on the small Map that is stuck on the record shop door.

To find out how your band measures up against a friend´s band or a band that you have already created yourself, see the Chart Challenge section of this Help file.


Narrator

When you first start Wannabe a Pop Star and go to the Home Screen, you´ll hear the narrator (represented by the Smiley sticker), telling you a bit about how to use the product.

You can get advice from the narrator about what to do in every scene of Wannabe a Pop Star by clicking on the Smiley sticker. If you don´t want his advice, you can remove the Smiley sticker from every scene by choosing the Off option in the Options section (available on the Home Screen).


Home Screen

After the titles and introductory video, you will end up at the Home Screen. The buildings on the Map represent the different sections of the game; click on one to go there:

The garage icon leads to the Audition

The church hall icon leads to the Rehearsal

The studio icon leads to the Recording Studio

The stadium icon leads to the Concert

The record shop icon leads to Options

Click on the tunnel icon to Exit from Wannabe a Pop Star.

The buildings on the Home Screen are greyed-out when they are unavailable and are in colour when you can go to those sections. You can only go to some sections depending on the progress that you´ve made so far. For example, you will not be able to go to the Recording Studio until you have either put your band together in the Audition section, or loaded an old band from the Options section.

Tool Tips appear when you roll your cursor over the buildings on the Home Screen.

To return to the Home Screen from any other section of Wannabe a Pop Star, click on the Map which is available in every scene. You are always given the chance to save your progress before you leave a section.


Help

To access this Help file from anywhere in the product, press the F1 button on your keyboard. The Help will relate to whichever section you are currently in.

Don´t forget that the Narrator is present in every scene to give you advice on what to do in that section. Click on the Smiley sticker to hear what he has to say.


Printing

There is a camera in every scene of Wannabe a Pop Star. Click on the camera to print a picture of your band.

You can also print out sheet music of the song you have created, by clicking on the Print Music button on the Song Box in the Rehearsal, or on the control panel in the Recording Studio.

If your single makes it into the Top Ten and earns a platinum, gold or silver disc, you can see a full-screen version of it by clicking on the disc next to your chart entry. Click on the printer icon at the bottom of the screen to print out a copy of the disc.

You can print out a copy of the Charts by clicking on the printer icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the Top Twenty screen.


Exit

To exit from the product, click on the Map icon which is present in every scene. A dialog box appears, giving you the option of saving what you are doing.

Once you have chosen whether to save or not, you will end up at the Home Screen. If you click on the tunnel, you will be asked whether you are Going or Staying. If you click Staying you will return to the Home screen. If you click Going you will exit the product following the Credits screen.


Audition

Click on the garage icon on the Home Screen to go to the Audition section of Wannabe a Pop Star. This is where you choose your band members and put your band together. Click on the Smiley sticker to hear an explanation of what to do in this section, or on the F1 key for a more detailed description.

You need to choose a drummer, a lead guitarist, a bass guitarist, a singer and a keyboard player before you can go on to the next section of Wannabe a Pop Star. Click on an instrument or stand to highlight it and see who has turned up to audition for that position in the band.

When you have selected an instrument, single-click on one of the players to see them walk in, introduce themselves and perform their audition piece. If you want to speed up the auditioning process, double-click on a musician´s head, and they will appear at their instrument and start their audition piece without walking on and introducing themselves.

When you have heard enough, you need to decide whether to hire them or not using the Hire dialog box. If you want to hire that person for your band, click the Yep button and they will take their place by their instrument. If you do not like them and want to audition someone else, click the Nope button and they will walk out. Click on the instrument again to see the available candidates from which to choose someone else.

If you Hire a musician, and then change your mind, you need to Fire them before you can audition a replacement. Click on that person´s instrument or stand to display the Fire dialog box. Choose Yep or Nope and audition their replacement as before. You can hire and fire members of the band in this way in any section of Wannabe a Pop Star.

Continue with this process until you have chosen all five members of your band. Then click on the door to go to the Rehearsal once you have named your band.


Identikit Singers

To choose a singer, click on the microphone. The microphone will highlight, and the menu of singers will appear. As well as 5 male and female singers to choose from, there are 2 singers who appear in silhouette. These are the Identikit Singers who you create yourself. You can choose what they look like, what they should wear and how they should sing.

Clicking on the male or female silhouetted singer displays the male or female  model. You can choose the singers skin colour, hair style and clothes, as well as their singing style by paging through the different options:

Use these buttons to choose the singer´s skin colour.

Use these buttons to choose the singer´s hairstyle or hat.

Use these buttons to choose the singer´s top.

Use these buttons to choose the singer´s skirts or trousers.

Use these buttons to choose the singer´s shoes.

Use these buttons to select your singer´s voice, choosing from 5 different styles. Click the play button to hear them sing a sample.

 When you are happy with how your Identikit Singer looks and sounds, click this button to return to the Audition, where your singer will be waiting. If you change your mind later, you can Fire them as described in the Audition section.

Clicking on this button cancels any choices you have made. You will return to the Audition section where you can click on the microphone stand to choose another singer.


Rehearsal

You can get to the Rehearsal section by clicking on the church hall icon on the Home Screen, or by clicking on the door in the Audition section. The Rehearsal is where you put your band´s song together. Remember, you can click on the Smiley sticker to hear an explanation of what to do in this section, or on the F1 key for a more detailed description.

When you enter this section you will see your band members standing at their instruments in the church hall. If you don´t do anything, they will fidget and prompt you to click on something.

At the bottom of the screen is the Song Box which you use to put your song together. It is divided into eight parts which represent the eight sections of the song and contains the following controls:

Click this button to play/stop your song. To play your song from the beginning, click on the Intro title and then click Play. You can hear your song from any other section onwards by clicking on the relevant section title and pressing Play.

Click this button to load a song that you have already created in a previous game. You can play a song originally performed by another band even if your band members are different. Your current band will create a ´cover-version´ of the song, i.e. they will play the same song but in their own style. See the Load section of Options for information on how to load a song from another location.

Click this button to save the song you have just created. For information on how to save your song to another location, such as a floppy disk, see the Load paragraph in the Options section of this Help file.

Once you have saved your song, you can go on to compete against a friend in a Chart Challenge, or bring back your song in a future game of Wannabe a Pop Star. If you want to compete against a friends band in a Chart Challenge on a different computer, you should save your song onto a floppy disk. See the Options section for a description of how to bring the song back once it has been saved.

Click this button to print out the sheet music of the song you have just created.

The Song Box is divided into horizontal rows and vertical columns. Each row represents a band member, shown by the picture of their instrument on the left-hand side of the Song Box. For example, all the cells in the top row depict the keyboard players song.

The Song Box contains the following conrtols:

The columns represent the different parts of the song. For example, the column below contains the Chorus:

The border shows that the Chorus is the section that is currently being played. If you double-click on a cell, you will see the choice of five songs that each musician can play:

To decide which song-clip you want to choose for the highlighted cell, you can listen to the 5 choices. To listen to a clip, click on the title to highlight it, and then click on the Play symbol. The Play symbol will change to a Stop button which you click to stop the clip playing. To select the clip and add it to the song box, double-click on the title, or single-click the title and click the OK button.  Follow the same procedure to listen to the other song-clips.

If you accidentally insert a song clip into the wrong cell, or if you want to remove a song clip from a cell, simply click on that song clip so that it is selected and then click the Delete button.

To hear your song from the beginning, select the title of the Intro column of the Song Box and press the Play button. You can play the song from any point by clicking on any column title to select it, and pressing the Play button.

Remember, if you are not happy with one of the band members, you can still Fire them at this stage and replace them with another one. Follow the Hire and Fire procedure as described in the Audition section.

Click on the camera to print out a picture of your band.

You can´t move on to the Recording Studio section until your song is complete. The ´Hang On, get more musicians to Play´ dialog box appears if you try to move on too soon. Not counting the drummer, you need at least one of the other musicians playing in each of the eight parts of the song.

Click on the Save button when you are happy with your band´s song, and click on the door when you are ready to leave. The Manager will appear and give you the chance to go on to mix your song in the Recording Studio.


Recording Studio

You can get to the Recording Studio by clicking on the studio icon on the Home Screen or by clicking on the door in the Rehearsal screen. Remember, you can click on the Smiley sticker to hear an explanation of what to do in this section, or on the F1 key for a more detailed description.

When you enter this scene you´ll see your band members standing at their instruments in the recording studio. If you don´t do anything, they will fidget and prompt you to click on something.

The studio is where you can add lots of extra sounds and effects to your song and press the single which will be judged by the crowd in the Concert section. By adding effects to your song, adjusting the instruments´ volume and altering their panning, you will increase your score and possibly your position in the Top Twenty Charts.

The Control Panel contains the following items:

Recording Button:

To add sounds and effects to your song, click on the large Record button in the centre of the control panel. The Play button will depress at the same time.

If you want to add your changes to individual instruments one-at-a-time rather than in one session, you can use the 6 smaller recording buttons to isolate the different musicians and sound banks. For example, if you want to record only the changes to the lead guitar, click on the other 5 small recording buttons to disable them and concentrate on making changes to that channel. Repeat the process for the other channels to layer the effects on top of the song individually, without over-writing what you have done so-far. By default these recording buttons are on when you enter the Studio

The button to the right of the panel records the extra sounds, and the 5 buttons on the left control the volume and sound balance for the 5 different musicians.

When you are recording your changes, the light on the studio wall will change from green to red to indicate a recording session is taking place. When you have finished, press the Stop button.

Click on Play to listen to what you have recorded. If you decide you are unhappy with the effects you have added, you can undo what you have done by clicking the Delete button (see below).

Volume Sliders:

On the left-hand side of the screen there are vertical sliders which control the volume of each instrument. Click on the Record button at the top of the slider to record that channel.

Panning Sliders:

On the left-hand side of the screen are horizontal sliders which control the sound balance between the speakers for each instrument. The panning of sound between speakers can be changed for each segment of the song. Click on the Record button to save your adjustments to the song mix.

Sound Banks:

The Sound Bank buttons are situated on the right-hand side of the control panel. There are six banks, with five sounds per bank (represented by the 5 buttons). Use the arrows to choose which bank of sounds you want to use. You can choose to use a different bank for each segment of the song. Click the Record and Play buttons when you want to add the sounds to the mix. Click the Save Song button to save your progress so far. You can add more sounds to your song by repeating the procedure. The sounds you have just recorded will not be over-written, but will be added to.

Highlight:

The highlight indicates which section of the song the band is currently playing.

Load Song:

Click this button to load in a previously recorded song or mix so that you can add different sounds to it. See the Load section of Options for information on how to load a song from another location.

Save Song:

Click on this button to name and save this mix of the song. In future games of Pop Star, you can load this version of the song into the Studio to carry on mixing it.

Print Music:

Click on this button to print out the sheet music of the song you have put together.

Delete:

Clicking this button deletes any of the extra sounds and effects that youve added to your song in the studio. The song will now sound as it did when you left the Rehearsal section of Wannabe a Pop Star before you started mixing it.

Remember, if you are not happy with any of the band members, you can still Fire them at this stage and replace them with others. Follow the Hire and Fire procedure as described in the Audition section.

Camera:

Click on the camera to print out a picture of your band.

When you have finished mixing your record, click on the door to leave this section. The Producer will appear, and ask whether you are ready to play in Concert. If you click on Nope, you will return to the Studio. Clicking  on Yep automatically saves your single to the Singles folder on your hard drive.

Clicking on Yep will also move on to the Concert and the Top Twenty Charts to see whether you´ve made it.

Saving your Single to a Floppy Disk

To copy your single from the Singles folder of your hard drive to a floppy disk, insert the disk in the floppy disk drive. In My Computer or Windows Explorer click the single you want to copy, and on the file menu point to Send To. Then click the drive you want to copy the single to. The floppy drive is usually the (A:) drive.


Concert

Once you have recorded and pressed your single, you can get to the Concert section of Wannabe a Pop Star by clicking on the stage on the Home Screen, or by clicking on the door in the Recording Studio screen. The Concert is where your band performs your song in front of an audience. The audience reaction will depend on how well you have put your record together. At the end of the performance, you will see whether your song has made it into the Top Twenty Charts.

Click anywhere on the screen to skip the performance and go straight to the Top Twenty Charts.


Top Twenty Charts

Once the concert performance is over, you will go to the Top Twenty Charts screen. The chart position that your band reaches depends on how well you have put your song together. If you get a high enough score, your band and song title will appear highlighted in the Top Twenty Charts. You can print out the Top Twenty Charts by clicking on the printer icon.

If your score is not high enough to get you into the Top Twenty Charts, click on the Home Screen map to return to the Home Screen to try again.

Your song will get into the Top Ten if you have a very high score, and youll earn a platinum, gold or silver disc. The disc symbol will appear next to your song title. Click on it to see a full-screen picture of the disc, with the current date, your chart position, and your band and song name. Click on the printer icon to print the picture of your disc.

Don´t forget, you can challenge your friends band and see how your bands´ chart positions compare in the Chart Challenge.

To return to the Top Twenty Charts, click on the Smash Hits title. To return to the Home Screen, click on the Map.


Disk

Disc

If your song has reached the Top Ten in the Top Twenty Charts, you will be rewarded with a platinum, gold or silver disc. To see a full-screen version of the disc with your bands name, song title, and date on it, click on the disc next to the chart entry. Click on the printer icon to print out a copy to hang on your wall.

To return to the Top Twenty Charts, click on the Smash Hits title. To return to the Home Screen, click on the Map.


Background Effects

You will notice that there are lots of random effects and characters that appear in the background throughout Wannabe a Pop Star, usually when you are not doing anything.

If you want to interrupt and stop a random effect or character, click on the screen. If you want to turn off the sounds completely, go to the Options screen from the Home Screen, and click on the sounds Off button.

Similarly, if you want to fast-forward through a connecting animation, click anywhere on the screen to make it stop.


Chart Challenge

Once your band has played in the Concert, they can compete against a friends band in the Chart Challenge.

If you are playing on different computers, get your friend to save their band or single onto a floppy disk. Then using the Map and Home Screen, go to the Options section of Wannabe a Pop Star to load it into your game. For information on how to load a band or single from another location, follow the instructions on loading outlined in the Options section of the Help file.

If you want to Load Single, follow the same procedure. Your friend´s band and/or single will now be the current band and/or single in Wannabe a Pop Star. Your friend can still alter the band members or change the mix if they want to by going to the Audition, Rehearsal or Recording Studio.

Once your friend´s band has performed in the Concert, if they have made it you will be able to see their position in the Top Twenty Charts. You can compare them with your own bands song, as both scores will now be displayed in the Charts. That way you can see which single the audience thought was best.