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Forums Notably documents bugs Impressions never fixed before going under.
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
- Setting
- Ancient China, Xia → Song-Jin (2033 BC–1234 AD)
- Developer
- BreakAway Games
- Publisher
- Sierra
Built on the Zeus engine. Last title on the 2D sprite engine, and the first in the series with multiplayer.
Credits
BreakAway Games
- President
- Douglas Whatley
- Producer
- Ed Beach
- Game design
- Charles Kibler, Ben Knight, Melissa Sawicki, Ed Beach
- Campaign design
- Charles Kibler, Ed Beach
- Documentation
- Robert E. Waters, Ben Knight, Charles Kibler, Beth Waters and the beta testers (additional editing and proofing)
- Art director
- Stephen Langmead
- Lead artist
- Mike Phillips
- Video animation
- Nathan Heazlett, Russell Vaccaro III, Jesse Brophy, Billy Ahlswede, Erroll Roberts, Todd Brizzi
- In-game art
- Stephen Langmead, Mike Phillips, Nathan Heazlett, Russell Vaccaro III, Dwight Eppinger, Jesse Brophy, Bill Dugan, Billy Ahlswede, Amy Brown, Erroll Roberts, Todd Brizzi, Max Remington
- Web site
- Bill Dugan
- Lead programmer
- Andy House
- Programming
- Jeff Ullman, Peter Giancola, Norb Timpko, Jeff Curley, Jim Perry, Natalya Abramova, Ed Beach, Robert Rybzynski, Bill Becker
- Quality assurance lead
- Melissa Sawicki
- Quality assurance
- Rex Martin, Daniel Blaine Hinks, Adam Bryant, Michael Rea, Steven Cole, Eleanor Ross
- Networking support
- Daniel Blaine Hinks
- Sound effects
- Rob Ross (Sound endeavourS)
- Music
- Jeff van Dyck (DNA Multimedia Studios)
Impressions Games / Sierra Entertainment
- Producer
- Jon Payne
- Executive producer
- Eric Hayashi
- Vice president, development
- Rodney Nakamoto
- Development support manager
- Greg Sheppard
- Design lead
- Tony Leier
- Art lead
- Andrea Muzeroll
- QA director
- Gary Stevens
- QA lead
- Darren Cannon
- QA testers
- Patrick Orr, Ed Miller, Kristine Bryan, Tony Case
- Technology group engineering manager
- Mike Nicolino
- Technology group engineers
- William Dewey, Brent LaPoint, Brian Rothstein, Brendan Vanous, Dean Webster
- VP marketing
- Barbara Schwabe
- Brand manager (North America)
- Alex Rodberg
- Brand manager (Europe)
- Beatrice Henrion
- PR manager
- Adam Kahn
- Senior director, PR
- Kathy Miller
- Administrative support
- Beth Adams
- Special thanks
- Michael Ryder, Julie Pitt, Cathy Johnson
- Special testing support
- Matthew Beach, Natalie Beach
Patch 1.0.1.0 - new multiplayer scenarios
- Scenario design
- Anthony Theodorakakos - Supporting the Great Wall, Dalton Hollan Baptista - Securing the Silk Road, David Stringwell - A Tale of Two Cities, Gloria Carson - Spring and Autumn, Vladimir Urazov - Spring and Autumn, Naval Trade, Justin Berka - Strength Against Oppression, Kenneth E. Finkel - Chenghuang, Marvin Lynn Roberts - Hexi Corridor, Robert Taylor - Eight Elite Kingdoms, Eight Prosperous Kingdoms, The Strongest Dynasty, The Usurper
File formats
.sg2 / .sg3 + .555 →
Documented. An .sg2/.sg3 index over pixel data held in sibling .555 files — the shared art pipeline for the whole isometric era.
Documented .eng →
Documented. Holds every string in the game, plus the layout of the message dialogs — the file any translation has to go through.
Documented .map / .sav Undocumented. These titles have their own scenario and save formats, and no public write-up exists — Akhenaten and the Ozymandias projects are the closest thing to a spec for Pharaoh.
Partially documented Buildings
No building data for Emperor yet.
Housing
13 rungs -> The ladder a citizen climbs, rung by rung, and what each one demands before it will evolve - the number half this game's mission goals are written against.Mechanics
The walker model -> Every Impressions city runs two opposite systems at once. Employment is a global pool with no geography in it at all. Services are delivered by a person who walks out of a building and covers whatever they happen to pass. Almost every frustration these games produce comes from expecting one of those to behave like the other.Production
No production data for Emperor yet.
Campaign
48 missions -> Every mission in play order, grouped by the dynasty it belongs to, from the Xia tutorials to the Song-Jin.Cheats
21 codes -> Every documented cheat code, and how to trigger it - save-file byte offsets for the two games that predate any cheat box, and the Ctrl+Alt+C codes the later manuals never mention for the rest.Open-source engines
No open-source engine reimplementation exists for Emperor — confirmed across two research passes. It shares the Zeus engine generation and .sg3/.555 formats, so an eZeus- or Julius-lineage fork is technically plausible. The most credible open target in the whole archive.
How to play it today
GOG only. Emperor has never been sold on Steam, and GOG is the one current digital source for it.
- PCGamingWiki — Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom ↗ Patches, resolution options and modern-Windows notes.
Tools & Mods
- Emperor Resolution Customiser Tool Widescreen resolutions and UI scaling for the GOG release and the English CD. The nearest thing Emperor has to an engine project.
Last commit
7a97368 - Campaign Creator (map & scenario editor) Tool Ships in the game's own install directory as EmperorCampaignCreator.pdf, not a separate download. Builds maps, campaigns and scripted events; HeavenGames' primer, linked here, is the gentler starting point before the manual.
- HeavenGames — Miscellaneous Files Tool Fan-made utilities alongside the campaigns and maps - EmperorMapper, a desirability-calculator spreadsheet, minimap viewers. None are individually catalogued on this site; browse here instead.
- Nexus Mods — Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom Tool The resolution customiser above is hosted here too, alongside whatever else gets uploaded - check back for new mods and tools as they appear.
Manual
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom manual (Impressions Games / Sierra) -> Scanned copy, supplied copy.Community
GOG forum — Emperor Active
GOG GOG's own discussion board for Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom.
r/impressionsgames Active
Reddit Covers the whole series in one place. Reddit blocks automated fetches from this machine, so its traffic level wasn't independently checked before adding it — the way MobyGames and a few other sources are handled elsewhere on this site.