The Movies

DIrishB said:
Hmmm...so whats the point again?
You basically run a movie studio through multiple eras of filmmaking, trying to pump out movies of any kind, from genre trash to art-house fare, and become the most prestigious film studio.

Along the way, you have to build up talent, massage egos and stay in the black. The game also comes with a very intriguing movie making sandbox mode that lets you play around with a quirky simulacrum of filmmaking.

I'm looking forward to the petty politics and crazy character interaction, honestly. It'll be fun to make my director and actors fight like crazy and make the set go wild.
 
Here're some screenshots from good ole Gamespot:

05-movies00.jpg

The films you can make are dependent on the lots your studio has, whether they be the a modern kitchen in good ole suburbia...

05-movies01.jpg

...or a crummy worn-down detective's office in the black and white days of the twenties.

05-movies02.jpg

Keeping the egos of your stars happy is important. Build an bar for on-studio dates so they can kick back and unwind...

05-movies03.jpg

...or sharpen their good looks and Q-factor with exercise facilities, plastic surgery and fashion makeovers.

05-movies04.jpg

When filming is complete, you can send the finished package straight to the production office, or make some studio cuts by editing and trimming key scenes with the in-game movie maker.
 
I saw a cabin set that looked like it was brought straight out of the Evil Dead, complete with cellar. Do you know what means?

I'm totally making Bruce Campbell as an actor on there.
 
I'm assuming the game's internal rules are built more on the alternate-reality premise that the 50s-style studio system never disintegrated, yes?

So the studio/player handles stuff like exclusivity contracts; the studio handling the talents' PR (as opposed to the performers themselves being responsible for it), and so forth.

Any idea whether the game covers things like franchising a movie concept, merchansing, and cross-marketing? Does it account for video production and home editions?
 
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compound said:
I'm assuming the game's internal rules are built more on the alternate-reality premise that the 50s-style studio system never disintegrated, yes?
That depends. I don't know how far the gameplay changes around the evolution of Hollywood, as the hands-on impression given sticks to the 1920s.

There's supposed to be a research component involved allowing you to develop technological concepts like color, surround sound and special effects, but whether that includes paradigmatic concepts like the nature of contracts and star relations is something else that wasn't touched upon.

Regardless of whether or not that is in the game, I can imagine its not too difficult to implement as Age of Empires did manage to incorporate theological and philosophical "technologies" into its research tree.

compound said:
So the studio/player handles stuff like exclusivity contracts; the studio handling the talents' PR (as opposed to the performers themselves being responsible for it), and so forth.
The previews glossed over the exact mechanics of how the individual talent is hired, but it seems to suggest that each talent (janitors, actors, writers and directors) gain experience and corresponding salary increases but at the same time have unique personalities in the same way the first Sims hard-wired unique traits (under the hood in a way that you woudn't really know without cheating) into the characters.

The PR aspect is treated by evaluating an actor's salary and demands in relation to his star power, which increases the more successful movies he features in. The bigger the star power, the more likely the star starts acting like a primadonna. They can even start demanding an entourage.

compound said:
Any idea whether the game covers things like franchising a movie concept, merchansing, and cross-marketing? Does it account for video production and home editions?
Apparently not. Unlike the real Hollywood, The Movies' alternate reality doesn't seem to base movies on other product nor does it account for ancillary markets. Just put the movie out there and wait for the money and reviews.

I think I read in some other preview that reviews and box office are going to be divergent such that you would ideally build a studio house that balances between critically acclaimed art-house fare and pandering to the masses, and variating between box office bombs and runaway success.
 
ourchair said:
You basically run a movie studio through multiple eras of filmmaking, trying to pump out movies of any kind, from genre trash to art-house fare, and become the most prestigious film studio.

Along the way, you have to build up talent, massage egos and stay in the black. The game also comes with a very intriguing movie making sandbox mode that lets you play around with a quirky simulacrum of filmmaking.

I'm looking forward to the petty politics and crazy character interaction, honestly. It'll be fun to make my director and actors fight like crazy and make the set go wild.

Finally, my dreams of becoming a big-time porn producer/director can be lived...virtually, of course.
 
DIrishB said:
Finally, my dreams of becoming a big-time porn producer/director can be lived...virtually, of course.
They claim you can work a variety of genres. I definitely hope porn is included. I'd make loads of snuff. That way the actors will die and never develop egos that I'd have to manage.
 
It's to bad they don't have a bunch of comic characters considering that the thing in Hollywood right now. It would be cool, like make you own comic book and watching it play out.
 
the watcher said:
It's to bad they don't have a bunch of comic characters considering that the thing in Hollywood right now. It would be cool, like make you own comic book and watching it play out.
Hopefully, there will be user mods for the PC version that will let us do this.
 
the watcher said:
It's to bad they don't have a bunch of comic characters considering that the thing in Hollywood right now. It would be cool, like make you own comic book and watching it play out.
They have a game like that. It's called Freedom Force, goddamnit.
 
the watcher said:
It's to bad they don't have a bunch of comic characters considering that the thing in Hollywood right now. It would be cool, like make you own comic book and watching it play out.

I was just thinking if they have some props that kind of looks like Wolverins claws. I think I'll put in the story of Ultimate Wolverine that Moonmaster Wrote. But if they don't have those props I'll change the story around a bit. just to see it played out. If that ok with you Moonmaster.
 
the watcher said:
I was just thinking if they have some props that kind of looks like Wolverins claws. I think I'll put in the story of Ultimate Wolverine that Moonmaster Wrote. But if they don't have those props I'll change the story around a bit. just to see it played out. If that ok with you Moonmaster.
Dude what the **** are you on? Go goof on a City of Heroes thread if you really want to talk about superhero tropes and devices in videogames.
 
Boomtown.net has a review of The Movies up. An excerpt of something good:
Watching the film crews at work is great fun, over the ages the equipment and sets change, but no matter what era, you can watch camera and sound men, clapperboard operators and directors go about their work.

It's a real delight to watch, for example a crew working on a scene with a moving car, watching a static vehicle on a set as the backdrop zooms by to simulate movement. For folks that love movies the game is a hymn to the creative process and movie magic.
And here's something bad:
There are also issues with managing the stars. We're told that you have to solve problems in movie production with star tantrums and the like. Mostly this boils down to dragging actors and mostly directors back from the bar to the set. There's the option to send them to rehab, but in the end, this gameplay mechanic can get old. Nearly every problem just boils down to having to drag someone away from the bar, or restaurant, back to the set.
 
I just got The Movies. I'll post some first impressions tomorrow, but here are some screens I took.

05-mymovies00.jpg

Here's my first actor rehearsing a black and white comedy before filming.We cast an African-American because everybody likes to make a fool out of a nigga.

05-mymovies01.jpg

All a good woman really wants is to get down on her knees and scrub the floor all day and be rewarded with thick juicy meat.

05-mymovies02.jpg

In my production studio, the black man always takes orders from the whitey.

05-mymovies03.jpg

We decided to go experimental in our use of niggas. Hence the first drinking session between an African-American gladiator and space-captains in a Western saloon.
 
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Since I'm already sleep-deprived as it is catching up with more psych work, I might as well post my first impressions:

* The game runs mighty smooth and silky even on a relatively modest Pentium IV 1.8GHz system with 512MB RAM and a 128MB RAM GeForce4. For someone who can't get over the Sims 2's loading times, that's a treat. And Sims 2 is already over a year old. I suspect the fact that developer Lionhead Studios takes forever to finish their games (this one took four) must mean they spent a lot of tiem doing QA and code-tightening.

* The game isn't exactly full of the outrageous hi-jinks of sims 2, and is more akin to the sublime managerial tone of games like Rollercoaster Tycoon and Startopia. I'm still in the late 1920s though, so for all I know things get a little more wacky by the time technicolor film and special effects labs are available.

* My favorite thing to do right now is to punish stars with ego problems by forcing them to clean the restrooms. God, I love the fascist nature of the studio system. I'm thinking of breaking my construction and repair guys into show business.

* There's a newsradio announcer who serves as background audio for the game. He's a hoot in the twenties because he talks about the PURITY of theater, and encourages people to NOT whistle along to the music on the radio because whistling is stealing and it hurts the music industry. :lol:

More notes next time.
 
I'm going to hypnotize my sister into getting this.
 

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