The Movies

On Wednesday, October the 12th I had the pleasure of attending an Activision event in San Francisco. While there, I had an opportunity to see a number of games that will be released this holiday season. I was able to spend a lot of time playing some of these games as well as chatting with the developers. Although all of the games I had a chance to check out were impressive in many ways, one game in particular managed to completely blow me away. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Movies!

Developed by the Lionhead Studios (Black and White, Fable), The Movies is a game that lets a player be a manager of a movie studio and at the same time allows him to be the creative force behind the movies themselves. Rumor has it that Peter Molyneux had a dream of this game, and upon waking up went on to make it a reality. Luckily so, I might add.

There are 3 unique parts of the game the first being management of the studio. It reminded me of the Tycoon games. The player is given a chunk of land where he can place various buildings and objects, which perform different functions and affect your studio’s prestige. The latter is calculated through a combination of seven other scores. They are: attractiveness, connectedness, maintenance, catering, sanitation, ornament and cleanliness. Try forgetting to hire a janitor or a builder, the studio will become dirty and structures will fall into disrepair.

The second part is star management. A star is a hireling who is designated to be an actor or a director. The process of managing the stars is reminiscent of games like the Sims. Stars are pesky little buggers. They can get bored if they don’t act or stressed if they do. If they go to a bar to relieve stress and boredom they can get addicted to drinking. If they are not provided with makeovers and raises they will become unhappy. Moreover, if they feel that someone else got an unjust raise they will become jealous.

The third part of the game and the most complicated one is the actual production of movies. This is quite an undertaking, make no mistake. First a scriptwriter needs to be ordered to write a script. There are 5 possible genres, Action, Romance, Sci-Fi, Comedy and Horror. The script has to be interesting and novel if anything good is to come out of it. Once done, casting can begin by assigning director and actors, who begin rehearsing. Also a number extras will be needed, some crew members and a few available sets.

There is more to it however. Unless the stars are happy, experienced in a particular genre and get along with each other well, their acting and directing will be anything but good. If there are not enough extras, or if there aren’t any available crew members the filming is not going to happen. Same if the stage is being used by another crew or if it is not yet build.

Once the movie is finished, some post-production work can be done on it, assuming the feature was already unlocked and the appropriate structure built. After that, the movie is released into theaters. It will be graded and reviewed (you won’t believe the things those nasty reviewers can say about your movie) and will either bring up or lower the studio’s rating along with those of the stars. Also it will make money, hopefully enough to get by and pay all the employees.

Since the game begins in 1920, the technology available is rather primitive. Movies are grainy and have lines, sets are very few and costumes are not very many. As time progresses, however, new technologies, buildings, special effects, costumes, props and sets begin to arrive. Various events happen that may spark interest in one genre over another for example. Awards ceremonies happen frequently and if the player happens to win any particular award, he gets the bonuses associated with it, for example the actors may not become addicted to alcohol for a year. That way they can drown their boredom in liquor without any negative effects.

A feature that is very important to the game is the Sandbox Mode. There the player can choose various adjustments like a pre-built studio, a huge amount of money, instantly built structures and so on. This will hopefully reduce the time needed to manage the studio and allow the player to focus on making movies.

The first time I saw how much control one can have over a movie, I was absolutely astounded. Basically you can not only control the sets or the costumes, but also anything that takes place on screen. In truth a player can make movies that are almost as involved and complex as the real ones. For each set there are dozens upon dozens of various sequences. The player can have his actors talk, kill one another, run, attack, propose, kiss, enter, exit and pretty much any other conceivable act. The possibilities are truly limitless!

If the player is serious about the production he can even import his own music into the movie. That is not all, however. One can also import separately recorded dialogue, and the actors will … lip-sync to it! This is nothing short of amazing!

As if that was not enough, there is yet another part of the game. Star Creator software lets the player create individual actors. The player gets to select their looks, personalities, skills and behaviors and then import them into the game. Want your annoying neighbor to star in the cheesy “Damnation of the Drooling Donkey”? Go right ahead. Want to cast yourself for the hero part in the fantasy epic “Scarlet Crusade”? Please do so.

The developers anticipate a huge movie-making fan base and a good mod crowd. They are working on a set of scripting tools that will appeal to many gamers because there is no coding involved. Instead the scripting will be done in a flow-chart format (connecting boxes). These tools will give even more control (although I personally can not imagine it) to a person who wants to make movies. Although there is not yet an official release date for these tools, hopefully it will be announced in the near future. Expect some true works of art from those who will be using these tools. And of course, as always, someone will make a nude patch. The developers think it is as inevitable as the sunset.

Other aspects of The Movies such as graphics and sound effects pale in comparison with the depth and volume of gameplay. Suffice to say that both are quite adequate and that you won’t be paying much attention to either, once the game consumes you, which will be sooner rather than later.

Overall, I must say that very few games have impressed me as much as The Movies did. I am completely enamored with this game and can’t wait for it to hit stores so that I can get my hands on it at last!

In Zeus we trust.