Players Run Their Own Studio in 'The Movies'
After more than three years of development, Activision will release The Movies on Nov. 8. The PC-based movie studio tycoon game by Lionhead Studios (Black and White) aims to please movie fans, box office watchers and gamers alike by challenging both their business smarts and artistic creativity.
Players build their own studio, hire actors, directors and other talent, shoot and edit their own movies—which can be exported and shared with friends or published to the Web. Box Office Mojo played the game during a recent visit to Activision's headquarters in Santa Monica.
The game starts the player in the year 1920 with an empty studio lot and some cash. It is played in a top-down style format, similar to Sim City or Roller Coaster Tycoon. At first play, one is guided through the process of running a studio, starting with the basics and adding complexity as time passes. There's a lot to learn—and we barely touched the surface in the few hours that we played—but the tutorials are well-paced so the game's neither overwhelming nor boring. There are also computer-run studios to compete with—the ultimate goal is to stay on top of the box office charts.
The Movies has three main aspects: 1) creating and managing a studio lot, 2) hiring and managing talent, and 3) making the movies themselves. When a movie is completed and released, it gets a rating between zero and five stars, and the reviews double as advice on what to focus on when making the next movie. The game also has a Sandbox Mode, which allows players to create movies without having to manage the business side of things.
The movie-making process starts with creating and storyboarding a script that falls under one of five genres: Action, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi and Horror. That's followed by casting, hiring a director, picking the costumes and beginning the shoot.
The shooting aspect is elaborate, but it's not unlimited. Though a vast array of pre-made scenes and scenarios are available, one can't move the characters around at whim. From within a given scene, there are several pre-made scenarios, and each scenario often has a few options that help make each movie as unique as possible. For example, some scenes allow different camera angles and props, alternate endings, as well as choice in the intensity of the action, such as a fight.
Once a movie has finished shooting, it goes to post-production which includes an easy-to-use non-linear editor, allowing one to drag scenes in a movie before or after any other scene, and each scene can be edited. Subtitles can be added, dialogue can be recorded using a microphone connected to one's computer, and a soundtrack and sound effects can be inserted. The soundtracks included with the game sound professional and cinematic.
What makes a movie a box office success? While we didn't have enough game time to get a complete feel for this, a number of factors contributed, including how happy one keeps the talent while they are shooting a picture, their experience (which will increase as they make more movies), and how well they related with the other talent involved in the project. Production values also affect box office potential, such as how many sets appear in a movie. Using a particular set in multiple movies will have a negative effect on a movie's appeal.
The game's factors don't necessarily correlate to what makes a box office success in real life—a computer can't exactly judge the merits of a story idea, which is essential to a movie's box office potential. However, there is enough here to get a sense of the movie-making process and to have some fun—for instance, actors can get bored and hit the bottle (and they might have to be put in rehab), and one can give them plastic surgery to improve their appearance.
Activision will support an online community in which players can upload their movies to a Web site and visitors can watch and rate them. Based on these ratings, players can earn virtual dollars that allow them to "purchase" additional in-game content such as new sets, props and more.
The Movies can be played on Microsoft Windows and will be shipped in two versions: a standard edition for $49.99 and a Premiere Edition for $59.99, which features extra game content (such as additional costumes), a CD with 20 soundtracks from the game and a mini-guide on how to make great movies.
RELATED LINKS
• Screen Shot Gallery
• Download Game Play Demo (QuickTime, 38 Megs)
• The Movies Official Web Site
• Lionhead Studios
• Activision
Players build their own studio, hire actors, directors and other talent, shoot and edit their own movies—which can be exported and shared with friends or published to the Web. Box Office Mojo played the game during a recent visit to Activision's headquarters in Santa Monica.
The game starts the player in the year 1920 with an empty studio lot and some cash. It is played in a top-down style format, similar to Sim City or Roller Coaster Tycoon. At first play, one is guided through the process of running a studio, starting with the basics and adding complexity as time passes. There's a lot to learn—and we barely touched the surface in the few hours that we played—but the tutorials are well-paced so the game's neither overwhelming nor boring. There are also computer-run studios to compete with—the ultimate goal is to stay on top of the box office charts.
The Movies has three main aspects: 1) creating and managing a studio lot, 2) hiring and managing talent, and 3) making the movies themselves. When a movie is completed and released, it gets a rating between zero and five stars, and the reviews double as advice on what to focus on when making the next movie. The game also has a Sandbox Mode, which allows players to create movies without having to manage the business side of things.
The movie-making process starts with creating and storyboarding a script that falls under one of five genres: Action, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi and Horror. That's followed by casting, hiring a director, picking the costumes and beginning the shoot.
The shooting aspect is elaborate, but it's not unlimited. Though a vast array of pre-made scenes and scenarios are available, one can't move the characters around at whim. From within a given scene, there are several pre-made scenarios, and each scenario often has a few options that help make each movie as unique as possible. For example, some scenes allow different camera angles and props, alternate endings, as well as choice in the intensity of the action, such as a fight.
Once a movie has finished shooting, it goes to post-production which includes an easy-to-use non-linear editor, allowing one to drag scenes in a movie before or after any other scene, and each scene can be edited. Subtitles can be added, dialogue can be recorded using a microphone connected to one's computer, and a soundtrack and sound effects can be inserted. The soundtracks included with the game sound professional and cinematic.
What makes a movie a box office success? While we didn't have enough game time to get a complete feel for this, a number of factors contributed, including how happy one keeps the talent while they are shooting a picture, their experience (which will increase as they make more movies), and how well they related with the other talent involved in the project. Production values also affect box office potential, such as how many sets appear in a movie. Using a particular set in multiple movies will have a negative effect on a movie's appeal.
The game's factors don't necessarily correlate to what makes a box office success in real life—a computer can't exactly judge the merits of a story idea, which is essential to a movie's box office potential. However, there is enough here to get a sense of the movie-making process and to have some fun—for instance, actors can get bored and hit the bottle (and they might have to be put in rehab), and one can give them plastic surgery to improve their appearance.
Activision will support an online community in which players can upload their movies to a Web site and visitors can watch and rate them. Based on these ratings, players can earn virtual dollars that allow them to "purchase" additional in-game content such as new sets, props and more.
The Movies can be played on Microsoft Windows and will be shipped in two versions: a standard edition for $49.99 and a Premiere Edition for $59.99, which features extra game content (such as additional costumes), a CD with 20 soundtracks from the game and a mini-guide on how to make great movies.
RELATED LINKS
• Screen Shot Gallery
• Download Game Play Demo (QuickTime, 38 Megs)
• The Movies Official Web Site
• Lionhead Studios
• Activision
