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The Movies
Topic Started: Oct 17 2005, 04:49 PM (193 Views)
Maplassie GTR
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MR GTR

The Movies is one of those games that takes discrete game mechanics from several different genres -- in this case, real-time strategy, "god" games, and, err, The Sims -- mashes them up real good, and delivers a mélange of interactivity unlike anything you were expecting. It's Peter Molyneux's latest and most ambitious brainchild, we've all been very eager to get our hands on it. This finally happened this week at a press event in San Francisco, where I happily planted myself in front of a computer running a final version.

The game's first scenario -- and the one I spent more than an hour playing -- serves as a sort of tutorial. Rather than simply teaching you the ropes in a consequence-less void, however, level one of The Movies will involve you setting the foundations of your budding celluloid empire, nurturing your young stars, and releasing your first few feature-length productions. But it's not all glitz and glamour. Being a high-powered studio exec means that you have to sweat the small stuff; things like making sure your staff has a place to go potty, that your grounds are attractive enough to provide a cheerful work environment, and that all the buildings on your lot are connected by foot-paths.



The tutorial process is seamless and informative. All the while, you're prodded along by pop-up bubbles guiding you -- via text and voice-over -- what you need to do in order to accomplish your goal, whatever it may be at the moment. Take turning a script into an actual movie: before your studio is able to craft its own scripts, you'll have to make due with what writers are willing to sell to you. These manifest themselves as tangible, slivered icons at the gates of your studio's lot. If you want to "make one happen," as it were, you grab it, and drop it into your casting office. From there, the building's interior will transform into a sort of interface which lets you know what sort of personnel you'll need to get things going. The pop-ups guided me through this every step of the way. My first film, ent1tled The Baggage Boy, required me to hire a director, two crew members, and, of course, a lead. It was off to hunt some heads.

First off was the talent. Lining up in front of my studio's acting school was a slew of willing talent. Like any good Hollywood executive, I picked two of them at random, dropped them into the building's corresponding part1tions, and out emerged two soon-to-be stars. I forget their names at the moment, but no matter: they were ready for primetime, and I knew this in my bones. My disembodied hand picked each of them up, dropped them into the "director" and "lead" sections of the casting office, and off they went to rehearse.

Filling the crew roles was similarly simple; throngs of job-seekers had lined up at the door of my studio's crew facility, from whom I chose two at random, dropped them in, and out they came, fully trained, and ready to work. Once everyone was done rehearsing it was off to the set to shoot. Previously, I was prompted to construct a simple stage lot, which I was told would suffice for my first few productions. So off my cast and crew went to shoot.


All of these steps take time, and while you can observe the magic as it happens, your time as a studio exec is quite valuable. The pop-ups made this clear to me, and suggested that I take the time to work on my studio while my first feature was being shot. First, it was suggested that I build a second set -- a versatile, Old West-flavored saloon. I took the advice, and had one built. Then, remarking upon how shabby my studio looked, the tutorial mentioned that I should spruce the place up a bit. Turns out there's a whole catalog of aesthetic niceties that you can use to make your lot easier on the eyes. Personally, I liberally applied swathes of gr@ss to the lot's patchy terrain, planted some baby palms in key locations, and laid out some benches so that my workers could lounge during their off-time.

Soon enough, my studio was looking sharp. How did I know this? Well, the game has a built-in mechanism that tells you, at a glance, whether a certain area of the studio is up-to-par in regards to aesthetics. If it looks nice, you'll see a translucent grid of green dots over the terrain, and if it looks bad, the dots will be red. The studio's looks seems to factor in to a few things, not the least of which is the happiness of your workers.

Soon after I was done playing house, shooting on The Baggage Boy was coming to a close. Sitting in front of the stage set was a shiny film-reel icon, ready for release. Following the prompt, I picked it up, dragged it to my studio office, and dropped it in the "release" part1tion. And out it went.



After you release a feature, you're bombarded with reviews; industry magazines will review your studio and its accomplishments. My favorite press clipping: "The lot looks like it was laid out by a toddler." Own3d. Oh well. Unfortunately, my leading man and director didn't fare too well either; the reviews mentioned the actor seeming out of place in a comedy, and that the director obviously lacked experience in the genre. Still, the movie itself didn't too bad. The reviews were middling-to-positive, which upped my studio's rating just a little bit. You can view a list of studios, ranked by prominence in the industry, and surprisingly, my fledgling house wasn't at the very bottom. Hurrah.

This, however, was a very short taste of what this inventive and ambitious game will ultimately offer. The actual movie-making tools, for instance, I only got to sample very briefly, but after a few minutes of tooling around, I found them to be decently intuitive. The Movies is due out November 9th, so expect to see more on it in the coming weeks
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Bent_Anat
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Monster male chicken
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WOOOOOOOOOOT.
another game for my B-Day list... proved the dentist doesn't hate me too much...fukcing medical pract1tioners always overcharge... jsut liek lawyers... but with a lawyer you can potentially make money...
"Do not respond blindly
To growing gardens in decay
Stand guard when visitors fall silent
Blow the candles out, end the road here." - Dimmu Borgir
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Elyaradine
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Add to the Beauty
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Can't wait! :) Looks great! (Okay, the rhyme really was unintended!)
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someoneelse
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Through the looking glass
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I'm afraid it's too much like Sims... Lets hope not
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HowlinMadMurdoc
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apparantly its a great game and there is a hell of a lot you are able to do. looking forward to it
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Maplassie GTR
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MR GTR

I wanna make movies and Export them to avi or Mpg. I hope the game supports downloads/addons, cause Then McDonalds and Skylines Are first on my list!
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someoneelse
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Through the looking glass
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Surely there will be downloadable content! It'll be awesome
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