The Movies

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The Movies
Studio Lionhead Studios
Publisher Activision
Senior Developer Peter Molyneux
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 November 10, 2005
platform Windows , Mac OS
genre Economic simulation
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard and mouse
medium DVD-ROM , download
language German, English (depending on the edition)
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12+
information Contains innovative tool for creating your own films

The Movies is a computer game developed by Lionhead Studios and released on November 10, 2005 through Activision for Windows and Mac OS . The player builds a film studio in it and produces films. Since the sales figures remained below expectations, the development of the game console versions was stopped early. On June 9, 2006, the add-on Stunts & Special Effects was released , with which the films can be customized and many stunts and special effects can be incorporated. A special feature are the 100 songs composed exclusively by film music producer Daniel Pemberton , which are played as a background in both in-game radio and in your own films.

Gameplay

Game objective

The aim of the game is to set up a film studio and produce successful films. The player is both the director of the films and the head of the film studio in personal union. The game begins in the 1920s and ends in 2000 with research into new technologies. An endless game is also possible over the year 2000.

In addition to the "campaign mode", there is also a " sandbox mode " in which you can shoot films without any playful restrictions. Here you can individually set in which year you want to start and play and develop freely.

Own films

In addition to a classic business simulation with elements from The Sims , the core of the game is a tool for creating your own films: The player can choose from a large number of scripted scenes, actors, costumes or backdrops and combine them with one another as desired. The game evaluates this compilation and incorporates it into the economic part of the game. You can also upload your own films to an online platform. The films can then be viewed and rated by third parties. This gives you money in a virtual currency for which you can download new sets and items for the game. These films should get their uniqueness from the fact that players can integrate their own background motifs and music files. The manufacturer also promises to include a sufficient number of graphics.

The basic principle is similar to that of editing software for video films: you can choose from the available sets and a large number of possible scenes. These scenes can also be influenced with several sliders and, for example, have a sad instead of a happy ending. These sets can also be equipped with props or further influenced by other lighting or effects. In the selected scenes, possible roles are represented by wooden puppets: by laying down an actor's symbol, the player can decide which role he would like to fill with which character. The game differentiates between main, secondary and extra roles, the actors of which must all be hired in the business part of the game.

Once the player has made his selection of scenes and actors, the script can be produced in the rest of the game: The Movies visualizes this process in that the crew, director , actors and other employees involved go to the appropriate scenery and individually set up, play and photograph the scenes become.

Once this process is completed, the film is published, the game evaluates the compilation and the player can admire his work with the state of the art (in the game) current technology: Films from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century become silent films with crackling black and white Optics shown. The film now increases the income and reputation of the actors and the studio and may be honored at a regular award ceremony.

control

The game is characterized by an intuitive user interface that enables the player to perform all regular actions, e.g. B. the hiring of actors, casting of film crews or the marketing of films by dragging and dropping the people or symbols in the rooms of the appropriate building built on the studio premises. Auxiliary lines always point to the most useful action at the moment. Because buildings and technologies only become available during the game, the game also limits the variety of options, so the player gets to know all the important elements step by step.

A timeline graphically announces upcoming world events; The game is based on real events, so the first flight around the world increases the popularity of the sci-fi genre with the audience for a short time .

As a further medium, The Movies uses a fictional radio presenter who comments from the off about events in the course of the game or provides a short comedic interlude.

Starmaker

The Movies includes an external tool, which can also be downloaded from the game's official website, with which the facial features of a star can be individually set. The possibilities are very extensive. The further design of your own star then takes place within the main game, in which different clothes can be put on the star.

technology

The Movies is based on a 3D engine specially developed by Lionhead Studios . The architecture , optimized for performance, makes it possible to play The Movies on computers with weaker hardware equipment.

reception

reviews

Awards

Stunts & Special Effects (Add-on)

The Movies: Stunts & Special Effects is an expansion , also from Lionhead. It was released on June 7, 2006. With the add-on it is now possible for the player to make the actors thicker / thinner and visually younger / older. It also includes 15 new sets, 58 new costumes and two mini-sets in the shape of a big city. In addition, the effects have been fundamentally renewed and replaced and expanded with a large number of new particle effects. Car stunts or glass blowing are now possible. For this there is now also the character of the stuntman, who can step in for the actors in order not to endanger the production. In addition, the "Free Camera" mode has been integrated, which allows you to lend a hand and display the tracking shots and angles as you wish.

The Movies Online

The Movies Online (abbreviated TMO ) was a Lionhead Internet platform on which every studio owner could publish his films. On the Internet platform made available by Lionhead Studios , every studio owner could publish his films ( machinimas ) made with the game and watch and rate other films. By the time it closed, more than 120,000 films had been uploaded to The Movies Online . There was a common site for The Movies players from all over the world, the site itself was in English. Initially the memory per studio was 25  MB , shortly before the release of the add-on The Movies: Stunts and Special Effects it was increased to 35 MB and owners of the extension even get 50 MB, which corresponds to around 50 minutes of film.

On November 7, 2005, the day before The Movies was released in the US , Lionhead announced that the The Movies community site had been launched. On this page, The Movies fans should be able to publish the films made with the game, watch and rate them and watch them climb up the charts.

The first statistics came out on November 14th, and the problems with the fake voters were also addressed. The first hot picks were presented on November 18 of the same year. On December 5, 2008, three years after the game was released, Lionhead ceased operations on the platform.

Chart system and awards for films

The charts were calculated using the number of " reviews ", the number of stars given during the review and the number of days since the upload . Stars could be awarded in a review, 1 star was the minimum, 5 stars were the highest rating. The number of reviews was more relevant than the number of stars awarded. As a result, it could happen that very bad and short films with poor average ratings landed very high in the charts because they had many ratings. With this system, however, there was another problem, the so-called "fake voters" (fake = fake, false, invented), players who have not yet uploaded any films and therefore do not have a studio and give other films 1 star for the respective Moving the movie down the charts.

The Hall Of Fame awarded at the end of each month awards for the chart positions of all films for the best movies every genre and for the best films that were shot with the expansion pack. Awards were given to the first three places in each category. The Hall of Fame was introduced with the expansion pack.

The Hot Picks were the award-winning films chosen by each fan site. For this purpose, the community members nominated the best films, of which 2 to 4 films were later hot picks and were then shown on the TMO homepage . Hot picks were always chosen at regular intervals, usually 1 or 2 weeks.

Virtual credits (VCs)

The VCs were the virtual means of payment on The Movies Online . For every rating he received for his own films, the studio owner received 200 VCs on his virtual account. This allowed you to buy new game content such as sets and costumes and since the appearance of the add-on Stunts & Special Effects , other players could also be paid for mods , the dubbing of the films and similar things with the VCs . Since the add-on, posters measuring 225 × 150 pixels in JPG , GIF and PNG formats could also be uploaded for 1000 VCs , which were later shown on the home page and linked. Only one poster could be active per studio. If you wanted to activate another poster, you first had to deactivate the active poster or wait until it was automatically deactivated after a week.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lionhead: The Movies Online. November 7, 2005, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; accessed on November 21, 2007 .
  2. ↑ Lionhead: Lionhead announces the closure of The Movies Online. December 5, 2008; archived from the original on February 3, 2010 ; Retrieved December 19, 2008 (English).