The Movies
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trancejeremy
Adventurer
I just bought the regular version today at Best Buy. And apparently as part of a tie in, I got $10 off a DVD set I bought as well (War of the Worlds Season 1).
Only played the interface tutorial and the first couple years of the game, which walks you through the basics (hopefully you can skip this the 2nd time through).
Only played the interface tutorial and the first couple years of the game, which walks you through the basics (hopefully you can skip this the 2nd time through).
John Crichton
First Post
If you can, compare it to the fun level of Civ IV. I now have both games but am really enjoying Civ IV and haven't installed The Movies yet (fearing another time sink game). I'll eventually play The Movies but not until the Civ buzz wears off.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I can't personally compare the two, since I had to decide between Civ IV and the Movies and picked the Movies (as you can no doubt guess).
It is more griping than War of the Worlds. I found I couldn't watch that while playing the game as I wasn't paying enough attention to the TV (although it's still a good show.).
But, so far, it's got a lot more micromanagement than I thought/like. It doesn't seem to be a casual sort of game. You have to do a lot of juggling and watch things closely.
Basically, you build your studio like any other sort of tycoon game (particularly rollercoaster tycoon). Lay out buildings, pathes, etc. And you have to landscape. And hire janitors to pick up litter. And builders to repair buildings.
Then you have to make the movies themselves. Just in game terms, not so much the editor (after about 3 1/2 hours, I finally unlocked the script editor). This is where the juggling is. You basically have to keep your writers working on one script at a time, while your actors/directors are making another one. (You don't have to, but need to keep the money rolling in to keep from growing broke)
This is hard because you basically have to find your little sim guy, click on him to pick him up, then drag him over where you want to go. In the case of the writers, usually pick them off a park bench and drag him to the writer's hut.
Then once you get a script, you have to assign the cast to it. Which is somewhat simpler, the crew & extras are assigned automatically, you just have to drag the completed script from the writer's hut to the casting area. Then find your little sim actors and director and pick them up and drag them.
It would be much, much easier if you could just assign the guys without having to find 'em, pick 'em up, and drag and drop them. Thankfully, if you click on their picture on the left hand of the screen it takes you to them, but you still have to pick them up and drag them over to the right place. And if you have more than a few, their pictures disappear into sort of an empty rectangle, and you have to remember which is which.
There's also research. I just unlocked the lab. It works like everything else, you hire little guys and drag them over to what you want them to do (in this case, what to research). New clothes, sets, tecnology.
Anyway, beyond that, you need to watch and manage your directors/actors. Not quite like the sims, but they do have various levels that you have to watch out for. if they get stressed, you have to drag them over to something fun for them to unwind. And you are supposed to drag them together so they can socialize, but I haven't had many free moments to do that. I just unlocked the bar, so I haven't had any drunk sim actors yet, but that's supposed to be a problem. The one thing I did have trouble with was their salaries. It didn't seem to explain how to adjust them in the tutorial, and looking in the manual, it actually turns out you have to click on your cash total, then do some more clicking to take you to the salary screen. Seems odd they didn't integrate it with the rest of the interface.
From what I've seen of the movie making bit, it's pretty neat. Basically you pick a set, then you get a list of possible scenes. You can filter them out by what sort you want, romantic, violent, intro, resolution, etc. As near as I can tell, you can string as many together as you want, but the computer scripts are only a handful of scenes.
It runs pretty well. Seems to use very little memory. I'm used to the Sims 2 which takes about 5 minutes of loading to get to a house, and then about 2-3 minutes of unloading after I quit. This takes about 2 minutes to load, and exits immediately.
It's also very slick and polished. Even has sort of a GTA style radio, which doesn't play music, but does give you the news and chatter via a DJ (which is what the manual calls them, though is probably more accurately an announcer or MC).
So while I can't comment on the fun level, it definitely has a major involvement level. So you are probably wise not to try to play both games.
It is more griping than War of the Worlds. I found I couldn't watch that while playing the game as I wasn't paying enough attention to the TV (although it's still a good show.).
But, so far, it's got a lot more micromanagement than I thought/like. It doesn't seem to be a casual sort of game. You have to do a lot of juggling and watch things closely.
Basically, you build your studio like any other sort of tycoon game (particularly rollercoaster tycoon). Lay out buildings, pathes, etc. And you have to landscape. And hire janitors to pick up litter. And builders to repair buildings.
Then you have to make the movies themselves. Just in game terms, not so much the editor (after about 3 1/2 hours, I finally unlocked the script editor). This is where the juggling is. You basically have to keep your writers working on one script at a time, while your actors/directors are making another one. (You don't have to, but need to keep the money rolling in to keep from growing broke)
This is hard because you basically have to find your little sim guy, click on him to pick him up, then drag him over where you want to go. In the case of the writers, usually pick them off a park bench and drag him to the writer's hut.
Then once you get a script, you have to assign the cast to it. Which is somewhat simpler, the crew & extras are assigned automatically, you just have to drag the completed script from the writer's hut to the casting area. Then find your little sim actors and director and pick them up and drag them.
It would be much, much easier if you could just assign the guys without having to find 'em, pick 'em up, and drag and drop them. Thankfully, if you click on their picture on the left hand of the screen it takes you to them, but you still have to pick them up and drag them over to the right place. And if you have more than a few, their pictures disappear into sort of an empty rectangle, and you have to remember which is which.
There's also research. I just unlocked the lab. It works like everything else, you hire little guys and drag them over to what you want them to do (in this case, what to research). New clothes, sets, tecnology.
Anyway, beyond that, you need to watch and manage your directors/actors. Not quite like the sims, but they do have various levels that you have to watch out for. if they get stressed, you have to drag them over to something fun for them to unwind. And you are supposed to drag them together so they can socialize, but I haven't had many free moments to do that. I just unlocked the bar, so I haven't had any drunk sim actors yet, but that's supposed to be a problem. The one thing I did have trouble with was their salaries. It didn't seem to explain how to adjust them in the tutorial, and looking in the manual, it actually turns out you have to click on your cash total, then do some more clicking to take you to the salary screen. Seems odd they didn't integrate it with the rest of the interface.
From what I've seen of the movie making bit, it's pretty neat. Basically you pick a set, then you get a list of possible scenes. You can filter them out by what sort you want, romantic, violent, intro, resolution, etc. As near as I can tell, you can string as many together as you want, but the computer scripts are only a handful of scenes.
It runs pretty well. Seems to use very little memory. I'm used to the Sims 2 which takes about 5 minutes of loading to get to a house, and then about 2-3 minutes of unloading after I quit. This takes about 2 minutes to load, and exits immediately.
It's also very slick and polished. Even has sort of a GTA style radio, which doesn't play music, but does give you the news and chatter via a DJ (which is what the manual calls them, though is probably more accurately an announcer or MC).
So while I can't comment on the fun level, it definitely has a major involvement level. So you are probably wise not to try to play both games.
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trancejeremy
Adventurer
Ah, I found that you can drag people directly where you want by dragging their portrait on the side of the screen, you don't have to find them first and pick them up. That has saved quite a lot of time and effort, particularly the writers. Why they don't tell you this in the tutorial, I dunno. They do mention it in the manual, but I had learned it on my own before I finally got around to reading the thing.
Also it doesn't seem to mention how to destroy builldings. Though I found out how on a message board (you have to drag a maintence guy over and he does something or other)
Also it doesn't seem to mention how to destroy builldings. Though I found out how on a message board (you have to drag a maintence guy over and he does something or other)
trancejeremy
Adventurer
Anyway, I think I'm about to give up on the regular game, until some cheats come out. Around the early 1950s, I can't seem to make money anymore. And I don't really want to have to restart back in the 1920s.
They really needed to have a difficulty slider.
I tried the sandbox mode, and it has some problems, too. First off, you have to unlock stuff by playing the normal game to get them in sandbox. Thankfully, you can cheat your way around this by editing the file that tells the game what has been unlocked.
But I noticed that your studio lot is not nearly big enough to contain all the sets in the game. In fact, maybe only about 60% of them. So you are going to need at least 2 sandbox games.
Anyway, I tried to make a simple movie, basically 2 people, a vampire and a victim entering a cemetary, then a third person coming into that cemetary and saving the victim just as (or just after) the vampire bites them.
While there are scenes for that, unfortunately they don't match. For instance, the vampire biting scene only seems to take place in front of the cemetary, not inside it. So I had to pick the "throttle" scene, where person a chokes person b.
And then for the rescuer, it's weird. I wanted to have him come in with a shotgun. But there is no scene for a guy to walk in with a shotgun. But there is an scene for a rifle.
But then there is no scene for the guy to walk to the middle of the cemetary with a rifle. Only a handgun.
So I had to have the rescuer come in with a briefcase, then go up the hill with a gun.
And as near as I can tell, there's no scene to have the rescuer shoot the vampire. So I had to have them shoot off camera.
So I'm starting to think that maybe I need the strategy guide to help plan my movies. Because presumably that will tell you what scenes are available on which sets, and where on the sets the scene takes place.
Also, another weird problem. My computer wouldn't boot today until I took the cd-rom of the movies out of my drive. It would just reboot right when windows should have started. At first I thought it was just the cold causing problems (it was about 60 degrees when I turned it on), but then I remember a post on some message board about someone having to take the cd-rom out. So I tried it and whew, it worked. Weird, though, didn't do it yesterday.
(Though maybe that's caused by my downloading a no-cd crack last night. Maybe when the cd-rom is the drive when it boots, it checks the installed .exe and complains. )
They really needed to have a difficulty slider.
I tried the sandbox mode, and it has some problems, too. First off, you have to unlock stuff by playing the normal game to get them in sandbox. Thankfully, you can cheat your way around this by editing the file that tells the game what has been unlocked.
But I noticed that your studio lot is not nearly big enough to contain all the sets in the game. In fact, maybe only about 60% of them. So you are going to need at least 2 sandbox games.
Anyway, I tried to make a simple movie, basically 2 people, a vampire and a victim entering a cemetary, then a third person coming into that cemetary and saving the victim just as (or just after) the vampire bites them.
While there are scenes for that, unfortunately they don't match. For instance, the vampire biting scene only seems to take place in front of the cemetary, not inside it. So I had to pick the "throttle" scene, where person a chokes person b.
And then for the rescuer, it's weird. I wanted to have him come in with a shotgun. But there is no scene for a guy to walk in with a shotgun. But there is an scene for a rifle.
But then there is no scene for the guy to walk to the middle of the cemetary with a rifle. Only a handgun.
So I had to have the rescuer come in with a briefcase, then go up the hill with a gun.
And as near as I can tell, there's no scene to have the rescuer shoot the vampire. So I had to have them shoot off camera.
So I'm starting to think that maybe I need the strategy guide to help plan my movies. Because presumably that will tell you what scenes are available on which sets, and where on the sets the scene takes place.
Also, another weird problem. My computer wouldn't boot today until I took the cd-rom of the movies out of my drive. It would just reboot right when windows should have started. At first I thought it was just the cold causing problems (it was about 60 degrees when I turned it on), but then I remember a post on some message board about someone having to take the cd-rom out. So I tried it and whew, it worked. Weird, though, didn't do it yesterday.
(Though maybe that's caused by my downloading a no-cd crack last night. Maybe when the cd-rom is the drive when it boots, it checks the installed .exe and complains. )
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trancejeremy
Adventurer
Another annoying thing is that you have to set up the set with the same props/extras over and over and over. For some reason, the game doesn't remember from one scene to the next.
For instance, last night I was working on a campy Sci-Fi movie. There's a set for a star trek style spaceship bridge. In each scene, you have to drag each extra to the bridge crew position. Which can be hard because there are I think 4 different positions and it's hard to remember who goes where, especially in my case, where two of the extras have the same first name.
Then later one, I had 5-6 scenes were two of the actors had the campy SF ray guns. In each scene I had to change the prop by hand to that. Why you can't set props globally, I dunno. But it would be a big help.
Also, same with backdrops. Ie, the pictures that show the background of the set. Because there is no Sci-Fi bedroom, I had to pick a hotel bedroom and use a picture of the earth from orbit as the backdrop. But in each scene you have to pick it again.
Anyway, it's not easy to spot mistakes until you "shoot" your film and watch it. But then it's too late, you have to reload the game and go back into the editor (and hope you remember what you screwed up). I have a new respect for Ed Wood.
For instance, last night I was working on a campy Sci-Fi movie. There's a set for a star trek style spaceship bridge. In each scene, you have to drag each extra to the bridge crew position. Which can be hard because there are I think 4 different positions and it's hard to remember who goes where, especially in my case, where two of the extras have the same first name.
Then later one, I had 5-6 scenes were two of the actors had the campy SF ray guns. In each scene I had to change the prop by hand to that. Why you can't set props globally, I dunno. But it would be a big help.
Also, same with backdrops. Ie, the pictures that show the background of the set. Because there is no Sci-Fi bedroom, I had to pick a hotel bedroom and use a picture of the earth from orbit as the backdrop. But in each scene you have to pick it again.
Anyway, it's not easy to spot mistakes until you "shoot" your film and watch it. But then it's too late, you have to reload the game and go back into the editor (and hope you remember what you screwed up). I have a new respect for Ed Wood.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I wrote a review of it in case anyone cares:
http://jeremysreviews.blogspot.com/2005_11_13_jeremysreviews_archive.html#113230534513650832
While it's true it's only after 5 days, I did "finish" it, at least the regular part, though I did kinda skip 20 years. (I played one game from 1920-1953, then started one in 1970 and played that 'til 2000)
If anyone is thinking about buying the game, I would also suggest going to the official Lionhead boards and read the thread about what people like about the movies and what people don't like about the movies. Most people seem to like it, but think it could have been a lot better (which is also pretty much my opinion)
http://jeremysreviews.blogspot.com/2005_11_13_jeremysreviews_archive.html#113230534513650832
While it's true it's only after 5 days, I did "finish" it, at least the regular part, though I did kinda skip 20 years. (I played one game from 1920-1953, then started one in 1970 and played that 'til 2000)
If anyone is thinking about buying the game, I would also suggest going to the official Lionhead boards and read the thread about what people like about the movies and what people don't like about the movies. Most people seem to like it, but think it could have been a lot better (which is also pretty much my opinion)
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