The Movies: Stunts and Effects Screenshots

[bapenguin]

For your evening viewing pleasure we've posted up 14 new screenshots (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11858) of the upcoming expansion back to The Movies entitled, Stunts and Effects.


http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/movies_stunts/thumb.CarRamp01.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/movies_stunts/CarRamp01.jpg)

[Spiffae]

is it just me, or does the title of this expansion just sound like a bullet point for a new feature in the game? Can't they come up with anything better?

[netcraazzy]

Judging by the screenshots I'm guessing most of the new content won't be available right away since it would not fit into the historical context of the game until quite a bit of time has passed.

[Blue]

I never played The Movies, but I was always really curious as it seems like something that would be right up my alley. Games that make me micromanage crap get to me though, so that's always kept me away from this as some of the reviews I looked at spoke of having to do things of that nature. That, and I know that if I couldn't control what happened "on screen" with ridiculous detail, I would have just left bitter and angry, sporting a broken computer.

Has anyone actually played this? And, if so, is it fairly detailed in terms of what you can do or is it a lot of features with a smaller degree of customization?

[holysin]

Someone needs to teach Lionhead how to make good expansion packs.

[Grimmjow]

Someone needs to teach Lionhead how to make good expansion packs.

like who.....?

[Steele Johnson]

this game is boring anyway. Yet another cool concept that ended up being your typical micro-management tycoon style sim.

[Hijinx]

this game is boring anyway. Yet another cool concept that ended up being your typical micro-management tycoon style sim.

I sure know the part of the game that I played had zero micro-management and I stopped playing it for awhile because I had run out of kick ass movie ideas. :cool: ....and hell yes I've always felt a little dirty after buying yet another Lionhead expack.

[jacktion]

This game was really underappreciated. It is a really well-executed design. And the films you can make with it are really cool. Kids growing up with these toys today are so lucky.

[Triprotic]

like who.....?

Blizzard!

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[Mason]

Has anyone actually played this? And, if so, is it fairly detailed in terms of what you can do or is it a lot of features with a smaller degree of customization?
The tycoon game isn't too engrossing (unless you inherently love the genre I suppose), but you can do an awful lot with the movie editor. Worth the purchase if that sounds interesting.

[Sylver]

American soldiers with AK's... :rolleyes:

[TKO]

I never played The Movies, but I was always really curious as it seems like something that would be right up my alley. Games that make me micromanage crap get to me though, so that's always kept me away from this as some of the reviews I looked at spoke of having to do things of that nature. That, and I know that if I couldn't control what happened "on screen" with ridiculous detail, I would have just left bitter and angry, sporting a broken computer.

Has anyone actually played this? And, if so, is it fairly detailed in terms of what you can do or is it a lot of features with a smaller degree of customization?
As much as I like The Movies, from what you say here I get the impression this game would just bug you. I've played it to death, as have a couple of my friends (after getting sick of my raving about its undeniable good-ness) ..but have come up against one big thing: The latter game gets too complex. IMHO there needs to be more that can be automated. Quite apart from the endless prettying up of the lot/trailers/stars/sets, the time to create a good movie is huge and I find myself micro-managing costumes and props. (they completely fail to be persistent from scene to scene ..though the costumes aren't a problem if you don't mind keeping them the same for the whole movie.)

If I could automate the socializing, relaxation, publicity, and training of the stars and extras (maybe their pay, clothes, and trailer-upgrades too) then my enjoyment of the tycoon portion would be hugely improved in the later game.

There is a movie-making-only game mode, if you don't like the studio-tycoon part, but the randomly-created studios are IMHO crap (a few hand-crafted ones would be nice), so you almost *have* to build up a studio anyway before you can get full-on into the actual movie-making. Doesn't have to be done every time, since you could save your 'ideal' studio, but it's a barrier to leaping right into the moviemaking.

Possibly the movie-creation possibilites would bug you eventually too, as it's partly a case of picking from a huge database of scenes and character-paths. They have done a great job of adding variety to the pre-designed character-paths (many extra actors in the scene so you can pick the ones that most closely match what you want .. and plenty of different extras too.) But if they just let you move and rotate some of those paths the actors walk through the scene IMHO it would to 200% easier to find scenes that match your desires. As it is now, it's often easier to look through the scenes and pick out stuff that sounds fun from what you find. ...Sometimes using some creative cutting in post-production to get the scene you really wanted. (when I forget to drag the film to post-production after it's been made, and it's just released unedited, that's frustrating. ..be nice if I could flag them for post production.)

If I could mark costumes or props as "consistent from this scene on" that would save me a lot of work too. 5 scenes in the car? Why do I have to choose the red sportscar for each one? *sigh* ..Costumes are a bit better, but if you have an actor playing multiple parts you're inevitably re-applying their alternate costume for every scene it's in.

I did discover a neat bug though: Drag an actor that has no "default costume" onto a part in a scene that looks like a zombie/monster and voila! They get a random monster-suit NOT restricted to the time period. I had endless fun with extras wandering my sets in CG-suits in the 1930's. :D

Sorry, a bit of a long post. Hope it helps you decide though. Maybe you should check it out anyway? Though I did get frustrated later on, back when I was learning the ropes it was highly entertaining. I had a solid two weeks (with no job to distract me) :) of enjoyable gaming before I started to bog down. That's better value than you get from most games these days.

It reminds me of the old Settlers/Serf-City and Sim City games .. building up the initial city was a blast. Maintaining the sprawnling metropolis was boring, so I'd just keep quitting and starting over. :)

[TKO]

American soldiers with AK's... :rolleyes:
Wot? No criticism of the space-man with the shotgun? :D Don't worry, I'm sure the AK can be swapped for a ray-gun. haha.

Dammit.. now that I think of how this expands my movie-making possibilities, I wanna buy it. I mean, huge monster in the city? Hell yes!

[Franjo]

like who.....?

Derek Smart

for those who might not know him....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Smart

[TKO]

Hey, so my thoughts on the 'imperfections' in The Movies gameplay could certainly be addressed in an update, I rekon. Maybe the role of the entourage could be expanded - given roles to take care of a Stars needs. There could be a training building where entourage characters can learn about publicity, fashion, movie-genres, and networking (with the other stars), so they can ensure their star's name is kept in the paper, that they have fashionable clothes, are skilled in whatever genres you choose, and keep up their social engagements with other stars.

Apart from that I'd still like to be able to mark props and costumes as persistent between scenes. The monster-costume bug I'll keep though .. that one's a lot of fun. :) Anyone else have little tweaks they'd love to apply to The Movies? As the game is now, I'm still going to be comming back to it. A shame is suffers from the fiddly game mechanics.

[Steele Johnson]

As much as I like The Movies, from what you say here I get the impression this game would just bug you. I've played it to death, as have a couple of my friends (after getting sick of my raving about its undeniable good-ness) ..but have come up against one big thing: The latter game gets too complex. IMHO there needs to be more that can be automated. Quite apart from the endless prettying up of the lot/trailers/stars/sets, the time to create a good movie is huge and I find myself micro-managing costumes and props. (they completely fail to be persistent from scene to scene ..though the costumes aren't a problem if you don't mind keeping them the same for the whole movie.)

Now why would you even bother making a complex movie in this game when it doesn't effect the outcome AT ALL? You get no extra credit towards your studio or anything. You get NOTHING. It's just for fun.

That's the thing that bugs me the most in this game. Why did they spend all their time making a movie creator/editor when it doesn't add to gameplay at all? Doh!