Lights! Camera! Action!
Riding the wave of game releases to take full advantage of the Christmas season comes the second of two quick releases from Lionhead Studios titled The Movies. The geeks will recognize that Lionhead was formed by designer Peter Molyneux, whose litany of innovative games always perks up my ears whenever I bump into his name.
When I heard this game was coming out, I did something I generally do not do with video games. I preordered. Yes, shopkeep, hold me a copy of that there title and I'll even let you swipe my credit card as a bit of foreplay. Usually I content myself with letting games get released and then washed through the critics and players for a while until I get a good idea of what it has to offer. The extra time also allows for a patch or two to come out to resolve some of the larger bugs/features from the initial release. However the features in this game pushed all the buttons necessary for me to want instant gratification.
That gratification came yesterday when the store left me a message that the game had arrived. I picked it up on my way home from work and then I pored through the manual as I relaxed from the day. Then installed the game as I made dinner. Then ate dinner as I walked through the tutorials.
The best way to describe this game is a movie studio simulation. The trick here is that much of the gameplay is scalable. If you want, you can play it from the movie mogul standpoint, building up your studio and hiring staff to crank out better and better movies, vying against those of your in-game competitors for various awards. The better the studio, and staff the higher your prestige. This spans the time from the 1920s up until the present, along with all of the developments that occur in the movie business.
Peel off a layer and you'll get into rudimentary scriptwriting where you choose from scenes and actions and piece together your film that way, to be shot and then released. There are varying layers of detail you can adjust to get the script just right before you shoot it and since it is modular, it is easily manipulated.
Another layer down and you get into editing the films, adding background tracks and even voice-over parts when you develop "talkies". Along with the voice acting, there is software present that supposedly lip-synchs the line to the actor you want.
In addition to the game, Lionhead actively developed an online community where films can be downloaded and viewed by anyone. There is also a rating system and probably tournaments of some sort (which doesn't interest me).
From what I've played so far, there is a diverse and solid amount of gameplay. For a first attempt on something of this scale, I am very impressed. Complaints I have heard so far revolve around limitations in scripting and though I would agree in some cases, I've found it to be very adaptable to a creative mind... and going forward, I wouldn't doubt that updates, patches and mods will probably expand on an already comprehensive storytelling system.
Makes me think that some of my more theatrical friends would find some value in the game from a purely creative standpoint... fleshing out their own ideas and such. I'm looking at you, mmaresca.
I'll keep you updated on any movies I share with my adoring public.
When I heard this game was coming out, I did something I generally do not do with video games. I preordered. Yes, shopkeep, hold me a copy of that there title and I'll even let you swipe my credit card as a bit of foreplay. Usually I content myself with letting games get released and then washed through the critics and players for a while until I get a good idea of what it has to offer. The extra time also allows for a patch or two to come out to resolve some of the larger bugs/features from the initial release. However the features in this game pushed all the buttons necessary for me to want instant gratification.
That gratification came yesterday when the store left me a message that the game had arrived. I picked it up on my way home from work and then I pored through the manual as I relaxed from the day. Then installed the game as I made dinner. Then ate dinner as I walked through the tutorials.
The best way to describe this game is a movie studio simulation. The trick here is that much of the gameplay is scalable. If you want, you can play it from the movie mogul standpoint, building up your studio and hiring staff to crank out better and better movies, vying against those of your in-game competitors for various awards. The better the studio, and staff the higher your prestige. This spans the time from the 1920s up until the present, along with all of the developments that occur in the movie business.
Peel off a layer and you'll get into rudimentary scriptwriting where you choose from scenes and actions and piece together your film that way, to be shot and then released. There are varying layers of detail you can adjust to get the script just right before you shoot it and since it is modular, it is easily manipulated.
Another layer down and you get into editing the films, adding background tracks and even voice-over parts when you develop "talkies". Along with the voice acting, there is software present that supposedly lip-synchs the line to the actor you want.
In addition to the game, Lionhead actively developed an online community where films can be downloaded and viewed by anyone. There is also a rating system and probably tournaments of some sort (which doesn't interest me).
From what I've played so far, there is a diverse and solid amount of gameplay. For a first attempt on something of this scale, I am very impressed. Complaints I have heard so far revolve around limitations in scripting and though I would agree in some cases, I've found it to be very adaptable to a creative mind... and going forward, I wouldn't doubt that updates, patches and mods will probably expand on an already comprehensive storytelling system.
Makes me think that some of my more theatrical friends would find some value in the game from a purely creative standpoint... fleshing out their own ideas and such. I'm looking at you, mmaresca.
I'll keep you updated on any movies I share with my adoring public.