More Awesome Than You!

I was just browsing a a gaming site and noticed this game is due out in a few days. It looks rather like what I imagine a TS2 Superstar Expansion pack might be like. Anyone else heard about this game or planning on getting it? Looks like it's done by the same studio that did Black and White and Fable.

More info on these pages:

http://www.themoviesgame.com/

http://www.lionhead.com/themovies/

It's probably old news to some of you but I just noticed it. Truth be told I'm rather in a rut with TS2 and NL so maybe I'll get it and give a shot. Could be fun to make some aging diva ready for her closeup. LOL

Looks interesting.  I've been looking into some new games I can purchase, but haven't found anything I want to play.

Reminds me of superstar too, although when you move the simmies they yell like they are in pain or something, seems a tad annoying heh.

Motoki I love you.  I had not seen this and my b-day is next week so I asked my hubby for it.  I think it looks to be quite interesting.  I need a break from NL so this will definitely come in handy.

Been waiting for this game for five years, at least.  Always sounded interesting to me, so I'm eager to see if it lives up to the original hype.  And yeah, a break from Nightlife would be welcomed. ;)

I saw a movie made with the game: a male zombie and a boy cuddling on a beach. Then a female zombie enters and shoots the boy down. Cut. Then wedding of the zombies at a
 cemetery, with a giant chicken walking through the background.
That fits to my sense of humour, so I guess I'll like the game  -if I can be creative my way.

Looks very interesting. Thank you for telling us about it. It's funny, not only is it very similar to the Sims1 Superstar, but it seems like some of those characters in that game were hit with the ugly stick too.

I'm looking forward to it's release and can't wait to buy it. Do you think it will be available in stores or just online?

That's another thing that makes it seem like Sims2! ;)


Should be. Both Electronics Boutique and Gamestop claim to be getting it in their stores on or around the 8th. Supposedly according to the site Walmart and Target will get it at some point too, heh.

That looks really fun! I'm not looking for a break from NL, as I'm still way too obsessed over it, but I may have to get this game, too.
I was playing around with the demo video and it took a bit for me to get the hang of selecting the "townies". I was just kind of flinging them willy nilly LOL

Funny that you mentioned - I DID took a break from NL; I am playing now again "Hotel Giant", and waiting for some "miss" of NL...:).

You'll miss it...just you wait. You'll be dying to see Daniel Pleasant again in no time!

 ;D ;D ;D

Yup! I know! But it was good to remember an old game too...:).

I know. Occasionally I get the urge to pick up my Gamecube and play Frogger's Adventures. And am stuck for hours on end playing...

That looks really interesting. Looks like something my fiance would really like but I would love to give it a go too.

Maybe I'll get it for him for Xmas and then play it myself lol

Eeeps at the $60 pricetag but it looks like it's in depth enough that it might actually be worth it.

I've (kinda) been following the production of this game for a while. Heard about it a while back. Before, the graphics weren't as good and it didn't seem as complex. Now it seems like one of the best machinima games. I really want this game, and I have been since I heard about it.

You can make ANY type of movie your heart desires, and there are almost an unlimited amount of actions your actors can take. It's not limited to a few animations like in Ts2. No more trouble of having to get a secretive camera angle to make an animation appear to be something it isn't. With the simple push of a slider, your actor could wink at someone, or even boo at them. The outcomes are endless.

(http://69.93.183.37/html/emoticons/wub.gif)

Now I'm even more intrigued. Would be great if I could use my own sims as actors, but they demand a pretty hefty paycheck now that they're getting some attention. It's all gone to their heads...

I'm pretty sure if some of the other Ts2 directors and modders got ahold of this game they'd be able to some how pull that off. (Sims in the game.) Seeing as someone's put a character from that 3d Max software with the super real looking people into their game, it must be possible. (However, the model made the game run extremely slow. So it might make The Movies slow)

It's great that there is so much control over what your movies can do (I dunno if it mentions that on the actual site, but for more info see GameSpot), but I really hope there is dynamic character creation too, much like TS2. It would be terrible to see the same actors over and over again, even if they did different things each movie.

Heh, here I am again, rambling on and on. I can't help it. I love this game to pieces. And I haven't even played it yet. Let's hope the feeling's more than mutual.

I have been waiting for this game since forever!  Thanks for the notice - I hadn't even realized the release date was so close!!
And the new previews look like so much fun!

Actually, "The Movies" reminds me of one of my all-time favorite PC games:  "Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair".
In that game you were a director for a movie...you choose the genre, edited the script, used custom film clips (starring Jennifer Aniston, Quentin Tarantino, Penn and Teller).  You had the chance to add music and sound effects and you chose different camera shots and different film endings....*sighs happily*...I loved that game. 

It's always a blessing and a curse when really awesome games come out these days. 
I hardly have the time to play them all.  I just reinstalled Baldur's Gate and I've been playing that in the evenings when I am not playing Nightlife.  My copy of Black and White 2 hasn't even been touched yet. 
There just aren't enough hours in the day for all this 'important' game playing. ;)
We could definitely use a real life version of TwoJeffs "Speed Controller".  Now wouldn't that be handy? 

Or a macrotastics version just for gaming.

Anything is possible. Hell, I put my mug into Morrowind and several other people made themselves too. With a well made low poly mesh and a nice texture it doesn't have to slow things down either. The TS facial meshes are all low poly and you can extract them via SimPE so in theory it's quite possible providing The Movies has a way to import meshes into it or someone makes a program or plugin to do it and I'm sure sooner or later someone will. They have a community board ready to go up soon and it sounds like they are very much encouraging custom content.


I saw a section somewhere they showed part of the character creation sceen. I don't remember where now lol but it was on one of those pages. Looks like we'll have a lot of options. Also, if you pre-order from Gamestop or Electronics Boutique you get this "Star Maker" program as a bonus, which more or less sounds like the Bodyshop.

Ack..the more I read about this game now the more *I* want it.  :P

This is one of the games I've been watching the development of myself and am looking forward to playing. One lesson I have learned about Lionhead though, wait a few days to see what the players are saying before rushing out to buy the game. Lionhead games are normally hyped like crazy, but very few actually live up to the buzz.

Waiting on this one won't be a problem for me, I wouldn't have time to play it yet anyway. Going to buy Civ 4 this morning. There goes my life for a few weeks. ;) And don't expect many hack updates either. :)

Me Too. Been waiting for Civ 4 forever....

Damn you Motoki!
I don't have enough time in my day! Between NL and Civ4.....now I have to somehow fit in this "The Movies" into my schedule. I think I feel a cold coming on...yeah, that's the ticket....maybe it's the bird flu and I better stay home so I don't infect my co-workers.  ;)

Seriously, tho, thanks for pointing this out. I've just gotten into making movies with the Sims and this looks like a game I'll really enjoy.

About the Starmaker program, it has apparently been out now for a few months but the only way you could get it is if you pre-ordered the game in the store or online and then you'd get the Starmaker disc.

It might be possible to find it on filesharing if you look, not that I of course am suggesting anyone do that. ;)

Well, I got my copy of StarMaker the lucky way; it just happened to be included on the demo DVD of a PCGamer mag I recently bought. Don't know what that means to all the people that pre-ordered the game, but I live in the UK so I could not have gotten it by pre-ordering anyway.

It's actually pretty similar to the Sims2 CAS in many ways. You start off selection 2 face templates and have sliders with which you can merge the two faces together. Then, if you really want you can also use sliders to edit smaller things in great detail, just like the Sims2, except there are loads more sliders for even greater detail! You can also change hair style & colour, eye colour, eye makeup + lipstick. You can even change the age, and the face responds quite well over time, meaning that aging will be done much more fluidly than in the Sims2 (with wrinkles and hair gradually changing). Finally, you get to allocate a limited amount of points of a variety of attributes including looks, acting/directing skills, etc. and then save it ready for when the game comes out. From what I've heard, you simply recruit an actor in the game and then replace him/her with the one loaded up.

I've taken some pictures for the curious:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v142/allroundarea/themovies/

Oh yeah, the game itself looks amazing too!

 :o Holy crap this game has a lot going on.  I got it tonight and it's going to take me a while to get the hang of it.  It reminds a lot of Rollercoaster Tycoon where you hire all your employee's and build your lot and you have to keep track of so much it makes my head go splodie!  I need to get the guide book that goes with it.  I think I'll go pick it up tomorrow.  I'm not sure what I think of it yet because it's kind of confusing.  Maybe once I have the guide book and get the hang of it the more I'll know what I think of it.  It seems quite complex.

Well let us know what you think once you've had some time to play with it and get the hang of things. I was going to get it already but I don't have much time during the week anwyay so I didn't see much point. But I may well end up getting it tomorrow on the way home from work.  ;D

That does sound like a really interesting game (how come I miss that post, grrr).

If any of you do get it, I would surely like to have your feed back on it.

thanks Motoki for that great link  :D

What sucks is you have to monitor your actors genre skills, stress levels, boredom levels, their food threshold (weight) and drink threshold (alcohol addiction) and their friggin overall mood.  This is on top of building your studio, hiring your staff of scientists, directors, actors, builders, grounds people, casting and film crew, script writers and so on.  Then you have to make sure everyone stays fat and happy and not overworked or not worked enough and they suffer from boredom.  You also have to train your actors in the different genres and make for damn sure they are the happiest or they throw tantrums and perform poorly.  You also have to watch the salaries of everyone and watch your budget all while maintaining a good image for your studio.  It's hard enough trying to build your studio the way you want it and it needs to be fluid so that your actors are not running from one end of the lot to the other during filming as the movies are timed. 

So you've got firguring out how you want to layout the joint, building the studio, landscaping and making sure you have enough janitors to keep it clean and don't forget to have enough bathrooms.  I love how you hover the mouse over one of your people and it says they are going to take a dump.  LOL  You don't control the people like you do in the sims as far as telling them to go to the bathroom or have them cook.  They are mostly autonomous.  It's just there is so…so much going on.

Looks good to me. Theisz, keep us updated, please. I need some entertainment that is not the sims every once in a while. I also have some free time coming up in mid-december, and since Morrowind and Zelda are dragging their heels until spring 2006, this looks like a great filler. Mind you, I don't mind them delaying their release, I rather get a quality game than a rushed one. Great find Motoki, thanks.

theisz: Isn't there another mode of gameplay where you just make movies? Of course I could imagine that could get boring unless you have something specific in mind you want to film.

I was interested from the standpoint of making movies. I'm the one that plays Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 in "sandbox" mode because I like building the park and "riding" the rides without really having to worry about managing the game aspects of it. Is there a "sandbox" mode where you can just focus on making the movies?

I just picked up this game Wed. I like it a lot for the whole tycoon aspect. Not too crazy about making movies. It's fun.


BTW: I went to my local mall movie theater to see North Country, and the ticket lady gave me the Starmaker demo disk....strange...

Yes, in Sandbox mode you have the option to just make the movies, but I do believe that would become boring real fast.  I am looking forward to the Advanced Movie Making and Post Production where I have more control over the movie scripts, scenes, props, music, sound effects, subtitles and speech.  I think this what most people will end up preferring to do as you have the most control over what the movie looks like.  Then again I am still farting around with it and trying to do it from building the studio up.  At some point today I am going to go get the guide book because it seems to be a multi-faceted game and I want to fully take advantage it. 

I'd be interested in hearing updates as you play theisz, I'm considering what I'd like for xmas. :)

-not that I celebrate it, but that's no excuse not to get a pressie.

The short demo movies an the official site are hilarious. There is a "wild west" (American) style film and it's obvious many of the voice talents have British accents.

While snooping (oooh I'm such a bad child) in my mom's closet, I found The Movies in a sack wtih some other surprises.  ;D

I can hardly wait.

Wow, it's finally out. I remember back when I was impatiently waiting for the first Sims 2 game, and this was supposed to be coming out around the same time as TS2. What a long delay, eh?

It def. sounds interesting. I might pick it up, if I get all my work and papers and all the other myriad school junk done with....

Oh no, no, no, no, NO! I can NOT have another game lined up in the queue! This type of sim-game is RIGHT up my alley but my plate is full!  No! Don't tell me it's like Roller Coaster Tycoon! I burned many hours on that game.

The other day, I lingered at Best Buy, looking at Civ 4. Ten years or so ago I did all-nighters playing the original Civ on the Mac. That was a tremendously fun game. But I was brave and didn't buy. Got my kids a Spyro game instead.

 :o 

I burned a lot of hours playing Roller Coaster Tycoon as well. I loved that game to bits.

And I've been eyeing Civ 4. I really shouldn't buy it..I waste enough time on the computer as is....

I never played roller coaster tycoon but I did play sim Theme Park and this definitely reminds me of that. I am having fun with it but now that I have gone through the tutorial and a bit of regular game play I know I need to start over and lay things out a lot better. I haven't tried sandbox mode at all but it is there.
Theisz is right about a Lot going on. At one point when I was paying attention to something else one of my actors became very unhappy and started throwing a tantrum. Plus the little tips thing kept telling me I needed to be doing something productive but I just wanted to watch them filming the movie for a little. Ultimately I had to just chill and realize that there Is a pause button and I Can use it when things start to pile up on me. There are some things though that I think you can not do while the game is paused.  :-(

I've been playing this game and it is freakin awsome. It is pretty moddable like The SIms is too. People are allready starting to make hacks and stuff for it. :)

Ooh hacks, where?

I have this but haven't really had time to mess with it that much yet but will try this weekend to put some time into it. I want to make a Joan Crawford starlette and have her throw tantrums.  ;D

See if you can hook her up with a metal coat hanger. Screenshots!

I tried using google but it was hopeless. Help us out please. We love hacks!

I have The Movies, but still haven't installed. I've been waiting to see some real-player reviews in case this turns out to be yet another B&W2. I played that for two days and have not felt any desire to lay a finger on it since. Good thing the holidays are coming up and I can get rid of it.

What? You're going to pass it on to some other poor bugger? You meanie!  ::)

Oh yes, I'm passing on the misery this holiday season. I have about 30 games I'm giving away. Let them sit on someone else's shelf for a change.

I looked all around the few sites that are out there and there isn't crap for hacks that I can find.  There is a hack for more employees to be available for hire and an experience and mood hack is located here http://www.themoviesplanet.com/ (http://www.themoviesplanet.com/).  You do need to register to have access to the download section, but it is free.

Here's the link to a few fan sites.

http://movies.lionhead.com/news.html?story=220 (http://movies.lionhead.com/news.html?story=220)

Sara, I've seen ads for the Black&White game, and I've always wondered what that game was all about. Looks like a simulation game, but per you comments, it seems to be no good? Darn, it was on my list for gift giving, if its no good I have to rethink that one. I don't want to stick my nephew with a crappy game, I happen to like him very much :)

There's a thread here about the fiasco that was the Black and White 2 release (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=804.0).
That'll tell you all you need to know.

sorry, scroll down to sanmonroe's second post to get the B&W story.

Yup, everything I have to say about that game is in that post. It's not that it isn't good, it just isn't what the ads and the company claim. My major problem is with replayability. There is no "free" or "sandbox" mode, and the game gives you zero reason to play it again after winning it. Multi-player mode might save this game, but as it is now, it just isn't worth the $.

Wow, that was an interesting thread, thank you both for the heads up, I'm grateful. I think I'll pass on that game and look into 'The movies' game instead. Theisz has posted about that one, I'll be interested to know whether anyone else has been playing it.

My nephew loves simulation games, but I didn't want to saddle him with TS2. He's only 15 and my sister insists that he earn his own money to buy things like that for himself. He could never afford to keep up with ea/maxis' greed, so I'll have to look in other directions. Too bad, on paper B&W2 looked so good. 

So it seems some people aren't liking the game all that much? Meh, I know I'll have a blast playing it, as I direct movies with Ts2. But now, I've basically quit. Haven't made a movie in months.

Why? I got fed up with the limiting factors of TS2. It's nearly impossible to get some things to happen. If you really want them, you have to spend your time compiling in-game animations with clever camera angles to get something appear to happen when it really isn't.

So hopefully, the movies won't have too many limits (and as I've read it says you can make "ANY kind of movie you want").

Get your mind out of the gutter. :P

But Kingdom, the gutter is so nice and comfy  :)

We were actually talking about B&W2. the game 'The Movies' is something I will definitely look into, since I now nixed the idea of getting B&W2 for a favorite nephew of mine.

I've never even tried to make movies in TS2, heck, I can't even get pictures to come out right.

Ooh, okay. I got shocked there that everyone thought the game was really that bad. I had failed to read all the replies since I last read the thread. Whoopsie!

Man, I am seriously so anxious to play this game. I've been wanting it for a long time, and I'm sitting here dying knowing that it's in my moms closet.  :D

Ha ha - that'll larn ya, ya nosy little sod!  :P  My son never found presents I hid, though I wouldn't have hidden them in the closet either. Now you''ll have to suffer till xmas, and pretend to be surprised and delighted.

The Movies sounds good though and I'm pretty sure I'll be buying it. I trust the opinions of most of the people on this site.

Heck, I'll be delighted and surprised alright.

Delighted that I finally got my hands on it.

And Surprised I made it that far. ;D

I finally got around to playing this for a signifigant period of time today and I'm actually enjoying it. I thought it would have too much micro management for me and it does have a fair bit, but it works and I like it.

It comes off basically like a Sim City game to me, but with lots of customizable options for creating people like TS2 and also tracks certain skills. There are some interactions between people too. Nothing as complex as TS2 or anything as it's not a people at home simulator, but as your lot grows and you get more upgrades you'll get more buildings that allow for more types of interactions.

The game starts in the 20s and the years go by so you do see a progression. My movies just started being in color now as I got into the 30s. You can hire scientists and have them research trends, sets, movie making techniques etc which unlocks more outfits, sets, buildings and so forth.

The actors have preferences for certain outfits so if they don't like one they won't be happy and their star rating won't be as high. There's lots of stats to look out for, but the game has a mode that sort of holds your hand and tells you what to do at different times which is really helpful at first.

Overall, I'd reccomend this game to anyone who likes simulation games like Sim City but maybe wants a little bit of TS2 thrown in there. If people can pay $15 just for the holiday pack, I don't think $45 or $50 is so bad for this game at all.

Yeah, I've finally installed it as well.

As a Tycoon-type game, it's awesome.

Not so much as a movie-making game though. I guess that isn't my thing (I never make movies in TS2 either).

I find the characters to be somewhat creepy in appearance. There's something about them that reminds me of The Singles, with those empty, dead-looking eyes and vacant expressions. Also, the hair makes me cringe in horror.

Overall, a good game. I don't regret getting it.

BTW, I did find some hacks for it. Just basic "keep all moods up, make learning faster" types that I'm personally not interested in using. Here's a link to two of them: http://www.forumplanet.com/planetthemovies/topic.asp?fid=15475&tid=1783164
There's also some files I haven't really looked at yet, here http://planetthemovies.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Other.List
And if anyone wants to start modding the game they'll probably want to look at http://ireallydontcare.com/moviespak/

Giggles....
This is why my girlfriends and I store each others gifts.
If the kids do find things in our homes they're stunned when pressie time comes any way cause they found someone elses stuff.
I got the twins on that last year. Little twerps had snooped and were dumbfounded that the 2 MP3 players they had found in one of the bags weren't for them. Dumb thing was the boy had the nerve to ask me where they were and ratted himself out.
You should have seen my dads face as I looked at my son and said " take a second and think about it brainiack did you see any of the presents in those bags you snooped through? Was there even one thing from any of those bags here tonight? and are you dumb enough to not yet realize you're busted for being in my office and here by grounded for 2 weeks. And no phone computer or TV. And that goes for you too sneak 2"
I was sure my dad was gonna faint to see me actually ground my kids the same way he did me all those years ago.
Old man thinks their spoiled. Ha!

This reminded me of an annoyance in the game. There are a couple of really obvious things that you just aren't told. It took me forever to figure out how to delete buildings and decorations. Shouldn't that have been somewhere on the first few pages of the booklet? Or at least somewhere in the building section of the tutorial? No doubt I was just really slow to catch on, but still.

I think it's possible that I may have missed the instructions. I recall there was one situation where the female voice tells you that you can drop builders around construction sites. Maybe if I had bothered to do that it would have explained the bomb icon?

Anyway, I'm currently in the mid-40's and my studio has won three awards. I'm so proud. My stars are butt ugly, so I don't know why they're winning anything.

I finally got my post production building last night and I was really excited. I'm having so much fun writing filming and editing my movies. I'm a little suprised too because I've never made a movie with the sims. I'm guessing it's not this much fun.

There is an employee hack that gives you more potential employees that I wish I had had from the start as installing it after you begin the game doesn't seem to work. I think it works a little better than what I was looking for anyway. I only needed 2 or 3 more people but it looks like that hack gives you 20 more.
http://tmws.themoviesplanet.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=7&Itemid=26

There is also a lot size hack (i have not tried it yet) that can be found at http://www.tmws.themoviesplanet.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=d9661f73470b8bcf9be8093eb7d1ab5b

This game is definitely worth while IMO.

I Still don't know how to remove decorations. I accidentally blew up my building before I figured out that that wasn't a wrench I put that guy on. Really pissed me off.

Thanks for the hack links. :)

To remove decorations, left-click on them and hold down the button until they light up, then (while holding) drag them away. They will pop onto the mouse cursor. Then click the right mouse button and they will vanish.

Cool thanks.

It's not just you, it happened to me too. I accidentally put up a duplicate of the saloon lot in the 20s and couldn't figure out how to delete it so it stayed up until the 40s.  :-[ I didn't know how to move buildings for the longest time either.

I do feel like some of the finer points and important stuff are missed in that tutorial. Another thing I noticed is that in most cases you can use a person intended for one job in another. Like an unemployed person in line at the movie crew building could be a janitor etc and at one point I had a crisis where it seemed like half my damned lot broke down and I had to borrow some scientists, janitors and movie crew to be builders for a while. Then later when the stars pitched a bitch about not having an enterage, I made those builders personal assistants, heh.

You can also have actors direct and directors act and put extras in lead roles etc. I haven't tried if people in other jobs can act or not. I'll have to try casting a janitor in a lead role.  ;D

I did notice when I want to import actors from Star Maker, I have to wait until there's an unemployed actor standing outside to import them. It has to be an actor too, it can't be an unemployed crewmember or scientist or whatever.

The first stars I had where just random ones hanging around. I did give them makeovers and it helps, plus as time passes their outfits become out of style and they want new ones that are trendy for the times. ;) I just sold off my big starlett because she hit 40 and I'm debating over whether to sell my leading man or make him a director. The newer actors I've been making I actually imported. I think I prefer doing it because it gives you a lot more control over their looks and stats. You can morph two faces together and even morph two skintones together which is rather cool.

When I pick their stats though I don't spend the points on experience in any genres because I figure I can just get them to practice on the set whereas if I take those points away from their personality they are throwing tantrums all the time. :P

I do wish there were hacks that automated some of the tedious stuff though. I hate babysitting them where I have to keep putting them back on a lot to practice an acting genre or the chin up bar to get their fitness up. It reminds me of TS2 without the phone hack where you have to manually babysit the sim and have them keep calling someone multiple times to make friends with them. :P I wish there were a hack that made them just do it until they either maxed that skill out or you told them not to. I don't want cheating hacks but I do like ones where it automates some of the manual micro management. :P

That's what I was hoping the sims 2 would do. I was really sad when I discovered the Either / Or situation of skin inheritance. :(

Thanks for the update Motoki, the more I see about this game, the more I think it looks like fun - despite the micro-management.

One other thing that bugs me is that my director has been clogging up the #1 spot on the Stars Chart for the past 20+ years. I have an actor in the #2 spot, but unless I fire the director he will never see the #1 spot. WTF are directors doing in the star chart? The only reason I put up with it is because my star's rating fluctuates, while the director is always #1, which means I'm guaranteed the award for highest charting star. But I really think it's cheating in a way. I shouldn't be guaranteed any such thing. If my actor was the one who had to earn the #1 spot, then it would be a challenge. This way it just... doesn't make sense. There's currently no way that any star from my studio or rival studios could surpass my director. :(


You can make your stars pick up trash and build buildings, too... and they usually pitch a fit or sulk about it. I currently have one star that I'm totally torturing because I'm curious to see if she will just up and quit my studio if I'm mean enough to her. I make her pick up litter, she hasn't been in a movie in ages, her salary is practically zero, and I stuck her in the clothing she hated the most. It's a never-ending tantrum.


Prepare to deal with a whole lot of sulking. I think they HATE being made director. I did that to one of my high-ranking stars and he sulked for the next five years (literally). Couldn't get much work out of him because his mood was usually low. His image went straight into the basement, too. The "sulking about demotion" (or whatever the message said, exactly) was always under his icon. Then, I accidentally imported a new director as an actor. I immediately picked him up and dropped him into the Hire Director room. He sulked about being demoted as well, though not nearly as long.

Of course, I've noticed that my stars seem particularly temperamental, so it could be that. You would think being made director would be seen by at least some of them as a good thing.

It is. At first I thought 'I'm so not in the mood for micromanagement right now' after TS2 so I avoided this game for a while, but it actually is fine in spite of the micromanagment, though I can't really explain why. lol


I found my directors are quite tempermental Divas and worse than the actors! I'd make them in Star Maker where I can control their personalities except I don't think you can import a director from there, you'd have to make them an actor first.


Prepare to deal with a whole lot of sulking. I think they HATE being made director.Of course, I've noticed that my stars seem particularly temperamental, so it could be that. You would think being made director would be seen by at least some of them as a good thing.
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Hmm, I didn't think about that. This guy is easy going so he doesn't throw tantrums but he does sulk. :P Of course I've had them direct as actors without officially making them directors, sometimes it deducts points for it but the movies still seem to do okay. *shrug*

I even had a director star in a movie once lol. She's a total fashionista diva and seemed to like it. :P

I think it's funny and kind of also a sad commentary that the actors value goes down after a certain age. Makes me think of a line Joan Crawford said in Mommy Dearest:

I work my fingers to the bone, and I hear them say "She's getting old"! ;)

Maybe if they win an award when they're over 40 it will temporarily put their stock back up like Joan winning the best actress for Mildred Pierce. ;)

Isn't there a little box you can tic when you import them to make them a director or am I miss remembering? I've never used it but it seems like I did notice it once. I'll go try importing someone and see if it's there.

Yes there is a little box. When you drag someone into the import box the selection screen pops up and a little box at the bottom says import star as director. I think you have to check it Before you click on the actor you want imported.

I am so getting this game, thanks to you all. Keep the info coming, I (and most likely other people) sure appreciate it.

I have "The Movies" and I love it, I watched the web interview with Peter Molyneux, and he said(among other things) that you can pick up a janitor/builder and drop them in a trailer with a star, grab a photographer, drop said photographer outside the trailer,(juicy gossip),which generates  publicity for your star, I've tried this every which way(but loose) and it doesn't work,you *cannot* drop *anyone* into a trailer with a star, >:( has anyone managed to do this. if so  how!!!.

I can't get anyone else in a trailer with them either so I am not quite sure what the deal is. I have had two actors become friends and their thought bubbles say they want to go someplace more private but I can't put a second one in with one of them in their trailers. I can put them together in the VIP lounge at the bar and they seem to like it, but they don't 'woohoo'. :P

no woo hoo?
that's a big boo hoo!

No, there's definitely supposed to be. It's in there, I just don't know how to make it happen yet. :(

I think they've gotta fall in love. In the awards ceremony, one of the awards said if you win it, your actors are more likely to love-up.

The game is really really fun. I love the movie making business and I was definitely in need of a non-open-ended game. It's pretty fun.

The year for me is 55 or so, I've won a few awards. I was the first studio out of the 7 to release a 3 star movie (not the greatest, but the best of ALL released movies at the time). It stayed number one in the charts from debut to awards time, and it's still going. Got an award for that sucker.

I also got best Direction. I've got a few directors, and I have them all focus mainly on ONE genre. Whenever they have free time, I make them practice. Not only does this cure their boredom, it DOESN'T add stress to them like working does, and it boosts their experience.

Another tip I have is, ALWAYS HAVE A MOVIE RELEASED. I learned the hard way. One movie stopped doing so well, so I had to archive it, and my Work In Progress was nowhere near being done. Since I had no means of income, I sunk into debt rather quickly, and was at about -500,000. Of course, I shot back up once I released a few movies, but being in debt means you can't build anything.

Finally, one last tip. To delete studios, grab a builder, bring them to the building. There is a BOMB icon, drop them on that to delete the set and gain money. I didn't know you could delete or reposition lots (the -> button next to the bomb) so I thought I'd include this tip.

Sounds like the mouse/keyboard stuff is unusual and not intuitive. I tried a game like that recently and had to give up in the end, it was so incredibly frustrating. No doubt someone will have written a tutorial for The Movies by the time I can afford the game. :)

Edit: Man that was fast, see there are helpful hints even before I finished posting.  :D

It's not too bad. You can zoom in and out with the mouse wheel like you can in TS2. There's another way too but I always use the mouse wheel. I you hold control and use the arrow keys on the keyboard you can rotate the view. It's a little odd that moving or deleting a building requires you to grab a builder and place them on an icon on the building, but I guess it makes sense. You can't do it in pause mode though.

I'm thinking of starting over and trying again. My lot is really haphazard and I didn't have a plan for it at all. I also suck at landscaping. ;)

Regarding the "backdrops" that I am getting unlocked, are they for that one versatile small stage? How do I change them?

Regarding the "backdrops" that I am getting unlocked, are they for that one versatile small stage? How do I change them?


 You take your movie into the Advanced Movie maker building (custom scriptwriting) where you can do your own scenes, you can change the backdrops in there, maybe in post production as well, I haven't really got into that side of it yet, regarding the trailers, IIRC I saw a"platium" trailer picture somwhere, a really posh looking one, maybe the game unlocks that, and that's where you can 'arrange' assignations.I have unlocked three, Rickety, Comfortable, and plush, so I think there's one more lurking. ;D

The backdrops are for all of your sets but you must change them in your custom script writing phase. Also You can change the lighting and alter the tone of your scenes to some degree using the buttons to the side. You can even change the props they are holding a little but I hate that you can't Give them props if they didn't already have them in hand.

Just to answer a quick question, Motoki, you can't drop other professions to acting so scriptwriters, janitors and others seem to stick at their original jobs. I tried on several occasions, just to be certain, and you aren't able to place them in the relevant areas at all.  :P

Like you, my building placement left a fair bit to be desired so I've decided to start over and see if I can do it a wee bit better this time.

It is a good game and I really enjoyed playing it last night, even if, as others have pointed out, there's a lot of micromanagement. It's cool.

I just started over too. I did plan a lot better this time though I still suck at landscaping. :P

BTW, gogamer.com has The Movies on sale currently for $35. It's on their "48 hour madness sale" and it's been on it for past 48 hours so I don't know how much longer it will be at that price, but they do have a "dirt cheap shipping" option for $1.99 so it's not a bad deal at all. That's pretty much the cost of a TS2 expansion pack.

I picked my copy up for £19.99 which works out at about $30, I think. So quite a bargain. Gonna go and play with it just now, but feel like torturing a few sims first.  ;D

I'm finding the further I get into this game, the crazier it gets. I'm raking in the cash and have over 800,000 now, but it can get really crazy when you have a huge lot and a whole bunch of actors. They all seem to throw tantrums or run off to get drunk at the same time, and then the writers get done a novel and you have to go back and grab their asses and make them start writing another one or they'll waste time. Same for the scientists if you unlock all the stuff you can for a while.

Running the game in pause mode is extremely limited. You can place lots, but you can't move or delete anyone or anything. :P I wish you could zoom out more. How are you guys dealing with the large lots with a lot going on? I kind of liked it better when it was a smaller lot. :P It was much easier to deal with.

Also, while I have a fairly easy time early on getting actors and directors to be at the top of the list, I'm finding difficulties acheiving it with new actors. I'm paying them well, they're acting in a lot of movies, they have multiple assistants, a nice trailer, they're experienced in their genre and they are happy, but they're still all like only the number 18, 19, or 20th place among actors. :P My #1 actress is in her 50s and while I've given her plastic surgery and she looks like she's in her 30s (so the game says) her days are still numbered.

I guess I should get the Prima Guide. Has anyone else gotten it? Is it worth it?

Is map mode not helping? I know it is stinky that you can't actually DO much in map mode, but at least you can see the whole lot. I often find problem areas that way.

And yes, pause is just dreadful in this game. You can't do anything. :(

You can make janitors and builders into actors and stuff. But there must be an actual unemployed actor hanging around the Stage School.

Oh, most definitely!!  Not even so much a smaller lot but fewer actors and directors!  I finally ran out of room (my lot is arranged in a bit of a WWIII theme- meaning there's no rhyme or reason to it at all) and started getting rid of some of the older sets.  I figured out how to delete them almost immediately and completely by accident, so I was lucky there.  It's odd that the instruction booklet that comes with it is so... lacking.

 There are a couple of things that do somewhat annoy me... I wish you could "assign" someone to do something until you directed them otherwise- like actors practicing.  They practice for a while then piss off to do their own little thing.  bleh.  I say get your butt in there and don't come out until that bar is green!!! Even something like the queue system in TS2 would work.   I also wish you could see which trailer they were assigned to when you click on them...I hate having to hover over each trailer trying to find the right one.

My first star is about 5 years from retirement right now; I'm waiting to see if that brings any perks with it.  I recently unlocked the implants, so now all of my 'starlets' have been going in for... um... enhancements.  Really torques them off while it's being done but seems to up the appeal factor.  Can't wait for the liposuction to become available!  I've won a few awards (for some reason my directors do especially well) and have managed a 3 1/2 star flick.  My studio just made it up to #2 on the list, so I'm quite pleased with myself! lol

For all it's downfalls I'm really, really liking this game.  I'll admit that I haven't even begun to think about making my own movies- my hands are too full just keeping everyone happy and keeping the buildings from falling to pieces.  I suppose I'll tackle that when and if I ever become proficient at just keeping everyone's moods up.  All in all, it's the best game I've gotten since TS2 came out.  Be warned, though, it will suck your life away!  The first day I played it I started around 4pm... next thing I knew I was getting hungry so I looked at the clock and it was just after midnight. :o

I see. I hadn't got any unemployed bods lurking so I guess that's why it didn't work for me.

One thing that is frustrating is the lack of directors... my actors get pissy when I put them in that role.

Import your own director for best results. Actors do seem to hate being made directors. I made that mistake early on... hired some idiot as a director and had to put up with so much crap that I decided to restart the game entirely.

To import a director, you need an unemployed actor hanging around the Stage School. Drop this actor into the Import Actor room. When the menu comes up, look on the bottom for a "import as director" box. Obviously, you first need to create a director in the Starmaker program. It's exactly the same as creating an actor. Until you import someone they don't actually have a job designation, so they won't sulk because they think you've demoted them. So you just create an actor but import as a director.

Yeah, like those stars that got rejected from other studios and try to come crawling to my lot. They're like 50-something so their time is limited and they immediately throw a huge tantrum after you hire them because they don't even give you a damned chance to set their pay, give them a trailer, assign assistants, get rid of those ugly clothes they are wearing etc etc, they just wig out on you. :P Better to ignore them and use a janitor I say.

Oh and I agree with you MB, this game will most definitely suck your life away. :O

The custom film creation isn't too bad, it depends how involved you want to get with it. You can set the lighting and weather etc if you want, but you don't have to. You can just pick say for scene one, entering in the musty cellar set, for scene 2 finding a body in the bathroom set etc. At it's most basic, you just pick your actors, pick a set for a particular scene and then there's a bunch of default scene types for you to chose from. You can view it a sample of it acted out but you don't have to. I don't get all particular with it, I just go bam bam bam actor, set, scenetype, scene2 set, scene type etc and be done with it. I've gotten some really high rate movies that way. I even got a 4 1/2 star one.  :o

I just select random stuff.

What annoys me about having writers write my scripts is that when your studio reaches a certain level, they'll start writing scripts with like 7-9 scenes, which can take more than a year to shoot, and which use waaaaay too many actors and extras. I can get the same ratings with a three-scene movies I make myself. At least for now. I'm guessing eventually the movies will need to be longer. But not at the point I'm at. So my writers mostly write scripts to sell.

Yes, those movies definite get longer. And they are all 3 actor films too but sometimes you don't have 3 actors available at a given time. That's why the custom creator thing is good because it gives you more control even if you don't get too specific with it. It's also much faster than waiting for the writers to get done if you don't have any scripts ready.

So I'm guessing there is no time limit whatsoever in the game. You don't have to have a certain amount of money/movies/whatever at a set time? Sounds like my kind of game then, completely open ended. I already read that people are in year 30 + so in theory you could end up with a 100 year old (or more) movie set, right?

Motoki, have you ever gotten the Guide? Is it worth it? My nephew would have to be content with the guide in the english language, but it will only help him learn the language faster :D

Now see I love writing the movie and setting it and post production and all of it! I realize now that i need to save all that for sandbox mode though cause my last movie took 32 months to shoot and I'm getting kind of poor since the previous movie goes to archive before the next is released. Oh well. It's still fun.

I'm honestly not sure about the time limit if there is one. I know it starts in the 1920s and I'm already into the 1960s. I don't know if it keeps going past the present day into the future and beyond or if there's a point where it stops. I do know you aren't required to have a certain number of actors or certain amount of money or anything like that, but there are goals where if you do reach certain points you get rewards for them like you might get a new set or a new building or something like that. Also if you win awards at the awards ceremony each one carries a bonus. Like one lets you pay your actors half their salary without them noticing lol and another lets your actors eat and drink as much as they want without becoming addicted. ;) Those bonuses only last until the next award ceremony but the rewards you get for reaching a certain income etc you get to kep for good.

I haven't gotten the guide yet no but I probably will. If you want, Prima has a little sample of it on their site you can download though:

http://estore.primagames.com/eguide_detail.aspx?prodid=LS2154

I read that the simulation can go on and on but the timeline with all the historic events will only run to present day. I'll see if I can find where I saw that and post a link.

Well I caved and bought the Prima Guide. It's a bit smaller than I thought it would be, especially compared to TS2s, but I'll let you guys know after I have had time to look at it.

Oh and for Veilchen and other German speakers, I found a German fansite for The Movies: http://www.themoviesvision.de/

Motoki, you are the bees knees. Thank you so much. I don't have many problems with english, I think I'm pretty well versed in it, but speaking and reading in my own language is far more comfortable for me.

I checked your link for the prima guide, and I'm determined to get the game. I think getting the english version for my nephew will only add to its authenticity. Hollywood, after all, is distinctly American. The German movie makers can't put together a real action movie worth a barrel of sauerkraut (mainly they never bother because the German ratings board frowns heavily on excessive violence. You can however, go pretty far with sexual content. TS2 and its ep's are not rated at all for instance ;D) I only hope that the CD is not country-coded as are most music and movie CD's. It's an idiotic practice, at least where international users are concerned, and although I am sure that people can come up with justifications for that very hampering proceedure, it only prevents me to buy music and movies for my folks and send them as gifts, and vice versa.

Thanks for the (I know, tentative) time-line info Plaid. I do like open ended games, and even if this one ends at present day, it still would qualify as open ended in a way.

If they do country code it, I found a hack that will turn other versions of the game into English.  ;D

http://tmws.themoviesplanet.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=21&Itemid=26

And I know what you mean about your own language being more comfortable. When I lived in Japan even though I could speak some Japanese (I would not go so far as to say fluent though) I always looked for Indian restaurants because it was the one place where you could almost guarantee people there would speak English, even if it was with a Hindi accent. ;)

Dang veilchen! Your english is way better than mine and I'm a native. I would never have known it wasn't your native tongue if you hadn't said so.

I have to say I really like The Movies. The actors pitching a hissy fit can get a little annoying, but it is part of "managing" the talent. I haven't got into the sandbox mode yet nor have I done any custom script writing / editing. I can see lots of possibilities with the game and different ways to play it. I don't think it's a game that people will get bored with too quickly.

Thank you Simmiecal :D

I've already started to explore the site, and I even downloaded some mods, even though I don't have the game yet. Seeing the German policeman made me a little homesick, how desperate is that :D

(http://C:\Documents and Settings\Gabriele MacDonald\Desktop\Polizei.jpg)

So I looked high and low and couldn't find the interview I read before but here is a quote from another site.

"As for the game itself, it all begins at the turn of the century … no, not the 21st century, the 20th century. Players take over a small studio and then pursue the magic of Hollywood through approximately 110 years of time line."

http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p20755.htm

Thank you Plaid, that's open ended enough for me. I appreciate all that searching, I'm a little research weary at the moment. I've been doing it for four month now (for my real life term-paper), and it was nice to get it handed on a platter for a change :D

Well I looked through the guide, it's a lot smaller than the TS2 one but at the same price :P but overall I think it's worth it. There's number of things I wouldn't have known had I not read the book. I also feel like TS2's guide had more extraneous or useless info than this guide does, so it's less pages but a higher percentage of them are useful. Of course, that perception's probably colored by the fact that I played TS1 and thus more or less knew the basics. *shrug*

At any rate, if you can spare the money, I think the guide is worth it.

Getting a high-rated screenplay is pretty easy, and can be achieved very easily.

Ratings of the screenplay and movie are dependant on majorly actors, and their experience. So check their Exp. with the genre before casting them. They are also rated on number of actors in the movies, number of extras, and the number of costume changes affects the rating too, as does scene diversity.

So add a lot of extras, maybe even just 1 or two to the scene, your rating should go up by 1/5th of a star or so. Change an actors outfit by dragging them onto the clothes hanger icon. If you don't want them to have a different outfit, do it anyway, don't change a think, and hit OK. The game recognizes it as a costume change and your rating should increase. Continue doing this (adding extras and changing clothes) each scene and your movie should get a good rating from the start.

I guess it's because the Prima Guide is full of false information where TS2 is concerned, that I don't trust them. Even though it's hardly their fault, they can only operate on information given to them by the game creators/manufacturers/whatevers.

I appreciate all the information. I've been checking amazon.de for the game and the guide, and will most likely have them deliver it to my sister's house so she can give it to them on Christmas. However, I'll also make up a guide of my own with all the tips and hints here, and I'll leave it in english. That way he has another challenge and it will make everything so much more interesting.

My movies make no sense at all but still do well lol. I just put random scenes together based on what sets have a higher freshness rating and work with that. Once you get established, you get so many bonuses for having famous stars, award winning stars and directors, good mood, good relationships, sets in good repair, novelty of sets, having scientists research latest technologys, PR (you have to max out the PR then give it a proportional budget 2.5 stars use the middle marketing release, 5 use the last etc) that even a total movie can end up with 4 or more stars once everything is all calculated.

I don't even use the writers anymore, I put them to work in other areas ;) as I needed more employees. Once the scientists are done for a while I put them to work too but when research becomes available again I do have to hunt them down and find the same ones (right clicking on a non actor or director employee will give you their experience even their previous experience) and make sure I put those ones back since they are experienced in research and will unlock stuff much faster.

My biggest pet peeve about this game is the entourage. If you take someone from somewhere else, it doesn't regenerate another unemployed person in that line, so if you grab a janitor to make someone's personal assistant, you won't get a new janitor. If you sell a star or they retire, it seems their entourage goes with them. :P You can move them manually yourself before you get rid of the star, but it's sometimes hard to find them because they don't always hang around their star and you can't bring them up on the menus. They all look alike too. :P

I've started firing a janitor or builder or whatever and grabbing them unemployed on their way out to make into entourage people. It seems like I get a replacement in the line that way, but it takes a while. I wish someone would make a hack to better manage the entourage people.

I actually heard a patch for this game is supposedly due out sometime this month but I have no idea what's in it. I really don't have any bugs (well except when I once tried to sell a director who was working on a film; kids don't try this at home lol) but there are a few annoyances I have with some of the 'features'.

I have had a problem with costumes occasionally not being right. I used custom script to get everything in order for a western movie once. Had everything perfect but when the movie came out 2 of the extra chicks had on the blue lipstick from the sci-fi movie they had shot before even though I am 100% certain I had changed this when casting. That was annoying. Then once I was draging an actor in to change the person playing a part and somehow the girl was fighting with herself. That was odd and I had to exit and go back in to fix it.

Has anyone gotten 2 actors to be lovers yet? Apparently, that's the only way you can put them in a trailer together. I have a couple (male/female) that I have been working on their relationship for quite some time. They've been soul mates forever and even gotten eating disorders from sitting in the damned VIP restaurant so long. I can't seem to get them higher than that no matter what I do. :(

Have any of you guys uploaded your movies yet? I think mine are so messed up and probably not worth looking at except for a laugh. ;)

I found a really interesting one though, it's gotten a lot of buzz on the official site. It's called The French Democracy:

http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/11520

It's about the recent race riots and France and I guess is sort of social commentary. It's 13 minutes long! I don't know if I would have the patience to make one that long so politics aside even, I think he did a good job just coming up with a cohesive short film that long from the game.

Upload them and tell us anyway so we can vote for you and help you get whatever crap is going to be available in the Prop Shop eventually.

PLZ rat ME HI!!!!!!!!!!!

Heh, as much as it sounds nice to be able to download custom stuff, that sounds disturbingly like bene begging.  :o

That's what that site is turning into. People are begging for ratings. And that's just what I've seen from searching the boards for game tips a few times.

I don't make movies myself, so that whole competition thing is lost on me.

You rat, you dirty rat you...



O you mean rate you...
Well on a scale of 1 to 10...
 - are we allowed decimal points?

I just went and viewed the movie. Wow. This whole Interweb thing just constantly amazes and challenges me. The author of this work has used a game to say something very real, it's stirred up some quite passionate commentary.

NZ doesn't have the level of violence and air of oppression the movie depicted, but young Maori and Pacific Islander males are certainly over represented in our jails. Many young black men here take their culture from the American gang culture, emulating clothing, behaviour, language and music. Episodes of violence do not seem to be increasing, but the level of violence in attacks is.

There is a perceived and real inequity between opportunities for young people of Maori and Pakeha¹ cultures, without even considering our diverse immigrant cultures. We have had 'positive discrimination' in some areas here for a while, social welfare is one area, on the assumption that if a family has a roof over their head, food and clothes, they can at least begin to learn. It's an attempt to get everyone to start on a reasonably even footing. Our job market is only just picking up too.

This positive discrimination upsets the racists of course. Especially the white trash racists who feel disadvantaged anyway. And so the wheel turns.

If you've made it this far, thanks. This French movie, out of a game, certainly stirred me and presented a story the world has in common. If I had the game now I'd logon and tell the author.

I wonder if the author is black or white?


¹Pakeha - name for the white people who settled here several hundred years ago. Commonly used in NZ to describe white non-Maori New Zealanders.

I kind of wonder that too. And if any of those names of the characters were remotely based on real people. The one guy who was facing discrimination in finding work and a place to live is not something you really see in the news (it's not a sensational as cars being set on fire I guess) but it seems almost as though the creator either had first hand experience like that or else knew someone who did.

I have been playing it.

The gameplay itself is fairly blah. Real easy by 1940 to get the top studio spot and keep it there playing with just the best scripts available at the time, make one top level script and 1-3 low quality scripts be in production at all times.

The movie making can be pretty entertaining, I haven't uploaded anything yet though. 

there are tons of loopholes in the game though. For example: Want really exp directors and actors? Tons of money? Hire 2 actrors and 2 directors, make films until you get custom scripts, then spam make 1 scene actorless movies. With 4 stages you can have each of your stars directing one all the time. Each takes 3 months to complete and makes 70k as a 0 star movie (yeah, you make 70k for releasing a 5 second film of an empty room). I spammed them out and provided no bathrooms recreation etc for a studio to see what would happen. I hit 2.5 stars from star quality (they get exp for everything they film) and cash alone. My lot was covered with trash, teh sidewalks were growing fungus and the sims went around barfing everywhere.

Good times!

That is messed up.
On another line I did get 2 people to be lovers. They were both on the verge of drinking and eating disorders but still. I also had the free love bonus for that year. Not sure how hard it would have been without it but once they were lovers I just put them together to talk and they went to the trailer themselves. I was not able to place them in there together however.
I think the flying hearts between them are cute.