|
Post by HMdesigner on Nov 24, 2016 2:49:50 GMT -8
Let's just ... for the sake of argument ... imagine that someday there might actually be another version of Hollywood Movie Studio or Hollywood Mogul. Knowing full well that this will never become reality. Most likely.
Well ... in no particular order ... the list of what I would want for a new version includes (off the top of my head without me having to go find my actual list):
Unlimited Talent The game would allow a talent database that was only limited by your computer disk storage size. Talent image sizes would be increased to 300x400. Something like that.
Source Database Expansion The current design only allows for 250 (I think) records in Domestic Movie Releases, Foreign Movie Releases, TV Shows, etc. These would all have the same unlimited potential as Talent. Those records would be available when the game starts. Also, things like Comic Books would also have unlimited records and more new items (records) would be available in-game each game month.
Movie Posters I always thought it would be fun to be able to create a poster for each movie you make. The issue in the past is that the images used for the credits are wider than they are tall, and images needed for a poster would be taller than they are wide. Which means two separate sets of images. Which I didn't want to do. So I still don't know how best to deal with that fact, but I always liked this idea.
In-Game Internet Movie Database And the idea of movie posters goes well with this idea. A much more search-friendly in-game "website" that pops up with all the movies that have been released ... and maybe ... all the domestic and foreign movies already released that are in the source databases.
Expanded Opening Credits Each title card (e.g. Directed By) would have as many non-title cards between it as you want. With the ability to set images and display times for each. So you could essentially tell the story of the movie in the opening credits using images. Of course, this would take a lot of images. Something I never wanted to require you to have in the past. But now disk space is so cheap it makes more sense. You would also have much more control over each image displayed in terms of image effects, fades, etc.
Dynamic Movie Release / Distribution Model With movies streamable, downloadable, everything-able, a more dynamic "release" system would have to be designed. One you could actually add to (or delete from) as the years go by. I'm not sure how this might be done, but it obviously needs to be there.
Additional Entertainment-Company Options I want to include the ability to: - Make TV/Internet/Streaming Shows - Buy/Start Cable Cannels
Expanded / Editable Departments I think it would be good to allow you to add, edit, and delete the various line items in the major departments. As well as add new departments ... to your studio (and entertainment company). Maybe you think it's important to have a line item for: - Production Cost - Food Services - Production Cost - Food Servces - Bagels - Production Cost - Food Services - Cookies - Production Cost - Costume Design
And someone else just wants the broadstrokes: - Production Cost - Total
Then you could play the game the way you want to play it. The problem with THAT is figuring out how to evaluate the decisions that you make for the Box Office result calculations.
Screenplay In the end, perhaps the easiest way to evaluate the movie is to allow for a much more expanded set of attributes for the screenplay.
Social Media / Trending System There is no way to not include this in any type of entertainment game. I don't know how I would implement it, but it does have to be there. With a dynamic ability to add, edit, and delete social media venues as they come and go.
Stay With 1 Turn = 1 Month Some players have asked me about changing the game turn to 1 week. I just don't think it works. It's just too ... much.
EDIT: Well.... if we include TV then we have to go to weekly game turns. Damn.
Return Of Production Problems This I would love to bring back. Along with the ability for you to add your own ideas. Production Problems are things that occur during production that (generally) increase costs, delay completion, or both.
The Future Of Hollywood Movie Studio What I have been thinking about (once in awhile, not often) is that the game must be made so that almost every single part of it can not only be customized, but removed or replaced, or added to. With the ability to personalize it almost any way you want to.
------
So that's what I've been thinking about. Do not ... do not ... get your hopes up. But what does your Wish List include?
Happy Thanksgiving 2016 HMSdesigner
EDIT: To fix some attrocious spelling errors. (Did I miss any?)
|
|
|
Post by smirkworthy on Nov 24, 2016 21:28:46 GMT -8
The fact that the game is still so replayable and immersive after all this time is a credit to the work you've already done on it. But those possible enhancements you listed would be fantastic. So as long as we're throwing around hypothetical ways to make a great game even better...
More Active Role for Agents Those package deals they pitch are a cool feature, but they're not entirely binding. You can agree to the pitch in principle and immediately fire any of the attached talent without repercussions (unless they have a Pay or Play deal). What if the agents were to offer you a discount on one of their A-List talents, but only if you really do use a couple of their lower ranked clients on the movie? This would force players to tackle some interesting risk/reward decisions. And it would make use of some talent that would otherwise remain idle, especially if we have unlimited databases. If there are ever significantly more than 500 directors in the talent pool, plenty of them will be in need of a pushy agent!
HMSdesigner: I agree that agents need a better role in the game. I don't know to what extent, though.
Awards Season Tweaks Basically, I'd like to see a more nuanced "Awards Bias" component. Certain genres and release dates would be given an advantage, but not to the complete exclusion of others. Opening your historical epic or dramatic biopic in November/December should give it a leg up when nominations roll around. While having less of a chance, your critically acclaimed horror movie that opened early in the year (e.g. "Silence of the Lambs") would still get some consideration from the awards algorithm. It would be an uphill battle, but it wouldn't be outright ineligible. (The horror film "It Follows" got nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards last year. Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for a summer action movie. These things happen.)
Beyond that, it would be fun to have an expanded awards season, with precursors like the Golden Globes (or whatever name its equivalent would be given for copyright reasons). Especially if you were to follow through on the idea about having studios make TV and streaming series -- they should have a shot at trophies, too!
HMSdesigner: This has come up in the past. I agree that the awards can be tweaked, but I always thought the game should stick with the most important award show ... not all the other types that have come along because television was invented.
Actors Take a Pay Cut for Prestige Projects I always liked this feature in Hollywood Mogul 2, knowing that I could sometimes cast a big name for a reduced fee after polishing a script to 5-star perfection. If this still exists in the code, it must be either rare or subtle. Now it seems like they always adhere to the same demands, regardless of screenplay quality or the rankings of the other talent who've signed on. The game could use the occasional "$10 million if it's commercial fluff; $2 million if it's a Mogie bait labor of love." And maybe some "I'll do nudity, but only for Scorsese." (Of course the game doesn't recognize Martin Scorsese's name, but you know what I mean. Actors having a different attitude when offered a chance to work with a high ranked director who has top notch attributes.)
HMSdesigner: I forget all about this. Yes. Definitely.
Improved AI Not actually a huge priority for me, since I usually get around it by playing the game hotseat style, running all of the studios myself. But the main reason I do that is because the computer's decision making tends to be predictable and sometimes poor. They give production deals to the same talent every time you start a new game. They hire the same actors and directors over and over, seemingly with little regard for whether their attributes make them suitable for a given project. (Believe me, I understand this issue is not unique to Hollywood Movie Studio. Getting the AI to behave like a human being is a tall order in every simulation game. Heck, it's a tall order in Westworld!)
HMSdesigner: This one is more difficult. I do agree that the studios make a lot of the same decisions from one game to another. And their salaries are way out of line. So this would be improved.
Bring Back the PicTalent Sub-Folders Many of the images that come bundled with the free version of Hollywood Movie Studio are taken from the Great Actors & Icons set. So even if you're starting in 2016 with a 2016 talent file, you're seeing "Welcome Back Kotter" era Travolta, Bill Murray as his "Stripes" character, Bruce Willis with hair, John Cusack looking like he's literally 15 years old, etc. Sure, you can replace them with pictures of your choosing, but you're still limited to just the one, even though we now have databases representing a number of different years. If the game could someday allow us to micromanage the craft services bagel budget, can't it let us designate the appropriate image folder for a given talent file? At least as an option at the start of the game? (You probably answered this already with the part at the end about allowing us to customize the game. Sorry.)
HMSdesigner: Yes. Agreed.
Make the Default Source Databases Less Random I realize this would be difficult and time consuming. It's no wonder so few custom source files have been completed by the Mogul community over the years. But if there's any way to make them more logical, it would be a huge help. That original screenplay with 5 star coverage sounds great until you get into the often haphazard details. It's a dramatic tearjerker...with a happy ending...named "My New Latin Lover"...set on a spaceship...whose lead roles call for a 50-year-old female action star and her 20-year-old comedic love interest? Theoretically possible, but this has always been the stuff of 34 month rewrites for me.
HMSdesigner: Yes. Agreed.
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. Even if you were to disregard (or find impossible) all of the above and only implement the items from your own wish list, I'd love to see it happen one day! You had me at "Unlimited Talent."
HMSdesigner: Thanks for being such a fan.
|
|
|
Post by TheMovieman on Nov 26, 2016 10:16:42 GMT -8
Only suggestion I have (in addition to bringing back talent image folders) is tuning the time for script changes. For instance, when doing a sequel, adjusting just a couple ages for the characters adds several months (IIRC) which then adds time to when said sequel can come out (usually at least 4 years) where, sometimes, especially with horror, then can come out 2 years after the previous. For a big budget, the timetable is a bit more reasonable, though.
HMSdesigner: Yes. There are a number of issues in the script area that have to be addressed. Production, too. In an effort to make the game ... sequential, everything takes place in its time. But special effects sometimes begin before principal shooting. Originally I wanted to keep everything compartmentalized, but I don't know if that's possible anymore. I don't know how I would handle some of this, but it does need tweaking.
In theory, if the "age" of a character is changed, I assumed that the "role" for that character would change as well. So some of it may be semantics, but I didn't want players to get around "role" changes by no time penalty for age changes. So it's ... complicated. But I agree that improvements can be made.
Also ... currently I keep every version of the script that is done. I wonder if that's necessary?
Also, I think it's possible to write a script in a month. And also to shoot in a month. I don't know how to handle these "truths" and still calculate a box office result with the same criteria as a movie that needs a 6 month shoot. So I tried to even the playing field, to some degree, so that the box office algorithms weren't a hodge-podge of code, and could be tested ... and balanced. The balancing alone took months (Thank you Kenny, where ever you are!).
|
|
|
Post by raf55076 on Nov 29, 2016 15:35:34 GMT -8
The talent focus for scripts and actors/directors needs to be expanded a bit. All need focuses for Horror, Song and Dance and Romance.
It would be nice if attributes for actors and directors actually had an impact on the game. We should have to think long and hard about casting a talent with one star in Work Ethic, Composure or Takes Direction. On the other hand, we should strongly have to consider casting someone with 5 stars in takes direction even if they only have 2 stars in the genre of the film we are making.
I would like to see some form of typecasting if a talent or director keeps making the same genre of film or has been on a hit television show for a number of years. There should also be some sort of penalty at the box office for a typecasted talent to try moving on to a different genre.
Musical has to be a main genre in script writing. At the moment it's a sub-genre.
There needs to be a new focus for directors called perfectionist. One star indicates a one take wonder like Ed Wood who never shot a second take. This could lead to reduced production time at a cost of the overall rating of the film. Someone like Kubrick would have 5 stars indicating 50 to 100 takes which would lead to longer production times and bigger costs but would boost the final product.
I DON'T want to go back to HM2.5e and the 5 star scripts. None of the Transformer movies have a dialogue rating above a one but that hasn't stopped them from making billions of dollars. The script for a touching drama should be much different than one for a brainless action movie and the game should reflect that.
I DO want to go back to HM2.5e and the way scripts were written in that game with someone hired to write the first draft and then someone else hired to polish it.
Younger less established talent should be more willing to do nudity than more big named stars. Though nudity is kind of the thing for some big named talent (Kate Winslet for example).
In addition to new actors, directors and producers there should be new screenwriters every couple of years as well.
If the plan is to keep houses, boats, planes and artwork in the game that all needs to be expanded as well. Something like buying a ranch in Montana or a second house on the French Riviera or a penthouse suite in New York. It would also be kind of nice to have the option of starting a car or antique collection.
If a talent (actor or director) has had a number of flops in a row their career should be effectively over (think Eddie Murphy). However, after some time has passed they could make a comeback (think John Travolta before and after Pulp Fiction)
HMSdesigner: You players that love the game more than I do (and know the game better than I do) ... I'll do my best.
|
|
|
Post by raf55076 on Nov 29, 2016 22:13:02 GMT -8
I have a few more thoughts that I'd like to share.
In my current game, all five of the movies I have in production have a buzz of 4 stars. I think that depending on genre, star power and other factors that it would be perfectly acceptable to have a movie with one and a half stars of buzz or even less. Certainly no one in the press was excited for Dude Where's My Car when that came out, but that movie went on to have a reasonable box office run. It didn't win any awards but the studio that released it wasn't crying.
HMSdesigner: This is always going to be a problem. There is NO way to predict success like that. I tried to handle it with a bit of a randomizing "unbelievable good luck" algorithm in the current version ...
I'm thinking that actors/actress and or directors/producers or any combination of these who work together on more than one film should develop a working relationship with each other. I.E. actors and actresses would have better chemistry or an actor would give a better performance for a director. And this should have a chance to effect box office.
HMSdesigner: Yes. This is already in the new version design. It didn't work in the older versions because of the talent record cap. After a few years all the talent were pals with all the other talent.
Allow the studio head to change the financial options of movies that were purchased in pitch meetings. In the current version, those movies automatically use the universal options that were set at the start of the game.
HMSdesigner: Not sure about this.
It would be nice if AI controlled studios made sequels to their successful movies.
HMSdesigner: Yes it would be nice. I guess I'll figure that out.
HM3 does suffer a bit without production problems. Those need to make a return but with the option of turning them off before starting the game.
On a related note - the option to turn off AI studio heads purchasing homes, boats and airplanes or receiving a salary of any sort or at least put a cap on it.
HMSdesigner: OMG the AI studio salaries are insane. I don't know why I didn't cap that.
It would be interesting if there was a falling out between studios and talent for various reasons.
Having a deeper critical response to movies, and Hollywood in general, would be wonderful. Like a magazine that pops up once every quarter or so with gossip about talent and oscar buzz about movies. The option to turn this feature off would be a nice touch as well.
Weighting the movies that get awards would be nice. As it stands in HM3 my action/superhero movies always win best picture which is quite unrealistic. Awards should be weighted to Biography's, social dramas, historical epics and musicals (if we want to give a nod to Hollywood's past). Also, movies that are released towards the end of the year should be more likely to win awards than a movie released in April.
HMSdesigner: Agreed. This could be done better.
Like the top 10 grossing movies list and in conjuncture with my deeper critical response thought, how about a top 10 best movies list ranked by critical reaction coupled with award success and independent of gross.
Along the same lines, how about a yearly recap of all movies released by all the studios including top billed stars, domestic and foreign gross and awards.
Having something like Sundance or the Toronto film festival, a place that showcases small budget films to generate buzz for both awards and box office would be fantastic. And if you could swing it, how about something like Comic Com where big budget summer movies can get the fanbase exited and punch up their box office.
I'll probably think of more things I would want in my perfect version of HM4 but this is all I have for now.
|
|
|
Post by TheMovieman on Dec 1, 2016 11:09:22 GMT -8
Another thought: Subsidiary studios that make small, low budget flicks like Sony's Screen Gems.
HMSdesigner: I'm not really a fan of this. However, it is something that a number of players have asked for over the years.
Oh! I just now thought of how best to handle it. When you make a movie, you assign it to a "company" within your umbrella company of studios. Damn. That was easy.
|
|
|
Post by TheMovieman on Dec 3, 2016 15:55:19 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by smirkworthy on Dec 3, 2016 17:32:44 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Promiscuous on Dec 6, 2016 6:44:05 GMT -8
Hi all,
A quick question to the game designer: when you speak of changes being implemented does that mean in the current FTP version or are you considering a new version? Cause I'd gladly pay for that!
HMSdesigner: It would be a page-one rewrite. Which is why I'm hesitating. It's two years of work, at least. Probably more.
As far as new ideas are concerned, I would love to see some more actor demographics going on which makes the casting process (my favourite part) a little more in-depth. e.g. a lead with high sex appeal that brings in more female demographics, a comedy actor that brings in little kids, etc
HMSdesigner: Okay. I like the idea of this. I'll think about it. The issue becomes "relating" all those attributes so they are meaningful. The other issue is people who do NOT want that much involvement.
|
|
|
Post by TheMovieman on Dec 13, 2016 16:07:54 GMT -8
Got another idea, script development on sequels before the original is released. And another, spin-off options.
HMSdesigner: When I was under contract at Paramount, they had 150 scripts in development. They only made 12 movies that year. Mine didn't get made, by the way. LOL.
The issue here is ... well ... what the hell? Why not! I'll see what I can do.
|
|