movie studios and TV networks

Suggestions for new DLC projects.
Arcnor
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Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by Arcnor »

Rusty Gamer wrote:More detail:

The farm could be the equivalent of training courses for actors, scriptwriters, filmmakers etc.

For the factories (film production), input would include such things as the script writers and actors. You could use the ones from your "farm" or hire already established ones or some combination therein.
In my current mod I do something similar by using a "farm" to train CPAs and doctors that I could then use in production.
buells
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Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by buells »

Some suggestions on how this should work building on the above, (may be easiest to focus on one type of media property, like movies, initially):

1. There should be risk associated with quality of a program. It should not correlate 1:1 with the budget that is set to produce it. For movies, variance should be highest, for shows in the middle, and for newspapers (or whatever) it should be low. While not a necessity, it would be cool to have different risk reward propositions for different genres of content (blockbuster movies might be very expensive to make, but a good shot at driving a lot of revenue. Dramas could be cheaper to make, but are less likely to make a lot of money).

2. Certain media properties (e.g. movies, shows, books, whatever) should have a finite life consisting of an initial life with opportunity to extend through reinvestment. There should be a maximum life.

3. Movies should work like this: Movie Studio makes the movies like an R&D setup. Theaters distribute them like retail stores or modified media outlets generating bulk of revenue within 6-12 months of completion. Theater owner gets a percentage of the revenue and Studio owner gets a percentage. Sell to TV stations which get a royalty (higher for higher quality movie) that flows to Studio owner decaying over 5-10 years (if not too complex, depending on Studio budget for ongoing promotions).

4. When a high quality media property reaches the end of its life, maybe there should be an opportunity to build the franchise. TV shows have spin-offs, movies and [books] have sequels. Such properties could have better opportunity for success than newly developed content.

This all seems kind of complicated, but it doesn't interfere too much with the existing game. Hence, I thought it was worth contributing.
Rijjka
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Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 1:38 am

Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by Rijjka »

I can comment to the request about feature comparisons to the other TV/Movie games out there.

I have played the game 'Movies' which is the most recent of the three mentioned by David.

Movies was structured in such a way that you were only dealing with one Movie studio, no T.V. involved. How a movie was made was through the purchase of sets to film on, and hiring actors and directors. Once you have the physical items in question, you would then start production. The 'Movies' featured a small almost mini game where you could actually use it like a very low feature movie making program by placing your actors on the set and setting them to perform different actions and using different camera angels to make a mini narrative.

However, whether or not you you used that feature to micro manage the movie or not made no difference to the success of the movie itself.

The success of the 'Movies' you made were determined by a number of factors;
1. The chemistry of your Actors/Actresses and directors. This was a rating of how well the people worked together. This was a game in and of itself because when you weren't shooting a video, the Actors and Directors would live on site at your studio and would spend time together at various social places you would construct. So say between films you had your best Actor and Actress spend a lot of time at the company bar, when it came time to shoot the next film, their chemistry would be very high and it would affect the success of the movie. The more people started or worked on the movie, the more chances there were for high chemistry, however the opposite was true, if they didn't like each other, there would be low chemistry which would negatively affect the quality of the film.

2. The film making technology. There was a certain degree of R&D worked into the game, which would unlock new shot types, new set types, and new show types. There was a certain amount that would happen just through the industry advancing at its own pace, but if you put in extra money, you would have a tech advantage and your films would perform better, usually by offering something other studios didn't have, such as better special effect, or more complex movie sets. However, if you neglected it, and kept reusing the same sets and costumes, then it would hurt the quality of the film, people would say it wasn't fresh.

3. Brand loyalty. Actors and the studio itself could build a reputation for working in a particular niche, such as sci-fi, or action Drama, which meant any time they launched new film in that industry, they would have a much greater initial viewership. However, it had the potential to hurt the brand if the movie was otherwise poor quality.

As far as how this compares to Capitalism Labs, I would say 'Movies' was very much character driven. In the example of point number 1, actors hanging out together at a bar could have a down side, such as one of them becoming an alcoholic. This would render them unable to film well for a while, and would require a lengthy rehabilitation process. It would also hurt their reputation with the public, thus hurting their future movies. A lot of the game was focused around managing your Stars so that they performed well, appeared good in the public, and could produce movies.

Capitalism Labs, on the other hand, is very much system driven. You have industries and products you produce, but the actual character of these things are very bland. Whereas you could become attached to your favorite Star, and feel bad when they retired, I don't often feel attached to my flagship line of canned soup. Whatever character I happen to feel in Capitalism Labs is usually whatever I bring with me.

I was going to add some thoughts for how to tie that all into Capitalism labs, and the ideas are there, but I think I need more time to mull it out.
brianwiz
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Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by brianwiz »

I have played all three.

I believe their can be a place in Capitalism for it that would make it useful.

I also now believe that the other ideas to round out some features of the game should come first
jaMaxwell
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 6:05 am

Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by jaMaxwell »

I Suggest for TV Shows is a database the base game would come with some made up name and then Moders could add names and cover art just for fun.
KCtrackhawk
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Re: movie studios and TV networks

Post by KCtrackhawk »

I think movie studio would be better, follow me here.

Develop movies (glorified r&d) and have movie theaters which buy the movies from the studios and sell tickets... demand and movie quality determine movie rev, (movie should also get “global” income maybe a multiple of the local city’s / avg of cites ) Then movie can be made into a DVD and sold to public in stores!
To make a movie studio (to make 1-2 movies at)
Have to have a 4x4 or 5x5 Production company (glorified headquarters, this would track each films budget and total haul box office and dvd)
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