What's new in Edition 2023 of Movie Business 2

After a year's break, it's time to return to the habit of writing a slightly longer text presenting news in the next version of the Movie Business.

I'll frankly admit that the number of news items in the 2023 edition is not very impressive at first glance, and this is due to two main factors. First, the unusual timing of the World Cup (instead of writing the game in November and December, I watched the matches), and second, my health woes and treatment at the beginning of the year. In the end, however, the new edition contains some unexpected and interesting new features.

As usual, in addition to describing the features introduced, this text includes the motivations behind them, how they were implemented, and additional author's notes and comments.

Even if you haven't heard of the game or aren't a fan, and you have a free evening, I invite you to read it, as it's an interesting insight into how a real indie game is made from behind the scenes....

Custom logo

Motivation

Let's start, however, with a nod to fans wanting more customization of the game, specifically the player's own logo.

Implementation

The player logo and color editing option will have the ability to upload a custom logo for players who have a profile.

This logo will appear in dialogue windows and, for example, during festivals when a player is nominated for an award.

Notes and comments

The logo should be a png file with a size of 128x153 pixels.

Creators' custom sets

Motivation

Several players have reported to me their desire to have a set of creators that will include completely fictional characters. I'll admit that I personally wasn't particularly convinced by this idea, since the whole idea of the Movie Business, including the most of its functionality, is based on the fact that the default game set contains real creators. Nonetheless, custom creator sets (or otherwise known as "user creator sets") have several advantages that are not currently possible in the game. These primarily include adding creators that would not pass moderation to the official set, or the ability to change the parameters of a particular creator if the player disagrees with the one set by me.

Contrary to appearances, the idea itself is not new, on the contrary, in the early days of the game there was an editor in which you could create your own sets. Unfortunately, it was not very popular (personally, I did not receive information that someone created such a set for himself and would like to share it with other players). So, due to the need to support it, the project was abandoned (well, and MovieStats appeared, which is a web service where players can participate in expanding the base set, which worked quite well in practice).

Therefore, I decided that a new approach to my own sets would be much simpler.

Implementation

Creators' custom sets will be stored in a text file in csv format (Comma-Separated Values) where individual attributes will be separated by a semicolon.

Custom creators sets will be available for use in the party game. The use of such a set will result in several restrictions during the game:

• not available trophies
• it will not be possible to export films to MovieStats after the game is over
• not available will be Stories and some of quizes
• not available will be cult movies

For more details on the format and how to create a new custom set, see can be found in a dedicated post in the game's help.

Notes and comments

I will frankly admit that I do not believe that this functionality will become very popular among players, but at least now I will be able to write off those who claim that it is necessary for them to live, that yes the game supports it ;).

Set of fictional creators

Motivation

The introduction of custom creators sets allowed the creation of a fictional set of creators, which was demanded by two players ;)

Implementation

The set will contain 3000 fictional characters in all professions and genders. In the case of creators who can be actors, they will have photos of young creators available in the game. For other professions, photos will not be available.

Of interest, the start date of a specific creator will be random and will be adjusted depending on the start date of the game.

Restrictions on playing with a fictional set of creators will be the same as for any other custom set.

Notes and comments

As I mentioned in my opinion Movie Business is a game that works best with the default set, where we can create films with real filmmakers.

AI-generated photos

Motivation

The Movie Business has been using AI-generated images to visualize so-called young creators (fictional creators generated during gameplay) for several editions. Until now, thispersondoesnotexist base has been used.

However, since its inception, the progression of AI-generated images has moved forward strongly. Hence, I concluded that the database of such images could be expanded.

Implementation

In the end, more than 4,000 new photos generated mainly by MidJourney were added to the game. With such a base (about 10,000 photos in total), they can also be used as images for the creators' own sets.

Chat with an Assistant

Motivation

And while we're on the subject of artificial intelligence, you've probably heard of ChatGPT. Chat AI which has dominated any discussion in recent months about the development of not only artificial intelligence but the future of the Internet in general. So I decided that in the Movie Business you will be able to chat with local artificial intelligence in the form of.... your assistants.

Implementation

A new Chat option will appear in the assistant window. After selecting it, you will be able to chat with your assistant. About what? For example, about creators, movies, awards or universes. The assistant can also answer some general questions. A list of sample questions you can ask can be found here.

Notes and comments

Of course, do not expect the level of ChatGPT algorithms are much simpler well and this is just an alpha version to see if the idea will catch on. I even wondered if I really wanted to put it in this form in the game. However, I decided that I would like to find out what players would like to ask their assistant. Therefore, during the conversation, your questions will be saved and sent to MovieStats so that in future versions it can answer the most interesting questions.

What's more, I originally wanted to integrate this feature with the real ChatGPT but unfortunately, as of today, the API for this service is not available.... but in the future who knows.... maybe such integration will also appear.

Movie Business on Linux

Motivation

From time to time there have been inquiries from players as to whether there will be a Linux version. Unfortunately, I wasn't planning a separate version of the game for this operating system, and attempts to fire it up on Wine in the past were unsuccessful. However, it turned out that finally Linux (and more specifically Wine) was ripe for firing up Movie Business.

Realization

Thanks to user SomeGuy at Discord it occures, that Movie Business 2 can be run on Linux!

Using the latest version of the application Wine (Wine is Not an Emulator) and some additional libraries, you can install and run Movie Business 2 on Linux computers. I personally tested it on Ubuntu and the program works great (although not perfectly, there are a few elements that behave slightly differently than under Windows).

For more information on what you need to install and what different behaviors you may encounter compared to the windows version, please find in the dedicated help section Movie Business on Linux.

Notes and comments

Although previous versions of the game also run on the latest Wine (the first version that managed to run was the 2022.0.3 edition), the 2023 edition is the first to be tested under this system and introduces several improvements regarding the game's operation under Linux.

Create a Star: Plastic Surgery

Implementation

Create a star (i.e., the ability to invest in young creators discovered by the player) will receive a new feature: Plastic Surgery. It will allow you to drastically change the appearance of a character (in practice, it draws a new picture for him). The only problem is that we don't know if such an operation will be successful. If it does, the sexappeal of a given character will increase.... otherwise it may decrease.

Changes in algorithms

Motivation

For the past few editions, I have tried not to tinker too much with the game's algorithms for movie ratings and profits. However, the time has come for some significant modifications, which mainly resulted from player feedback. So let's take a look at what game algorithms have been modified in the 2023 edition.

Implementation

The impact of post-production

One Discord user suggested that the effectiveness of advertising should be distinguished from the type/genre of film. As an example, he gave movies with advanced special effects, which are easier to advertise on TV and TVSat (as visual media).

At first I didn't quite want to go into such micro-management however, after a moment's consideration (and considering that films with post-production, and more specifically with high budgets, are very difficult to return in the game) I decided that indeed if a film has post-production its advertising on TV and TVSat will be more effective.

The second change somewhat related to post-production but also to the studio concerns sequels. Well, if a film's sequel has worse studio/post-production than its original it will be negatively received by fans.

Optimal months for a genre

Each genre has been given an optimal month, i.e. that in a particular month during the year, films from a particular genre, earn slightly more. Example romance in February (due to Valentine's Day). If the release of a particular film hits in the right month the film gets an extra boost in viewership. It's best to ask an assistant about which month is most optimal for a particular genre.

Movie popularity vs. genre motives

You will be able to expect a small boost in the popularity of a film when it has a theme from a particular genre.

Animations and their impact on animated and family films

A few changes that have been made to the algorithms for animas

• the number of animated characters in an animated film affects its rating/popularity (implicitly, the lack of such characters causes disappointment in the audience).
• increased audiences for family films and animation when its age category is 0+ (after all, with children must come to the cinema with a parent ie at least x2 more tickets will be sold)

The impact of the premiere on other productions

At the time of the premiere if the film received a positive rating then the player's other films currently in BoxOffice gain some audience. If the rating is not positive it also has a negative impact on other films. The same is true for films from the same universe, and previous parts of different types of sequels.

The Golden Raspberry also affects popularity

Until now, the Golden Raspberry award has not affected the popularity of a film. This will now change. As with other festivals, films with such an award will also gain in popularity. After all, many viewers will want to see the "worst film of the year" or a popular actor "in the worst role" out of sheer curiosity or for the proverbial "joke."

Other minor changes

• Increased target audience impact factors (this will result in slightly higher profits for all but commercial films)
• Lower prices for filmmakers originally appearing in a cult film (which is expected to slightly reduce the production costs of these films)

Notes and comments

All of these minor changes should make it a little easier to make money on movies. Especially on those with high budgets. We will see what the final results will be. I hope the game doesn't become too easy.

Admittedly, I have encountered comments that the problem with the Movie Business is that movies with budgets over 100,000,000 do not return. However, the hard data in MovieStats showed that the highest box office grossing movie of the players earned over 630,000,000 and most importantly it returned. So I won't be surprised if the top players hit 1,000,000,000 in revenue after these algorithm changes.

Proof that you can easly make money on films with a decidedly larger budget than 100,000,000. Of course, this is not easy and such results are achieved by absolutely the most seasoned players.

Interface improvements

As you will probably notice, the interface has been slightly modified in some places. This is particularly true of the font sizes. Where there is a large amount of text (in all "dialog" windows), the font size has been increased to make it easier to read on monitors with higher resolutions and fewer inches.

Bigger, better, more badness

Each edition of the game also tries to expand the existing elements so it is also the case this time.

• new creators
• new cult films (from 2022 , and several others such as Uwe Boll productions)
• new questions during interviews and conferences
• new cheat codes
• new review texts (more than 6135 in total)

Creators set update

The 2023 edition will thus debut with a kit version of 76, with a total of almost 5500 real makers!

Summary

These are the most important changes introduced in the 2023 Edition, Of course, there are also dozens of smaller improvements to the interface, algorithms or game balance. I hope they will meet their objectives and the expectations of players without introducing too many new bugs ;).

As usual, I look forward to all feedback, suggestions and comments after the release.

More about the game:

• • Official page
    • english version  - moviebusiness.tomiga.net

• • New forum (w języku angielskim)
  • Web services with players stats - moviestats.tomiga.net
  • Facebooku
  • Help
  • NEW: Discord

Other interesting reads about game and its design you will find in  Director's cut section on official game page.