I know, I know, its been a loooooonnng time between updates. The game is NOT dead, I have just been extremely busy this year with my business (the one that pays the bills) and literally have not had the energy or time to work on Showtime 2 as much as I would like. Progress has been slow but steady.
Going forward I have decided in order for the game to see the light of day before we all turn old and grey that some features will be scaled back or dropped altogether. I was probably a little too ambitious with the game to begin with. Instead, once the game sees a release then I will happily work on free updates once most of the features I originally intended to be in the game become a reality. While this may be disappointing for some to hear keep in mind that my vision for Showtime 2 grew about x10 larger than I anticipated way back when it was first announced. Also keep in mind the game has undertaken some massive changes since starting, including moving from VB6 to 2 other game engines and then back to Visual Studio 2017. The game also contains roughly x5 more game assets than the original game (which I have had to do all by myself) and probably double the amount of code in the original game (completely rewritten from scratch).
Thank you all for your interest, I hope to have something to show shortly but if I dont please dont take it that this is now vapourware, just believe that I have invested countless hours into this project and it WILL see the light of day; no one wants this out more than I do :) THANK YOU!
I've been working on something small but something I feel gives a bit of depth to the game, the sliders for each category will change depending on how much you spend. Its basically a real-world representation of what you get out of your money and not just a dollar figure. For instance toys range from Colouring-In Books > Kids costumes > Teddybears > Bobbleheads > Action Figures > Licensed board-game > 12" statue series. 
Demographics and primary audiences have now been added to the game. This is important depending on the genre and more importantly the classification of your film. If you want to target children then its not advisable you have high level themes. Likewise, if you want to target mature audiences then generally G-rated films dont go over too well (unless they're animated!). Real world situations apply here so its important to use common sense :P I think it adds a fun level of strategy to the game. 
I have made a rather large change to the 'storyboard' function of the game. I have decided to retire the storyboard idea seen in previous devblog entries in favour of a "modifier" system. Basically how modifiers work is you are given cards throughout the game for doing certain things. These cards can then be 'spent' on your movies in either the Movie, Actor, Script or Release category. I think its a cool idea and there are going to be about 20 modifiers in the game altogether. I know some people will be disappointed in the loss of the storyboard feature but that is something I can perhaps revisit later on after release or in other entries in the series. 
And lastly as much as I know I shouldnt be, I cant help myself but try to improve the general appearance of the game. I've been making a few more visual tweaks here and there. I have also decided to remove the Composing section of the game in an effort to cut back in development time. Its a horrible thing having to make cutbacks but in order for the game to ever see the light of day its a necessary evil. Again, this is something I'd love to revisit in an update or future entry. I originally intended to have a Chart Wars-esque style section of the game where your composer develops a series of songs over the course of development and then you select the ones you like based on a quality and commercial %. 
