April 2018 Update - Release Date

Hey guys/gals,

Just a quick update -- I am working overtime on the game for a July 2018 release on early access.

I was going to try to do a video playthrough maybe a week or two before release or maybe earlier if I can just to show off what its all shaping up to be.

Thanks!

December 2017 Update

Ok I've got a few new things to show. So lets get into it :) 

Its nearly Showtime!

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 %. 

Final thoughts...

So thats it for now. I've been working quite a bit on the coding side of things also making the transition between screens seemless and bug free. Its been a lot of fun though and I'd love to put together a video soon showing off the game in a video entry. Cheers guys! Everyone have a great Christmas :) 

October 2017 Update

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!

March 2017 Update

Its been an interesting month in the development of the game; quite a lot of progress has been made which is cool so lets jump in :P 

Award Ceremony

The award ceremonies are beginning to take shape this month; much like the first game you will be invited to attend award ceremonies. These ceremonies are optional, however if you do not attend you will still win awards but not the newly implemented "winners bonus". Each category now comes with a bonus which will award the talent/studio with some cool loot. At the moment all awards and bonuses are hardcoded into the game; this is mainly due to time constraits. After launch when I get some free time I will begin opening up a lot of these things in the editor. 

The game currently has 14 AI studios in it; this will grow to about 20 before release. You will be able to choose at the start of the game to customise how many AI players you compete against in the campaign (anywhere from 5 to all 20). At the end of the award ceremony you will be given a run-down of who-won-what similar to how it was done in the first game. I'm really pleased with how its all looking and I hope everyone likes what they see :) 

Talent Biographies

Quite a bit of work has gone into the talent biography screens and getting these looking good. I showed off these screens many months ago but I think they've become a lot more detailed and inviting. Every single actor, director, writer and producer can be viewed in this talent biography screen. You can see a complete run down of their stats, genre stats, filmography and awards. You can also send individuals film scripts you wish to cast them in, offer studio contracts, as well as poke, gift and offer help if they carry any addictions. These little RPG elements add another layer to the game where you can develop personal relationships with people you like and gain studio favour (this can help with casting opportunities as well as press obligations). Addictions have also been added in and can interfere with an individuals' abilities on set. They can also cause their death in extreme cases.

The filmography page has been updated also. You can now filter through an individuals filmography to see what projects they have done and see their top 3 "best known for" pictures. This screen isnt entirely finished yet but its a good start in the right direction I think. I really want biographies to come alive. These AI characters arent static like in Showtime 1, every turn they do what is best for themselves. They will sign new contracts with competing studios, take up movie roles and work (or hinder) their skill sets. Relationships will not be added into the game at this stage but it is something I plan on adding in maybe post-release. 

Final thoughts...

So that's me done for the month. I stil have a lot of work to do on the composing screen which is why I didnt show it off. I am taking a page out of Chart Wars (Osiris players will be happy to know) and hopefully it'll give an extra flavour to the game. I still havent made much progress with an editor yet so that will still come. I am also still on the lookout for a character artist (paid work) if anyone knows of anyone who can do character avatars similar to those seen in the screenshots? Other than that thanks for reading and seeya next month! Cheers :) 

February 2017 Update

So again its been a while between updates but I thought i'd share some stuff. I've received a few quite blunt emails lately from people asking I do an update; im really sorry i disappoint people but over the past 4 months I have built a local business which has taken up exactly 100% of my time. It is my living and as much as I love Showtime and Myrtilus it really doesnt pay the bills... its important that people understand this is unfortunately a passion project at this stage. That being said believe me when I say I have put hundreds of hours of work into this game and I will NEVER abandon it. I promise it will be released in 2017, and I am shooting for a mid-year release but with my new business its very difficult to find time. With that said, lets get into it...

Set Construction

I have spent a HUGE amount of time this past month on precisely 2 screens! lol There has been a ton of back-end programming which has gone into the set construction area of project development. I have changed a few things as well; you can now select 2 exterior locations and 2 set constructions. 

Selecting Sets

Set constructions can be filtered by genres. Some sets are considered 'generic' and can be used for a variety of films, but it will be general good practice to select only sets which suit the film you are making. Additionally, each set can be upgraded a number of times; they will be added to your studio lot and you can use them whenever you want. Each one will carry with it an updated description, a novelty value, an upkeep cost and a quality. Obviously the higher the budget of the film you are making the more you want to invest in your set constructions. In the event you want to create an animation; you will now have to select an Animation Studio -- like all other set constructions this can be upgraded over time; increasing the quality of your animated pictures.

Final thoughts...

So that's about it. Not a whole lot to show off and probably a bit of a disappointing devblog but as I said most of the work has been behind the scenes in getting these features to work smoothly. I plan to move onto the composing screen next; so hopefully next month I will have some fresh new screens to show off. Hopefully the month after that an editor will be made available if people want to help to populate the game. And with any luck soon after that (maybe 3 months from now) I will have a beta available which may be able to be downloaded from Early Access. We'll have to wait and see though :) Thanks!

August-October 2016 Update

Oh boy oh boy its been a while since my last update. I've got quite a few emails lately that have asked "is the game still being made?" and the answer is YES :) This game is going to be finished come hell or high water. I have been busy at work though and dont like spending my weekends working on the computer like I do every other weeknight so I dont always get time to write updates. But rest assured development is still happening and its happening regularly. It takes time to write blogs as well and i've found it difficult updating through the website so now blogger.com will host all of this and it'll make things a little easier. Lets get to it...

Changes Galore

In this screenshot you can see that you are now given an industry standard for your films. I got a lot of complaints from people on Steam that Showtime never really explained what was "expected" of you when developing a script for different genres... so i've added in "industry standard" indicators so you know what is generally expected of your script before green lighting the film. I've also added in a new Setting Tone which helps define your movies a little better. You can now select from the following tones: Neutral, Joyful, Serious, Humerous, Fearful and Dramatic.

Premiere Time!

I've done a lot of work on the premiere over the past couple of months. It has a completely different skin and something I think looks good against the other graphical changes of the game. The premiere screens will change depending on the type of movie you're premiering. For instance a Sci-fi film will have a green-screen feel, "erotic documentary" will have another, etc. I've done my best to add in a bit of humour as well so you can mess around with some of the genres and the game will spit out (hopefully) something funny occasionally :) 

Much like the first game you will also get a run-down of sales from each region. This screenshot is a very early "work in progress" but it will display some additional regional information against the map which should be familiar to players of the first game. The sales algorithm is being updated for the game as well -- and it wont be as erratic as the first game. In Showtime 1 i wanted to have a certain degree of randomness to the sales. They always more or less were the same but a lot of people complained that if they reloaded a premiere 2-3 times it would sometimes give off different sales values. Personally I think that takes the fun out of the game but some players wanted to get the maximum amount of dosh; so this time the algorithm will be pretty steady and there will be very little change (if any) if the player reloads the game. 

And finally here we get a run-down of how well the cast has performed as well as the script quality, set quality and technology used... and for Showtime 2 how well your storyboard went down with critics. The storyboard is a bit subjective but when you're initially developing it the structure has to more or less suit the type of movie you are making. You will always be given a default structure and you can change this but if you change it too much then you might get a bad rating during the premiere. I will go into more detail at a later time about the storyboards.

Critic Reviews

One thing ive been working on lately are 'dynamic' critic reviews. Similar to the first game, the reviews are chosen from a database based on the score of your film. I have added a ton of extra review types to the editor so things wont get so stale, and in addition to that critics may also comment on any element of your film which they found either pleasing or negative to their experience. For instance a critic may comment on the look of your actors; if you've got a romantic comedy and your leads aren't 'lookers' then you're bound to get a critic commenting on this. Or if you're director generally doesn't direct Action movies and they did a good job then they may comment on the accomplishment. I'll be adding in about 100 of these so there's a lot of variety to what is said during this screen. It makes your films come alive and makes you want to actually read these reviews to see if you missed anything which can be improved on next time.

And finally this is the audience reaction screen. I am still working on this but you will now gain both new fans and a reputation, as well as a score/rating from your audience. It is possible for an audience to adore your movie and critics hate it -- so if the critics pan it then hope is not all lost; people may still go to see it or turn it into a cult classic.

Final thoughts...

I am committed to the devblog and I will be sure to share something new next month. I really would like to thank everyone who has continued to follow this blog and send me emails -- it does mean a lot so thank you. I really really want to do a video update because its been so long since I released the alpha footage. Its a big undertaking but hopefully I can do a bit of a commentary play of the game to show off some of the new stuff. Thanks heaps!!

March 2016 Update

It's been a long time since my last video update. I've had lots of emails from people regarding the game so I am sorry to keep you all hanging so long. Truth be told there isnt a whole lot to show off at this stage as most of the past few months have been lots of back-end programming. So in other words, I have been working a lot on the Editor and making sure that a lot of the smaller things in the game like dropdown menus and sliders are working well as well. Real boring stuff. But since everyone has been so patient I have thrown together a few new screenshots of the game.

In Production Updates

In this screenshot you can see how the in production screen now looks compared to the simplistic version of Showtime 1. I think it was important that at an immediate glance to your "works in progress" that you had a good overall guide on where your movie is heading and the stages of which things are progressing. I have also added in a "top billed cast" spot; this will display the top 3 talent attached to this film. Also I have added in a "shelved projects" screen; this is similar to the Bestseller feature where you can shelve projects or scripts for later use but not necessarily pursue them until you are ready. As an example; if you have flooded the market with all of your Marvel movies so they're not doing so well you can put them aside for future use when the market is no longer saturated with superhero movies. Its a simple but cool feature I think.

Casting Update

This is an updated screenshot of what the casting process looks like. Unlike Showtime 1 where you click on button to cast actors and then go down the list of "leading" or "supporting" roles, all roles can now be cast from this screen. You also get an immediate overview of your casting process; as you can see in the screenshot you have cast a director and producer but still have leading roles which need to be assigned. I find this extremely helpful when you dont necessarily want to dig through every screen trying to see if someone needs to be cast; its all visible from the one screen and is directly tied to your "project view" where everything else is handled. It makes screen-jumping minimal and (hopefully) is easy on the eyes.

Production Overview Update

And lastly I have been working on the production overview and trying to get the look of this right. It will no doubt undergo a lot more changes but what you can see here is that you can now get an overview of how long each stage of your film making process will take; pre-production, filming and post-production. As you put more money into the movie the longer it will take for each process (e.g. a movie with a massive CGI budget will take longer in the post-production stages). You can now also select between short or feature films and actually choose your run-time. You will also be able to create your own budget presets. There will be about 12 presets which can help you decide (if you are unsure in the game) what certain genres will need. For instance if you select an "Independent Film" preset the game will calculate which genre you are making and then change your budget allocations to something which is considered industry-standard for an independent film. Likewise, if you use a standard for your own movies then you can save it to your list and call upon it whenever you need it. Its just another way where the player can move fast through these screens without getting bogged down in sliders.

Final thoughts...

I hope you guys like what you see. I will probably make this devblog a bi-monthly thing from now on because it is time consuming to write and I'd rather spend my free time on the game. I'm so happy the game is still generating lots of interest and its definitely moving ahead. I will do my best to make the next update a video. Thanks for reading!