The Movies [PC]

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Yahoo! Video Games: What's left to do in The Movies project?

Peter Molyneux: By the time you read this, all the balancing and refining should been completed and we'll just be focused on fixing any last minor bugs. We are not stopping there though, as we want to make sure that there will be lots of things that players can download when the game ships.

YVG: Tell us what affects the success level of a movie. How easy is it to predict whether a movie will be a hit or a miss?

PM: We have devised a formula that has hundreds of different aspects. To make a successful movie there are lots of different things to consider; for example, you have to worry about the stars, their moods, their relationships with other stars, their morale, their health, their physical shape and their popularity ranking in the Movies, as well as, whether they are experienced in the type of movie you are creating.

For instance you won't get a great performance from an action hero in a gentle romantic tear jerker. Then there's the question of whether the type of film you are making is fashionable at the time. If you make a war film in the 1940's where the bad guys win, it would not be a very successful film. There is also the question of budget, time spent in pre production, etc. It really is a very long list. I would advise players to think about all the reasons why films they have enjoyed have been successful and apply those reasons to the films they make.

YVG: What's your favorite movie, and have you been tempted to incorporate elements of it into the game?

PM: My favorite film of all time is The Forbidden Planet -- the classic 1950s sci-fi film. In my opinion no game about the moives could be complete without homage to those classic sci-fi films of that era. I will say, however, that so far my attempts to recreate this film have not been that satisfactory!

YVG: Have the lessons you learned when writing the AI for Black & White been useful to The Movies? Have any of your other games taught you lessons you've found useful in its development?

PM: A surprising amount of technology from Black & White has found its way into The Movies, yes. The morphing technology, the AI technology, and the physics technology are three areas that spring to mind, but all of these have been greatly enhanced and modified for The Movies. I'd say that the biggest lesson we learned from Black & White is that it is possible to make an unusually deep game with a very simple interface and this is something we've managed to redo in The Movies incredibly well, where the game is pretty much played in the game.

YVG: How do you divide your time between The Movies and your other projects?

PM: I find the way that works best for me is to focus on each project in turn. I base myself with each team for a certain amount of time and then move on. I find I tend to move desks every 6 months or so. I'm very much focused on the design stage, so once that is complete I tend to move on, although I regularly review and play all the projects in development at Lionhead Studios.

YVG: You started your career with a bunch of donated Amigas and a few good ideas. How hard do you think it would be to do the same thing in today's climate?

PM: I think it would be incredibly tough to start out the same way today. When I started, games cost around $50,000 to make and you could pretty much do most of the work yourself or with a very small team. Now with games needing funding of $10,000,000 and an army of people to create them, it just can't be done in the same way.

YVG: Do you think there's a particular quality or attribute that defines a "Molyneux game"?

PM: Hopefully they are unique, compulsive, surprising and to some extent experimental. At Lionhead we strive to do the best we can and I hope this is evident in the games that we make.

YVG: Which of your past games would you most like to see turned into a movie? Who would be in it?

It is a toss up between either Syndicate or Fable and I'd like to see as many beautiful Hollywood people in it that we could possibly squeeze in!