In the next version: Stories

Announcing you the 2021 Edition, I mentioned that I do not plan any big new features in it, but rather I wanted to focus on adding content to the existing functionalities. However, there is one exception and today's post is devoted to it… Stories .

A background story

Before I tell you what Stories are, I will start with what they were introduced for. Well, games in the style of the Movie Business, i.e. economic / tycoons, often face the problem of excessive repetition. Basically the whole game is about repeating a certain pattern of behavior. While in The Movie Business such a single gameplay loop is quite addictive (after all, you would not play it), it can all get boring one day. Therefore, I try to make the game more attractive in various ways by introducing new mechanics – not necessarily one whose core is related to film production. Stories are an example of such mechanics.

The very idea for "Stories" has already appeared… a few years ago. However, to be honest, taking into account the hobby nature of the project (and the personal / time constraints related to it), the whole idea seemed difficult to me... after all, for several editions, I took small steps to make this idea come true.

It started with such trifles as making a slightly more complicated than zero-one choices for the player (instead of a simple Yes / No – selection of several options). In 2018 Edition appeared events during production (which dynamized this stage of the game a bit, putting the player before simple choices, which, however, had consequences). In Edition 2019 appeared simple Quests, i.e. sets of decisions made by the player, in the form of a short dialogue. And in last year edition appeared interviews, press conferences and banquetsand Stuffwhich were the expansion of the game engine with new possibilities that would be used in the future ...

And this future has just arrived. All these small steps, slow modifications in the game engine allowed, finally, to introduce in this year's edition Stories ...

What are Stories?

Stories (that is, as the name suggests small stories or more adequate to their size micro Stories). These are some random events that are in practice mini-games set in the game (a kind of Inception). At first glance, it may remind you of Quests that you may already come across in the game (e.g. giving autographs to fans, a quiz about knowledge about paintings, or helping some creator name a character in the script). However, there are some differences…

Stories vs Quests

Well, unlike Story Quests, it can only appear once per game. What's more, if you play with more than one human player, when someone starts such a Story, the other player will not get it. So they will be unique experiences within a given game.

Types of Stories

Stories will differ from each other not only in terms of the topics covered (more on this below) but also in terms of mechanics. Here are the most important types of Stories you will come across in the game.

  • Trivia – are quizzes about the knowledge given ago (the player has to answer a certain number of questions) and scores a point for each correct answer.
  • Test – in tests, you also answer questions, but here there are often no correct answers (as in personality tests), but the player's answers lead to the determination of the test result
  • Survive – survival, i.e. a story in which the player may fall off after making the wrong choice
  • Hacking – a special type of stories that involves "hacking" (people or systems)
  • Hostess – dating hostesses
  • Story – more complex / giving more choices stories most often fabularized where the player makes decisions and depends on them how the story goes on
  • Quest – stories extended into several different stages (spread over time)
  • Tutorial – training where you can gain specific knowledge (more or less practical)
  • Script – preparing a scenario idea for a specific topic

Topics of Stories

Now that you know what types of Stories can be, it's time to present their general topic.

  • Movie – concerning famous / cult film productions or the film industry itself
  • TV – about famous / cult series
  • Game –  game related stories
  • Art – stories related to art
  • PopCulture – referring generally to pop culture
  • Music – about music
  • Comic – about comic
  • Life – general "life" topics
  • Others – not falling under the above categories

Rewards

For completing Stories, the player can get rewards. And so among them you will find : paintings, cult scripts, cult vehicles, sometimes cash (although rarely), ... and also, new, Artifacts…

Artifacts

Artifacts are special items that cannot be obtained in any other way than by completing a given Stories. These can be some things characteristic of a movie or topic related to a given Stories, such as a diploma or certificate. Some of the artifacts will become usable… which can lead to unexpected events in the game…

An example of an painting reward for flawlessly passing the Andy Warhol Trivia

Okay, but how does it look in practice

After this boring dose of theory, it's time for a few example Stories.

Art Trivia – one example of a simpler Stories are Trivia in the form of quizzes on the biography of a famous painter. As a reward you will receive a painting by the artist in question or (if all such paintings are sold out – from the same trend).

Film/Series/Game/Comic Trivia – similar to the above quiz to test knowledge about a given production. Note, these are usually quite difficult quizzes intended for fans. You can get, for example, a cult scenario of a given production.

Tests – These are tests that check various things, they may be, for example, personality tests, but there are also references to famous tests from movies ... (I don't want to spoil you with the details).

Hacking – it will consist in guessing (based on the clues) the password and / or breaking into someone's system / computer ... but this is a more complicated mechanic which I will devote to one of the following entries.

Survivals – it could be about surviving the next round of millionaires either… zombie apocalypse ...

Quests – in turn, the stories are broken down into several stages, each of which may rely on something else.

The biggest example of this genre will be, for example, quests dedicated to The Witcher ... but to get to them, you must first become a Witcher, i.e. successfully train at the famous School of Wolf.

And finally, a category named after all this functionality, that is, proper Stories these are probably the most interesting and complex stories. These are mini adventure games / stories included in the game. They are often based on or refer to other productions. Among them there will also be ports ... such as a text game from the 8-bit times, such as Times Travels (Polish player my know cult computer magazine where it was published Bajtek) or interesting, short games indie of the genre interactive story.

Przykład mini gry rpg.

 

The stories themselves can be of various genres: from horror, through action movies (heist movie, tasks for secret agents), sci-fi, fantasy, to some sort of manners. There will also be stories for adults.

Overall, I wanted the game to surprise you, so you can expect different, strange stories…

When will Stories be shown.

Generally once every several months / rounds. So that, on the one hand, their base does not run out too quickly, on the other hand, that the core of the game focuses on the production of movies, and Stories were just an interesting (I hope) variety. What's more, some Stories will be available only in certain time periods of the game, some after meeting certain conditions (e.g. for horror stories to appear for fans of this genre). And a part will only be unlocked after successfully completing another story.

After passing the knowledge test about the game Uncharted, you can be invited to talk about the vision for the script for this production.

Aha stories will only be available in Party Game mode (I decided that during the career, the player should focus on following the next steps in the career, and not deal with distractions).

How long will the stories be?

The stories won't be too long. A single one can go from a few seconds to several minutes. Much depends on your choices. As I mentioned, some of the stories may be extended in time.

Becoming a Witcher takes time and dedication…

Difficulty level

The degree of difficulty in completing stories is varied, although most often it will be difficult to complete them on the first attempt (except for personality tests). I also tried to make them satisfying also when going again. Therefore, if you come across a Trive that tests the knowledge of a given topic, during one game you will receive, for example, 5 randomly selected questions from a pool of 20 that are available in the game. Thanks to this, even if you manage to complete the given Story once, you will not necessarily repeat this feat in the next game.

In the case of Stories based on a story, there are often several paths of its development that can lead to different endings (currently the Story with the highest number of endings has 12 of them). Moreover, if a given Story has a goal to achieve, there are often bonus goals for which the player will receive additional rewards.

How many stories will be

At the beginning I planned to have at least 50 stories to make the whole idea meaningful. Thanks to intensive work, I was able to prepare a bit more of them currently for the premiere of the 2021 Edition, over 100 stories will be available in the game. Contrary to appearances, it is not that much (although their preparation required a lot of work).

but you too can create your own stories

Well, because the more Stories, the better I have a proposal for you. If you feel that you are able to prepare an interesting story related to your favorite production (no matter if it is a movie / series / game or comic), whether in the form of a knowledge quiz, a story or a mini-role-playing game, or maybe you have some in your drawers stories, role-playing game or ideas for interactive stories or other such things and you would like it to be a mini-game in the Movie Business… 

Then just contact me. We will see if your creativity can be transferred to the game and how it could be incorporated into it. I can also help if you have questions in what form is best to describe it.

I must admit that I am personally very excited about these Stories and I look forward to your reactions when you come across them during the game in Movie Business…

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