In 2018, Two Point Studios released its first game, Two Point Hospital. The game served as a spiritual successor to the classic simulation game, Theme Hospital. Just like Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital tasked players with managing their own hospitals in a wild cartoony world. They had to combat against diseases like Mock Star and Light-Headedness while managing the finances of their hospital. It was received well and was able to quickly find a fanbase among the simulation genre.
Now, Two Point Studios is gearing up to release its next business simulation game, Two Point Campus. It will serve as a sequel of sorts to Two Point Hospital and will bring players away from the hospital and into college. Unlike Two Point Hospital, Campus will not be a spiritual successor to any title, but instead it will serve as Two Point’s attempt at applying its game style to another business. As the release date nears, Two Point Studios is no doubt looking to what it will create next, and it should really consider making a spiritual successor to the 2005 title The Movies.
What The Movies Was Like
The Movies was a business simulation game from Lionhead Studios, the studio behind Fable. It had players run their own movie studio in typical business simulation fashion. Players would design their own unique studio and then manage the careers of their various film stars. They would hire the actors, directors, writers, and crew members, then get to work creating their movie. The game would start during the birth of cinema and progress through history. As history progressed, players would have to deal with new random events that would change what genres the public were looking for. If their studio made good movies then they could unlock new sets, items, and win some awards.
The joy of running a movie studio was fun on its own, but the real highlight of The Movies came with its machinima tool. Players could create their own custom scripts, hire actors for the roles, and then control the action. When the film entered post-production, players were able to drag-and-drop footage as well as place sound effects, music, and dialogue. After that, players could export their movies and share them with others.
The Movies received one expansion pack called Stunts and Effects which added stunts, stuntmen, new special effects, and more customization options. The game did not sell very well, though, and anyone who is interested in the title cannot download it from any of the major digital storefronts. Players have to track down a physical copy at a thrift store if they want to get a chance to play it, or they have to turn to alternative games like Empire TV Simulator which are not as advanced as The Movies was.
Two Point Studios Should Make a Spiritual Successor To The Movies
Movies have only grown in popularity since 2005, but there has not been a successful movie studio simulation game. Two Point Studios already brought back Theme Hospital through Two Point Hospital, so it only makes sense that it could do the same thing with The Movies. The colorful and cartoony world that Two point has created would work well with a game like The Movies.
One of the criticisms of The Movies was that the simulation elements never came together; it was fun to make machinimas, but the business side of it was lacking. With a spiritual successor, Two Point Studios could fix that issue. Two Point Hospital showed fans of the genre that Two Point Studios can make a funny simulation game while also maintaining the business side of things for fans of micromanaging, and Two Point Campus may cement Two Point as a great choice for simulation games.
Social media has also seen a huge rise since 2005, and one of the major aspects of The Movies was the ability to create machinimas, that system should be present in Two Point Studios’ version. With the rise of social media, players will be able to share more advanced machinimas a lot easier. If players wanted to share their videos from The Movies, they had to use the game’s website, The Movies Online. In a new title, all it would take would be a simple click and their videos could be on all the major platforms.
Two Point Studios has show its ability to craft fun business simulation titles and worthy spiritual successors. After Two Point Campus is released, Two Point Studios should look at The Movies for inspiration. With its humorous world and fun gameplay, Two Point Studios could create the definitive movie studio simulator game.
