When I was 13 years old, my life was completely consumed by The Movies – the 2005 management sim developed by Lionhead that made me feel like a true film director and Hollywood mogul. From putting together scripts to hiring actors and turning them into bonafide stars, I spent my days building up my very own studio that grew over the course of several decades. As times changed from 1920s all the way to the '00s and beyond, so too did the technology and the demands of the audiences. That's really where the challenge came in, as you constantly had to adapt to ensure your movies hit it off at the box office, rake in awards, and keep the costs of the studio afloat.
But as satisfying as it was to see my studio evolve from a few facilities to a thriving movie empire and household name, it's stayed with me for all these years for an entirely different reason. Alongside being in charge of running just about everything, you could also make your own custom scripts to craft and shape every movie you made scene by scene. I spent hours meticulously putting together short films to show off to my family, like I was putting on my own premieres at home. Sometimes, I'd even rope my dad into recording lines of dialog that my actors would lip sync to make the scene really come alive. Everything I made in that game is now sadly lost to time, but I'll always fondly remember how creative it allowed me to be. What I wouldn't give for a remake or re-release.
